AV Geeks Lunch 11-23-2020

hello everybody welcome i'm skip alzheimer um and i'm trying to play with some lighting here and also get my hair to stick down um i have this crazy cowlick uh anyways um um anyways uh i'm skip alzheimer and i collect old 16 millimeter films and welcome to our av geeks lunchtime streaming show um you might notice the background is different uh i ended up uh getting a movie screen to put up to kind of block the um whatever's going on in the laundry room because we're gonna have guests who are uh coming to uh oops you know what just happened here lots of cabling issues um we have guests staying with us down in the basement where i am located and i don't want to have to i want to give them some privacy so there you go um yeah so we kind of i move things around a little bit so you can actually get a better view of the telecini when we transfer stuff and so this is the first time you've joined me we watch old 16 millimeter films uh some of them we watch uh live like i'm actually transferring them as we watch them and some of them are pre-recorded um depending on what i got going on uh so that last thing was a film strip and that was uh to get that into a digital form was a giant pain in the butt i basically had to scan the film strip each frame and then that was a very early attempt to color correct then i brought it into this program that made it look like it was advancing like a film strip and i added music to it and all the music i used pretty much uh makes youtube freak out so that's why that's silent um i did it for a film strip uh dvd it was called f is for film strip or focus on film strips um but uh yeah i love that that the goldfish dies and then there's this moral dilemma and the uncle's like yeah it happens goldfish they die um all right so anyways uh i mentioned that yes we watch stuff on film uh and so this next film is about black widow spiders and it's um it's on film so here we go enjoy [Music] the poisonous black widow is one of the better known spiders throughout the world its bite can cause serious illness and sometimes death fortunately the black widow is easily recognized by her cold black body red hourglass marking and by the irregular pattern of her web this interesting spider belongs to the family thera deity the comb footed spiders named for the comb-like projections on the feet the black widow is found on five continents often around homes or other structures it usually attaches its web in dark corners or within untidy accumulation it is well to be cautious as this spider's venom is ten times as strong as that of a rattlesnake if bitten a stinging sensation will be felt at the sight of the bite prompt medical attention should be sought the black widow subsists on various insects and is quite beneficial in this respect she encases her victims with and kills them with poison delivered through her fangs the fangs are hollow and about one half millimeter long they are fed by unusually large venom sacks the irregular web is without apparent design a human hair next to a strand of web is huge by comparison black widow silk has 12 times the tensile strength of steel and has been used in the making of precision optical instruments the male spider is much smaller than the female and is not considered dangerous his palpi store the fluid to fertilize the females eggs the male vibrates the web to attract the female he then tries to secure her with his own ineffective web contrary to popular belief only when prompted by strong hunger does the female kill and eat the male after mating fertilized eggs soon develop and the black widow's body takes on a swollen appearance just before laying her eggs the black widow spins the top half of an egg sac egg laying begins with a deposit of a large globule of sticky substance which will hold the eggs together there are 188 eggs in this batch but the number laid at one time may reach one thousand eggs are laid twice a month during the warm weather season the black widow now completes her egg sac to make it water resistant and secure for most insect predators she covers it with a tough close woven web the egg sac can be moved for greater security or temperature control the black widow is particularly dangerous for several days after laying and will readily attack in defense of her eggs the substance which binds the eggs together evaporates within two hours allowing the eggs to separate the eggs appear smooth and polished each one is perfectly formed the immature spider link develops in about three weeks and breaks through the egg skin here it remains like a delicate image in wax awaiting the first mold the first molt which produces the spider link is completed within a week weather determines how long the spider link will remain inside the egg sac when they are ready to leave the spiderlings help each other chew a hole in the egg sac once they are out the spiderlings spin a network of webs as a means of escape and separation each spiderling will seek its own shelter and its own food food stimulates growth in the young widow who must molt or shed its skin six or seven times before she is mature the body gradually takes on color as the spider develops the last mold takes the longest during each molding process the spider is immobilized and defenseless the full cycle from egg to maturity ranges from several months to a year depending on the food supply while the black widow feeds principally on certain small insects other insects feed on the black widow these include the mud dauber wasp and the praying mattis one of the most important natural enemies of the black widow is a tiny fly called pseudogorex signata this deadly visitor lights undetected on the spider's egg sac almost at once the fly lays a number of eggs within five days the eggs hatch into maggots each maggot burrows through the egg sac and punctures the spider egg size of the maggots increases rapidly during the seven or eight days they take to consume the eggs when all of the eggs have been eaten the maggots pupate within three hours a hard pupil case is formed after 10 days cradled by the egg sac of the black widow pseudo gorak signata tiny fly and so out of some black widow exacts emerge little flies instead of little spiders because this interesting spider is potentially poisonous to humans and because it is so widespread everyone should be able to recognize it by its black color red hourglass and irregular web but like so many things in nature the black for useful purpose and is a valuable member of the natural community of living things [Music] uh so i turned off the bright fluorescent lights because they were too too jarring it did make it look like i was getting my picture made for dmv for a passport so i'm gonna be working on some lighting stuff here as we go along um but you know i don't mind being in the dark because it's easier on my eyes uh yeah so that last film black widow spiders um that at the end i don't know if you noticed the weird kind of and then there was this line like right here so that was a what we call a perfix or perforation fix and so basically what would happen is a film would get shredded um and so the little perfs or sprocket holes are torn because generally because the film has lost its loop so you basically are going from a um a continuous motion to an intermittent motion the intermittent motion is when a little claw comes grabs a little perf and drags it down in sync with the shutter so that you get this this image of motion so you need at the top and the bottom you need a loop so that you have a kind of some slack and when it loses that loop then that's when the the sprite the claw is just tearing the uh film so anyways to fix that they somebody was like oh well we can just use this tape that just has little perfs in it and you just lay it over which is a great stopgap measure but ultimately after a couple of years then it starts to slide and it starts to warp in its own way it starts to kind of make its way into the image and it's gross it's really not great and then you take it off then you have to do all this extra cleaning and it's it's a big pain so that's uh perfix and i i did it once or twice because i had two perfix machines and i had some tape that i did but i found that it was so daunting that i just didn't i was like i'm not gonna do this anymore uh and so with the the scanners that i have and the telesetting i have you don't need the perfs necessarily they can be a little messed up and the film will go through and not do more damage to the film and it'll just roll a little bit and be all uneven and unstable so there you go that's more than you ever wanted to know about um fixing perfs all right uh so over the weekend last week i did eight shows oh my god that was a lot so i did uh my normal lunchtime shows i did one a special one for mia i did uh one for the science museum north carolina science museum and then i did one from the uh houston air terminal museum which was great because most the people that attended attended um we did it all via zoom uh were in the industry so i was showing these films and then they were talking about them and they were talking about like parts of it uh you know the aspects of there were a couple of stewardesses uh there were a couple of flight crew people um so it was it was great great time uh we might do this again in uh early 2021 uh but one of the films i showed was called air transportation and it's part of a series about like what is your career what do you want to do and this is a film that would be shown in high school or prep school or trade school or you know people who are going to try to get some sort of sense of like what they want their career to be it's an older film so the audio is a little noisy and i did a little bit of on-the-fly noise reduction so it's it's kind of it's a little weird but it's fascinating nonetheless so this is uh from the late 60s uh nope late 40s um this is before jets this is when all the planes had props and um yeah so here's air transportation enjoy [Music] the airplane symbol of our mastery of the skies is banning oceans and continents in ever dwindling hours bringing new hope to the people of the world new horizons to industry and new careers to use for air transportation has proved itself a vital factor in the social and economic life of modern civilization it is a rapidly expanding industry embracing many trades and professions and three employing thousands of persons for example to keep each airliner in the air today over 100 workers are needed on the ground many of these are engaged in office work this number the reservations department comprises a specialized group it is here that flight schedules rates reservations and related subjects are communicated directly to the public by telephone the work is interesting but requires tax sales ability and a pleasant well-modulated voice another reservations job is at the ticket counter here however the duties include the actual issuing of tickets through direct personal contact with the public as in many departments the work is handled in ships or around the clock service characterizes the industry the welfare of the passenger is of paramount importance to care for his needs men known as transportation agents are employed well trained in government and airline regulations they have often gained their experience in previous jobs such as cargo agents reservations representative or similar work through on-the-job training they learn how to prepare flight movement reports and coordinate the dispatching of passengers mail baggage and freight transportation agents also contribute to the safety of the airline operations by determining the proper weight distribution of cargo the operation of an airline requires countless messages in order to coordinate all departments this is generally done by teletype and radio many of the teletypists are women a large number of whom obtain their training in commercial schools accuracy and speed as well as a knowledge of airline code is necessary although important their work does not require the extensive training demanded of the radio operator in addition to operating you must be able to maintain and repair radio and telephonic equipment you must hold a radio telephone second-class license or better issued by the federal communications commission the radio operator keeps in close touch with planes in flight advising them on such things as operational details and weather conditions using weather balloons and various recording devices the united states weather bureau gathers nationwide climatic information and sends it via teletype to airlines throughout the country the information is then charted analyzed and interpreted into weather forecasts by the airline's meteorological department this work requires specialized college training and unusual accuracy and judgment but the key figure in all flight operations is the flight superintendent he is the man who decides whether the planes will fly or not he releases all planes on his division follows their progress in the air and keeps the captains or pilots advised of conditions affecting their flight the flight superintendent together with the captain plans each flight in detail this exacting work calls for a pilot who is also a qualified dispatcher certificated by the civil aeronautics authority in addition he must have an accurate knowledge of communication facilities his responsibility is great for he coordinates all flight operations to achieve these objectives safe swift and dependable air transportation but the safety of operations also depends upon the proper maintenance of flames for this reason many skilled mechanics must be employed their work is highly specialized and those who direct or supervise such work must hold a federal government certificate and rating depending upon the type of work they do for example mechanics qualified to supervise work on general maintenance including dismantling welding or fabricating must hold what is called an a or aircraft certificate others who supervise and approve engine work only are required by the civil aeronauticality to hold an e or engine certificate but no matter what their chosen field may be for equivalent technical schooling is required however planes need more than mechanical attention for they must also be washed cleaned and polished this general utility work calls for no special training and is done by fleet service helpers thus only through regular and thorough maintenance can the airlines provide the service and schedules upon which the passengers depend the arrival and departure of planes is regulated by dispatchers in the control tower these men serve as traffic coordinators keeping congestion at the field to a minimum they are employed by the federal or local government and must hold a certificate which signifies their knowledge of air traffic regulations for those young men who enjoy working outdoors in all kinds of weather there are opportunities as ground crew members fast work in refueling and servicing of planes is required ground crew men as well as cargo handlers need little training but should be able to maintain simple records cargo handlers must know how to load cargo properly according to its destination in other words what comes out first should be loaded last yes there are many workers essential to air transportation but throughout this number the flying crew is perhaps the most colorful group of all an important and familiar part of this crew is the smiling hostess or stewardess who anticipates the needs of every passenger a hostess must be a person of charm as well as capability to qualify on most airlines she must be healthy single and between the ages of 21 and 28. she must be between 5 feet 2 and 5 feet 6 inches in height and of normal weight girls who are accepted receive special training in the rudiments of flight regulations air routes meteorology and aeronautics to be eligible at least one year of college or three years of equivalent business experience is necessary a knowledge of foreign languages is becoming a definite asset with increasing worldwide air routes when the passengers are aboard the ground crew men clear away all service equipment in preparation for the takeoff one by one the huge engines roar into action as another giant of the gear prepares to thunder down the runway many workers in all kinds of jobs have coordinated their efforts to make this flight possible but without the skill and knowledge of the pilot the plane would never leave the ground these men with wings represent but a small number of all airline employees their qualifications are high perfect health is essential they must have hundreds of hours in the air and an intimate knowledge of aeronautics and related subjects the competition for this work is extremely keen and only those with unusual ability and experience can expect to find employment the majority of job opportunities are to be found in airline passenger service however freight and air express services are expanding rapidly to meet an increasing demand for swift transport of medicines perishable food furniture and hundreds of other products and in the future this branch of air transportation will offer employment possibilities for pilots as well as many others but opportunities in air transportation are not restricted to large airline organizations many small companies and individuals maintain private planes providing transportation or feeder service between local points in work such as this there are jobs for pilots field managers and airport engineers mechanics and helpers caa control tower operators link trainer instructors flight instructors and many others but the need of training and education for the better positions and higher paying jobs cannot be overemphasized colleges and specialized schools throughout the country maintain facilities for teaching different phases of air transportation the armed forces offer exceptional opportunities for young men to acquire skill and experience in many aviation jobs [Music] technical books trade magazines and government publications provide current information and trends in air transportation and airlines from coast to coast maintain training programs for all types of work vital to this expanding industry [Music] but obtaining employment will not be easy competition for jobs is great and the total number employed is comparatively small however the industry makes up for this by the variety of jobs it offers individual qualifications are a deciding factor and if you want to learn and earn your living in a youthful and romantic industry air transportation presents a challenge and an opportunity for your life work [Music] i love it um the colorful team of the flight crew that got some laughs uh when i showed it uh at the air terminal museum they uh they really dug that um and uh yeah they i got some great stories about uh the flights and serving food how you serve food and when they used to like actually make beef wellington and when they used to actually you know serve up prime rib to their first class folks um it's pretty interesting uh yeah so this next film is one i haven't seen before um i've been excited to be able to pull films that i haven't seen because i got so many i got lots and lots of films uh and this one is the can it's kind of cool hold this up it's color a film program and this one is color brightness and contrast and it's made by cbs um so it's a great great can i can't remember where i got this from i think it was from a television and film production uh program at a university but um yeah so i have not seen this right after that i did watch a little bit of it and it looks like there is a poor man's um uh shoot crap i can't remember his name uh frank dr frank baxter it looks like there's a poor man's dr frank baxter that introduces it i haven't seen it to see what he does but it does i was like wait a minute it looks like frank basseter but you know i'm sure there were lots of balding men with glasses um in a broadcasting field so here is a color brightness and contrast a cbs program cbs presents this program in color color an added tool in production giving greater impact to pictures appearing on the home receiver and allowing use of new program in commercial material not practical in black and white to obtain maximum benefits from color it must be used properly it must be used with restraint and with good taste and in complete harmony with the intent of the scene stop don't use color just for the sake of color use it to strengthen the intent of the scene and make its message more forceful the color camera is a machine it has no imagination no creative ability it just faithfully reproduces what you provide as a subject no matter how well the color camera is adjusted or how efficiently it is designed it cannot produce a better picture than the original subject the very fact that the camera does reproduce subjects so accurately gives us as producers directors designers and production people in general a few problems while the camera sees the subject as it actually is we do not always do so we tend to see what we want to see or what we think is there this tendency on our part to see familiar objects the way we remember them is called approximate color constancy that slightly off-white shirt you have on is one of the best examples of our insistence on seeing things our own way of course we know a white shirt is white but is it still white no well the desk light has a low color temperature and tends to make the white shirt appear yellowish yes the white shirt is in fact still white but what you're seeing is the effect of daylight which has a higher color temperature and is bluer than the room light this light on your white shirt causes it to appear blue just as the color television camera records it another interesting point about our seeing habits is that in everyday life we rarely look at a whole scene at once our eyes concentrate on points of interest a sign a window display perhaps attractive legs or a lovely face but when we face the small screen of our television set we see it as a single unit and we concentrate on it suddenly we see things we never even knew about faces change in color in different lights and with different backgrounds shadows are colored and colors are exciting we must learn to look at color in real life as well as on television because color behaves the same way in either case but what do we look for well let's start with bright colors in the wrong place a very bright spot of color attracts the eye immediately and becomes the center of interest so place the brightest colors where you want to have the interest center but don't avoid bright colors use them properly all subdued colors are pretty boring conversely all bright colors give a monochromatic illusion because there are no accents to add visual interest and provide a proper center of interest use color as a musical arranger plans an orchestration to provide contrasting moods or building to a climax [Music] [Music] [Music] effective scenes do not require a lot of colors just good planning please note the background is blue and so are all of the costumes except one we've used red to accent the scene now by using different brightnesses of blue and red we've done the whole scene with two colors and flesh tone we've made use of lighting to achieve the separation between background and subjects and to make them the center of interest accenting the blonde girl who plays the principal role in this scene of course we must make sure that those attractive color combinations provide both color and brightness contrasts a yellow and blue are good color contrasts but if each color reflects the same amount of light well you can see the result in black and white probably the most important color to think about is the skin tone of our subjects skin tone is the one link we have color wise with our home audience there's no way they can know the color of the scenery or of the costumes they might think that green dress is like this but look what happened to the face so that adjustment can't be right that's better let's consider the blue panel maybe a brighter blue no the face is off that's it the good skin tone gives the home viewer a point of reference and helps to get your colors properly tuned in now while we're speaking of skin tone we might mention the importance of proper makeup for color television this young lady is wearing the proper makeup for black and white cameras on your left is pan panchromatic makeup running toward the yellows and browns which are not either realistic or flattering in color for color more natural tone should be used the natural reds pinks ivories olives or suntans whatever color most closely matches the natural coloration of the subject makeup is also desirable and necessary to cover small skin blemishes prevent unwanted shine or hide beard shadow and generally accent good points as well as disguise less desirable ones for the ladies eye shadow and properly complementary tones should be used only very lightly too heavy eye shadow is very unflattering lipsticks in darker pinks and clear reds avoid reds having a blue tinge as these may appear quite purple a proper makeup will produce a result like this don't forget about the ears ears are naturally a bit redder than the face and can easily become quite prominent make up helps this condition hands too need makeup also men's lips much as we dislike the idea do look better with just a touch of color like this careful attention to the makeup job will assure the artist of appearing at his best fabrics assume new importance in color television appearing of course as costumes and as backgrounds moving along our fabric display we find that lame claws are good for color work brocades having a combination of shiny and matte surfaces look very well indeed moving on to the velvets and velours on our display rack we must use caution as these are very soft fabrics and do not reflect much light therefore they may appear much darker than we anticipate unless they're very light in color to start with sequins which couldn't be used in black and white are quite practical in color if they are carefully lighted the next display makes an interesting point showing both the shiny surface and the matte surface both are exactly the same color but the shiny surface appears lighter in color because it reflects more light but all fabrics like all other items in the picture require care in lighting the appearance of colors can be changed substantially by adding or subtracting light decreasing the light on the background causes the color to appear as a deeper tone increasing the light causes the color to appear as a lighter tone and incidentally jewelry reacts about the same way those sequins did and it can be worn in color that's a bonus one of the points to approach with care and color is fabrics with geometrical patterns such as checks plaids and herringbone weave depending upon their size and how close you shoot them they can beat with the television camera line structure and generate spurious patterns these shift about in a distracting manner as the camera pans or the fabric moves while we are speaking about straight lines and patterns we might take a moment at this point to speak about another very important element in color production the graphics all of the things we have talked about regarding contrasts brightness and color balances apply to our graphic displays in addition attention should be given to size letters as small as two or three percent of the height of the screen may be acceptable in monochrome but this is not the case in color because different colors have different resolving capabilities the safe rule to follow is to keep your smallest letters several times larger than you use them in monochrome now finally the most important ingredient in planning a color show communications full communication between everyone involved in putting the show together where several artists are involved designers decorators costumers makeup artists and lighting directors working independently without knowing what the others are planning can result in disaster in color television every item in the picture is related to every other item and they must be in harmony or the end result could look like this and you can be in real trouble hello what yes sir yes sir yes yes each contributor must know exactly every detail of the overall plan of every other contributor to provide a happy result to produce a good color result use restraint use common sense plan in advance communicate cooperate [Music] and then you may approach your production with confidence so yeah that film was probably made specifically probably for cbs affiliates who were beginning to get color uh cameras um i mean color was pretty pretty big deal with broadcast television and they wanted to make sure everything looked right and so this was probably something that they made to kind of send out to all the cbs affiliates to say like all right well here's some considerations um when you do color like what are your considerations for graphics for clothing for sets for makeup etc um and so it's kind of interesting i i might have other ones in this series i haven't really again this is the first time i saw this so i really dug it of course ironically the colors have faded on this film so it's harder to really see what they were trying to say i would uh at some point i might scan the film and try to bring the colors back and see um how they look but definitely skin tones are the thing if they don't look right they they're unnerving to anybody that watches them so um so let's see what i got here uh yeah i just um wanted to say uh thanks everybody for tuning in um i'm not done yet but um one way that you can say support 80 geeks is to buy us coffee um coffee is the caffeine is the lifeblood of av geeks it makes our brains spark in wonderful ways so um that's one way you can support us another way is to go to avgeeks.com you can also like subscribe i've been watching a lot more um podcasts on youtube and so they say things like please comment uh like and share below so there you go now i'm like everybody else all right uh so this next film real quick is uh some commercials to get you in the mood to think about uh coffee i thought the veil would never arrive do you like it yes yes i like it i like it and wish the wedding when next saturday instead of tomorrow i've got a million things to do before then yeah it really is exciting isn't it [Music] the cake mrs olsen let's see if they've delivered it yet here it is dear ah now calm down why don't you make us a pot of coffee you know me and coffee mine's terrible what shame on you anybody can make good coffee when they use the right coffee foods folger's coffee mountain grown that's where the best coffee is grown volder's is a special blend gives better flavor now go ahead you make it okay hey i made a good cup of coffee consider folger's your wedding present to us mrs olsen try folgers the mountain grown coffee mountain grown for better flavor [Music] look what my husband's doing well he's just drinking coffee but it's my coffee and for the first time he's enjoying it well did you do something special yes thanks to mrs olsen i just suggested another coffee oh just yeah for just this mountain grown the richest kind there is i never tasted coffee this good okay well from now on try folgers mountain grown for better flavor hi mrs olsen the peach pie turned out great thanks for the recipe did you like it here but he said i really need your recipe for good coffee oh you just need gorgeous is that all for sure it's mountain grown the richest kind here you try it okay coffee's great honey special recipe special coffee folgers try folgers mountain grown for better flavor um so those uh are part of a long line of commercials where mrs olsen helps a bride or bride-to-be or a wife who is makes lousy coffee and is feeling like she's letting her husband down um over and over and over again it's the same message um you know it's not really about it being mountain grown it's about mrs olsen please help me with my marriage because my coffee is horrible my husband's complaining about it and i want to make my husband happy um it's interesting so i uh digitized a bunch of commercials for um duke university they have a ad archive of advertising uh that they got from the people that did uh procter gamble things and did folgers and also did some other procter gamble things and what's interesting is they use that same anxious technique for selling not only coffee but they also for pampers like so i got to see the commercials for pampers and from the very beginning of pampers all the way to the so probably late 70s early 80s and it's the same thing it's the anxiousness of a mother who wants to do things right and pampers are the way to do it and they actually have in some of them they actually have like a kind of a nanny a british nanny who kind of says well this is what i recommend um and then they use it again in um cool whip commercials sarah at tucker inn uh who makes this amazing strawberry shortcake and uses cool whip and everybody's surprised to find that out and so and there's all these people celebrating anniversaries uh you know all these different events that tuck her in and they are always surprised to find out that she's not using real lip cream she's using cool whip and so they should be okay with that uh those commercials make me really mad i'm just like cool whip sucks compared to will real whipped cream it's disgusting oh um but uh yeah the expert the old expert there's all there's another one where crest did that for a while so i did the entire history of crest from the 50s before they actually introduced it to um when the gels came out so i did all the cavity creeps ones but there's some point like in the late 70s early 80s where they instead of just having a kid coming in and saying look mom no cavities they actually go to this pharmacist this drugstore owner who's talking like well you know what i recommend is using chris um so it's the like the old it's kind of this return to conservative values type of movements in commercials that's selling things like coffee like um toothpaste etc it's it's wonderful and it is also nefarious and really i can't even watch advertising now because i get really mad um but there you go there's my little soapbox about um folgers but there's lots of these so if you look online uh internet archive uh ad views there's so many commercials we did like 10 000 commercials it was really nuts and my brain was mush at the end of it like after doing 13 hours of 30 second uh crest commercials or minute long press commercials i switched to chris for about a year because my brain couldn't keep up with it um we also did a bunch of post cereals so i actually got um grape nuts because my assistant at the time was like i've never had grape nuts before i'm like i haven't either so we got it and it was disgusting we didn't let it sit in the milk long enough so it was just like like scraping our uh the roofs of our mouths um but anyways um thanks everybody for tuning in today um i will see you again tomorrow tuesday one o'clock um again if you like what you saw you can buy us coffee and i i don't buy folgers but i buy pretty much the cheapest store brand coffee you could imagine um not the total budget one but the next hero because yeah i don't care i'm not a coffee snob um but yeah please like what you saw please share uh and or go to av geeks and see other things that we have online and i will see you tomorrow um everybody have a good rest of your day uh i'm trying to think about something special that i might do for thanksgiving [Music] we'll see i'll see what i got in mind i had to have an idea i'm going to try to figure it out um but uh yeah everybody um take care and please rewind and love each other and we'll see you next time bye everybody you