AV Geeks Lunch 6-15

so so so so so hello everybody i'm skip alzheimer and welcome to the av geeks lunchtime torture you with a student film show wow i haven't gotten a negative reaction like that in quite a while um so occasionally i run across uh cans of film at uh thrift stores or they show up in boxes or somebody's like hey i have this thing you want it like sure what is it and it's usually a student film and uh student films um as you can see are uh mostly not great i you know i've talked with people who disagree but um a lot of student films are just not great they're half baked ideas um poorly executed um they're learning how to use the camera and uh but student you know film students have to make these student films to kind of work out and learn what they're doing like they nobody's gonna start off brilliant it's rare that somebody does that so these serve a purpose now do they deserve to live do they deserve to be exhibited i don't know um i would say this uh so um i learned the difference between ucla and usc's film programs with ucla you raise the money to make your film you pay for the film stock you edit it it's yours with usc um they give you money and film stock well they give you a film stop uh but they keep the finished project and what that what that means is so there's there's a friend of mine who's an archivist dino everett who is an amazing um archivist punk rock archivist type in that he is fearless in showing 100 year old films um he's really great he's a good friend of mine uh anyways uh he did a touring show where he found student films of john carpenter of uh several uh known directors who became real directors and he did a show of their early horror works and it was phenomenal i mean it was you know some of it wasn't great but you got to see kind of like a lot of these students cutting their teeth on these things likewise george lucas's film student film the thx 1138 blah blah blah i can't remember the total thing but that beginning student project film that that became a uh sorry that became a um you know feature film that belongs to usc and they can um license it out and rent it out for people to show um and that kind of helps keep the film program going um really fascinating uh to see that and so yeah for filmmakers who turned into something maybe you can say like yeah i'd love to see their student film but for people who later graduated and are working in insurance maybe not so much so anyways that's the thing about student films and so you saw one and you had the reaction that many people have um so i have set up on the telecini kind of an interesting thing you know being an av geek i love films about film and this uh next film is um [Music] it's interesting because it introduces a technology um i'm typing in the name of it because it doesn't really have a name it introduces a technology for something that dino everett actually found a machine that it's called an evr and it was this way it was kind of like an early it pretended like it was an early vcr in that it was basically a machine that had a built-in camera telecini then there were there was a strip of film that had two tracks on it um and it was sprocketless so it was like a capstan like rubber wheels would move it through and you could have alternate programming you could have part one part two they did a weird way to do color um and i got i found one on on i found this film on ebay and was fascinated by it but then i actually found one of the ebr reels and uh just send it to dino because um you know he's he's got a working machine or at least it was working back in the day um and uh so this is kind of a fascinating look at a failed technology all right enjoy eva evr demonstration film so uh [Music] that's it hold it fine what you see here is a standard television receiver exactly like you have in your home of business however there is a complete difference because you are about to view a communications technique that'll do many startling things such as this and this and yes even this hi i'm bob hill representing columbia broadcasting systems electronic video recording division i want to thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule to view evr it gives me a particular pleasure to bring to you this new communication system this particular system has captured the imagination of everyone who has seen it perform there are three basic components that go to make up evr the evr cartridge which i hold here in my hand the evr player and a standard home television receiver and in that order i would like to give you a brief summary as to how they all mesh together to make cbs evr the communications system that it is let's start first if i may with the cartridge the evr cartridge is very small and compact it is seven inches in diameter two thirds of an inch thick and contains 750 feet of film [Music] there are 180 000 individual picture frames here on this film format that i'm directing your attention to evr is broken down into two channels a channel a and a channel b both of these channels contain 25 minutes of running time therefore you have 50 minutes of playing time on two monochrome channels 25 minutes on each track [Music] now there are no sprocket holes in the evr format unlike other films which prolongs the life of the product there is a magnetic sound stripe down the perimeter of the film on both tracks you can program independently each channel if one desired now in our processing facilities in rockleigh new jersey we can accept the following formats for conversion to evr 35 millimeter 16 millimeter videotape one inch and videotape two inch all can be converted to one communications medium and that being evr now why don't we move over to the player and see the rest of our system the evr player is compact and completely portable built under the lid of the player itself is a handle for portability located on the right hand side of the evr player is a simple control panel in operating the evr player one simply lifts up the lid of the player [Music] places the cartridge over the spindle and locks it in place it's done automatically you press the play button and you transmit a signal to the television receiver you noticed how simple it was to load the product into the player itself for it threads automatically through the player you're viewing evr in a well-lit room and examine if you will the high-resolution tv image on the screen itself [Music] your face is your fortune and her future understand evr in the installation of the system itself is extremely simple all one needs is a thin dime so you have a lead that comes out of the back of the evr player that goes direct to the antenna terminals of any standard television receiver and i'm sure you recall my doing it earlier in the program [Music] now evr can be used in a one-to-one situation by that i mean one evr player to one television receiver or you can use this evr player for five television receivers 10 or 20. or for that matter you can feed this into a standard catv and master antenna distribution system now let's take a look at some of the real unique features of evr and makes it one of the most exciting communication systems that there is today first of all the still frame capability i have selected one of the 180 000 frames that i showed you earlier in our film format and i have selected that particular frame at my own election [Music] now built into the face of the player itself is a crawl mechanism that allows us the freedom to be able to go frame by frame through the entire cartridge 180 000 frames now think if you will for a moment this could be a page in the book a diagram a bit of information [Music] for example if you were moving too quickly in a classroom situation or a teaching situation of any type you could go in reverse or you can scroll as fast as one desired so what i'm pointing out to you here is the storage capability of an evr cartridge is almost limitless because you've got 180 000 bits of information contained in a small seven inch cartridge [Music] now not only can we go frame by frame but we can go from track to track from one channel to the next channel and if you recall earlier we showed you mission impossible which you're viewing now and then we showed you robert frost on another track very slowly i will go to the other track and show you robert frost and i mentioned if you recall that you could program independently as you're viewing here we have robert frost on one track and we have mission impossible on another track what this could be is an english program and this could be french this could be the question [Music] this could be your answer this could be your 1969 line of automobiles [Music] and here is your 1970 line complete flexibility from track to track you can activate the player and continue on the other track of one desires where the thought comes in the force comes in the wild force my friendship lately in washington has been very strange to me it's blended into and i'm very much [Music] i am now going to place the player in the stop mode [Music] i'm doing this so i can explain the very next feature with the evr system and that's the ability of to seek out other information further into the cartridge built into the player is a fast forward and a fast reverse by pressing the fast forward button i activate the player you'll see nothing on the television screen but i will seek out additional information or programming material whatever the case might be i then stop the player activate the machine and we're well into the cartridge mighty contiguity of shade that's fun isn't it you know we're taught that they're going to change to the you can not only go forward but you can go in reverse at your own election you can recall as much information as you desire as frequently as you desire and at your own pace well the player is in motion if one desired you can still go from track to track [Music] yes this is an older's handwriting why would he plan something like that without letting one of us know [Music] my husband was always i'm going to press the stop button for one moment to make another point and to show you another feature when the player is in the still mode there's absolutely no audio whatsoever let me do it and show you again the importance of this feature in a teaching situation this allows you the teacher the instructor the sales manager or whomever the opportunity to interject one's own personality and bring that subject forth i might add and you probably already noticed this evr is completely silent you are not competing with a 16 millimeter projector or any other type of mechanical device nor am i lowering the house lights or setting up a 40x40 screen you're viewing a program on a television receiver that's common to everyone but does it matter why he did it what could work into our plans better in order to rewind our programming material you never have to touch the product you simply press the stop button and the rewind button it is all done automatically within the evi player you simply open up the lid reach in to the well and remove the evr cartridge which was the program that you were just viewing completely sealed and ready for library use evr offers you the complete freedom of choice doing what you want when you want it and as often as you like i thank you and hope you've enjoyed our demonstration of evr a development of the columbia broadcasting systems laboratories [Music] sorry i was rewinding a film um so uh let me tell you what i think is wrong with that product the biggest thing that is wrong with that product is whenever you had that medium shot of him looking at the deck it said right above him video recording and that was not video recording that machine did not do any type of recording at all zero that was a playback machine so one it's playback two it plays back on video but it's really playing film so that's another big problem three you know for so for you to release something on this so the idea is you would have to shoot this on film or something would have somehow be shot on film then you'd have to send it to these cbs people for them to format it a certain way so it would be released on these specially proprietary things um which could only be played back on this proprietary other thing and what a horrible idea that was because you know if you shot something on film you could take it to pretty much any film lab in any city they could process it and make a 16 millimeter or eight millimeter film that you could show on a projector that most of which you could buy like locally or by its sears or whatever um and not have to go through any of the rigmarole of cbs or any of that so that was a doomed format and the whole idea like well you can still well you can still run a lot of projectors well you could have alternative programming like alternative language well if you have sound stripes you can have two languages but yeah you can't have visually alternative but who cares so um it's an amazing film that documents something that just failed just was a bad idea like somebody was like ooh this is great but to call it uh electronic video recording it's just that was the first failure right there and in fact i have a i collect um audiovisual hippie uh books from the late 60s and early 70s and they have one of the books has a whole chapter about how misleading and how horrible this idea is and then of course so sony introduced their eiaj open reel uh half inch open reel um deck which was like a camcorder and then you had like a like a bag that had the actual deck on it super heavy uh and that was really one of the first grassroots you can record something and play back on a tv the first real recording thing um and that came probably three years later two years later um but wow i'm happy i have that film um and happy to show it to you i'm proud to have that film speaking of uh television this next film is uh by rca and it talks about the story of television and it's uh it's like 20 some minutes long but it's beautiful beautifully shot footage then at some point it turns to beautiful kodachrome or technicolor color so here's story of television [Music] the signature of every century has been its skyline the very ancient the old the medieval the modern [Music] imprints of man's never-ending path of progress silhouetted against the ageless canvas of the sky our day our times our signature our skyline metal fingers beckoning to the invisible calling to sound the ear cannot hear and sight beyond the range of the unaided eye our era the era of television the dream of television had persisted for centuries the human eye is a miraculous instrument perceptive sensitive forever tuned to the pulsating wavelengths of light yet the eye is hemmed in by horizons it cannot see over a hillside or beyond the haze of distance to extend the range of human eyesight man developed marvelously sensitive instruments [Music] binoculars giant telescopes to probe the furthest span of space [Music] but always there were barriers distance could man fling pictures to the sky and gather them in at a distant point it was a provoking challenge and nowhere did the challenge provoke more unending experiment and research than at rca as far back as the 1920s two men took up this challenge they shared the irresistible dream of television david sarnoff chairman of the board of rca dr vladimir khan honorary vice president and technical consultant of rca doctor's working every now and then i like to put the calendar back and uh remember another important occasion when you came to my office you were a good salesman and i was a good dreamer we talked about broadcasting moving images by electronics and i remember that i asked you what it would cost to develop an all-electronic television system do you recall your estimate because i remember i asked something like hundred thousand dollars your estimate missed by quite a bit it cost rca more than 50 million dollars to create develop and introduce america's first all-electronic television system and since that time as you know rca has spent another 70 million dollars to pioneer and develop the compatible color television system but how well that money was spent we succeeded in extending human sight and far beyond the horizon yes this is wonderful thing about television the extension of our site you are better acquainted with this progress general and anyone because of your participation and leadership in so many phases of television development it was nearly 30 years ago when i came to your office with that tube the first eye of television yes i well remember it nearly 30 years ago and what a great invention this tube has become it certainly has fulfilled its destiny well general this is the grandfather of the pickup tube do you want to see the newest grandchild well i'm all for grandchildren let's have a look at it well here it is well it certainly looks very interesting what do you expect this grandchild to do well that's what we call furniture vidicon and i hope even sure it will replace all the existing pickup tubes for all the purposes well that's very interesting and certainly very promising because what we need to do is to reduce the size and the cost of these components so that television color television both at the transmitting and the receiving end may be within the reach of everyone that is my hope the turning point came in 1923 when doctors worrican invented the iconoscope this tube after years of further development became the image orthicon the electronic eye of the modern television camera [Music] in 1929 dr zwariken and his associates announced the first successful electronic kinescope forerunner of today's television picture tube [Music] the circuit was complete all electronic television was achieved it worked how the lens of the television camera acts like the iris of the human eye it gathers in the light rays and focuses them on a mosaic of light sensitive material that is built into the picture tube the light sensitive material converts the light into electrical impulses a reaction varying with the strength of the light the optic nerve of the camera picture tube is the electron beam controlled by electromagnets the beam scans the picture which is on the plate in rapid sweeping motions from side to side from top to bottom when the beam hits the image it loses varying amounts of electrons and then bounces back to the opposite end of the picture tube where it is amplified millions of times it is led off to the transmitter in the form of electric current the signals are broadcast as radio impulses into space [Music] heart of the receiving set is the kinescope here the action is reversed [Music] the stream of electrons synchronized perfectly with those of the camera tube literally paints the picture information on a chemically treated screen line by line the glow is bright when the beam is strong less bright when it is weak thus the picture is reassembled [Music] 1931 atop the empire state building the national broadcasting company a service of rca erected the transmitting antenna for experimental television station w2 xbs [Music] now rca's technicians and scientists tackled the next goal improvement of picture quality hitherto using a mechanical process the best that could be transmitted was a crude signal of 60 scanning lines rca turned to the new science of electronics discarded the mechanical spinning disc and soon doubled tripled in the scanning lines now television was really on its way in 1937 television strode out of the studio with mobile vans developed by rca and nbc versatile self-sustaining new eyes new vision for the world a man could sit at home yet his eyes could scan the countryside a bright new era dawning a new dimension in communications distance reduced to microwaves walls barriers mountains erased television the ultimate triumph in man's search for sight beyond the range of the human eye [Music] 1939 television is ready to make its official public debut the setting could hardly be more perfect the new york world's fair its theme the world of tomorrow and the world of tomorrow became the world of today the rca exhibit building where on april 29 1939 david sarnoff stated we have added radio sight to sound nbc cameras probed explored scrutinized viewers watching the 3 000 television sets then in new york saw the first president ever televised franklin d roosevelt officially opening the world of tomorrow [Music] via television the viewers toured with the king and queen of england through pavilion and midway day by day television produced new adventures new vistas new excitement new thrills nbc presented the first baseball game ever televised august 1939 1940 the nerve tingling drama of a national political convention the first ever televised philadelphia and new york were knit together by the electronic miracle of television radio relays pioneered by rca and the telephone company coaxial cables wiped out the horizon as the far limit of telecasting still in the trial and error stage television began studying its own future as a tremendous new medium of entertainment the first programs were simple unpretentious proving grounds for technicians cameramen directors writers and performers slowly the know-how was gained bit by bit creative imagination began to give form and substance to the new art form called television [Music] 1941 a fateful year war and the beginning of a four-year blackout for commercial tv and television enlisted for the duration research went forward at war temple at rca's david sarnoff research center princeton new jersey 24-hour shifts explored every corner of the new world of electronics [Music] rca electronic scientists and engineers made important contributions to the development of radar [Music] sonar for submarine detection the sniper scope that made it possible to see a target in darkness thus the progress of perhaps a peacetime decade was compressed into four short years 1945 the war over after four years of unparalleled war effort denial sacrifice the american public hungry for the rewards of peace and television with its promise of endless hours of enjoyment entertainment was part of the peacetime dream [Music] rca although by far the leading producer of television sets and television tubes realized that the future health of the industry required the vital bloodline of competition so in a move without precedent in american industrial history it opened its blueprints to licensed competitors this was the shot in the arm the industry needed television came of age in the nbc studios the cameramen lighting experts set designers writers directors were experiencing studying learning the new techniques of a great new medium [Music] programming was better more varied more entertaining [Music] 1949 an historic television first a presidential inauguration as harry truman took the oath the event was carried over the 16 city nbc television network extending from washington north to boston and west to st louis television was moving with giant strides and in less than half a dozen years a flip of a switch in master control could send the television image coast to [Music] coast a dynamic industry employing more than a million television an unparalleled blending of science and art invention and engineering private incentive and public service by television american business has found the most effective advertising medium and in turn advertising has provided the resources that sustain the standards of programming and permit the never-ending research that is the heart of the television industry television servicing alone has become a major industry employing nearly 100 000 people [Music] yes in little more than a wink of time television has entered our homes our lives imprinted new silhouettes on our skyline and all this has been just the beginning there was still another dream to be realized still another dimension to be added black and white television had been the herald it put millions of tv sets into our homes built hundreds of tv stations created an industry an art a public service an exhilarating component of our american way of life provided the foundation for the next giant step forward color this is a world of color and the men of television long dreamed of capturing the full paint part of nature and brushing it on the screen how could it be done it was not an easy triumph as general sarnoff recalls when we first began to think of television in the early twenties we would have been content if only the rose could have been televised in black and white that miracle had no sooner been achieved when the eye sensitive to color observed that the rose and monochrome lacked its true beauty and the cry went up for color never had scientists been put under such pressure and demand it has been my privilege and a fascinating experience to watch the scientists and work on color television i marvel at their accomplishment in bringing into focus the principles of radio optics electronics photography chemistry and many other essentials so that they might all work together to make color television practical i congratulate the rca scientists and engineers who pioneered and developed this new science and art and then created the compatible color television system and the famed color picture tube color [Music] color the touchstone of reality the vivid pulsating miracle that gives substance to shadows beauty grace and enchantment to a picture problem how to harness a stream of electrons for color early general sarnoff has set forth the fundamental goals for color television first it must be all electronic second it must be completely compatible these were the goals [Music] the road was long difficult but it led to one of the historic inventions of our times the rca tri-color television tube the tube with a heart of a rainbow the lens of the color television camera collects light rays in full color from the scene being televised [Music] within the camera an ingenious system of mirrors breaks down the light rays into television's three primary colors blue green and red they are focused through the lens system to the special camera tubes provided for each primary color and the primary color signals thus produced are simultaneously processed for transmission [Music] by the miracle of compatibility color programs can be seen on standard black and white sets without any change or adjustment [Applause] color receivers which can also pick up standard black and white broadcasts decode the color information and apply the picture in all its vivid beauty to the tri-color tube the world of color color captivates attention and brings the beauty of creation close to home [Music] color transforms the common place into the beautiful it makes the hum drum memorable gives new power to advertising and merchandising color the fabric of the rainbow riding piggyback on an invisible stream of electrons the tournament of roses in pasadena california telecast in color by 21 stations of the nbc network in the first west to east transmission in color on new year's day [Music] 1954. [Music] all the glory all the reality of nature [Music] with the added dimension of color television programming probed new horizons once again technicians and artists accepted the challenge in an incredibly short time they had devised the techniques to integrate color into television programming an old word took on new color new meaning spectacular an adjective made over into a noun spectacular the finest in television programming into the home came the greatest in drama such as the four poster starring hume cronin and jessica tandy [Music] the list of spectaculars continues to grow to imposing proportions an entirely new adventure in entertainment for the american public for compatible all electronic color television pioneered and developed by rca is counted as one of the outstanding scientific and artistic triumphs of the 20th century it has added a new dimension to the entertainment arts and has intensified television as a social and educational force mobile units in a coat of many colors transmit outdoor color telecasts adding new sparkle and new buoyancy to television coverage of great sporting events the first world series ever color televised 1955. [Music] [Applause] [Music] another color television first the davis cup matches [Music] 1955. [Music] football the youngest art form the easiest understood the liveliest the brightest television in full and captivating color for i dipped into the future far as human eye can see saw the visions of the future and all the wonders that would be [Music] one day through television the entire world will stream into our living rooms with a velocity of light [Music] not too far beyond the horizons international television to span oceans capture all the vivid beauty of far lands find people of all nations tied together by better understanding better knowledge through instantaneous communication of sight and sound [Music] motion color vibrancy people in the twinkling of an eye it is caught by the lens of the color television camera transmitted by invisible waves to all points of the compass atop a million homes antennas pluck the pictures from the sky and by a flick of a switch or the turn of a dial the scene reappears on the television screen to perform the split-second magic with true fidelity of color of sound of reality this is the wonder of color television compatible color television and historic example of rca's continuing efforts to open new horizons of electronics for living electronics that make life happier easier and safer television truly the miracle that has put its signature on our century wow such a great film um so this reminds me of another film i have in my collection which is called american road which is made by ford motor company uh and most of that film shows early it's like footage of uh henry ford driving around with uh other folks kind of camping and exploring the united states then about for manufacturing and assembly lines and stuff like that then there was a color segment at the end and the color segment was always highlighting like whatever new ford uh cars were available that year and so i have at least two copies of american road where the color section is actually different um and it's the way they did is really cool so it shows there's this footage of an old car going through a tunnel and then it goes black so the screen goes black and then it comes up and the brand new car comes out of the tunnel in its color so it's like this you know wizard of oz transitioning into the world of oz and the magical this is now exciting um and of course they've all faded red but uh so they they end up go through a tunnel end up in hell of the late 60s and early 70s um but at one point i was trying to compile a bunch of those because the pro-link archives also have a copy of it and they have a different color thing as well so i might still do that i think i have three copies of american road by this point uh anyways thanks everybody for tuning in today uh i mentioned in the comments um that we are looking for uh shot listers what that means is that a lot of the some of the footage that we process in our scanning from our collection but also from other collectors collections we've been clipping up and we've been selling on stock footage sites like we have a site archivalclips.com but also pond5 shutterstock those are places that we've been selling clips and then we basically uh if a clip sales and it belongs to a collector then we cut them in on the revenue a little bit but in order to do this we need people to watch the clips and come up with descriptions and keywords and they have to be formatted a certain way and they have to be a certain number of keywords and all that stuff so anyways we have a good team but every once in a while uh somebody gets a new job or they move or they can't do it so um we're looking for a couple more um shot blister people so uh you can shot lists for dollars now it's not enough to live off of but it's you know good beer money or pizza money or whatever um so email me at av geeks gmail.com if you're interested in that and i have a little test that you'll take and i'll give you a sense of what the work would be like and all that um other ways you can support support evie geeks is buy his coffee as somebody noted when i um was in another room when the film ended uh sometimes i'm not as sharp and on it when i don't have enough coffee so um your coffee would will help make it won't help when i show student film because that's always gonna happen um you know no amount of caffeine is going to change how bad a student film is uh you can also go to avgeeks.com and uh see previous shows that we've done and buy dvds uh just kind of see like we've been doing because there's a whole lot more stuff out there um and another way you can help av geeks is just by telling the world that you like amy geeks you can go like in whatever you're watching this in you can hit subscribe uh there's a notification bell i think in youtube commenting of course we love your comments and love to see you processing and also looking things up on wikipedia that's great that kind of contributes to why we show these films so people can get more information and learn more about what we're watching it becomes actually educational um and then also sharing this with other people that you think would dig it that's what it's about it's trying to get a lot of eyeballs on stuff so thanks again everybody uh we will be back again tomorrow on is that wednesday who knows coffee would tell me um but uh please rewind and love each other and you know love yourself as part of that um things are slowly getting better but they're also getting hotter and grosser uh and you know there's a lot of anxiety still out in the world so take care of yourself and take care of your loved ones and people near you because we're all on edge um but uh yeah we'll see you tomorrow everybody take care have a good rest of your tuesday bye six five four three eight seven six five four three eight seven six five