[Frameworks] Quo Vadis Celluloid?

[Steven Gladstone]

On 8/23/11 5:08 AM, Pip Chodorov Quoted:
> "The problem with old film projectors and most
> consumer Digital projectors is that they can only
> show an image half of the time, and the other
> half of the time one would be shown black. It's
> the 'black' time that causes the flicker. If
> there is no 'black' time there will be no
> flicker, no matter what the frame rate is. Think
> of the sunŠ its essentially 0 fps, and has no
> flicker. "


I'm going to throw in my own thoughts on Flicker:
1. From what I've been told by experts - 24 hz display is possible, and 
has been for a while, but it is apparently unwatchable because of the 
flicker. 48 hz seems to be the minimum acceptable refresh rate to watch.

As far as DLP goes, from what it has been explained to me, the little 
tiny micro mirrors shift about 10 degrees of oscillation, so they are 
never really OFF, the screen is never really dark. The "second 
generation" or the DARK CHIP DLP chips were supposed to go darker when 
"off" and give deeper blacks. I have a 50 inch DLP TV, and I love the 
picture quality - better in my mind to LCD, and almost extinct for home 
use do to market forces.

The double or triple bladed shutter used in film projection is there to 
minimize/reduce our perception of flicker - essentially providing either 
48 or 72 images per second. With shorter black periods, we don't 
consciously notice the flicker as much if at all.

I feel that it is the "Magic between the frames" where cinema happens. I 
blogged about it a while ago -http://indiekicker.reelgrok.com/?p=112 - I 
have no real proof, just my gut feeling about this - plus what I was 
taught way back, when I was in college.

Thanks for the discussion, it is all interesting, but kind of moot. 
Technology moves on, and one can either adapt or not.



-- 
Steven Gladstone
New York Based Cinematographer
Gladstone films
Blog - http://indiekicker.reelgrok.com/
http://www.blakehousemovie.com
http://www.gladstonefilms.com
917-886-5858