To explain this situation, we ask ourselves, “Why do people move fast in old movies?” We asked the question and tried to explain it to you in the simplest way.
Let’s find out what the leading movie stars of their time such as Charlie Caplin and Buster Keaton were the reasons for moving fast in their films.
It all started with the demonstration of the Lumiere Brothers on December 28, 1895 in Paris with their device called “cinematograph”.
This movie, which went down in history as the first cinema screening titled “The Arrival of a Train to La Ciotat Station”, was a 55-second production shot at 15 frames. The 33 people in the hall were so enthralled while watching this movie that they watched this show in horror, thinking that a train was actually coming on them.
As in the example above, the productions in the early periods of cinema generally did not have any subject. People passing through the square, presenting sections from daily life, etc. Short documentary-like videos were made in areas with high crowds, such as
Well, with this trend started by the Lumiere Brothers, new film producers started to take their place in the market. The speed of the films made in this period was not standardized as they were made by different producers. In addition, as the film rolls were manually rotated, human factors such as slow and fast turning also affected the speed of the films.
Fixing the speed of the film, which was fluctuating due to technical impossibilities, to a standard number began to be regulated with the development of technology and the emergence of electric converters.
The thing that determines the speed of the movies is the concept of FPS (Frames Per Second).
For example, the movie of the Lumiere Brothers was at 15 FPS, which means that we will see 15 frames per second. In the early days, cameras could shoot 10 frames per second, and with the development of this technology, it went up to 18 and became the standard.
This continued, with exceptions, until the end of the 1920s. Until this period, movies were always shot silently, and the 18 FPS standard was therefore not exceeded. In addition, 18 frames per second is the minimum number of frames that preserves the permanence of vision for the viewer, that is, ensures that the image does not come intermittently.
With the start of the sound film trend, that would have to change.
Because 24 frames per second were needed to get a good sound in good quality and in sync with the movie. Why do you say 24 FPS; A movie playing at 24 frames per second feels like the natural flow of life. By switching to the 24 FPS standard, a smoother and clearer image was also provided.
Now let’s come to the answer to our main question. Why do people move fast in old movies?
When movies are shot at 24 frames per second, the resulting image provides a satisfying fluidity and continuity for the eye. At less than 24 frames per second, the eye begins to feel the interruptions between images slightly, and 18 FPS is the limit, as we said above.
To explain with an example; If a 16 FPS recording is displayed at today’s standard 24 FPS, 16 frames are compressed to 0.67 seconds, which takes a full second. This causes a 1.5 second image to be displayed in approximately 1 second. In other words, if the images shot with low FPS are shown at 24 FPS, it causes the people in the movie to feel like they are moving fast for us.
Let’s end our article by giving an example of low FPS close to today.
The opening scene of the Mad Max: Fury Road movie you see above was deliberately recorded at 24 FPS. If you watch after the 2nd minute of the video, you can understand this difference more clearly. Director George Miller used this method because he wanted to make the viewer feel as anxious as the main character Max.
Source: inploid, How Yahu, FilMhakika
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