1. Understanding Video Technology
Unit 21- Understanding Video Technology

2. Still / Moving Image
• Moving image has it’s root in still photography…
Still image…
Moving image…

3. The Beginnings
• The 1880s was a time of
advancement, invention and
enterprise in the world of
moving images
• Several factions from around
the globe were working on
new and innovative type of
technology which attempted
to capture and project
moving images
• Until this time, photography
had been the sole method of
recording actual ‘real life’
‘View from the window at Le Gras’
circa 1828
‘Boulevard du Temple’ 1839

4. Thomas Edison
• Thomas Edison patented the caveat for
the Kinetoscope in 1888 stating that it
would ‘do for the eye what the
phonograph does for the ear’
• He charged on of his assistants,
photography expert William Kennedy
Laurie Dickson, with the task of inventing
the Kinetoscope
• By 1891, after a couple of prototypes had
been made and tested, the Kinetograph
(the camera) and the Kinetoscope had
been patented
• The 1891 patent used 35mm film which,
until recently was still widely used today

5. The Kinetoscope
• 18 in. x 27 in. x 4 ft. high
• peephole with magnifying lenses in the top
• Inside the box the film, in a continuous
band of approximately 50 feet, was
arranged around a series of spools.
• A large, electrically driven sprocket wheel at
the top of the box engaged corresponding
sprocket holes punched in the edges of the
film, which was thus drawn under the lens
at a continuous rate.
• Beneath the film was an electric lamp, and
between the lamp and the film a revolving
shutter with a narrow slit.
• As each frame passed under the lens, the
shutter permitted a flash of light so brief
that the frame appeared to be frozen.
• This rapid series of apparently still frames
appeared, thanks to the persistence of
vision phenomenon, as a moving image.

6. The Lumiere Brothers
• Father, Antoine was a
photographer and successful
businessman
• In 1984, Antione was invited to a
demonstration of Edison’s
Peephole Kinetoscope in Paris
• He presented his son Louis with
a piece of Kinetoscope film, given
to him by one of Edison’s
concessionaires and said, "This is
what you have to make, because
Edison sells this at crazy prices
and the concessionaires are
trying to make films here in
France to have them cheaper”.
Augustine and Louis Lumiere

7. The Lumiere Brothers cont…
Augustine and Louis Lumiere
• Through 1894, attempts were
made to replicate and improve
Edison’s Kinetoscope design
• They considered Edison’s
Kinetograph flawed because it
was too bulky and was resigned
to the studio
• And they thought Kinetoscope
was limited as only one person
could view the moving images at
any one point
• In1895, the Lumiere Brothers
painted the lighter (5kg) and
quieter Cinematograph

8. In England…
• The first single lens motion picture
camera was patented in Leeds, by
French-born Louis Aime Augustin Le
Prince in 1888
• The first films were made on a
sensitised paper roll a little over 2
inches wide
• Prince started commercial
development of his motion picture
camera in early 1890 with an
updated version
• He arranged for a demonstration to
M. Mobisson, the Secretary of the
Paris Opera
Lous Aime Augustin Le
Prince

9. In England…
• On September 16 1890, Prince
boarded a train at Dijon bound for
Paris with his motion picture camera
and films
• He never arrived in Paris. No trace of
Prince or his motion picture camera
were ever found. The mystery was
never solved…
• However, the first moving pictures
developed on celluloid film were
made in Hyde Park in 1889 by
William Friese Greene, a British
inventor, who patented the process
in 1890
William Friese Greene

10. In England…
• In 1895, a pair of Greek showmen, George Georgiades and
his partner George Tragides, were at the centre of a row with
the already powerful American Edison company
• The pair originally purchased six Kinetoscopes from Edison,
forming the American Kinetoscope Company and opened
Kinetoscopes at several locations in London, amongst them
The Strand and Old Broad Street
• They wanted to expand but machinery was rare and
expensive
• The Greek pair decided to make their own version with the
help of R. W. Paul who owned an optical instrument works
• Edison did not have a patented for his Kinetoscope in the
UK…

11. In England…
• Once the pirate Kinetoscopes were made, Edison refused to
sell films for Paul’s machines, so Paul approached Birt Acres
to help construct a camera to shoot their own films
• They obtained film from the American Celluloid Co. of
Newark, N.J. and started filming their own with American
born cinema pioneer Birt Acres as the cameraman
• Over the next few years, William Friese-Green, undertook
extensive research and advanced the creation of British
cameras
• Unfortunately his technology was not successfully
incorporated into any practical application
• Friese-Green's most bitter opponent was ex-hypnotist, mind
reader and showman George Albert Smith

12. In England…
• Smith is thought by many to be the
real driving force behind the early
cinema industry
• In 1892, Smith acquired the lease to
St Ann's Well Garden in Hove,
Brighton and turned it into a pleasure
garden
• The garden became his ‘film factory'
and is the scene of many early films
• In 1897 Smith turned the garden's
pump house into a space for
developing and printing and in the
grounds, probably in 1899, he built a
'glasshouse' film studio
George Albert Smith

13. Lower-class Entertainment
• Once a reliable form of projection was
discovered, establishments began
showing early films, such as The
Great Train Robbery (1903)
• These were mostly converted shop
fronts called Nickelodeons
• So called because admission was 5c
(a nickel)
• In its inaugural years, film was seen
as a entertainment for the lower
classes, for those who couldn’t afford
to watch stage plays
• Only failed stage actors would star in
film and they remained anonymous

14. D.W. Griffith
• Kentucky born DW Griffith
was a failed stage actor who
start acting in Edison Film
Company films in 1907
• Started directing in 1908
after a member of staff
called in sick
• He made 60 films in 1908
• In 1909, he made over 100
• Who do you think was the
most important person on a
set at this time?D.W. Griffith

15. Edison’s Cartel
• In 1908 Edison attempted
to exploit his filmic
invention by charging
companies per foot of film
• Anyone suspected of
exhibiting a non-Edison
production had their
equipment smashed
• Biograph Pictures, started
by William Dickson, who
actually invented the
Kineoscope paid Edison for
the right to make films
William Dickson

16. From NY To Hollywood
• Many of the smaller companies
suffered at the hands of
Edison’s financial demands
• They were also having
equipment broke by Edison’s
‘trust member’ for not
forwarding him any funds
• So, en mass, several directors
headed a safe distance away,
pitching up in South California
• DW Griffith was one of the first
directors to head over to
Hollywood

17. How TV images are created?
• Video images are
made up of
hundreds of lines
• The process is so
quick however,
that the human
eye simple sees a
unified picture
• Think of picture
being put through
a shredder – the
result would be a
picture, in lots of
lines

18. Television Standards
Q: How many lines are scanned for UK standard definition?
A: 625
Q: And many time is this process repeated every second?
A: 15
Q: So, how many lines are scanned in one second?
A: 9375
• This is called the Phase Alternating Line system

19. Phase Alternating Line (PAL)
• System developed in the 1950s and unveiled the European
Broadcasting Union in 1963
• Transmits colour images
• Generally refers to the 625 line / 25 frames per second
system
• Used in several European countries such as the UK,
Portugal, Spain, Israel and Eastern Europe

20. National Television Standards
Committee (NTSC)
• NTSC is the television standard for The Americas
• There a 525 lines on a NTSC standard transmission
• The frame rate is 30 frames per second
• This is also what an iPhone records in
• The system was created in 1941

21. Sequential Colour Avec Memoire
(SECAM)
• The first colour transmission system in Europe
• Used in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Russia
• Same amount of lines as PAL (625) and same frame rate
(25 fps)
• However, the colour is transmitted differently to PAL and
NTSC – SECAM transmits colours separately on alternate
lines (red on one, blue on another), therefore the colour
resolution is halved in comparison to PAL and NTSC

22. PAL
PRO
• Has more scan lines so
the pictures have higher
picture detail, higher
levels of contrast and
better colour
reproduction than NTSC
CON
• Lower frame rate means
the picture motion can
appear to flicker more
than 30 frames and
colour saturation can
vary from frame to
frame

23. SECAM
PRO
• The high number of
scan lines means a good
quality picture, the
colour hues are in
constant saturation and
it has stable colour
reproduction
CON
• Like PAL there is more
motion flicker and
Pattern effects seem to
crop up on the picture
from time to time, there
are also many many
variants of SECAM from
country to country a lot
of which are
incompatible with one
another

24. NTSC
PRO
• There is less flicker and
smoother motion in the
video output because of
higher frame rates and
it produces less noise
CON
• The lower number of
scan lines means the
picture isn’t as clear as
PAL and the contrast
level poor. Colour levels
can fluctuate from
frame to frame

25. Standards conversion
• The process of turning one system to another,
usually PAL to NTSC (625 lines / 25fps to 525 lines /
30 fps
• Several complex ways of converting standards
Simplified
• PAL – NTSC: repeat every fifth frame and creating
five additional frames per second
• Reduce the number of lines by 100 lines

26. Film – TV / video
• Film is shot at 24fps
• This means when it is played on PAL systems (25fps)
it will be 4% quicker
• 25fps is 4% quicker than 24 fps
• Check out the running time of Back the Future on
IMDB
• Now check the running time on the DVD on Amazon
• What do you notice?
• What problems do you think this might cause?

27. Film – TV / video
• Film – NTSC poses for of a problem because of the
24fps – 30fps difference (that’s 20%)
• Several complex methods are used to ready film for
NTSC
• The most common way to convert was called the 3:2
pull down technique
• This is when one frame in every six is repeated
• This however causes judder and view anomolies

28. 3:2 Pulldown Technique

29. Film formats
• 35mm – Created by Edison in the late 1800s, still in
use today
• 16mm – Created in the 1920s, grainy and less sharp
• 8mm – 1932, half the price of 16mm
• 65 / 70mm – Used for Imax etc
• Rule of thumb: The larger the film format, the
better the quality, the more expensive the
technology, the bigger and heavier the
equipment

30. Aspect Ratios
• The width and height of an image

31. 4:3 / 1.33:1
• Seen on early TV

32. 16:9 – Widescreen
• Letterboxing occurs with this aspect ratio

33. 2.35:1 – Anamorphic
• Letterboxing occurs with this aspect ratio
• Distortion / oval flaring may occur

34. Considerations of a filmmaker?

35. Word match task…

36. Broadcast systems
• Five main types of
broadcast systems
• Terrestrial TV
• Satellite TV
• Cable TV
• Digital TV
• Internet TV
• In groups, create a
presentation on ONE of
the above broadcast
systems

37. Broadcast systems
• What you need to think about:
• The history of the broadcast system
• How it works
• What are the pros and cons of each broadcast system
• Examples (visual / video examples)
• Each presentation must be at least 10 minutes long
• Prepare for questioning after the presentation