Shifting background in old films (scenes, vhs, action, western)
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I'm probably not going to explain this very well, but perhaps some old movie buffs (and by old I mean movies from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s) will know what I'm talking about.
Tonight I was watching Claude Rains' version of the "Phantom Of The Opera". In some scenes elements of the background appeared to shift slightly back and forth. I have noticed this in many an old movie. What causes it?
If the shot was a glass shot or matte shot, the masked area might move in relation to the action area.
The eye being what it is, the entire image may be moving left and right, but only the background interpreted as moving.
The process of making prints can have a dimensionally distorted film appear to move. (The heat of a projector lamp can permanently emboss a print according to how dense the image is in various areas. I've seen old prints where each individual frame looks like a shallow dish.)
Errors in sprocket pitch or sprocket hole damage can cause film to move in the gate.
I sort of run into this at times with DVDs made from VHS or even the VHS itself while watching it on a flat screen. There is a delay or even a latent image, such as in a close up when someone moves, in the image.
While I don't know if I am correct, I put it down to analog or slower technology being shown an a digital, faster screen.
At first I thought it was in scenes where backgrounds were added in, not in the regular shot. But no, the scene I noticed it in the other day was (as I recall) to people talking with a fireplace in the background (not burning). And the people and things in the foreground were completely stable, but the fireplace was sort of jiggling.
Next time I see it, I'll look for a vid I can post.
I've seen black and white films do that - whole background pieces seem to come apart and shake a little. I don't know technically what causes this, but it probably has to do with resolution or transfer, definitely presentation.
It happens a lot in old westerns. The background moves but the actor doesn't, especially while said actor is "riding" a horse.
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