[net.movies] Reason for 24 fps

twh@mb2c.UUCP (Tim Hitchcock) (06/11/84)

Super 8 cameras (good ones) record sound movies at 18 *OR* 24 fps.

Movement with/without sound  does not look good at 18 fps.

24 fps is too slow, but not as noticeable.

davew@shark.UUCP (Dave Williams) (06/11/84)

 Silent movies were shot at 16 fps which gave a resonably
jitter free picture. When sound recording came along it was
found that the optical sound system could not record a sound
above 4500-5000 Hertz because of the size of the film grain.
While this would be good enough for speech, it was not good
enough for music and sound effects. The film speed was increased
to 90 feet per minute (24 fps) to get better sound response.
Optically recorded sound tracks generally begin rolling off
at 7000 Hertz. It was found that this was an acceptable
number as many of the movie houses of the time had very
poor acoustics and higher frequency response only added
to the problem. Many of the movie houses were long and
narrow (They were called shooting galleries) and standing
wave problems were common. When stereophonic sound recorded
on magnetic film came out in the fifties many of these
problems resurfaced and the theaters either had to do
some acoustic treatment to their facilities or roll off
the sound at about 7-8000 Hz. Incidently magnetic film
is the correct term as it was either magnetically striped
35 mm prints or a seperate 35 mm acetate film base coated
with magnetic material. The sound track was run through
a special playback unit sync'd up with the projector.