Screen Texture

We are presenting a continuing series to explain what effects, phenomenon, and peculiarities one should look for in evaluating the quality of a home movie film conversion and transfer to DVD. These considerations are applicable to regular 8mm, Super 8mm, as well as 16mm film conversion and transfers. The consumer does not have to be an expert but merely needs to know some key elements to be aware of. There are many service providers that will perform these services with varying degrees of excellent quality. However, it only makes sense to do some homework first so that you can avoid others which might give you disappointing results.

In this third installment we will examine screen texture.

One method of doing film transfer is to project the film image onto a screen or other appropriate surface and then capture a video of what appears on the screen. If done improperly the video camera will capture the texture of the screen together with the movie film image. When this effect is present it is easiest to identify when the movie film does a slow or moderate pan from one scene to the next. If present, the screen texture will remain stationary during the pan making it easy to identify. The casual observer might conclude that the original movie camera operator did not properly clean the movie camera’s lens or filter. The texture that you observe, however, is sharply defined meaning that it could not have been part of the original footage.

Please look for additional posts where we will discuss still other considerations relating to home movie film conversion and transfer to DVD. And also please remember that at W. Cardone Productions we are among the top service providers treating your family treasures with the respect they deserve.