The Hidden Soundtrack

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Cinema For Thurso Group

The Hidden Soundtrack

Post by Cinema For Thurso Group »

So there I was taking about the ways in which information is gathered and
then I remembered a film where these cops were steaking out some geezer for
some reason. They were trying to find out who the villian was in cahoots
with and whilst on surveylance they filmed the bloke on silent super 8.
Now this left them with a dilema because they couldn't get close enough
to find out what was being said or to record it. So then they came up with
a brilliant idea which in a way is like color separation films where the
image hasn't any color until it is shown thru respective filters but the
information is hidden.
Of course the cops weren't interested in color, they just wanted to know
what was being said by the men on the film so they called in a lip-reading
expert to tell them. As a result they got the answers they needed.

One thing always vexed me about my grandads. Aside from one passing away
the year before I was born and the other 8 months after I was born, well
I never got to see or hear them. Knowing that there was once a recording
of on reel to reel tapes of my mum's dad, it is unfortunate that having scoured
the tapes collection I have found many voices from the past but none are
my mum's dad.
Of my dad's dad, well he was an electrical retailer and optician. He also
did photographic processing in his shop and used to hire cine films to show
the kids. However all there is today are mostly monochrome stills which are
nice to have but it would have been nicer to have had some cine footage.
It is surprising to me that his interest in technology of the day never took
him into shooting movie film of anything else nevermind himself. Isn't it
sad that he never left any recordings of his voice or his music on reel to
reel. None the less a silent movie would have gone a long way to find out
more directly what he was like as a person. I have heard many complimentary
reports but just to have seen and heard for myself!
So where am I going with this. Well it has always interested me when watching
old home movie footage as to what the people were like in reel life. To some
extent a movie which shows their mannerisms and so forth is very revealing
but it could be possible to draw something more out of old silent movies
and this is where a lip-reading person would be extremly useful.
All home movies will include shots of people speaking as the camera films
them and very often this happens in close-up. To be able read what the person
is saying from the film can provide an insight as to the interests, concerns
and nature of the people at that time. It might also reveal forgotten names
of people in the footage or on other family photographs. Any shot of a person
speaking is a Hidden Soundtrack and it is perhaps worth considering finding
out what is being said. It may result in bits of unfinished sentences but
wouldn't it be nice to know.
Something to think about!
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