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Poster: Rick Prelinger Date: Sep 3, 2013 6:18pm
Forum: prelinger Subject: Re: Videos with black raster cut-outs

These are A&B rolls -- master materials for films where we do not have prints. We're uploading them in the interest of making as much material available to the public as we can.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-roll):

"The term B-roll originates from the method of 16 mm film production from an original camera negative. Frames of workprint and of original negative are matched exactly through the use of edge numbers that appeared on each frame of original and work print. But the original was not strung together in a simple linear fashion as was the work print. Instead, the original was edited in a "checkerboard" pattern, with each shot synchronized to an equal length of opaque leader on a second roll. These "A and B" rolls functioned equally to make blind splices, fades, and dissolves possible. Each roll was printed separately onto a single roll of raw stock to produce projection prints.[1] The process is described in the 1982 edition of the "Recommended Procedures" of the Association of Cinema and Video Laboratories, and in the classic text, Film and its techniques.[2]"

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Poster: spuder Date: Sep 4, 2013 11:25pm
Forum: prelinger Subject: Re: Videos with black raster cut-outs

Thanks Rick, that makes perfect sense.
Also explains why many of these look so good as they are originals or at least first copies.
It would be great if the AV Geeks could label those uploads as A&B rolls.