[QuadList] Question for any ex-NBC types out there

[Ted Langdell]

On Jan 8, 2009, at 10:26 AM, Tony Quinn wrote:

> Elsewhere somebody has suggested the following referring to "Rowan  
> and Martin's Laugh-In".
>
>> I read something *very interesting* about R&MLI recently
>> The finished show was so fast paced that the only way they
>> could edit it, was to transfer all the material from tape to
>> film, edit the film conventionally, then use that as a guide
>> to dub the master tape. A sort of early off-line editing.
>
> Is there any truth in the suggestion - I'd imagine that there would  
> be issues with 24fps telerecordings and 29.97 NTSC tapes.
>
> Were there any 30fps telerecorders available at the time?
>
> I know that we struggled to get intermittent motion machines to run  
> at 25fps, so I suspect that a 20% increase in frame rate would be  
> nigh on impossible. It *does* sound like bullshit to me, but I  
> thought that i'd ask


The answer is that NBC did indeed make kinescopes and edit the film,  
then matchback using tape.

The late engineer/editing system and software designer Jack Callaway  
has a description on his website, in the museum section:

http://www.sssm.com/editing/museum/index.html.

Click on the "Offline" link in the left nav bar and look for "Laugh  
In" in the middle of the page:

One of the most popular shows of its day was NBC's "Laugh-In" (1968 -  
1973). This show was recorded and conformed on two inch tape, but  
edited on film. This was done before the advent of Time Code or  
electronic editing.
During taping, "Editor Sync Guide" (ESG) was recorded on the second  
audio channel. ESG consists of two voices counting.

After taping, the selected takes were transferred to 16-millimeter  
film, with mag audio, and the ESG.

The film and audio tracks were then cut using tradition film techniques.

Once the offline was completed, the video tape editor manually  
conformed the video tape, using the Smith splicer, and making his cuts  
based on the ESG.

Click here if you're interested in more about Editors Sync Guide for  
an article written by Art Schneider, ACE in December, 2002.  It's a  
really detailed description of the process.

There's an audio sample of the Editor's Sync Guide as a Quicktime file.

Schneider edited the Gene Kelly Pontiac Star Parade special that  
started this thread, and was first used on the 1958 Fred Astaire  
special previously posted about.

The direct link is here:  http://www.sssm.com/editing/museum/offline/esg.html

Arthur Schneider, A.C.E., started in television in 1951 with NBC at  
the Sunset and Vine Studios. His autobiography "Jump Cut! Memoirs of a  
Pioneer Television Editor" details his career.

Jump Cut!"
McFarland & Co.
Box 611
Jefferson
North Carolina 28640
He wrote four books, including "My Fifty Years of Television History:  
Been There, Done That." and two others... technical books about  
electronic post.

He had a website that's not now active, but has been archived here:

http://mysite.verizon.net/restlkln/

Ted.


Ted Langdell
Secretary 
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