What is it that gives early 60s TV its distinctive look?
While I can’t comment on the Oswald footage, I’ve seen some TV footage from that era that has a very “video” look, and I was also very amazed at the clarity and crispness of it. It did not have the look of film–it was lacking the 24fps “film look” and didn’t have any grain, dust, or scratches. I too have wondered how the video recording was preserved so well.
…I was also very amazed at the clarity and crispness of it. It did not have the look of film–it was lacking the 24fps “film look” and didn’t have any grain, dust, or scratches. I too have wondered how the video recording was preserved so well. Like zsazsa, I can’t be sure of the specifics of what you are referring to beyond the Kennedy footage, but I’ve seen transfers of 2″ quadruplex tape that is just gorgeous, it has this kind of luminous sheen to it (early Julia Child episodes). 2″ was an industry standard from the very late 1950s into the 1970s, Ampex introduced it. [it’s worth noting, those shows that were shot on videotape are actually really poorly preserved – many times stations and production companies would tape over an original show following broadcast (to make things extra cheap)! and so only the kinescopes are left (16mm copies of the broad
Also, you’re probably used to seeing old programs from that era in badly-preserved film and kinescope form, as mentioned above. That makes the footage of the shooting of Oswald stand out because many versions of it were recorded on tape. Oswald’s arrest and transfer (no one knew he would be shot at that moment, of course) was deemed of significant newsworthiness to the world that mobile TV trucks were moved into place, and the transfer was covered using full-sized studio TV cameras. The feeds were microwaved back to the local studios, where they may or may not have been broadcast live, depending on the network. But they were recorded onto 2″ tape, and due to the obvious significance, preserved.
