# People used to walk funny in old film, didn't they? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852 "2006-05-31T09:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/1 "2006-05-31T09:49:59Z")
Seems like as a kid in the late 60’s/early 70’s whenever I saw film from the early 1900’s people walked real fast with short jerky steps. Seems also that the explanation was the way film cameras were cranked by hand back then. I don’t notice that any more … am I wrong to remember that as being typical or has technology corrected that problem to smooth out the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/2 "2006-05-31T11:08:50Z")
In the early days of motion pictures cameras were hand-cranked at IIRC an average speed of 18 frames/second. Modern film equipment ran at 24 frames/second so old films were sped up, causing the jerky movements. Many (most? all?) commercially available films have been corrected so that the movement is at a normal rate. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/3 "2006-05-31T11:14:31Z")
I could be wrong, but I think they also exagerated their walk so it would show up better on camera. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/4 "2006-05-31T11:24:33Z")
Perhaps some did, but the same effect was evident in street scenes with people who presumably weren’t actors and would have no reason to change their normal gait. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/5 "2006-05-31T11:40:08Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > In the early days of motion pictures cameras were hand-cranked at IIRC an average speed of 18 frames/second. Modern film equipment ran at 24 frames/second so old films were sped up, causing the jerky movements. Many (most? all?) commercially available films have been corrected so that the movement is at a normal rate. This is right, but even after correction, there’s still an effect that makes the film look unnaturaly jerky; assuming that we’re re-rendering 18fps to 24fps, each original frame occupies 1 1/3 of a frame in our new timeline, this means that instead of seeing a smooth series of consecutive frames in the finished output, every third frame of the input is repeated for two frames in the output, like this: ```auto Input Output frame frame 1 >> 1 2 >> 2 3 >> 3 3 >> 4 4 >> 5 5 >> 6 6 >> 7 6 >> 8 7 >> 9 8 >> 10 9 >> 11 9 >> 12 10 >> 13 11 >> 14 12 >> 15 12 >> 16 13 >> 17 14 >> 18 15 >> 19 15 >> 20 16 >> 21 17 >> 22 18 >> 23 18 >> 24 ``` This introduces a sort of move-stop-move-stop feel to the footage - making it look a bit like people are limping or moving in a sort of jerky gait. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/6 "2006-05-31T13:03:02Z")
Years ago we took movies (yes, actual film movies; they were called “super 8”) of my husband trying to water ski. We didn’t realize it when filming, but the batteries were running low in the camera and it was not getting the usual number of frames per second. Later, when we played back the film at normal speed, all the movements had that 1920s style jerkiness to them. To add to the hilarity, hubby never did get upright on the water skis, but he would not let go of the tow rope. So most of the film consisted of him walking like Charlie Chaplin down the dock, and then appearing to be trying to drown himself. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/7 "2006-05-31T13:05:32Z")
Here’s a related Straight Dope column: [Why is the action in old silent movies so fast?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_067.html) Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/8 "2006-05-31T13:14:01Z")
> [@Joey P](#): > > I could be wrong, but I think they also exagerated their walk so it would show up better on camera. Not far from the truth. the simple fact is that humans were still very new and the finer motor skills hadn’t yet been perfected. The 20th Century saw great improvement in human technology, and as a result increasingly delicate machinery could be produced by these models, and increasingly impressive physical performance has been recorded. The capture of early human locomotion on film by private enterprise chafes the manufacturer to no end. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/9 "2006-05-31T14:14:04Z")
I used to think the entire world lacked color until the 40s. So it is probably true that people walked funny back then, too. I mean, it just makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/10 "2006-05-31T14:29:46Z")
Think how much faster the Wild West would have been won if the cart wheels had turned the right way. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/11 "2006-05-31T18:54:08Z")
And don’t even get me started about the TRAIN COMING RIGHT AT ME OHMIGOD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/12 "2006-05-31T21:13:59Z")
And everything was black and white, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/13 "2006-05-31T23:05:17Z")
Not to mention _terribly quiet_. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/14 "2006-06-01T05:14:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Not to mention _terribly quiet_. Yea, but they had subtitles. I know a few people IRL that would do better with subtitles rather then an actual voice. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/15 "2006-06-01T07:16:22Z")
Still, having to live your entire life listening to ragtime music can’t have been to everyone’s tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/16 "2006-06-01T08:33:47Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I used to think the entire world lacked color until the 40s. [Early color motion picture processes.](http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/index.htm) [Early color feature movies.](http://www.vitaphone.org/color.html) [Color photographs of czarist Russia.](http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/) For example, [The Emir of Bukhara](http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-8086.jpg) in 1911. [Color photographs of World War I.](http://www.alexemde.de/index.php?/autochromes/) [France in color, 1908-1920.](http://www.france-reproduction.com/html/index_tableau_autochromes_uk.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/17 "2006-06-01T08:48:35Z")
[Silent Films: What Was the Right Speed?](http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf/18_kb_2.htm) by Kevin Brownlow. Interestingly, the earliest motion pictures were photographed at _higher speeds_ than today’s films. The first Edison films from 1891 to 1894 were shot at about 40 frames per second. Biograph, the other major American film company of that era, photographed its films at 30 fps from 1895 until about 1902. The standard rate today is 24 fps. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/18 "2006-06-01T10:40:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Not to mention _terribly quiet_. That was just the discipline of the actors. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-used-to-walk-funny-in-old-film-didnt-they/358852/19 "2006-06-01T10:43:43Z")
**Walloon** , I love those collections of color photos from before color film had become at all widespread. I remember when the Hitler Channel was making a huge to-do about having color film from the Second World War; while I do appreciate the historical value of those images, it would have been so much neater if they had shown color pictures taken of the Great War and of pre-war Europe.