Ampex Electronic Editor (1961)

This 16mm film from my collection is actually a Kinescope (film shot off a CRT) of an edited 2" Quad Ampex videotape, made for trade shows to be shown to groups of guys at conventions in conference rooms, board rooms, and such. "Hey guys - be sure to stick around till the end cause you don't wanna miss our great Ampex Corp. Gag Scene at the end!" Different times indeed. A pretty straightforward demonstration of new devices used to "insert edit" and assemble synced shots, things that have been taken for granted in linear editing for many decades, but new and experimental in 1961. As always I transferred this with my own Telecine. Enjoy!
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[@jourwalis-8875]

Insert and Assemble already in 1961! Amazing!

[@mfbfreak]

Wow, that final bit really is something...

[@KeritechElectronics]

Now imagine editing YT videos with this thing of beauty and joy for ever!

[@maximilliancunningham6091]

The size and weight of a full scale upright piano. And more.

[@merseyviking]

That gag reel has aged like fine milk.

[@flintmonz]

I remember going to Ampex, in Elk Grove Illinois, late 1960's, for their garage sale goodies. Mostly audio products and tapes. Good times !

[@drakefallentine8351]

My elder cousin worked at that Ampex facility in the videotape department in the 60s.

[@daveogarf]

YES! We had a two-inch quad VTR at my Junior College in the '70s, too. It was very dependable and was nicknamed "Granny". GLAD I had a chance to see what we were watching in the '60s!

[@raymondbanks4103]

Ampex. Simply the best instrumentation and audio recorders ever designed and made! They were built in Redwood City Ca. Bing Crosby recorded on an Ampex tape recorder.

[@ethanpoole3443]

That choice may have had a little to do with Crosby owning a stake in Ampex as he was the one who pushed Ampex to develop such products for his use.

[@drakefallentine8351]

@@ethanpoole3443 And I thank him for his investment...it REALLY paid off.

[@rty1955]

Also the inventor of the elec guitar, Les Paul worked with AMPEX for there multi-track recorders.

[@richard7crowley]

Generations today just can't appreciate how miraculous this was back in the era. They used to apply a solution to the tape to visualize the transverse video tracks and the sync pulse so that they could actually cut the mag tape with a razor blade and then splice it back together with sticky tape. Now, we don't even think twice about doing all manner of edits including special effects with a keyboard and a mouse. Thanks for the video, Fran! 🙂

[@jishcatg]

I guess you had to cut it diagonally, right?

[@basinstreetdesign5206]

@@jishcatg Since the spinning head recorded across the width of the tape, not longitudinally, yes, the tracks were all angled as the tape moved past the head wheel, but not by much, only a degree or two.

[@lurkersmith810]

I remember being an unauthorized visitor at CBS Television City (Los Angeles) back in the 1980s and hanging out in the basement with the engineers and the tape machines. Of course, by then the Sony 1" helical scan machines (BVU-) were in wide use, but the soap operas were still recorded and edited on 2" Quad systems, that had been continuously upgraded to solid state, color, and of course SMPTE Time Code editing. Amazing how the same basic machine that may have been installed before 1961 was continuously upgraded and evolved to still be useful probably until HDTV came along!

[@rty1955]

hehe the Sony Models started with BVH not BVU... it stood for Broadcast Video Helical. did you realise that the Quad video heads always used TUBES for the preamp in the head assembly?

[@asteamyaffair9993]

@@rty1955 No, the early quads used valves. With the advent of FETs with their high impeadance inputs Ampex's VR-1100s onwards were 'solid state'.

[@fmphotooffice5513]

Missing are the loud clicks from the many solenoids in the system and the air guide noises. The editor I knew was cued with audio only. Worked like a charm- whenever the maintenance engineers weren't tweaking the system. There was also the ACR-25 commercial spot machine with 2 vertical transports and a chain of carts slammed back and forth, rewinding the spot before going back in the cart chain. All of it was in part thanks to powerful motors spooling heavy tape reels and two loops , one on each side guided by air, to take up the slack from the heavy reels starting . Five strapped 2" tape syndicated shows coming and going back to the distributor weighed close to the 70 lb UPS limit.

[@laustinspeiss]

Where i worked, the best ACR-25 operators could hear a ‘bad cycle’ from two rooms away! A quick fash while the previous cart was playing, open the front panel, and jump into test mode. Often without missing a beat!

[@rty1955]

There were no heavy reels in the ACR, they were small 6 minute max cassettes. the ACR could playback a 6min then 10 sec, and 6 min all day long. 10 seconds was the MAX time it took to rewind a 6 minute spot, unload it, spin the carousel to next cart, pull it in, thread and go into playback again. The ACR had the video electronics of the AVR-1

[@laustinspeiss]

@@rty1955 aah, the big selling point of the ACR-225 ! More than three 10s spots back to back.

[@fmphotooffice5513]

@@rty1955 Forgive my bad grammar. You are of course correct. I remember winding the 2" cassettes that looked like a fat pencil box and punching the hole on the tape. I meant when shipping and receiving a week's worth of The Muppet Show or The Lucy Show 30 minute reels, we strapped the five 2" reels and barely cleared the UPS Ground service maximum of 70 lbs. All of that was way back when pterodactyls and velocyraptors were still chasing us on the way to work. 🙂 Regards.

[@frankowalker4662]

My JVC HR-7650 EA has the insert feature, me and my 2 mates used to make music video clips using it. :) We could only use it in the house or garden though, it's a mains machine. LOL.

[@aacallison1535]

Fran, this is right up my alley. As a teenager and before I spent many hours splicing movie film, and audio magnetic tapes. Once at about 8 years old I had a portable reel to reel recorder, and made a tape loop about 15 feet long or 30 feet of 1/4" tape. Worked well until our calico cat pounced on it. Keep up the archiving and all the other stuff you produce.

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Those pesky kitties.. 😑

[@aacallison1535]

@@R3TR0R4V3 yeah well whaddya gonna do?

[@Timinator257]

Long live analog

[@parteibonza]

my uncle used to use AMPEX VHS tapes, and they seemed to be some of the most durable tapes I ever used.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

They’ve suddenly started suffering from sticky-shed syndrome *very* badly recently!

[@parteibonza]

@@stickytapenrust6869 yeah i think they were designed for what, 25-30 years? it's way past the due date for disintegration.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

@@parteibonza Loads of others are lasting much better, TDK VHS cassettes are just solid!!

[@drakefallentine8351]

@@stickytapenrust6869 As are JVC. BASF are still good too.

[@rty1955]

@@stickytapenrust6869 Sticky shed can be repaired by baking the tapes, as I have done many many times

[@princesswalt4010]

I still remember firing up the 2” quad in college. Never really did much with it other than get the air compressor running for the air bearings of the video head. The quad was truly revolutionary for its time, that and its analog time base corrector! I almost miss fixing tape machines to the component level, as soon as I progressed in the industry, the Digibeta came out, and made all of the alignments “automatic”

[@maximilliancunningham6091]

It took knowlage, skill and finesse to get the best quality out of them.

[@LenPopp]

Fran, thanks for preserving & sharing all these old films.

[@BrianBoniMakes]

That's funny. They shot in on film as it was easier to show to a conference room than video. I worked with an early Sony U-Matic that had "insert" and "assemble" buttons on it. You had to have another U-Matic deck to use it. The inserted video is going to be second generation and likely the main video would be second generation as this method is destructive to the main video and you would want to work with duplicates, or safeties. There were whole departments dedicated to making safeties at this time.

[@easyflicks]

... nope they didn't shoot it on film ... the videotape was transferred to film ...

[@mpetry912]

Let's hear it for helical scan. Ampex was quite a company, remember going past their sign in Redwood City, CA right off 101. Along with Hewlett Packard and Fairchild Camera and Instruments, they were the foundation of Silicon Valley.

[@dhpbear2]

The AMPEX sign which could be seen from the 101 was up well into the 2000s!

[@drakefallentine8351]

@Matt Quinn Exactly correct! Quad was the pioneering technology that Ampex engineered. Helical scan came along years later with inferior picture quality, but at a lower cost.

[@rty1955]

Helical scan sucks! it is meant for morons and film people who NEED to see video in a paused state. Helical scan has complex tape path which acts like sandpaper on video tape. Quad has a straight tape path and was much easier to thread. you had to know your stuff to get a quad to be setup properly. I used to edit sport for the nightly news on quad and always had great results. then came time code & CMX

[@asteamyaffair9993]

@@rty1955 If you've even had a quad machine stop playing without the canoe [tape guide] promptly retracting like it is supposed to do, you'll know how quickly the four rotating heads will SAW a tape in two!

[@troysvisualarts]

Enjoyed watching this film, very interesting learning about early video editing systems, didn't know till now electronic video editing was around in the early 60s, thought it was all cutting and splicing till the late 60s! Loved the American Businessman short film toward the end too, that made me chuckle!

[@nutsnproud6932]

Fran I am fascinated this technology existed in 1961. Way before electronic audio editing was around when Delia Derbyshire made the 1963 Doctor Who theme and mono audio tape was cut and spliced by hand.

[@rty1955]

Video tape was cut also

[@newportshapwick]

Absolutely fantastic! Some may laugh at it now, but if it weren't for those pioneers, the technology we take for granted now probably wouldn't exist. Must of been exciting times to live in (I was only a wee nipper at that time)!

[@heinzk023]

6:35 Impressive: This door's knopb is on the right from both side.

[@jeffreybarton1297]

Love the 'accidental' naughty film at the end!

[@jourwalis-8875]

I have been editing a lot of films with electronic editing. First with Sonys U-matic system and later with Betacam.

[@klafong1]

Before watching this, I did not know that insert and assemble editing were ever offered in Quadruplex video recording. I had mistakenly thought that this was a feature introduced with helical scan machines.

[@drakefallentine8351]

I didn't know the Editec system was available for the VR-1000 series Quad machines. The first one I encountered was on an Ampex 1200B Quad machine in 1970. A version of Electronic Editing was offered on the Ampex VPR5800 1 inch Consumer Grade color VTRs in 1972. I still have a VPR5800 and it still works today. Ampex built machines to last decades.

[@marcberm]

Ask YOUR Ampex man for a sexist demo, today!

[@entertainmentexecuti]

Men are men --- they have erections.

[@entertainmentexecuti]

Men are men.

[@robertmason6233]

I remember someone telling me that they used to work for the ABC (Australia). They were responsible for the televising in Australia of one of the Olympics. Video came by satellite and audio by telephone link. To delay the video so it would sync up with the audio they had two machines one recording the video and the other playing back, with the tape moving from one to the other. Changing the distance between the machines changed the delay.

[@mike325g]

As I recall, the two machine method was also used for the 7 second delay, allowing Broadcasters tocut out offensive language before it could go to air. This continued into the typeC age. By the way, the tape was a great nostalgia piece. Greeat to hear the voice of Ampex, Bob Day.

[@easyflicks]

... "someone" was pulling your leg ...

[@lImbus924]

Oh wow, this is so meta :) you have (original) FILM material filmed off of video tape about the most modern of video editing at the time and you digitized this into the digital ear as a file, then you show us as internet stream.

[@laustinspeiss]

…and don’t forget the frame buzz added to the linear audio tracks by overwriting the video with an insert edit !

[@rty1955]

What frame buzz??? the video circuitry had nothing to do with the audio circuitry

[@laustinspeiss]

@@rty1955 other than the transverse video tracks overwriting the linear audio tracks. Just a mild buzz, you couldn’t hear it in the tape room, but on monitor speakers in the edit suite, it was quite noticeable - esp with a lot of over-editing like commercials. Easy to fix by re-laying the clean audio when finished. (thanks to time code sync !)

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Cool video! Ampex made some killer gear back in the day. 😎 Speaking of which, I inherited a couple Ampex 350 tube based Reel to Reel machines that I'm debating what to do with. Could've had an Ampex video tape machine from the 60's too, but I passed on it. Audio is more my thing. 👍

[@FMR_317]

Loved my 350 and 403 when I had them. I can help walk you through the restoration if you’d like the help.

[@Desertlifeinthesonoran]

So cool!!!’

[@impulseproductions1]

I used to edit on an Ampex 1200C. Challenging

[@stephenbeecher7545]

6:19 The reverse side of the door needs to have hinges and knob reversed for this to work. They shot it wrong.

[@Flymochairman1]

Okay, I'll say it; that the end video production demo would not be made today, I opine. I laughed anyway... Thanks Fran. Keep Well. Cheers!

[@Robert08010]

In 1992, I remember having an argument with my employer about the definition of assemble v.s. insert editing. It seems he had gotten a hold of an overly-simplistic definition from a sales brochure and would not accept that I knew some thing he didn't. No, that was impossible. I OFTEN knew something he didn't and it was a constant irritant to him. That kid of encapsulated out relationship right there. BTW, I have to laugh at the irony of seeing this on a film.

[@drakefallentine8351]

It's not ironic at all. Don't overlook the fact that there were millions of 16mm projectors across the country in 1961, but not many Quad VTRs

[@js33412]

I wish I understood what they were doing. Where was the inserted material? Did they literally insert it into the master tape (destructive editing) - why wasn't there an output tape? Can someone explain to this dummy? BTW, in 1955, when I was 15, I worked at a "High Fidelity" store and part of my job was fixing Ampex high-end consumer-grade recorders.

[@FranLab]

Since they state that it is all done with one camera and one tape I have to assume that this is all punch-in type manual insertion editing of the live feed into one master tape. But I think this pitch is necessary since these 2" Quad machines cost an utter fortune back then, so showing that you could use their editor even if you only could afford one VTR was key.

[@Robert08010]

In hindsight, I think I missed the point of your question. A better answer is this: What they are demonstrating here is the recorder. There is no playback deck because they are using live cameras for that instead. I this context, "inserting material" simply means cutting to other material that will replace the existing material but because it is staying in sync with existing control track, they can cut out... cutting back to the original material at any time.

[@piratetv1]

It was destructive. The machine could replace the video already on the tape with the camera input, leaving the sync track. Im not sure if a quad had control tracking or some other sync

[@davidtuomi8361]

I learned to edit on VHS decks in college. It was basically the same as this, only the controller was more automated in that we could have in and out points. But you could do it manually, just like they show in the video.

[@rosalinafarias2757]

Fran, I actually have that model Video quad in my lab. All vacuum tube.

[@SkeletonSyskey]

At least this method doesn't go "(not responding)" like VEGAS Pro does.

[@richardbrown1189]

I wonder how much that additional piece of kit was in 1961? Probably as much as a car!

[@laustinspeiss]

The first EDITEC ! Don’t forget the 19 frame delay (PAL) between pressing the ‘insert’ and the actual record event ! (The physical distance from the erase head to the video heads!)

[@rty1955]

it was 1/2 second actually. and you pressed RECORD to start the edit, not an INSERT button. the type of edit had to be established BEFORE pressing the record button in the edit mode.

[@laustinspeiss]

@@rty1955 I believe in my heart it was 18 frames (not much different than 1/2 sec!) Maybe 1/2 in NTSC 60Hz/30 fps ? The physical distance from erase head to record @ 15ips Correct on the RECORD button. edit mode was selected elsewhere.

[@lexiyoutube]

Amazing ghehe!! 👍

[@robertdaly6209]

Thnks for the memories. I remember seeing a reel to reel 2 inch tape recorder at the local tv station in around 1958. It was only good for about 8 to 10 passes through the recorder as it would actuall cut into the tape as it passed by the head. The tape traveled quite fast as it played the tape.

[@rty1955]

huh? a quad NEVER cut the tape! if this were true, no one would have used the machine. I worked on them since its invention. Quad Videotape can STILL be played back today.

[@perwestermark8920]

I have a Sanyo VHS that has automatic cut and splice - it can also interface with a second VHS to have one automatically seek to different locations to play, allowing automatic productions of multiple VHS copies without first cutting a master, thereby reducing one copy quality loss. But this show device was pure magic. It could have an actor open a door and then step through the door from the wrong direction making him stepping into the very room where he opened the door. My Sany VHS did not manage that magic 😁

[@patrickcardon1643]

Oh boy, that last sketch clearly shows it age 🤨

[@Efferpheasants]

Seems like something that did not catch on at the time and peculiar why it did not..I seem to recall the Elvis special (1968) had a fair few bumpy physical edits back in the day...not that most people would have noticed back then.

[@Efferpheasants]

@Matt Quinn Not what I was implying. Yes It did catch on. I was just surprised it took the time it did if this was available in 1962, Maybe stations outside the US could not afford it or something? I heard that BBC classical The Forsyte Saga (shot in 66) had so many physical splices in it, that on transmission they ran a telerecording simultaneously in case it fell to pieces. However it caused it to survive erasure as nobody wanted to reuse bumpy old tapes LOL.

[@zocc116]

thankfully, Quantel (BBC) made it so much easier...

[@rty1955]

How SO??

[@electrocat9]

The TV was mute again in 1961, i didn't know.

[@ntsecrets]

I have the same textronics RM529 waveform monitor model shown.

[@norahjaneeast5450]

I read a book about the Beatles in the year 1966 I believe all of them basically got a sort of a setup not necessarily for video editing but they got video recorders something that was not commercially available really until the mid 70s

[@FranLab]

1966 was when Ampex introduced their low-band suitcase VTR.

[@nkronert]

Amazing. I'm assuming that this was a linear tape, not using helical tracks, which probably made it easier to start inserting at a specific location. But still a great feat of engineering!

[@FranLab]

Transverse scanned linear tape.

[@rty1955]

The tape was formulated for Transverse scanning and was VERY different from audio tape and was about $250/1 hour reel. 2" audio tape was much less expensive

[@joeljenkins7092]

Was there a B-roll deck out of frame? If so, did the editor sync it or did someone have to operate the machine? I began editing using U-Matic and control track; when 1-inch was the pro-format. Then, D-2, D-3, Digi-Beta, all the way to non-linear. Thank you, cheap silicon. :)

[@FranLab]

They start by saying that all the video is live feed from one camera, and punched in on one master tape.

[@piratetv1]

When i was linear editing, they made both decks back up by the same number of frames to preroll

[@joeljenkins7092]

@@FranLab Missed that part. Thanks.

[@markpaterson2053]

the pinnacle of pre-digital editing?

[@drakefallentine8351]

Took a few decades, but what you are looking at eventually made digital editing possible. Pure Analog technology

[@markpaterson2053]

@@drakefallentine8351 yet the digital age is not an improvement on the quality of tv and film over analogue, funny how that works, it only sped up the process, made it more convemient; I think lack of convenience is where most great stuff is created, unlike the blandness of contemporary stuff

[@jecelassumpcaojr890]

Odd that the man grips the knob at the right side of the door with his left hand, then the camera moves to the other side where we see him entering while holding the knob still at the right side with his right hand. If it were spliced film I would have guessed that the second part had been put in backwards, but in video it doesn't make sense.

[@dhpbear2]

'Videotape' was originally a brand-name (RCA?). Ampex used the term 'Television Tape'!

[@hattree]

I think you have it reversed. I believe RCA always termed their machines as Television Tape Recorders.

[@dhpbear2]

@@hattree I checked, It was Ampex's brand-name. Odd that it wasn't used in this film.

[@hattree]

@@dhpbear2 In 1957, shortly after Ampex's introduction of the 2-inch quad format, RCA introduced a quad-compatible VTR, the TRT-1A. RCA referred to it as a "Television Tape Recorder", since the word "videotape" was a trademark of Ampex at the time. In fact the RCA models for years were TRT and a number.

[@drakefallentine8351]

@@hattree Also, Ampex held patents on numerous aspects of the video recording process, which forced RCA to pay licensing fees to Ampex for each machine RCA built. "Schhwweeeeeeeeet""

[@hattree]

@@drakefallentine8351 RCA developed the ability to make a color video recording by adapting an Ampex unit. RCA and Ampex then cross licensed color to Ampex, and tape mechanism to RCA.

[@safadischone1956]

I wish if you make a lessons in electronics for bigeners who want to learn

[@TheHarryshelton]

Color was still in the future. I saw an RCA color recording of EisenHower from 1958. What year did the 1200 appear?

[@robertdemitro1520]

Looks easier than linear editing !

[@robertdemitro1520]

@Matt Quinn : Not the way we did linear editing . There were a lit more steps than pressing a few buttons . Timing , switches and knowing entire panel of keys and combinations . The more editing that a person did the better they got at it . We did not have one machine to do it all on a master tape . Big stations had editors do the editing on the fly . Things might be different now ? 25 years ago I pushed to go digital .

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

@Matt Quinn Right on about the first-generation NLE systems--Avid's first system in 1989, the Avid/1 (running on a Macintosh II with Avid's own hardware & software), relied on a very early Motion JPEG codec, resulting in VHS-quality low-res video (but still good enough for off-line purposes). I have a demonstration VHS tape of the Avid/1 (which I should capture & post on my channel) that features some edited playback footage, and it's pretty lo-fi. I think it wasn't until the early 90s when MJPEG encoding tech (and other codecs for digitizing & compressing NTSC/PAL video like wavelet & MPEG-2 being introduced around then) was refined enough for NLEs (especially Avid's models after the Avid/1) to be able to edit & create on-line-quality video.

[@rty1955]

@@RyanSchweitzer77 Actually the first NLE was a CMX-600 system back in 1971. it used a light pen for editing

[@AKATenn]

so basically you can stop and start recording without a blank space between each stop and start?

[@FranLab]

Yup - I just put up a follow up video to this....

[@plateshutoverlock]

So did this system use two interlaced video tracks and copy one to the other? "replace the erase head" - sounds like this was a fast switching erase head that can erase one track but leave the other as is during electronic editing

[@TinLeadHammer]

I did not quite get this, given that there is only one VTR, which, if I understand correctly, does not have pause mode. So, say we need five shots, five seconds each. We do the first shot from pos 0 for 25 seconds, then rewind, move the camera, start VTR again and punch in the second shot from 5 second mark for 20 seconds. Then rewind, move the camera, start the VTR and punch in the third shot starting from 10 second mark for 15 seconds, and so on. Is this how this works? It was much simpler with my VHS machine that had flying erase heads and record-pause mode.

[@rty1955]

The difference between an INSERT edit and a ASSEMBLE edit was during an INSERT a new control track was NOT erased, during an ASSEMBLY edit, a new control track IS recorded. This is VERY important to know, if you accidentally do an ASSEMBLE edit when you meant to do an INSERT edit, the machine will break up on playback when the "OUT" point of the edit is reached. In order to use INSERT edits, the tape must have continuous control track. this is called "STRIPING" the tape. Jerry Lewis RUINED a four hour edit session on me when he touched the editor and placed it into the ASSEMBLE mode. A quad could ONLY do cuts, never a dissolve or fade to black etc. I worked on every broadcast model that AMPEX ever made

[@Felice_Enellen]

The latter half of the video is what you get when you let engineers write the script for the example movie.

[@prowlermadmax2]

It voice sounds like Peter Jennings from ABC World News tonight.

[@KabukeeJo]

I had a JVC S-VHS VCR that could do something like this.

[@leyanidyo]

I love your vintage clips.. 1 question though, why no subtitles?

[@piratetv1]

Ladies and gentlemen. I bring you. Thee flying erase head

[@rty1955]

Quads never had a flying erase head

[@richarddoss6052]

No more carbonyl iron in heptane?

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

aka "Edi-Vue". :)

[@ericfielding2540]

Interesting to see what was new technology when I was little. Now simple video cameras are almost a dime a dozen, so the effort to use only one camera is not a big deal. Is Ampex still in business during the age of cheap digital storage?

[@almostfm]

Yes, although they're no longer in the tape business. It looks like they're primarily in digital data storage for things like military aircraft.

[@LaserFur]

I had a 1 inch Ampex as a kid. I still have some of the tapes, but I can't find anyone that can covert it.

[@janovlk]

One cannot post links here. Search for Larry Odham. He does transfers of 1" tapes as well.

[@rty1955]

there are tons of people that do conversions

[@WDCallahan]

Why did we need a second example of what the animation MIGHT look like?

[@MDbam]

I’m a musician, and I’m still jonesing to get a reel to reel audio recorder and start tracking the old way, but it looks so frikkin intense, I’m a little frightened…

[@almostfm]

If by "intense" you mean "a giant PITA", then yes. Yes, it is. Scrubbing the tape back and forth while listening to it in "cue" to get exactly the right spot to make an edit is no fun. and if you screw it up, you've got about a 10% chance that you won't be able to splice the cut back in without it being obvious.

[@eggman09]

@@almostfm I disagree - I think it's fun and trains one to let go, to not be so precious about everything. I love splicing tape, even when I goof it up it's an adventure. Obviously, we have the luxury and ease of splicing in the computer when a project is that important, but if you're recording to tape these days, it's probably not. I say go for it, get a reel to reel and go to town.

[@rty1955]

Physical splicing is a breeze and I did it when i was a kid way back when. Use a diagonal splice for music, and a stright cut for voice

[@ntsecrets]

am I the only one that noticed the part at the end that did not age well?

[@ZXRulezzz]

1:46 That alignment is a bit... misguided :P

[@braedan51]

This is just sneaky ad for milk!

[@seanbatiz6620]

That “American Businessman” short silent flick @ 10:12 to end, was hilarious stuff!! Can’t imagine what sorts of backlash ANY company would receive nowadays for such overt imagination content😂

[@iLikeTheUDK]

Was that a linear or nonlinear editor?

[@FranLab]

Linear.

[@johnwesterman]

Way easier than using Adobe Premiere.

[@rty1955]

quad editing could ONLY do cuts, nothing else

[@YassineKAOUANE]

now i feel like some milk and cigarettes. thanks fran

[@merseyviking]

You'd better ask your secretary for some then :)

[@YassineKAOUANE]

@@merseyviking it would depend on whether she can properly use a telephone.

[@Darrylizer1]

I love the old technology if for no other reason than to bring into sharp relief how far we've come! But milk, omg, so disgusting. Ice cream is the only dairy I can deal with.

[@lImbus924]

oof, the translations of "his wife" (to german and french) are both wrong in a clumsy way.

[@lImbus924]

it would have to be "seine Frau" and "sa femme"

[@FranLab]

Ja.

[@drskelebone]

What kind of freaky milk carton is that???

[@drskelebone]

"We'll animate this box of cigarettes, a common household item that surely won't become synonymous with cancer and corporate greed!"

[@drskelebone]

Maybe this guy wouldn't need a secretary and three phones if he wasn't an alcoholic. "It's 11:45, Jerry. You couldn't last until after lunch? I know your dad founded this company and all, but." A deep sigh. "The board called me up last night. They're concerned that their interests aren't being taken care of, you see? I had it out with them, and got some concessions, Jerry, but, you're not going to like them. Now sit down, sit down. You keep the office, you get this new title: 'Chief Visionary.' The idea is that you're off thinking the big thoughts, Jerry, and we're just you're pawns implementing what you say. You take whatever hours you want, and we're keeping Marvin on as your driver. Chauffeur. Whichever you want to call him, you're never getting behind the wheel of a car again, got it? Look at me, Jerry. Look me in the eyes and tell me you understand that. Never again, Jerry." They turn, run their hands through their hair, and then back again. "This is how it is, Jerry. They asked me, and I said I'd throw my 33% in on this new plan. I hated it, but you've got to see there's no other option, right? We can't have you making hiring decisions anymore. We can't afford you shutting down entire divisions when you puke on someone's shoes. Think of the scandals, Jerry. No. Sit. Down. I was with you, Jerry. We know what we did in that forest, and I don't know if you do, but I remember the location with fucking GPS accuracy. You're going to sit back and do what your told and smile, or by fucking christ, I'll be telling the cops how you confessed to me, and took me there, and showed me where the proof is." The chair made a disturbing creak as they sat down. "Fuck. Pour me one too if you will. I know it's the only thinking keeping you alive at this point, but I still wish you would stop."

[@VeganAtheistWeirdo]

Looks like Mr. _American Businessman_ needs to lay off the... whatever it is in the poodle-cozy? bottle. It's clearly giving him hallucinations, paranoia, and an uncontrollably sexist point of view. Oh, right, that last effect is just what passed for "humor" among the male-dominated corporate sales crowd of 1961. 🙄 But I'm still curious about the thought process that led to the inclusion of the poodle bottle cozy in that cringey vignette.

[@tiktokyt]

Facepalm.

[@FranLab]

Eat, smoke, and drink as much as you want boys - just keep the wife out of the office!