real-time (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote
>> "In reality rather than by means of special effects."  In a feature on
>> Turner Classic Movies, comedian Lewis Black explains that
>> Harold Lloyd and others "did their stunts in real time."

Bill Mullins wrote:
> Stunts that were filmed as performed, rather than created in the
> darkroom, the stunts were in fact done in "real time" -- that is, they
> were done at part of the same process as the non-stunt performances were
> filmed.  If the stunts were created in the dark room, or as part of
> second unit, they would have been done at a later (or earlier) time, and
> not in "real time".

If mechanical or pyrotechnic special-effects are used then one may
still say that the actors "did their stunts in real time." I think
that pioneering film comedians like Harold Lloyd did use these types
of special effects.

A statement about whether or not a stunt is "real time" may refer to
the manipulation of time. As Bill notes this manipulation can be
performed in a dark room by combining sections of film shot at
different times. If time is manipulated then the stunt is no longer
"real time".

For example, if a split-screen is used to record separate shots then
the stunt would not be designated "real-time".

Another example involves changing the frame-rate of the camera so that
the action appears faster or slower. Speeding up or slowing down the
frame rate would allow remarkable stunts but these stunts would not be
"real time".

I do not know, however, if the comedian Lewis Black was actually using
the term in this way.
Garson

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