Wipes instead of fades for streaming media

Laurence wrote on 4/9/2003, 12:27 AM
I've noticed that video crossfades in particular always suffer from data compression. I really prefer simple cuts and fades to fancier video edits, but I've noticed that wipes seem to suffer less from compression. Has anyone got opinions on using wipes instead of fades in order to minimize compression artifacts, especially on streaming video.

Also, does anyone know if the last Star Wars movie made such extensive use of wipes in order to avoid data compression artifacts? I suspect that this is the case, but I've never heard anyone say this.

Laurence Kingston

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 4/9/2003, 6:39 AM
All five Star Wars movies have been repleat with wipes. It seems to be George's signature style for the series. I remember my friends and i sitting in the theater back in 1978 (i think) commenting, "there's another one!" as all the wipes went by. We even did a "count the wipes" party once with a bunch of us watching episodes 4, 5, & 6 to see who could notice the most wipes.

ok ... i need a life. ;)
Laurence wrote on 4/9/2003, 7:38 AM
So much for that theory! The wipes still look nice on DVD though ;)

Laurence Kingston
SonyDennis wrote on 4/9/2003, 1:00 PM
It makes sense that wipes would compress better because only the pixels along the edge would change each frame, whereas for a fade, all pixels change every frame (and therefore harder to compress). George Lucas used wipes long before he considered digital technology, as the previous poster said, he's been using them in Star Wars since 1977. Also, the data delivery system for HD cinema projection isn't nearly compressed as web streaming, so directors really don't have to worry about compression artifacts messing up their vision.
///d@
Chienworks wrote on 4/9/2003, 1:13 PM
That reasoning would certainly apply if wiping between two relatively static scenes. Many of the wipes though are between scenes with motion. I suppose it's still somewhat easier to compress since the compression algorithms can track movements of objects that may remain relatively constant except for their position. But the savings of this over a fade would be minimal compared to wiping vs. fading between stills.
Laurence wrote on 4/9/2003, 2:37 PM
What you say makes sense, but I've experienced almost the opposite. Maybe the blockiness of the artifacts stands out more with stills since there is no motion to cover it.

Laurence Kingston