Strange "jerkiness" in HBO's "Rome" 28 Aug
 

Did anyone else notice the strange appearance of the on-screen motion in the broadcast of HBO's production of "Rome" as shown Sunday night the 28th? There was a lack of fluidity and pixilation in the image reminiscent on old silent movies being projected at sound speed, though not quite as pronounced. I notice on the credits that the program is an EU/BBC production and appears to have been shot in Italy. I wonder if the effect is the result of shooting in 25fps PAL and converting to 29.97 fps NTSC for North American release. Whatever the reason, it's very distracting and difficult to watch.

Is this that same effect used in "Gladiator" when they reduce the shutter opening to sort of "strobe" the motion? If so, it's apparently easy to duplicate digitally and is cropping up all over the place. I saw it last night during a kendo-swordfighting style fight scene in "Stargate: SG-1."

It wasn't pronounced enough or related to the scene to appear to be an intentional effect. It didn't look artistic or dramatic or contrribute to the story, it just looked weird.

Hey. I think you may be correct with your "PAL to NTSC conversion" idea. Although I haven't seen the footage you are referring to, if you watch BBC America (IIRC) you will find that their good programs are converted very well. But their cheapo productions that they just throw together and need to put on quickly suffer from poor PAL to NTSC conversion.

Cheers,
Marius
(who uses PAL equipment in Pennsylvania)