Post edited 11:54 am – March 8, 2011 by Nosfer
Post edited 2:58 pm – March 8, 2011 by Nosfer

Finally, it looks like we get back to an investigation of a house. This should be a welcomed change from the usual ticket-sales-boosting investigations that they've been doing for the past umpteen times…I hope.

In the first of these, the team goes back to Massachusetts (minus accompaniment by the Bee Gees) to help out a family who has discovered what might possibly perhaps be human remains…maybe.  Unfortunately, their return to domestic cases is short-lived and only fills a half of this episode.

Quickly shifting back to tourism mode, the team then travels to Pennsylvania to investigate the cruiser USS Olympia which is at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The reason I'm suspicious of this investigation's motives is that the museum has been unable to fund maintenance of the ship and has failed at securing external funding. Thus the future of the ship is in jeopardy and it may be sold for scrap or sunk to form an artificial reef if the museum cannot raise the capital to maintain her.

I don't mind attempts to drum up interest to try to get support to keep such a historical ship as an exhibit, I would just like to see all parties involved being more forthcoming in their actions.

As a testament to its historical import, the Olympia was the flagship of none other than George Dewey during the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. At the time, the Olympia was Captained by one Charles Vernon Gridley, and it was to him that Dewey uttered the famous words "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." As history remembers, Gridley was indeed ready, and a little before 6 in the morning opened up with the forward 8-inchers which started the battle. About 8 hours later the Spanish fleet had been destroyed and the city was surrendered.

In a vast departure from the usual, the Olympia will be investigated sans film crew, though you can be assured that the sound folks will still screw things up with spooky music.  No film crew…which means the team dons mounted-cameras Josh-style. 

The cameras are mounted facing forward but, unfortunately, a lot of what they see is "out of the corner of their eye" so we'll probably still miss the great evidence, but let's see how this goes, it may be a step forward.

No Drinking Words tonight…I'm afraid with this being their first real attempt at shoulder-mounted cameras (and on a ship no less) that the ensuing instability of the visual shots could lead to enhanced effectiveness of the alcoholic shots thereby resulting in an early demise of the viewers.

Additionally, and further evidence that the whole mouse issue was for the purpose of adding "Brian Drama", they said they just needed the mouse to click "start"  They obviously were able to launch the program quite easily using the keyboard, which indicates they knew exactly what they were doing.

The other thing to consider is that they may have indeed needed the mouse to start recording, a lot would depend upon how the button (if it was even a button and not just a hot-area to click) was coded.

Now, relating to this particular episode (Century of Hauntings), the lock on the Olympia.  Did anyone see that moving before Adam(?) was pressing in and out on the door below the lock?  That motion would be enough to set the lock swinging and the shot leading up to it I believe was from the top down which would be expected with that sort of camera set up.  I think it panned down to the lock and then to the area below where Adam's(?) hand was already at work.

Something as close to the center of gravity of the body wearing it is best to reduce the shake and swing.  I should say closest to the axis of the body since the center of gravity would probably be a stomach-mounted camera. 

It's been a while but I think the head-mounted cams that Britt and Kris wore briefly produced more useful footage (ie, more stable)  While a start, the setup last night was too haphazard, but I hope they take a look at it and refine the equipment and technique.  I hope I'm wrong, but I have the feeling that we may never see this attempted again.

Ideally they need some sort of glasses-cam and while wearing it, they need to be cognicent of how their motions are going to affect the outcome.  The way they are used last night was in such a way that, from what I saw, the utility of the captured footage would be below average.

Axel Olrik said:

Was he asking if the cameraman saw what he and Amy saw (i.e., the lock moving)…or was he saying that we should see it…although there was no shot of it moving except when he moved the door with his hand?

They had no cameramen with them so he must have been referring to us.  It was a real odd scene and I'm sure there must be something that we're missing, but from what I saw, it was Adam-induced swinging.

Post edited 9:00 pm – March 10, 2011 by Nosfer

Axel Olrik said:

They didn't get the goods, but the story was better if it seemed they did.

Yes indeed!  Their first real foray into mounted cameras and they miss the evidence would not go over well would it!

Edited: You do see a long distance shot of the lock when they swing around and start walking toward it.  But, with the focus issue and the instability of the camera because of the walking you can't tell if it's moving, motionless, or doing a tap dance.

Then you get a close up of it and Adam says: "See the lock moving" as he's pressing the door in and out making the lock move!  The lock does not appear to be moving until he presses in and out a few times.  From what I see, manufactured goods numbers are up.

They need to use a CF-Meter in these episodes, then they'd get high reading all the time  (Creepy Feeling Meter)

We're seeing a lot more of that lately I think…I've got goose bumps, all the hair on my arm/neck just stood up.  I don't doubt these claims at all, but they seem to indicate it means something.  It's just a reaction to how the person is feeling at the moment which is an indication of a big fat nothing.  I get a creepy feeling going into this basement, the feeling gives me goose bumps…it's all internal and has nothing to do with anything in the basement.

That's along the lines of what I was thinking when I wondered if we'd ever see them again after this episode.  I hope I'm wrong, but this almost seemed to be a "placate the audience" set of investigations.  A residence investigation AND they used shoulder cams.

It's not like the regular film crew was off doing something else, afterall we see a lot of "professional" shots of them arriving, going on the tour etc.

It's not like the quarters were so cramped that they needed this type of setup, they've done ships before and of course the crew went on the tour, so…

This method of investigation needs a LOT of refinement before the results are of any use.  The cameras need to be a lot more stable and they need to realize how much body motion (however slight) impacts the footage that is taken.  I'd like to have seen a combination…sure, have the body-mounted cams, but then have someone doing dedicated filming OR my personal option would be to have a lot more statics set up.