Finally cracked that moon landing film grain theory after 6 months

Ngl I spent way too long trying to prove that the grain pattern in Apollo 11 footage matched a specific camera model from 1969. Turns out the 16mm film stock they used at Cape Canaveral had a unique serial batch number K-472 that explains the inconsistent exposure. What's a conspiracy rabbit hole you chased that took forever to get answers from?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher_flores4622d ago

K-472, that's the number? Dude. That's insane you actually tracked it down that far. I've been trying to figure out why some footage from the JFK motorcade has this weird static band in the corner. I finally found a guy on an old film forum who said it was a specific telecine transfer machine that had a loose sync roller, and it took me a year just to find that one post hidden in a PDF.

skyler_mitchell22d ago

Jumped down that same rabbit hole once with some old newsreel footage. The serial numbers are usually stamped on the film edge in a specific code, but most people don't know they exist. Found a PDF from Kodak's engineering dept that explained the whole batch numbering system, took me three weeks to even locate it. Your telecine machine theory sounds right though, those old transfer rigs had all kinds of quirks that show up as weird artifacts.

umabailey22d ago

Wait, you actually traced it back to a specific serial batch number of film stock? That's honestly wild, I didn't even know film stock had serial numbers like that.