KINEJAPAN digest 1410

[H.Ziegler@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de]

In 2001 there has been a huge retrospective on Japanese silent film during the 
Giornate del Cinema Muto where also Mizoguchi's "Taki no Shiraito" has been 
screened. The projection speed for this film has been 24 fps. Altogether the 
projection speeds of the Japanese silent films differed similar to that known 
from Western silent films with a range from 16 fps to 24 fps. For more 
information check the website of the Giornate del Cinema Muto 
www.cinetacadelfriuli.org/gcm/

Best regards,

Holger Ziegler

Date: Wed, 03 Nov 2004 14:42:47 -0500
From: "Richard Suchenski (rsuchens at Princeton.EDU)" <rsuchens at Princeton.EDU>
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Projection speed of Japanese Silent Film


Preparation work for a screening of Mizoguchi's "Taki no Shiraito" has raised 
several questions about the proper projection of Japanese silent films that I'm 
hoping somebody here has a clear answer to:  What, if any, frame speed was 
standard for the projection of Japanese silent films?  16 fps?  18?  24?  
Something else entirely?  Was this fixed early on or did it change over time?  

I attended screenings of several German and American silent films in Kyoto last 
year, and they all seemed to be projected at visually correct speeds of 
approximately 18 fps.  This suggests that many Japanese museums still use 
variable-speed projectors and I'm wondering if this also suggests that Japanese 
silent films were designed to be shown at "silent" speed.  Has anyone done any 
research on this?  

Thanks,
Richard Suchenski
Princeton University