Archive for movies
July 1, 2009 at 2:26 pm
· Filed under movies ·Tagged firefox, movies, ogg theora, theora, video
We now support the new [[video]] HTML tag when viewing movies from our site.
You’ll need Firefox v3.5+ (full or beta release) or Safari v4+ for us to show you a “try the new [[video]] tag” section under the “click to play” video area.
You can even persist a choice to always use it on our site (by us setting a cookie for you) (and you can change your mind and go back to the normal flash plugin based option).
-Tracey Jaquith
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June 16, 2009 at 10:32 am
· Filed under movies ·Tagged movies, video
We are now rolling out a “beta” feature where users can click on the thumbnails for a given video (to see the still frames) and now click on a thumbnail to jump right into that scene of the video!
-Tracey Jaquith
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June 16, 2009 at 9:57 am
· Filed under movies ·Tagged movies, video
Our flash-based player will now allow for folks to click anywhere on the timeline to have it quickly seek the film to the indicated position (previously users would have to wait for the video to download/pre-buffer up to that point first).
–Tracey Jaquith
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June 16, 2009 at 9:42 am
· Filed under movies ·Tagged movies, video
Our flash-based player supports “SubRip” files (files with “.srt” extension). About a month ago, we updated our video pages to automatically support subtitles.
One simply needs to upload a file with a “.srt” extension (in the SubRip format) along with the video file to get started. If the item includes multiple video files/tracks, you can make multiple .srt files, example:
cow1.avi
cow1.srt
cow2.mov
cow2.srt
We support multilingual subtitling as well. Our suggested naming of .srt files for language-based tracks for the best display on our site is like:
cow.mov
cow.en.srt (english)
cow.fr.srt (french)
cow.hu.srt (hungarian)
and our site will show a selector for the three different languages
subtitle: [ en | fr | hu ]
next to the video track in our player.
Example short video with subtitling.
Enjoy!
–Tracey Jaquith
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April 14, 2009 at 4:18 pm
· Filed under audio, movies ·Tagged audio, derivatives, ffmpeg, movies, video
Hi Patrons,
Yesterday we made live a large update to the way we create the audio and video displayed on our site. Most folks might not notice the changes, so here’s a rundown:
For Audio:
- We can now read and make mp3s from 24-bit Flac files. This has been requested for many years and we are thrilled to get it working.
- The Ogg audio files that we create from audio files will now be using an updated “libvorbis” library. (The library we were using before today was from 2001!
)
- We are no longer making 64kb MP3s (or zips or m3u playlists of those files). This was a judgement call — given how poor the sound quality is for these files and the fact that most people are getting more and more bandwidth to their devices and computers.
- Simplified back-end system, relying more and more on “ffmpeg” for format conversion.
- We will now (try to) make derivatives from “.aac” (Advanced Audio Coding) files and “.ra”/”.rm” (Real Audio) files.
- General ability to read more kinds of audio files more reliably.
For Movies:
- The Ogg Video files that we create from movies files will now be using an updated “libvorbis” library for their audio. (Previously we were using the “non reference” library ogg encoder. Now we are using the much asked for and newer “libvorbis” library).
- Updated ffmpeg to v0.5. This allows for a much wider range of source audio/video containers and codecs. We will be able to derive HD-quality video formats like DV-50 and DV-100. (For those interested in ffmpeg, changelog).
- Better detection of widescreen movies (so less of our movies on our site will incorrectly appear “squooshed”).
- General ability to read more kinds of video files more reliably.
- Noting the prior point, we were able to get streaming videos for about 170 TV archive items that we could not process previously.
Enjoy!
–Tracey Jaquith
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April 2, 2009 at 12:07 pm
· Filed under Cool Movies, News, movies
Sita Sings the Blues is a refreshingly unique animation that has gotten a rise out of people on both sides of the open and shared culture debate. In the film, creator Nina Paley weaves together the strikingly personal story of her own divorce with the ancient Indian tale of Sita and Rama. Set to the alluring vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the soundtrack has elicited dispute over rights issues.
Paley says on her Web site, “I hereby give Sita Sings the Blues to you. Like all culture, it belongs to you already, but I am making it explicit with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. Please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show Sita Sings the Blues. From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes. “
The Archive welcomes this piece of art with open virtual arms, hoping to share this bit of culture with as many users as possible, as Paley has intended. You can download the full length film here, get high-resolution stills here, watch the trailer here, and see an interview with Paley regarding the connection between expression and copyright here.
While the cultural arguments have begun to define this work, the film stands firmly on its own as an utterly engaging and enjoyable piece of entertainment. The animation, which seamlessly flows between entirely different styles and story lines, is to be admired by even those who do not regularly seek out animated stories. Assuming the viewer is familiar with heartache and heartbreak (which they likely are), Rama and Sita and Nina and her ex-husband will be relatable in many ways.
With more than 40,000 downloads on archive.org and nothing but rave reviews it is clear that Paley has created a stand-out film. Enjoy it on the Archive, or, perhaps it’s playing near you.
–Cara Binder
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January 14, 2009 at 12:33 pm
· Filed under Cool Movies, movies ·Tagged coronet instructional films, prelinger archives
The sexual education debate has been a chronic one. No one can seem to agree on what age to teach children about sex, what details should be disclosed to different grades, if condoms should be supplied in schools, or if abstinence can be used as an effective approach to sex-ed.
While it seems as though this same song has been sung for decades, it has, indeed, evolved with the times. Educational videos shown in grade schools and high schools today struggle with drug abuse, rape, and coming into your own sexuality. A look at Coronet Films, which were shown in great regularity in American schools in the 1940s and ’50s, shows a completely different world of instructional videos for teens. Teens in the ’50s were taught how to say no to a goodnight kiss, not how to say no to a hit off a bong.
Several are available to view in the Prelinger Archives. While for many this will be a walk down memory lane, the younger generation can now see just how different things were a short 50 years ago.
Some suggestions are highlighted below:
Lunchroom Manners
Going Steady?
Dating: Do’s and Don’ts
Self-Conscious Guy
How Honest Are You?
I Want to Be a Secretary
Am I Trustworthy?
How Quiet Helps at School
Exercise and Health
You and Your Parents
How to Be Well Groomed
The Fun of Being Thoughtful
While today these films are primarily screened as novelty pieces to mock, they are no doubt a precious capsule of the 1950s zeitgeist.
–Cara Binder
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January 5, 2009 at 11:55 am
· Filed under Cool Movies, movies ·Tagged library of congress, national film preservation board, national film registry
Each December, the United States National Film Preservation Board chooses up to 25 films they deem worthy of taking special action to preserve in the Library of Congress. It’s a new year, and that means 25 more films are welcomed in the vault of the National Film Registry.
I picture the registry as a gathering place of the great moving images throughout time. Here, company is shared between documentaries, Hollywood classics, family movies, news footage, and experimental films; the board clearly has an open mind when considering what should be preserved, and they are therefore responsible for creating a phenomenal resource of what they consider “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film.”
Three of the 2008 picks can be viewed on the Archive as well as nearly 40 picks from years past. Take a look at what the filmphiles of the United States work to preserve.
2008 National Film Registry picks found on the Archive:
Foolish Wives (1921)
Disneyland Dream (1956)
One Week (1920)
1989-2007 National Film Registry picks found on the Archive:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Black Pirate (1926)
The Blood of Jesus (1941)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Cameraman (1928 )
Cat People (1942)
Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-5)
Duck and Cover (1951)
Fall of the House of Usher (1928 )
Flash Gordon (1936) serial
Freaks (1933)
The General (1927)
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
His Girl Friday (1940)
The House I Live In (1945)
The House in the Middle (1954)
The Immigrant (1917)
Intolerance (1916)
The Kiss (1896)
The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
The Lost World (1925)
Manhatta (1921)
Master Hands (1936) in four parts
Modern Times (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Our Day (1938 )
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
The Sex Life of a Polyp (1928 )
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
–Cara Binder
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December 23, 2008 at 11:33 am
· Filed under Cool items, movies ·Tagged dance, dance manuals
Whether your idea of dancing is grabbing your partner to swing round and round or expressing yourself artistically through modern dance or bopping your head to the tunes on an iPod during your morning commute, it’s likely that you’ve danced recently. Dance has always been a universal mode of expression and popular pastime to relax and join in community.
On the Archive, there are all kinds of examples of how people have shaken their tail feather throughout the ages in different parts of the world. Through dance manuals and videos, we get a unique peer into people’s groove.
Watch the Moves
Young children perform a traditional Spanish folk dance
A solo ballet circa 1940, music by Reinhold Gliere
A Texan dance group performs an Egyptian belly dance in 2007
Footage and interviews from a New York hip hop dance conservatory, a “hip hop boot camp”
An ancient-style Japanese dance given in Niigata, Japan in 2001
A short clip of late-night club dancing
A young girl dancing an Irish jig
Read About the Moves
An Arden Holt dance manual from 1907 discussing choreography and dance masters
A text from 1899 covering the anti-dance stance in which social dance is deemed sinful
A 1920 dance manual giving instructions for popular dances of the day
Reginald St. Johnson’s book on the history of dance as of 1906
A short pamphlet published in 1892 outlining the Highland Fling, a popular dance for children
A 1916 manual explaining proper dance positions
A manual dating back to 1735 offers an explanation of their modern dancing
Take some notes from these various styles and have some fun at the club, in the car, or on stage…your dance venue is up to you.
–Cara Binder
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November 25, 2008 at 6:38 pm
· Filed under movies ·Tagged derivatives, h.264, theora, video
We have rebuilt all of our nearly 200,000 videos at the archive!
[We finished this Dec 1, 2008]
Related cross-blog with OLPC.
Here is a table-based chart of which video formats will be “derived” into which formats (we are creating 4 formats per video now):
http://www.archive.org/help/derivatives.php
Improvements and Changes from our prior movies techniques:
- We will make a new Ogg Theora (with Vorbis audio) opensource/free-based video derivative. This derivative will play natively in Firefox 3.1 release (v3.1 is due around the end of 2008).
- We are re/making h.264 MPEG-4 derivatives. We have updated the format to work with lighttpd “mod_h264_streaming” (which allows jumping into a movie at a specified time) but in the process will be losing the ability to serve/stream this file with RTSP. This derivative also plays in the Adobe Flash plugin and plays on iPods/iPhones.
- We are removing older 64kb and 256kb MPEG-4 derivatives. With “progressive download” support becoming ubiquitous, even modems and phones are doing much better with downloading larger files.
- We are removing older .flv “Flash Video” derivatives. Since the much better quality h.264 derivative plays in recent flash plugins (as well as many other devices and browsers), the flash video alternative is seen as less ideal.
- We are removing older .mpg MPEG-1 derivatives. Their usefulness has declined in recent years, especially compared to h.264 alternatives.
- We are remaking our animated GIFs. They attempt to make 30 thumbnails from each uploaded video. We now evenly space them across the entire video.
- We are remaking our Thumbnails. Similar to the GIF, we are spreading them across the videos better, and making less Thumbnails for items with *many* videos. Additionally, we are renaming the thumbnails to indicate the second position in the video they were created at. This will allow for the next bullet item…
- We have developed the ability to jump into videos by clicking on the thumbnail image (to go to that scene!) We are finalizing the URL / permalinks for these “jump into video” URLs and will release this live to the public as soon as we can.
-tracey jaquith
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November 25, 2008 at 3:41 pm
· Filed under movies ·Tagged movies, ogg theora, OLPC, video
[reposted and edited with generous consent from John Gilmore]
The Internet Archive has a collection of about 185,000 moving images,
including many cartoons and full-length movies that have fallen into
the public domain. They offer full downloads in the best format they
have, as well as “re-derived” versions in other (typically smaller)
formats. They also added a Flash-based video player in the last year
or two. The “One Laptop Per Child”, or OLPC, software supports the Ogg Theora video
codec, but few movies had been uploaded in Ogg Theora, and none had
previously been re-derived into it.
The Archive actively supports the free software ecosystem, and is now
busy re-deriving copies of all their videos into both Ogg Theora and
H.264 (mp4) codecs. So far they have more than 40% of the videos
converted, and hope to have the rest done by December 2008.
This makes each of these videos easily accessible on the OLPC XO, by
looking in the left margin for the download/stream link for the Ogg
Video version. As each is converted, it immediately becomes
accessible at www.archive.org/details/movies.
The Archive is also noticing that the “OLPC” browser
is connecting, and replaces the Flash player with a direct link to the
.ogv Ogg Theora file. This allows stock XO’s to play videos by
clicking on the big Click To Play image. For example, try:
http://www.archive.org/details/merry_melodies_falling_hare
For the kids, they’ve already converted all 84 cartoons in this collection:
http://www.archive.org/details/classic_cartoons
You can also search their moving images collection for
format:”Ogg Video”
to restrict your search to movies that have a copy available in Ogg (Theora).
–tracey jaquith
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November 25, 2008 at 3:31 pm
· Filed under movies ·Tagged ffmpeg, firefox 3.1, libtheora, ogg, theora, video
archive.org has started to make theora derivatives for movie files, where we create an Ogg Theora video format output for each movie file. after trying a bunch of tools over a good corpus of wide-ranging videos, i found a neat way to make the Archive derivatives.
High Level:
- use ffmpeg to turn any video to “rawvideo”.
- pipe its output to *another* ffmpeg to turn the video to “yuv4mpegpipe”.
- pipe its output to the libtheora tool.
- for videos with audio, ffmpeg create a vorbis audio .ogg file.
- add tasty metadata (with liboggz utils).
- combine the video and audio ogg files to an .ogv output!
Detailed example:
- ffmpeg -an -deinterlace -s 400×300 -r 20.00 -i CapeCodMarsh.avi -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -f rawvideo – | ffmpeg -an -f rawvideo -s 400×300 -r 20.00 -i – -f yuv4mpegpipe – | libtheora-1.0/lt-encoder_example –video-rate-target 512k – -o tmp.ogv
- ffmpeg -y -i CapeCodMarsh.avi -vn -acodec libvorbis -ac 2 -ab 128k -ar 44100 audio.ogg
- oggz-comment audio.ogg -o audio2.ogg TITLE=”Cape Cod Marsh” ARTIST=”Tracey Jaquith” LICENSE=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/” DATE=”2004″ ORGANIZATION=”Dumb Bunny Productions” LOCATION=http://www.archive.org/details/CapeCodMarsh
- oggzmerge tmp.ogv audio2.ogg -o CapeCodMarsh.ogv
WTFs:
- Why the double pipe above? Some videos could not go directly to yuv4mpegpipe format such that libtheora (or ffmpeg2theora) would work all the time.
- We do the vorbis audio outside of libtheora (or ffmpeg2theora) to avoid any issues with Audio/Video sync.
- We convert to yuv420p in the rawvideo step because ffmpeg2theora has (i think) some known issues of not handling all yuv422 video inputs (i found at least a few videos that did this).
- We add the metadata to the audio vorbis ogg because adding it to the video ogv file wound up making the first video frame not a keyframe (!)
So this will end up working in Firefox 3.1 and greater — the new HTML “video” tag:
<video controls=”true” autoplay=”true” src=”http://www.archive.org/download/commute/commute.ogv”> for firefox betans </video>
This technique above worked nicely across a wide range of source and “trashy” 46 videos that I use for QA before making live a new way to derive our videos at archive.org.
-tracey jaquith
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