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Alexandra Zapruder Book: Part 2


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https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/alexandra-zapruder-twenty-six-seconds-a-personal-history-of-the-zapruder-film-part-2

In this section, Jeff Carter addresses issues of alteration of the Zapruder film.  Should make for a lively debate.  

Edited by James DiEugenio
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I applaud Jeff Carter's article.  It's concise, to the point, and sheds light on the Zapruder film's provenance as much as can be done, as well as proving the film is authentic. As I've mentioned numerous times on this board, there is just no way that the Zapruder film was forged or altered.

Especially telling in his article is this statement:

"An internal LIFE memo would note that “C.D. Jackson bought the copyright to Zapruder's film to keep it from being shown in motion.”

As the story says and as I've mentioned elsewhere, you have to ask yourself why would that memo say that, to keep it from being shown?  Or more tellingly, if there was nothing to hide in the film, why not show it?  The answer is simple - because there was plenty to see to the contrary and, therefore, it's much, much easier to "keep it from being shown" than to try to forge or alter the film.

The only part that I do not agree with is the shot sequence.  Researchers and others continue to believe that the president was hit before he went behind the sign.  I disagree with that.  I do not believe he "froze" from a shot before disappearing behind the sign, despite what the experts and witnesses say.  And especially because of what the witnesses say because as I mentioned elsewhere, this was an extremely fast sequence and no one was standing around being totally self-aware of what was taking place before them.

I would encourage you to watch this video:

Researchers, myself included, often get wrapped up with the six second firing sequence.  But sit back and watch the above.  Watch the president during the normal course of the parade.  The man is waving, moving around, grabbing his hands, smiling, fluffing his hair and so on.  Of interest are three freeze frames from the video seen above:

Here

Here and 

Here

IMO, *that* is what we are seeing before he disappears behind the sign and no one can convince me otherwise because if others are to believe that he takes a violent, painful throat shot and just freezes, disappears behind the sign, reappears holding the exact same position as he was before disappearing, and then suddenly twitches his hands up to his face from some crazy delayed reaction to the pre-sign shot, well, I find that very hard to believe any human being would react from a shot to the throat that way.

Instead, he looks to his left, the women over on the right side curb yell out, he suddenly looks, waves, and as seen in the above examples, he just holds his hand there.  Then, right as you see him after the sign - boom - the first shot hits and he throws his hands up from the reaction...and so on.

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Jim D

On the weekend of the assassination, not much alteration could have been made. 

I would imagine that Z-208, Z-209, Z-210, Z-211 and Z-212 were removed. Those are the frames located immediately before the limo traveled behind the freeway sign. LIFE, who gave a copy of the original to the WC for their study, said a technician accidently destroyed those frames. Those frames are extremely important because I believe they show Kennedy grabbing his throat before the limo reaches the freeway sign.

According to the WC panel who studied the film, Kennedy was reacting to a shot as early as Z-199.Then at Z-204-206, Kennedy raises his right elbow to an artificially high position. Since Z-212 was the last frame before the limo travels behind the sign, Z-207 was diagonally spliced to Z-212 apparently by LIFE. Refer to ¨Hear No Evil¨ by Don Thomas pgs 195 and 218.

Dino Bruglioni said when he saw the original film the first time he noticed that more than one frame showed the brain matter in the air after Kennedy was shot on the right side of the head. The extant film shows only one frame with brain matter in the air. Dino thinks the extant film has been altered. I must agree with Dino. If we have only one frame showing brain matter in the air then the law of gravity does not hold for the Kennedy assassination. How could all the brain matter disappear after only one frame? One frame is milliseconds. If all the brain matter fell to the ground or into the car or on the car in milliseconds then the gravitational constant is not the same for the real world as opposed to the Kennedy assassination.

Based on Dino´s observation, I believe frames after Z-313 were spliced out on the weekend of the assassination. The frames after Z313 may have been discolored to hide the gapping hole in the back of Kennedy´s head.

The original film was given to LIFE by Zapruder on the day of the assassination or early morning the next day. The LIFE rep told Zapruder that he would return the original asap. The original could have been changed the weekend of the assassination and then promptly returned to Zapruder. Zapruder is the only individual that the government must worry about with regard to making copies and handing them out to whomever. The government agencies who have a copy of the original are going to sit on their copy until they´re told to destroy them. Then copies of the original with the changes are given to the agencies who destroyed their copy.

Carter mentioned that Josiah Thompson had mentioned that umpteen copies of the Zap film may have been made by those who had copies on the weekend of the assassination but Zapruder was the only person who had a copy who didn´t work for the US government.

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Remember that we are speaking of a film that was not seen in motion by the mass public until 1975.  What guarantees do we have that the designated master copy was not altered sometime in the intervening dozen years, and all the copies replaced?  It's not as if any of the owners or repositories were beyond suspicion of collusion. 

Alternately, we have anecdotes of a different version of the film having been available for viewing, attested to by viewers such as Greg Burnham and the late Rich Dellarosa.  Yet no different Z-film has emerged for public viewing, though this would certainly be the most sought-after footage in history.  

Edited by David Andrews
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hi George

I joined the forum recently, anticipating questions would arise regarding the information presented in the article.

Z frames 208-211 appear in most latter-day Z-film sequences as frames without the sprocket information seen in the original. Kennedy’s arms and throat are not visible in those frames.

I’m not sure Brugioni has ever said the film was altered. I believe that has been an interpretation of his remarks. The “brain matter” can also be seen in Z-314, although to a much lesser degree. I cannot say what should be expected as visible to the Zapruder camera.

The Zapruder film timeline has the original film handed to LIFE’s Richard Stolley at 10 AM Saturday Nov 23.

Josiah Thompson did not say extra copies were made. He was making a point that those considering altering the film would have no way to ensure extra copies, which could expose the forgery, were not made. The FBI, for example, transmitted a memo suggesting they were making a copy from a Secret Service print. 

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hi David

The Zapruder film was screened at the Clay Shaw trial in 1969. Bootleg copies began circulating around that time. Previously, Josiah Thompson created his own set of transparencies at LIFE in early 1967.

It is true it cannot be 100% certified the film was not tampered previous to 1967 as result of collusion between LIFE and federal agencies. However, control over the film was not absolute, certainly not at LIFE Magazine, and the film was examined by several groups including members of the FBI and a panel assembled by the Warren Commission in the first months of 1964.

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Jeff:

I think what you are saying is that although you would allow for some minor alteration, that you are skeptical of any wholesale alterations like e.g. traveling mattes etc.?

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31 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Jeff:

I think what you are saying is that although you would allow for some minor alteration, that you are skeptical of any wholesale alterations like e.g. traveling mattes etc.?

hi Jim,

Yes, that is a fair summary. 

Wholesale alteration, as theorized, using travelling mattes and/or removing persons from the frame was not possible using the optical printer technology - or, more precisely, would have produced rather crude and obvious results. This can be stated definitively.

Minor alteration on the level of a painted blob for a few frames, or a black mask covering a wound, or perhaps the removal of a frame or two, is theoretically possible. I personally believe it is unlikely due to the difficulty in returning the resulting film back to a convincing 8mm KODACHROME II daylight film original. Referents to this difficulty appear in footnotes 9 and 10 in the article.

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Jeff

Thank you for the article. I believe it is the most balanced and fair article on the subject. Extremely informative also.

The formula I used to determine the time it would take for matter to fall from the air above JFK to the trunk of the limo (the closest surface) is t = sq. root 2y/g where t is time, y is the highest distance the brain matter went up and g is the gravitational constant. Being conservative, lets say the brain matter went up 2 feet above JFK´s head. The top of JFK´s head was probably 6 inches above the trunk. So y is 2.5 feet. Calculating for t we get 0.4 seconds. Two frames is approximately 0.11 seconds. I think  it´s a significant difference  Using 2.5 ft as the distance the brain matter went up we should see approximately 7 frames of brain matter in the air on the Zap film.

I´m 100% sure the frames that were destroyed accidently by a LIFE technician show the arms and throat of JFK. Someone is still playing games with those frames.

The point I was trying to make about the proliferation of the film is that on the weekend of the assasssination the government had tight control over the Zap film.

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2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:
 
 

Jeff:

I think what you are saying is that although you would allow for some minor alteration, that you are skeptical of any wholesale alterations like e.g. traveling mattes etc.?

 
 

the WC did not screen the Z-film officially till 2/28/64 or thereabouts. Plenty of time for a fully re-constituted Z-film. Provided a good, Hollywood type of special effects film lab was on the job. Makes no difference what 8mm film stock the finished stock ended up on. This was not, NOT a War & Peace length edit.

Re: a Zapruder family member writing a book about the film? I said wow then and now, the family was paid 16 million bucks (what, 7-10 years ago) by the American taxpayer for the film. The Zapruder family trust still receives yearly royalties for film usage and rental. The American taxpayer got taken, AGAIN.

Edited by David G. Healy
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2 hours ago, George Sawtelle said:

Jeff

Thank you for the article. I believe it is the most balanced and fair article on the subject. Extremely informative also.

The formula I used to determine the time it would take for matter to fall from the air above JFK to the trunk of the limo (the closest surface) is t = sq. root 2y/g where t is time, y is the highest distance the brain matter went up and g is the gravitational constant. Being conservative, lets say the brain matter went up 2 feet above JFK´s head. The top of JFK´s head was probably 6 inches above the trunk. So y is 2.5 feet. Calculating for t we get 0.4 seconds. Two frames is approximately 0.11 seconds. I think  it´s a significant difference  Using 2.5 ft as the distance the brain matter went up we should see approximately 7 frames of brain matter in the air on the Zap film.

I´m 100% sure the frames that were destroyed accidently by a LIFE technician show the arms and throat of JFK. Someone is still playing games with those frames.

The point I was trying to make about the proliferation of the film is that on the weekend of the assasssination the government had tight control over the Zap film.

hi george

Thank you for the endorsement. 

Numbered Zapruder film sequences are available (frame numbers) and you might want to consult one to see what is visible Z-208-211. 

Your information re: brain matter is interesting. Seven consecutive frames could not be removed from the film without being noticeable, and I don't believe such matter could be convincingly removed from the film. It is possible that such matter was not discernible in the limited information field of the 8mm diameter frame. 

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59 minutes ago, David G. Healy said:

the WC did not screen the Z-film officially till 2/28/64 or thereabouts. Plenty of time for a fully re-constituted Z-film. Provided a good, Hollywood type of special effects film lab was on the job. Makes no difference what 8mm film stock the finished stock ended up on. This was not, NOT a War & Peace length edit.

Re: a Zapruder family member writing a book about the film? I said wow then and now, the family was paid 16 million bucks (what, 7-10 years ago) by the American taxpayer for the film. The Zapruder family trust still receives yearly royalties for film usage and rental. The American taxpayer got taken, AGAIN.

hi David

"re-constituting" the Z-film in the manner you have suggested was not possible, Hollywood special effects lab or not. You frequently cite the book Techniques of Special Effects Cinematography by Raymond Fielding. But Fielding’s own opinion of Zapruder film alteration is clear: “in my judgment there is no way in which manipulation of these images could have been achieved satisfactorily in 1963 with the technology then available … if such an attempt at image manipulation of the footage had occurred in 1963, the results could not possibly have survived professional scrutiny … challenges regarding the authenticity of the NARA footage and assertions of image manipulation … are technically naïve.”

Your claim it makes "no difference what 8mm film stock the finished stock ended up on" is not a viable surmise. All film stocks have particular grain structure and exposure indexes, and alteration would need to match the particulars of the Kodachrome stock of the original. Zavada discusses this on page 18 of his response to Horne, which has been pointed out to you previously.

I do agree that American taxpayers were poorly served. That the film copyright is in effect is controlled by the Sixth Floor Museum - which has not hesitated to request large fees for use of the film, as Shane O'Sullivan has attested - is outrageous. 

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13 hours ago, Michael Walton said:

I applaud Jeff Carter's article.  It's concise, to the point, and sheds light on the Zapruder film's provenance as much as can be done, as well as proving the film is authentic. As I've mentioned numerous times on this board, there is just no way that the Zapruder film was forged or altered.

Especially telling in his article is this statement:

"An internal LIFE memo would note that “C.D. Jackson bought the copyright to Zapruder's film to keep it from being shown in motion.”

As the story says and as I've mentioned elsewhere, you have to ask yourself why would that memo say that, to keep it from being shown?  Or more tellingly, if there was nothing to hide in the film, why not show it?  The answer is simple - because there was plenty to see to the contrary and, therefore, it's much, much easier to "keep it from being shown" than to try to forge or alter the film.

The only part that I do not agree with is the shot sequence.  Researchers and others continue to believe that the president was hit before he went behind the sign.  I disagree with that.  I do not believe he "froze" from a shot before disappearing behind the sign, despite what the experts and witnesses say.  And especially because of what the witnesses say because as I mentioned elsewhere, this was an extremely fast sequence and no one was standing around being totally self-aware of what was taking place before them.

I would encourage you to watch this video:

Researchers, myself included, often get wrapped up with the six second firing sequence.  But sit back and watch the above.  Watch the president during the normal course of the parade.  The man is waving, moving around, grabbing his hands, smiling, fluffing his hair and so on.  Of interest are three freeze frames from the video seen above:

Here

Here and 

Here

IMO, *that* is what we are seeing before he disappears behind the sign and no one can convince me otherwise because if others are to believe that he takes a violent, painful throat shot and just freezes, disappears behind the sign, reappears holding the exact same position as he was before disappearing, and then suddenly twitches his hands up to his face from some crazy delayed reaction to the pre-sign shot, well, I find that very hard to believe any human being would react from a shot to the throat that way.

Instead, he looks to his left, the women over on the right side curb yell out, he suddenly looks, waves, and as seen in the above examples, he just holds his hand there.  Then, right as you see him after the sign - boom - the first shot hits and he throws his hands up from the reaction...and so on.

hi Michael

thanks for you kind words.

As far as the shot sequence - what makes you sure that whatever the "throat shot" represents was the first incident in the sequence? Might not the strike in the back initiate the sequence, prior to going behind the sign?

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The Sixth Floor controls the film today?

You mean once the Zapruder family got paid off, they donated it to TSFM?

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