Has the Z-film ever been "recreated?"

[Aaron Sharpe]

In terms of authenticity, I go back and forth in my feelings about the Zapruder film. Without going into detail, my question is simply this: 

Has anyone ever tried to recreate the Zapruder film in as faithful a manner as possible? I'm talking about a person of Mr. Z's height standing atop the pedestal along Elm Street and filming using an identical B&H camera and identical film stock, in similar lighting/weather conditions, and panning slowly down the street as a vehicle makes its way down Elm toward the underpass. Ideally, such a recreation would employ a "limo" of similar proportions to the presidential Lincoln and maybe some motorcycle outriders behind. Even more ideal would be to place at least a few "witnesses" in their same positions along both sides of the street. 

Apologies if this is common knowledge, but I've searched and have never come across such a thing. I imagine it might have been done back in the original WC investigation, but even if it was I don't think such a film has ever been released into the public domain.

Seems like the time period when the film JFK was being made (1991) would have been an ideal time to do this. But certainly this is something that could be done even today. Obviously there are differences in the plaza now (no Stemmons Freeway sign, to name but one), but I think it would be revealing as to whether any of the strange artifacts in the extant Z-film could be recreated. To that end, even the simplest version of such a recreation—ie, simply panning slowly down the street using the B&H camera atop the pedestal, and never mind the subject matter—would have value. 

[Denny Zartman]

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Edited January 24 by Denny Zartman

[Pat Speer]

43 minutes ago, Aaron Sharpe said:

In terms of authenticity, I go back and forth in my feelings about the Zapruder film. Without going into detail, my question is simply this: 

Has anyone ever tried to recreate the Zapruder film in as faithful a manner as possible? I'm talking about a person of Mr. Z's height standing atop the pedestal along Elm Street and filming using an identical B&H camera and identical film stock, in similar lighting/weather conditions, and panning slowly down the street as a vehicle makes its way down Elm toward the underpass. Ideally, such a recreation would employ a "limo" of similar proportions to the presidential Lincoln and maybe some motorcycle outriders behind. Even more ideal would be to place at least a few "witnesses" in their same positions along both sides of the street. 

Apologies if this is common knowledge, but I've searched and have never come across such a thing. I imagine it might have been done back in the original WC investigation, but even if it was I don't think such a film has ever been released into the public domain.

Seems like the time period when the film JFK was being made (1991) would have been an ideal time to do this. But certainly this is something that could be done even today. Obviously there are differences in the plaza now (no Stemmons Freeway sign, to name but one), but I think it would be revealing as to whether any of the strange artifacts in the extant Z-film could be recreated. To that end, even the simplest version of such a recreation—ie, simply panning slowly down the street using the B&H camera atop the pedestal, and never mind the subject matter—would have value. 

Something like this was done at one point, and the film was shared on this forum. it was not the limo or anything like that, but a researcher using the exact model camera stood on the pedestal and filmed a car driving by at roughly the same speed as the limo. The results were consistent with Zapruder's film, as I recall. 

Hopefully, someone else will have the details. 

[David Butler]

I think it might have been Chris Davidson who is a member here who did that and posted some clips previously...

[Nick Bartetzko]

I sent an excellent condition film of the exact type that Zapruder used to Rich Della Rosa that could have been used for that purpose. Rich passed away and I have no idea what happened to that film

[Pat Speer]

1 hour ago, Nick Bartetzko said:

I sent an excellent condition film of the exact type that Zapruder used to Rich Della Rosa that could have been used for that purpose. Rich passed away and I have no idea what happened to that film

You might be onto something. Was it Greg Burnham who shot the footage after receiving the film from Della Rosa? For some reason that rings a bell. Does that make any sense? 

[Nick Bartetzko]

9 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

You might be onto something. Was it Greg Burnham who shot the footage after receiving the film from Della Rosa? For some reason that rings a bell. Does that make any sense? 

That was some years ago as Rich passed away in 2010.  My recollection is that Rich told me he didn’t…or no longer … needed it. Whether Greg then later received it to do filming, I have no idea. It would have been a waste not to use it as was in such good condition. 

[Michael Griffith]

20 hours ago, Aaron Sharpe said:

In terms of authenticity, I go back and forth in my feelings about the Zapruder film. Without going into detail, my question is simply this: 

Has anyone ever tried to recreate the Zapruder film in as faithful a manner as possible? I'm talking about a person of Mr. Z's height standing atop the pedestal along Elm Street and filming using an identical B&H camera and identical film stock, in similar lighting/weather conditions, and panning slowly down the street as a vehicle makes its way down Elm toward the underpass. Ideally, such a recreation would employ a "limo" of similar proportions to the presidential Lincoln and maybe some motorcycle outriders behind. Even more ideal would be to place at least a few "witnesses" in their same positions along both sides of the street. 

Apologies if this is common knowledge, but I've searched and have never come across such a thing. I imagine it might have been done back in the original WC investigation, but even if it was I don't think such a film has ever been released into the public domain.

Seems like the time period when the film JFK was being made (1991) would have been an ideal time to do this. But certainly this is something that could be done even today. Obviously there are differences in the plaza now (no Stemmons Freeway sign, to name but one), but I think it would be revealing as to whether any of the strange artifacts in the extant Z-film could be recreated. To that end, even the simplest version of such a recreation—ie, simply panning slowly down the street using the B&H camera atop the pedestal, and never mind the subject matter—would have value. 

The real problem, and the real test, would be to recreate the Zapruder film so that it included (1) the impossibly fast movements that we see some people perform in the existing film, (2) the streaking anomalies that we see in the existing film, (3) the odd black dot over the back of JFK's head that we see in the film, (4) the split-second 0.37-g slowing in Z295-304 that Dr. Alvarez detected in the current film, (5) the strange absence of any visible reaction by the limo's occupants to this split-second 0.37-g slowing, etc., etc.

It would also be useful to have a crowd in the plaza during the recreation to see if anybody noticed the nine-frame slowing. When you watch the current film at normal speed, the split-second slowing is unnoticeable--the limo appears to move at a steady speed until after the head shot. Indeed, no one noticed the split-second slowing until Dr. Alvarez detected it, and he only detected it after hours of frame-by-frame analysis. 

Yet, dozens of witnesses, from all over the plaza, said the limo either came to a complete stop or that it markedly slowed. Nothing like this is seen in the current film.

Evidence of Alteration in the Zapruder Film

Edited January 25 by Michael Griffith

[Jonathan Cohen]

1 hour ago, Michael Griffith said:

The real problem, and the real test, would be to recreate the Zapruder film so that it included (1) the impossibly fast movements that we see some people perform in the existing film, (2) the streaking anomalies that we see in the existing film, (3) the odd black dot over the back of JFK's head that we see in the film, (4) the split-second 0.37-g slowing in Z295-304 that Dr. Alvarez detected in the current film, (5) the strange absence of any visible reaction by the limo's occupants to this split-second 0.37-g slowing, etc., etc.

Roland Zavada's report for the ARRB destroys the notion of this level of massive fakery in the Zapruder film.

[Chris Davidson]

Welcome to the forum, Aaron.

https://vimeo.com/911660532?share=copy

 

[François Carlier]

A few years ago there was a Marcel Dehaeseleer / Jack White "Camera obscura" experiment done. You may want to look that up.
Note : Jack White has passed away but Marcel Dehaeseleer is still around (he is from Belgium) although his web site is no longer on line.

[Jamey Flanagan]

Even better would be to recreate the film from descriptions of close eyewitnesses and folks who have claimed to have seen an unaltered original film. Then you delete frames during the car stop to see how that looks compared to the extant film. See if motions like the Greer head turn look as exaggerated. You could probably do this better on a computer than to actually try to recreate it on film. Scan pictures of Dealey Plaza to program the exact dimensions of buildings and such into the computer generated Plaza. Place all the witnesses. Try to simulate different things like the limo stop. Would be interesting!