This feels like some sort of illegal crime, forcing video into a tool with such a low-fi aesthetic, but I kinda like how it looks! check it out at the link above - I've included all the details of how to do it as well.
So the reason the video has a few clicks of a keyboard at the end is to allow one to eyeball how the synch is. And on native Decker and desktop browser Decker it seems fine. But interestingly I tried it on Firefox on my phone and there the video seemed to run ever so slightly faster than the audio.
In theory the video should be running at a nice consistent 30fps, since Decker's internal timings work on 60fps and it waits for 2 frames before showing the next frame of video. But I am wondering like I don't know what frame rate my phone runs at, maybe this isn't the most accurate way of timing?
I am also thinking maybe it doesn't matter so much since like we're dealing with a maximum of 10 seconds of video anyway (due to the maximum length of audio files in Decker, although you could stitch several together if you're feeling ambitious) and early video formats sometimes had wonky synch, like the one Lucasarts used for their cutscenes would go a bit loose at times apparently. So I'm tempted to leave this wonkiness as part of the aesthetic.
Next challenge: adding optional closed captions! Shouldn't be too hard, just need to make some text pop up at certain frames haha. When I eventually use this in a zine I'll probably want to do something like this for accessibility.
Well, I've met challenge 2 of adding closed captions! It's somewhat a wacky implementation, like I am just counting up frames and have a massive if statement saying "if I get to this frame, swap to this subtitle" which honestly I am fine with, like it's bad in a good way?
I've experimented a bit with how I'm downconverting/importing the video a bit too. Since I'm using a different video I don't have a DIRECT comparison but this should be neater at least. I think long-term what you probably want to do with quality is be mindful of how you light the video in the first place and tweak the contrast and such before downconverting.
anyway I'm not sure where to take this next but like it's working? so time to start on zine 9 and use this somehow?
