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Moooksta

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
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May 26, 2006
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The original Fresno Stick Alien footage is HERE.

I seem to recall the "experts" on Sy Fy's Fact or Faked attempted to recreate the footage and failed. I'm sure someone here has an explanation for it.

Seems the Fresno Stick Alien is still out there. On March 28th a retired Fresno couple were suffering attempted break ins so they turned their security cameras on the drive and recorded this footage.

Looks like the same thing with a cute baby one in tow.
 
Very interesting. The footage on the original, and the second, definitely show signs of suspension by threads. What the Fact or Faked team neglected to try, was a simple three wire effect where one wire held the fabric vertical, and two wires worked each 'limb'. Marrionette workers will spot this immediately. If I had the time, I'd re-create it using this effect, (Which is what I suspect the second video is all about.)
 
coaly said:
Very interesting. The footage on the original, and the second, definitely show signs of suspension by threads. What the Fact or Faked team neglected to try, was a simple three wire effect where one wire held the fabric vertical, and two wires worked each 'limb'. Marrionette workers will spot this immediately. If I had the time, I'd re-create it using this effect, (Which is what I suspect the second video is all about.)

The Sy Fy recreation is HERE They did try a puppet suspended from a pulley system, although that said, there's seems to be some discrepancy over their measurements and techniques.
 
coaly said:
What the Fact or Faked team neglected to try, was a simple three wire effect where one wire held the fabric vertical, and two wires worked each 'limb'.

My point there. I watched it, and they didn't try it. They tried a motorised affair on a line, and a stick guided vaguely. ;)
 
I find that the things in the second video look lie people on stilts. I can even see where they end. Nice try to recreate the original if you ask me. The first one looks like peanut puffs [people in mainland Europe will know what I mean], leaning on a stick. The first footage is amusing in its novelty, the second one is people on stilts, rezised.
 
The way they move, I think it definitely looks like puppets.
It's difficult to get a sense of scale.
 
I did an emboss effect on a still image from the second Fresno film:

Embossed Fresno Alien movie still

As you can see from the embossement effect there is nothing above the waist on these "aliens". If someone had covered everything above their waist in black it probably would have showed up on this manipulated image.
 
"sierraparahunter" who posted the new footage has also produced an embossed version of the moving video as well as providing a size comparison with a child's pram.

VIDEO TEST VERSIONS

"sierraparahunter" seems to be addressing questions as they arise. :?

The Sy Fy recreation...while I'll agree a human puppeteer would endow a puppet with perhaps more fluid and therefore more believable organic movement rather than say the jerky movements of a puppet suspended from a wire operated by a pulley system...the Sy Fy recreation does try the "puppet" theory, they didn't employ a puppeteer (budgetary reason?) but they created a puppet operated by three wires suspended from one source above.
 
But the m ost obvious (without masking or chroma-key) would be... Oh, I'll hav e to illustrate it with lines later. It involves manipulation of the extremities on the puppet. You could do it si mply with two thick wires at the feet, with the body of the thing being semi-rigid.
 
The larger one is visible through the tree at one point, though I can't tell if there is some sort of gap in the tree as the text covers it in the daylight image.

Close-up, they remind me a bit of the lopers from Return to Castle Wolfenstein :?

What's the significance of the emboss effect? Is it suppose to show up strings that might not otherwise be visible?
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
What's the significance of the emboss effect? Is it suppose to show up strings that might not otherwise be visible?

Yep that's what the man says just before the Embossed scence. :) and there does appear to be a gap in the three on the left as it branches out of the ground. Still looks like people on Stilts. Overlayed onto the footage, THe baby one, does not seem to be really walking on the path it has been set. Could be the weak link of hte video.
 
No, embossing just exaggerrates, an mis-alligns aspects of the image. If the wires aren't captured, either due to focus or exposure, not to mention definition... then they won't show up in an emboss. Embossing may simulate highlighting outlines of objects, but contrast, brightness, gain and colour processing would do the job better, but as I said, if something isn't picked up in the picture or video, embossing won't realise it. ;)
 
coaly said:
No, embossing just exaggerrates, an mis-alligns aspects of the image. If the wires aren't captured, either due to focus or exposure, not to mention definition... then they won't show up in an emboss. Embossing may simulate highlighting outlines of objects, but contrast, brightness, gain and colour processing would do the job better, but as I said, if something isn't picked up in the picture or video, embossing won't realise it. ;)

Then notice that there is a shadow on top of the waist on the figure, which would not be there if the figure continued above the waist.
 
No, sorry, the (shadow) is simply whatever there is there, diffused by whichever parameters have been chosen. Embossing splits the image and places the two slightly off paralel to each other to give the embossed effect. That's all it is, (in my understanding). An effect. To do some real investigation, (effective, I mean)... you'd have to get hold of a decent copy of video or photograph, then experiment with enlarging, changing the contrast and brightness, gain etc. All you get with messing with a low definition copy, is a better definition copy, and (unless you digitally remove them), all the noise artifacts and blemishes etc. It's not Blade Runner technology. So, what you can see with the gain and brightness up, is what you can see with embossing, but less so, as it's not sincere.. especially if you go mental, and drive it up the wall and you then get multiple images.
 
coaly said:
No, sorry, the (shadow) is simply whatever there is there, diffused by whichever parameters have been chosen. Embossing splits the image and places the two slightly off paralel to each other to give the embossed effect. That's all it is, (in my understanding). An effect. To do some real investigation, (effective, I mean)... you'd have to get hold of a decent copy of video or photograph, then experiment with enlarging, changing the contrast and brightness, gain etc. All you get with messing with a low definition copy, is a better definition copy, and (unless you digitally remove them), all the noise artifacts and blemishes etc. It's not Blade Runner technology. So, what you can see with the gain and brightness up, is what you can see with embossing, but less so, as it's not sincere.. especially if you go mental, and drive it up the wall and you then get multiple images.

I agree. The embossing of a fuzzy image doesn't serve any useful purpose. You just end up with an image that is more fuzzy.
 
I agree that it looks like puppetry in action however I'm having trouble dealing with the bend in the knees, if the leg was three foot tall the first foot of that three foot bends at the ....knee I guess... :D . Would that mean more than three wires? Five, one centred on a four point axis.

When you look at it again the small one when it first arrives in shot and through out seems IMO to have a shadow to the right of it. So now I'm seeing something hidden to the right of the small one, painted out in post, which means to me a puppeteer operating a cross-wire support, five wires, given the knee bend.

The final frame of the "momma" thing is the clearest I've got!

fing-.gif


The problem with the original footage is the quality of it.....again !?!?!?!

Any puppetry work could easily have been cut out and painted on some footage. An email to the originator maybes?

C'mon Coaly I've done Jpegs. shows us your wire operation of these things?
 
I still think it is stilts. This video [below] shows the ratio of stilts to legs very well and the way people walk. However I watched it muted and it is not shown because it is in any way interesting [cause its not ;)] but to highlight my stilt suspicion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae98hoH7 ... re=related

Also look at other stilt videos, there is a certain way of walking involved that I believe those 'things' are doing.
 
I can see how stilts could come under suspicion however just as the large one exits the tree blocking it's sight (the tree with the little gap in it), immediately after exiting the blocking tree the bottom part of the leg wobbles all over the place, both legs do which would mean the stilt walker would loose balance, no?
 
I like this thread. Don't beleive it's aliens/fairies but it's certainly a refreshingly bonkers change from orbs and chinese lanterns.

For some reason I am scuppered if I can find a good example of a marrionette walking on youtube. Do americans call them something else?
 
It's not stilts, because if you watch the smaller one, not long after it appears to stop, to look around... it's gaite goes wrong. The right leg misses a beat, and the left takes its place. It's difficult to say which method has been used here, (and I suspect they were pissing themselves laughing, because I know I would be!)... But I expect it's quite simple.
I shall post an illustration, or maybe even a video of what I mean, but making it obvious, when I find the time. Thanks for the jpegs Mooksta.
 
I've just looked at the original video again, and noticed that the object isn't actually making any contact with the ground, (unlike the second video)... Notice the shadow near the bottom of the screen, just as it has passed the burned on date and time. It's a few inches in the air. I suspect that the second video may have utilised chroma-keying. Two people (if done simultanioulsy)... dressed in either blue or green, with green sticks to animate the bottom of the 'limbs', walk them down the lane, and then super-impose it onto another track from the same scene,and locked off camera. Add to this some deteriation of the image, and you get that. The limbs are making contact with the ground, and appear to be being manipulated as a puppeterer would, arms. (Using rods). But the original lawn one, looks like it is suspended from above (You could use a fishing rod for this), and the material ends, which could simply be weighted slightly, are jerked with fishing line at the bottom, and released, over and over to make them flap. (As that is all that's hapening, if you watch closely).
 
I think they are suspended from a washing line or similar cable, and are being pulled across. The legs are hinged and weighted so they move, and they may be manipulated either by rods or by strings at the knee joint. I don't think the feet actually touch the ground that often.
 
The killer balls in the Phantasm movies were done entirely with a fishing rod. It's amazing the results an experienced person can get with such a simple method.
 
To me these sort of look like some one has turned a pair of grey or white jogging trousers into a puppet.

It sort of looks tied at the "head" and each foot. Wth something in there to give some kind of rigidity (barbeque tongs or garden shears) and act as a thigh/upper leg and some sort of weight in the "foot" area. Perhaps a tennis ball. That could explain the odd boneless flick ing of the walk. With fishing line and some longish sticks out of shot to control it.

In fact I'd say it looks more like a spoofed spook than an attempted alien
 
Moooksta said:
I can see how stilts could come under suspicion however just as the large one exits the tree blocking it's sight (the tree with the little gap in it), immediately after exiting the blocking tree the bottom part of the leg wobbles all over the place, both legs do which would mean the stilt walker would loose balance, no?

Yeah, I can see the wobble but still think that the leg that wobbles at the time is not the one 'it' is standing on. I watched this again and again and don't think these are puppets, it is definitively a living thing walking [but I am open to be persuaded otherwise]. I just wonder why they wear those big trousers. Usually worn by stilt people to hide the length of their feet.
But when taking steps and bending the legs, you can actually almost see that there is something like feet at the 'joint'. The only difficult thing here is IMO to crop the tops and arms and then overlay the resized footage without leaving any clues in the 'enhancements'. But then again maybe people are getting better at this sort of thing?
 
I think the commenter on the second vid is on to something when they say it looks like backwards walking.

Does anyone here have the power to run the vid backwards?



"Im gonna say people walking backwards. Look at the end of the footage when the taller "creature" leaves the view. I think i? can make out a person. @1:12 you can make out the arms next to their side." - MrSTurley07



Yeeeah that does kind of look like an arm at 1:12.

x
 
coaly said:
http://s788.photobucket.com/albums/yy169/coaly66/?action=view&current=reversealien1.mp4
You have a point there. It does appear to look more natural inreverse. Hmmm. Well done.(Apologies for using Photo bucket, with its annoying loud adverts!)

Been trying to view this for a day now, doesn't seem to be working? The page looks much like your avatar Coaly?
 
And isn't it a coincidence that Photobucket shuts down for maintenance, just after I uploaded the reversed recording (which took me four different downloadings of software to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)... and countless hours to sort out!! It made me want to sweat into a bag, and burst it onto Photobucket share holders' faces!! :evil:
Coincidence? You decide!!!!!!!
 
coaly said:
And isn't it a coincidence that Photobucket shuts down for maintenance, just after I uploaded the reversed recording (which took me four different downloadings of software to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)... and countless hours to sort out!! It made me want to sweat into a bag, and burst it onto Photobucket share holders' faces!! :evil:
Coincidence? You decide!!!!!!!

MIB's did it?
 
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