Judging an a/v sync isn’t easy.  Not only are there several different sync goals that a viewer might have, but over the coarse of a 40 minute sync, it becomes difficult to remember which parts were really good and which were lacking.  But it would be nice to be able to say with some repeatability and reliability how well a sync works, so to that end I propose the following type of measurement of a sync.

 

The sync is divided up into 15 second intervals, and each of those intervals is judged according to how well it works.  Then there can be numbers (weighted averages) assigned to the entire sync or each song, for example, that indicate how well the sync worked on average.  There may be disagreement about how well one of these segments of a sync works, but I don’t think the problem will be nearly as bad as the disagreement that follows from judging entire syncs.  In a small amount of time, it is easier to say that a sync contains something interesting or it doesn’t, and if there is honest disagreement, it should be easier to find a common ground.  For the Stairway to Oz contest, I used a method like this to do my part of the judging, and it seemed to work well.

 

But there are levels for appreciating syncs that aren’t suited to this type of analysis.  The starting point has to be important to say that the audio and video are synching.  If a piece of music goes well with a piece of video in the sense that the music makes a good soundtrack, but it doesn’t really matter where the music starts, then it’s not about the two being synchronized, it’s more about an artistic matching.  This type of judging isn’t about artistic matching.  This type of judging is designed to judge how well they sync as if the entire sync is made of a bunch of 15 second syncs.  So it’s not really about how enjoyable the sync is to watch, unless you love it when stuff goes together and don’t care about much else.

 

The first full length sync that I’ve judged like this is the famous Dark Side of the Rainbow.  After watching it dozens of times, I still couldn’t really say for sure which parts I thought were the strongest, and which were the weakest.  It should be noted that this uses the Pre-89 version of the video, which is slightly different (less than a few seconds) than the modern video, which Baker B. brought to my attention:   http://breton.home.boone.net/darksideoftherainbow.html   I agree with him that this is the best of the variations.

 

Before listing numbers, I need to say what each number means.

 

I decided to break it up into essentially two scales, positive and negative, corresponding to synching and not synching in the following manner:

 

10

means outstanding sync.  Startling and perfectly timed

9

means exceptional, but lacking in some small way

8

means exceptional, but lacking in some way

7

means excellent, but not shockingly excellent.

6

means very nice, but not wonderful

5

means that it's good for a sync that's going well

4

means it's got a little something, but nothing yet that you'd want to point out as being cool.

3

means everything's going alright, but it's nothing special

2

means it leaves a little to be desired, but it's OK.

1

means it's hanging in there.

0

means it's falling flat.

-1

means it's a little bad.

-2

means it's getting annoying

-3

means it's solidly not synching

-4

means it's starting to grate

-5

means nobody should be saying that the two go together

-6

means it's really grating

-7

means it's really bad

-8

means horrible

-9

means hated it

-10

means nobody's gonna make you watch that again

 

 

The scale should be fine tuned to make it as linear as possible, but this seems like a reasonable start.

 

Here’s how well the songs score.  First we have the title, then the time segments that each song covers, then the average score, then the number of intervals sampled for that song.  For simplicity, I rounded each song off to cover an integer number of intervals.

 

                        Song            Times            Score          Intervals

Speak to Me/Breathe

0.0 - 4.0

1.31

16

On the Run

4.0 - 7.30

-0.43

14

Time

7.30 - 14.40

2.86

29

The Great Gig in the Sky

14.40 - 19.20

5.53

19

Money

19.20 - 25.55

2.73

26

Us and Them

25.55 - 33.35

3.80

30

Any Colour You Like

33.35 - 37.0

-0.43

14

Brain Damage

37.0 - 40.50

4.44

16

Eclipse

40.50 - 42.55

5.44

9

 

 

 

2.90

 

 

A score near zero means that there is no sync, so an overall score of 2.9 means that, on average, some significant synching going on.

 

But saying which songs were best on average isn’t the only kind of thing that we would like to know about a sync.  Another thing to note is which parts of a sync scored very high.  But to do that, we need to look at individual segment scores, which follow.

 

Segment

 

 

Overall (from -10 to +10)

 

1

0.0 - 0.15

 

-1

Speak to Me/Breath

2

0.15 - 0.30

 

-1

 

3

0.30 - 0.45

 

-1

 

4

0.45 - 1.0

 

-1

 

5

1.0 - 1.15

 

-1

 

6

1.15 - 1.30

 

2

 

7

1.30 - 1.45

 

1

 

8

1.45 - 2.0

 

1

 

9

2.0 - 2.15

 

1

 

10

2.15 - 2.30

 

3

 

11

2.30 - 2.45

 

3

 

12

2.45 - 3.0

 

3

 

13

3.0 - 3.15

 

1

 

14

3.15 - 3.30

 

3

 

15

3.30 - 3.45

 

4

 

16

3.45 - 4.0

 

4

Speak to Me/Breath

17

4.0 - 4.15

 

7

On The Run

18

4.15 - 4.30

 

3

 

19

4.30 - 4.45

 

4

 

20

4.45 - 5.0

 

2

 

21

5.0 - 5.15

 

2

 

22

5.15 - 5.30

 

2

 

23

5.30 - 5.45

 

-3

 

24

5.45 - 6.0

 

-2

 

25

6.0 - 6.15

 

-3

 

26

6.15 - 6.30

 

-3

 

27

6.30 - 6.45

 

-3

 

28

6.45 - 7.0

 

-3

 

29

7.0 - 7.15

 

-5

 

30

7.15 - 7.30

 

-4

On The Run

31

7.30 - 7.45

 

-4

Time

32

7.45 - 8.0

 

-3

 

33

8.0 - 8.15

 

10

 

34

8.15 - 8.30

 

5

 

35

8.30 - 8.45

 

3

 

36

8.45 - 9.0

 

4

 

37

9.0 - 9.15

 

3

 

38

9.15 - 9.30

 

3

 

39

9.30 - 9.45

 

2

 

40

9.45 - 10.0

 

2

 

41

10.0 - 10.15

 

2

 

42

10.15 - 10.30

 

4

 

43

10.30 - 10.45

 

2

 

44

10.45 - 11.0

 

1

 

45

11.0 - 11.15

 

5

 

46

11.15 - 11.30

 

4

 

47

11.30 - 11.45

 

2

 

48

11.45 - 12.0

 

3

 

49

12.0 - 12.15

 

2

 

50

12.15 - 12.30

 

2

 

51

12.30 - 12.45

 

3

 

52

12.45 - 13.0

 

5

 

53

13.0 - 13.15

 

2

 

54

13.15 - 13.30

 

4

 

55

13.30 - 13.45

 

4

 

56

13.45 - 14.0

 

3

 

57

14.0 - 14.15

 

2

 

58

14.15 - 14.30

 

3

 

59

14.30 - 14.45

 

5

Time

60

14.45 - 15.0

 

4

The Great Gig in the Sky

61

15.0 - 15.15

 

6

 

62

15.15 - 15.30

 

4

 

63

15.30 - 15.45

 

3

 

64

15.45 - 16.0

 

7

 

65

16.0 - 16.15

 

6

 

66

16.15 - 16.30

 

6

 

67

16.30 - 16.45

 

5

 

68

16.45 - 17.0

 

7

 

69

17.0 - 17.15

 

7

 

70

17.15 - 17.30

 

5

 

71

17.30 - 17.45

 

6

 

72

17.45 - 18.0

 

4

 

73

18.0 - 18.15

 

6

 

74

18.15 - 18.30

 

4

 

75

18.30 - 18.45

 

5

 

76

18.45 - 19.0

 

6

 

77

19.0 - 19.15

 

6

 

78

19.15 - 19.30

 

8

The Great Gig in the Sky

79

19.30 - 19.45

 

7

Money

80

19.45 - 20.0

 

5

 

81

20.0 - 20.15

 

3

 

82

20.15 - 20.30

 

-3

 

83

20.30 - 20.45

 

-7

 

84

20.45 - 21.0

 

-2

 

85

21.0 - 21.15

 

0

 

86

21.15 - 21.30

 

4

 

87

21.30 - 21.45

 

2

 

88

21.45 - 22.0

 

3

 

89

22.0 - 22.15

 

1

 

90

22.15 - 22.30

 

4

 

91

22.30 - 22.45

 

2

 

92

22.45 - 23.0

 

2

 

93

23.0 - 23.15

 

3

 

94

23.15 - 23.30

 

5

 

95

23.30 - 23.45

 

3

 

96

23.45 - 24.0

 

4

 

97

24.0 - 24.15

 

5

 

98

24.15 - 24.30

 

2

 

99

24.30 - 24.45

 

2

 

100

24.45 - 25.0

 

4

 

101

25.0 - 25.15

 

7

 

102

25.15 - 25.30

 

7

 

103

25.30 - 25.45

 

4

 

104

25.45 - 26.0

 

4

Money

105

26.0 - 26.15

 

0

Us and Them

106

26.15 - 26.30

 

0

 

107

26.30 - 26.45

 

2

 

108

26.45 - 27.0

 

2

 

109

27.0 - 27.15

 

0

 

110

27.15 - 27.30

 

1

 

111

27.30 - 27.45

 

3

 

112

27.45 - 28.0

 

4

 

113

28.0 - 28.15

 

4

 

114

28.15 - 28.30

 

5

 

115

28.30 - 28.45

 

2

 

116

28.45 - 29.0

 

10

 

117

29.0 - 29.15

 

9

 

118

29.15 - 29.30

 

6

 

119

29.30 - 29.45

 

4

 

120

29.45 - 30.0

 

6

 

121

30.0 - 30.15

 

8

 

122

30.15 - 30.30

 

7

 

123

30.30 - 30.45

 

3

 

124

30.45 - 31.0

 

3

 

125

31.0 - 31.15

 

7

 

126

31.15 - 31.30

 

2

 

127

31.30 - 31.45

 

2

 

128

31.45 - 32.0

 

2

 

129

32.0 - 32.15

 

3

 

130

32.15 - 32.30

 

5

 

131

32.30 - 32.45

 

3

 

132

32.45 - 33.0

 

5

 

133

33.0 - 33.15

 

2

 

134

33.15 - 33.30

 

4

Us and Them

135

33.30 - 33.45

 

4

Any Colour You Like

136

33.45 - 34.0

 

4

 

137

34.0 - 34.15

 

1

 

138

34.15 - 34.30

 

-1

 

139

34.30 - 34.45

 

-2

 

140

34.45 - 35.0

 

-3

 

141

35.0 - 35.15

 

0

 

142

35.15 - 35.30

 

-2

 

143

35.30 - 35.45

 

-3

 

144

35.45 - 36.0

 

3

 

145

36.0 - 36.15

 

-2

 

146

36.15 - 36.30

 

0

 

147

36.30 - 36.45

 

-2

 

148

36.45 - 37.0

 

-3

Any Colour You Like

149

37.0 - 37.15

 

1

Brain Damage

150

37.15 - 37.30

 

1

 

151

37.30 - 37.45

 

6

 

152

37.45 - 38.0

 

7

 

153

38.0 - 38.15

 

4

 

154

38.15 - 38.30

 

5

 

155

38.30 - 38.45

 

7

 

156

38.45 - 39.0

 

6

 

157

39.0 - 39.15

 

3

 

158

39.15 - 39.30

 

2

 

159

39.30 - 39.45

 

5

 

160

39.45 - 40.0

 

7

 

161

40.0 - 40.15

 

6

 

162

40.15 - 40.30

 

5

 

163

40.30 - 40.45

 

4

 

164

40.45 - 41.0

 

2

Brain Damage

165

41.0 - 41.15

 

3

Eclipse

166

41.15 - 41.30

 

4

 

167

41.30 - 41.45

 

7

 

168

41.45 - 42.0

 

7

 

169

42.0 - 42.15

 

7

 

170

42.15 - 42.30

 

7

 

171

42.30 - 42.45

 

9

 

172

42.45 - 43.0

 

3

 

173

43.0 - 43.15

 

2

Eclipse

 

 

 

So that’s a start.  If anyone would like to debate the scores for individual sections, or discuss any of this, please write me at mike@mikecasey.org