The September 11 Attacks - Clifton Cloud's footage (editor's cut)

3 months ago
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This video contains the files « Clifton Cloud Clip_1.avi » to « Clifton Cloud Clip_16.avi » and « Clifton Cloud2 Clip_1.avi » to « Clifton Cloud2 Clip_6.avi », which have been released to the public by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I added two clips of TV live broadcast, courtesy of NBC News.

Videographer: Clifton Cloud;
Locations: Delancy and Essex Municipal Garage, 105-113 Essex Street, Manhattan, New York;
Time: 09h02:44 a.m. - 10h29:51 a.m. EDT, September 11, 2001;

NBC News live broadcast - interviews with Clifton Cloud in the studio:
Katie Couric & Matt Lauer;
Time: 11h50:47 a.m. - 11h59:56 a.m. EDT, September 12, 2001 (edited);
Tom Brokaw;
Time: 01h55:03 p.m. - 01h59:51 a.m. EDT, September 12, 2001;

00:00:15 »» Shot # 1 @ 09h02:44 a.m. EDT;
»» 00:00:31 »» South Tower (WTC 2) gets hit @ 09h03:00 a.m. EDT;
»» 00:56:30 »» South Tower (WTC 2) collapse initiated @ 09h58:59 a.m. EDT;
01:16:53 »» Shot # 2 @ 10h22:00 a.m. EDT;
01:18:16 »» Shot # 3 @ 10h24:07 a.m. EDT;
01:18:42 »» Shot # 4 @ 10h26:30 a.m. EDT;
01:19:20 »» Shot # 5 @ 10h28:28 a.m. EDT;
»» 01:19:20 »» North Tower (WTC 1) began to collapse about six seconds earlier;
01:20:22 »» NBC News live broadcast with Katie Couric & Matt Lauer;
01:24:02 »» NBC News live broadcast with Tom Brokaw;

This is amateur footage. The possible most interesting part of the video is the footage that we do not see. I couldn't tell whether this is everything that Clifton Cloud has shot, or whether any agency has redacted the material. But I find it rather unusual that the videographer first has shot almost one hour and 17 minutes of consecutive footage, and then changed his style drastically and only shot short clips.
The latter is even less plausible when considering that Clifton Cloud has verbally expressed his anticipation, that the North Tower also will collapse, only 25 seconds before the end of his first, long, and uninterrupted shot. Even if he had to change the tape or the battery pack, chances are that he would have continued as before.
The runtime counter, which NIST has added, apparently only serves one purpose: to conceal the fact that the "raw" footage is edited material. Particularly strange is the clip « Clifton Cloud2 Clip_4.avi » which is a professional montage of material stemming from four different shots, whist NIST is usually releasing short and very short clips of other videographers. I did not use the video « 85-WTCI-85-S.mp4 » which NIST also has released.

I don't know which camcorder for home videos Clifton Cloud has used. The rather poor image quality may have been caused by the Pinnacle DV25 codec already during recording. The 'positive' side effect of the not so nice Pinnacle DV25 is that artifacts are well suppressed.

I refrain from digital image manipulation. In my opinion, any so-called 'enhancement', as observed in similar video creations elsewhere, is tampering with evidence. I consider this video document as material evidence in the disaster investigation. My objective is to use as much raw and uncompressed footage as ever available for a highly authentic document, and to avoid edited material if possible. I also preserved artifacts 'as is'. The footage in this video may, however, have encountered earlier editing and compression losses.
I adapted all footage to NTSC standard (SD), doubled the frame rate to 59.94 fps (60000/1001), and amplified the audio. Though working with, whenever possible, uncompressed footage, Rumble is using their own encoding service and compression standards.

Exact shot times have been established with the help of 1010 WINS News Radio.

This video has been created for exclusively educational, non-profit purposes. The usage of commercial footage shall be regarded under the conditions of 17 U.S. Code § 17 / 17 U.S. Code § 512 (f) (Fair use).
Dedicated to the lives lost on September 11, 2001, and in the aftermath of that day. May they rest in Peace.
Thank you for taking the time to inform yourself.

https://www.conniemazur.com/

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