Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 April 15

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April 15

Voice not fitting

Recognizing the great Jim Neighbors, Crazy Guggenheim: Frank Fontaine (The Jackie Gleason Show), and Mel Tillis ~~ are there other famous celebrity personalities who were known for silly "characters" completely separate from their beautiful singing voices? Maineartists (talk) 01:40, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

I suppose it depends what you mean by "silly characters", but two British comedians with high-profile straight singing careers come to mind: firstly the clown and comic actor Norman Wisdom with his "Gump" character, a perky but inept and put-upon loser, and secondly Ken Dodd, a stage and TV comic of the "daft" kind, known for silly voices. --Antiquary (talk) 09:50, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Now I come to think of it there's also Harry Secombe, a tenor who first came to fame playing Neddie Seagoon in The Goon Show. --Antiquary (talk) 09:54, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

And you've just reminded me of Joe Pasquale, who doesn't look anything like the voice that comes out of his mouth!--TammyMoet (talk)

I'd like to suggest Tracey Ullman, who is best known as a comedian but who was first introduced to the U.S. audience as a singer. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 03:28, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

In that vein, Vicki Lawrence, who besides being a well-known comedian had a major hit song with "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." --Jayron32 18:40, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Is Uptown Girl about the Upper East Side?

What's the downtown? One of the Villages? Soho? Generic downtown Manhattan? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 01:41, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Billy Joel wrote this when he was dating Elle McPherson when she was 19. When they parted ways, and he "hooked up with Christie Brinkley" the song went from "Uptown Girls" to "Uptown Girl" and signified the idea that a guy who was from Long Island who couldn't land a date, now was being recognized for writing songs and was landing dates with high classed girls from the Upper West / East Side. (Uptown Girls). The song started with McPherson, but ended up about Brinckley and reflected the date-ability of Joel and his stardom. "Downtown" certainly means the opposite of "Uptown" Maineartists (talk) 01:58, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Manhattan is commonly divided into "Uptown", "Midtown", and "Lower". I've also hear "Uptown" commonly called "Upper". We have an article on Upper Manhattan which is a redirect from "Uptown Manhattan." Note that this refers to more of an area than the song is about. The song is strictly about women from the expensive housing around Central Park. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 17:26, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

At Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Wikipedia says that "Manhattan Island is loosely divided into Downtown (Lower Manhattan), Midtown (Midtown Manhattan), and Uptown (Upper Manhattan)"; at Midtown Manhattan#Location it says that Midtown is commonly described as ending at 59th St. (i.e. it's entirely south of Central Park); however, Midtown Manhattan#Differing demarcations of Midtown Manhattan says that Midtown is also described as extending to 86th St. But then Uptown Manhattan, as noted, redirects to Upper Manhattan, which says that Upper Manhattan is variously described as beginning at 96th, 110th, 125th, or 155th St. No matter which of these definitions are used, they all imply that there is an area between Midtown and Upper Manhattan, and I venture to say that that may be the area the song is referring to. --76.71.6.254 (talk) 19:39, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Split screen video clip

What is the name of the video clip effect where the layout is a mosaic of smaller clips, for example Jacob Collier's clip? And what are the tools for making this effect on Windows? Gil_mo (talk) 22:36, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Funnily enough, it's called: the "Brady Bunch" effect. Simply google: "HOW TO" (tutorial) for Windows. Good luck! Maineartists (talk) 12:53, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

(edit conflict) It's just called Split screen. The technique was popularized by filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s, especially those of the New Hollywood movement in America and the French New Wave in France. François Truffaut used it in Tirez sur le pianiste, Norman Jewison's original The Thomas Crown Affair, and the documentary Woodstock are good examples of its use. --Jayron32 12:57, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

With no disrespect, but the original question was in specific relation to Jacob Collier's clip. If one were to research "split screen" tutorials, they would merely reference a single, side-by-side two-image split screen effect. The question was regarding the effect that placed multiple images within one frame that allowed unlimited audio tracks to be played and seen layered over each other in looped-sequence. That is called the "Brady Bunch" effect. Multi Dynamic Image Technique (such as The Thomas Crown Affair) did use this similar technique, but not in the sense for using it as a music video with multi-tracks for playback, like this: Disney Compilation; and for finding it within present day apps and iMovie software, and tutorials, "Brady Bunch effect" renders results. PS please indent Maineartists (talk) 13:22, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

I was replying to the OP, which is why my indent was only 1. If I were replying to you, I would have indented an extra. Also, I hadn't read you response, we had an edit conflict, which I indicated in my response, so that the OP knew that my answer wasn't dependent on yours. Your answer is fine too. I took no issue with it, indeed I had already written mine before yours was submitted. That's how edit conflicts work. --Jayron32 14:15, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

My apologies. Happy editing. Maineartists (talk) 15:20, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for both replies! Gil_mo (talk) 22:20, 17 April 2017 (UTC)