The Huge Gates Theory

[Tom Graves]

JAMES - Thanks for posting that animated visual aid. Remember that the Huge Gates were attached to the side of the TSBD.  I do not believe the placard shadows are being cast onto "the wall"/"the side" of the TSBD. This is throwing off the animation measurements being posted. Those placard shadows look like they are being cast onto something stacked there. No side of the TSBD resembles what we are seeing on the Martin Film. There are dock doors on that same side of the TSBD 1st floor. Dock doors possibly being built into what we are seeing on the Martin Film? I don't think so.

Storing,

What are you trying to say?

[Royell Storing]

  I am saying we are Not seeing a common wall between the TSBD and the Huge Gates. We are probably looking at something that is stacked there. Maybe something staged for for loading onto a truck? The degree numbers are based on that being the common wall. It is not.

[James Hackerott]

  JAMES - Thanks for posting that animated visual aid. Remember that the Huge Gates were attached to the side of the TSBD.  I do not believe the placard shadows are being cast onto "the wall"/"the side" of the TSBD. This is throwing off the animation measurements being posted. Those placard shadows look like they are being cast onto something stacked there. No side of the TSBD resembles what we are seeing on the Martin Film. There are dock doors on that same side of the TSBD 1st floor. Dock doors possibly being built into what we are seeing on the Martin Film? I don't think so.

Royell, to model your theory of a space between the east gate at its fully open position I modeled the effect of the space by incrementally moving the east gate westward, thus generating a variable space between the gate and the “wall”. At each increment I animated the gates rotation until it gave a shadow pattern similar to that of Martin_Euins fillm. I did this procedure for simulated space increments up to 12”.

The data shows that the larger the space the smaller amount of gate rotation is required to compare with Martin_Euins shadow patterns. Thus, the maximum rotation falls at about 14 degrees.

[Royell Storing]

  I understand the method you used. It is my position that we are Not seeing the TSBD "Exterior Wall" on the Martin Film. The placard shadows on the Martin Film are falling onto something that is "stacked" between the TSBD Exterior Wall and the East  Gate. This stacked material decreases the "open space" your model is using to match-up the shadows with the Martin Film. The Martin Film "placard shadows" are being cast onto something that does Not resemble any of the other exterior sides of the TSBD. 

[James Hackerott]

Excellent animation as per usual, James.
It highlights why Royell can't understand that the gates are wide open in the Martin film.
Towards the end of the clip below we see Sawyer, cigarette in hand, leading Brennan to his car where he briefly questions him.
For a second we see the gates in the closed position and I believe we also see the "citizen" that Mooney grabbed to make sure no-one went in or out.



I've watched this clip many times and get the impression that the gates have just been closed and the citizen is securing them (possibly)
We know from the photographic record the gates were wide open at 12:40pm (Hertz clock time)
I believe this actual moment can be pinpointed with some degree of accuracy.
After his conversation with Brennan, Sawyer contacts dispatch:



This transmission is timestamped 12:44pm
However, there is a slightly earlier transmission from Saywer.
At some point, just before a timestamp of 12:43pm, Sawyer contacts dispatch:

"We need some more men down at the Texas School Book Depository. We should have some on Main if we could get someone to pick up and bring them down here."

This transmission is made just before 12:43pm. We can assume Sawyer makes it as soon as he gets into his car and before he questions Brennan.
So we're looking at the closing of these gates around 12:41pm.
Exactly as you have marked in your animation.

Here is the scene following Jimmy Darnell’s close and personal filming of the three young women Stella Jacob, Gloria Holt and Sharon Simmons as they left the pergola patio. The scene finds him south of the depository doorway. We see Howard Brennan in the NE corner of the landing as he turns and spits (his chew?) into the space between the steps and white door column block and then returns to his interviewer. A police officer, possibly Inspector Sawyer, passes Brennan and interviewer and descends the steps moving in the westerly direction of Sawyer’s parked car. Near the west wall stands an approximate 5’1”  person I’ve code-named “Choir Boy”.  There is a suited man with hat standing at the doorway apparently screening people entering or leaving the doorway. I’ve never known his name. Some frames of this clip show a brief refection of sunlight on the top riser just behind this man. This brief flash of sunshine is suitable for shadow/time analysis. Lower steps also have possible use for timing, but are likely composite shadows from the door column and Choir Boy. The second animation was derived by modeling the doorway and 50% overlay with a Darnell frame. The sun position was incremented from 12:30-12:50. It appears to me that the shadow time of this Darnell scene is 12:43, with an estimated error of plus/minus 1 minute.

Note that the image hosting site imgur.com recently stopped (seemingly) providing BBC code for image display in this forum. Until I find a replacement I will add images to Google Drive.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WlZ2SxYEfrRCOoBegqpxce5vOhXu5tLE?usp=sharing

[James Hackerott]

  I understand the method you used. It is my position that we are Not seeing the TSBD "Exterior Wall" on the Martin Film. The placard shadows on the Martin Film are falling onto something that is "stacked" between the TSBD Exterior Wall and the East  Gate. This stacked material decreases the "open space" your model is using to match-up the shadows with the Martin Film. The Martin Film "placard shadows" are being cast onto something that does Not resemble any of the other exterior sides of the TSBD.

Dissecting the Shadows
I began to try to model the shadows in the Euins clip two weeks ago, but had difficulty matching two prominent shadows in particular. These shadows appear below the center and above the two lower placards. In my animation the Martin inset has these two shadows circled in yellow.

The shadow on the right is due to the corner pilaster falling on the background. Note that the rectangular shape of the shadow tapers to point. This does not happen on a vertical surface, bricks or boxes. The east gate is anchored to the SW pilaster and is therefore only about six to eight inches from the TSBD’s west wall. There remains holes in this pilaster where the gate hardware was fixed.

The second shadow on the left side is due to the center placard and would look similar to the other placard shadows falling on the flat wall. However, this shadow is shortened to about half its expected size. This is due to falling on a sloped surface as in the lower (Google Earth) inset photo taken of that very pilaster in the Martin frame.

My animation has a simulated sloped top and provides the anomalous shadow patterns. My slope is a flat incline while the authentic slope appears to have curvature. I don’t think that could change my conclusions.

The background behind the east gate is actually the TSBD west wall. The Martin frames are soft making the brickwork essentially blended in with the mortar. Also note that nether the chain-link fence or TSBD south face breeze blocks cutouts are resolved. 

It is not just Martin’s Euins scene where bricks and mortar are unresolved and appear blended as one continuous surface. Martin and Hughes both filmed with their 8mm film cameras and recorded similar scenes of brickwork of the TSBD and DalTex buildings that do not have resolved brick/mortar. I could not find even one frame from Martin or Hughes frames showing resolved brick and mortar.   

https://i.imgur.com/a/cZ837E2.gif

[Dan O'meara]

Dissecting the Shadows
I began to try to model the shadows in the Euins clip two weeks ago, but had difficulty matching two prominent shadows in particular. These shadows appear below the center and above the two lower placards. In my animation the Martin inset has these two shadows circled in yellow.

The shadow on the right is due to the corner pilaster falling on the background. Note that the rectangular shape of the shadow tapers to point. This does not happen on a vertical surface, bricks or boxes. The east gate is anchored to the SW pilaster and is therefore only about six to eight inches from the TSBD’s west wall. There remains holes in this pilaster where the gate hardware was fixed.

The second shadow on the left side is due to the center placard and would look similar to the other placard shadows falling on the flat wall. However, this shadow is shortened to about half its expected size. This is due to falling on a sloped surface as in the lower (Google Earth) inset photo taken of that very pilaster in the Martin frame.

My animation has a simulated sloped top and provides the anomalous shadow patterns. My slope is a flat incline while the authentic slope appears to have curvature. I don’t think that could change my conclusions.

The background behind the east gate is actually the TSBD west wall. The Martin frames are soft making the brickwork essentially blended in with the mortar. Also note that nether the chain-link fence or TSBD south face breeze blocks cutouts are resolved. 

It is not just Martin’s Euins scene where bricks and mortar are unresolved and appear blended as one continuous surface. Martin and Hughes both filmed with their 8mm film cameras and recorded similar scenes of brickwork of the TSBD and DalTex buildings that do not have resolved brick/mortar. I could not find even one frame from Martin or Hughes frames showing resolved brick and mortar.   

https://i.imgur.com/a/cZ837E2.gif

Hi James, I was just wondering, if you assume the angle of the gate is zero (fully opened - as it appears to be in other pics) can you work out the exact time the Martin clip of Euins on the bike was taken as this might nail down the time Sawyer arrived at the TSBD building.

[James Hackerott]

Hi James, I was just wondering, if you assume the angle of the gate is zero (fully opened - as it appears to be in other pics) can you work out the exact time the Martin clip of Euins on the bike was taken as this might nail down the time Sawyer arrived at the TSBD building.

Dan,
Using an angle of 0 degrees gives a shadow pattern for about 12:28. That is not a typo. At 12:40 the angle is 3-4 degrees to match the shadow pattern. So, I can't determine the time from of Martin_Euins clip. I wish I could.