Elan Frank Screenshots

Many questions have been raised about these particular screenshots, and I have decided to share them here.

Because the images are taken from an online video source, the resolution is very poor compared to higher quality jpeg images that can be downloaded. Nevertheless, some detail is clear, and, with brightness and contrast adjusted to emphasize detail, what we can see is very odd.

Israeli filmmaker Elan Frank filmed Gov. Palin for four days in early April this year, 2008. I have contacted Mr. Frank's office to determine the exact dates, and have not received an answer. However, we know for a fact that one of the four days was April 8th. In other words, this footage is from approximately ten days before Trig's birth, and within one week of the "April 13" pictures that we have discussed at length.

I originally discussed one still shot available from this shoot in this post. Here is the shot. Here is a Flickr page with some larger versions of the photo. (Interesting to note that this photo was originally released by the Governor's media office, though now it's no where visible on the state website. It's also interesting to note that many places that are still showing this photo are showing a cropped version that stops just below her neck.)


In my original post on this picture, I stated that while it is clear that there IS something there, the "something" looks wrong. This looked then, and still does, like some sort of flat pad. This "tummy" lacks the taut roundness that pregnant bellies typically have by 33-34 weeks gestation. I also stated, at the time, that I was very bothered by the fact that if you look carefully at the very bottom of the photo, as her belly is silhouetted against her blue jacket (our right, her left, closest to Frank) it almost appears as if her belly is getting slimmer again at the very bottom of the picture. But if one tries to envision anatomy, you realize that this is roughly the level of her navel. Now do a Google image search for pregnant women at 33 weeks. See the problem? Pregnant bellies at this point do not look like a flat pad whose "bulk" is mostly above the level of the navel, and then get thinner below.

This screen shot was taken on the same day as the photo above, based on her outfit and accessories which are identical.


Anyone can get this same screen grab. The embedded Fox videos from YouTube are on this page of my website.

As before, at first glance, it doesn't seem like you can tell much. Just another mass of black. But even in the poor quality screen grab, there is additional data that you can't see at the median settings. But by adjusting the brightness and contrast, all of a sudden, more becomes available.

Here's an intermediate adjustment.


A delineation begins to be visible below the bottom of the belly and the legs.

Now a second adjustment.


Yes, it's hard to make out exactly what you're looking at here; the initial screen grab just doesn't have enough date to make a really clear shot. But the overall impression here is that we are looking at something that is rectangle shape. While indistinct, a clear "corner" can be seen on the left side of the belly. There is a line ... a STRAIGHT line ... at the bottom this belly that is not consistent with a normal pregnant woman's anatomy. I have personally seen thousands of pregnant women in my life. Fuzzy or not, I have never seen anything that looks quite like this.

A reader sent in this (rather odd) photo of a young woman dressed up in a costume, with a pillow under her shirt to make her look fatter. Look familiar?