the patterns on the Harding Flash & Pattern Analysis Website Give Me Migranes Anyone who has ever worked on broadcast material will know the feeling of dread that piece of white paper rejecting your material brings forth: a byzantine rejection sheet quoting flashes and stripes, luminance and spatial risk traces with dramatic peaking graphs. In layperson’s terms: “Sorry, your entry has failed the Harding Test”. (I’m paraphrasing there).

Most UK citizens don’t even know of it’s existence, but the Harding Test was devised by algorithms developed by Cambridge Research Systems and based on research by Professor Graham Harding. It analyses video content for flashing and stationary patterning which may cause harm to those who suffer from photosensitive epilepsy (according to guidelines set by Ofcom).

Anything you see on your television screens in the UK has been through the Harding Test and thus, everybody in the UK is protected against potential seizure-inducing imagery. It can be the most frustrating thing in the world when you’re trying to fine-tune your edits to meet their guidelines, but it’s there to protect everyone, and most people don’t even realise..!

You can see the official Harding FPA Test website here

..although I find it hard to believe that such an epilepsy-friendly cause would have such a migraine-inducing website.