"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Can we get the studios to not to apply this blurring on films in general?

Short answer……………….No.

Long Answer…………….
It is not a studio decision to make. It is the filmmaker’s stylistic choice. In general, this is the way the process normally works during the final color correction (which can also entail defocusing, which you refer to as “blurring”).

One of the following representatives is present with the colorist to supervise the process.

1. the Director
2. the D.P.
3. the Post Supervisor
4. the Editor
5. uncommonly, the Producer

It really all depends upon the particular feature film as well as the availability of the representatives.
Sometimes a combination (for instance, the Director and the DP) participate in each session. Worst case scenario is when you have a bunch of people show up and you end up with “transfer by committee” in which case, everybody involved in the film has an opinion to express and the colorist leaves the room to get a cup of coffee and reminds them all that they are on the clock while they all *debate* it out for the final look.

The colorist’s job is to satisfy the client who signs the work order at the end of the session and the “studio” or the distributor doesn’t get involved in this kind of stylistic decision….. whether it be defocusing, primary or secondary color correction, etc.

The only time I’ve heard of the studio intervening to veto the final *look* of what the filmmaker intended in the DI suite were in cases in which the studio had to make the transfer acceptable to difficult overseas markets that have had some restrictions on picture quality, such as excessive chroma levels.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I can't confirm audio specs yet, but the HD DVD encode of Amadeus which was done two years ago will NOT be the one released on Blu-ray.

This has been re-encoded and should take up quite a lot of room on the BD50 it will be released on. I would hope that means the Dolby Digital Plus 640Kbps track that was prepped for the HD DVD release will also be replaced with a TrueHD track but I'll confirm that when I can.

The fact that is was re-encoded only a few weeks ago should be excellent news on the WB front and a sign of good things to come.

Good.
We all don’t want to be giving a REQUIEM mass for a lossy Dolby Digital Blu-ray of Amadeus when the day arrives………

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA5B-F6QMC8

[Grubert]

I am hopeful that Amadeus will finally have lossless audio. But regardless of whether Amadeus gets lossless or not, the mere fact that we have to wait for a confirmation of the inclusion of lossless audio in a title irks me. If it isn't LA Confidential, then it is Interview with a Vampire; if it isn't How the West Was Won, then it is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Or new releases such as Speed Racer or Get Smart.

For the past couple months I tried to use some circumspection, but allow me to step out of character for a minute.

ON

The mere fact that we're discussing this makes me more appreciative of the other studios that don't even think about it and offer lossless across the board, and less and less willing to make excuses for the one studio that doesn't.

Here is a list of excuses made for not including lossless sound.

"It flopped at the box office."
Counterexamples: Married Life (Sony) earned a measly $1.5 million. The Blu-ray has lossless audio. Meet Dave (Fox) took $11.8 million at the BO. It's announced for November 25, with lossless audio.

"It is a very long movie"
Counterexamples: The Godfather: Part II (Paramount) is 200 minutes long. The Sand Pebbles (Fox) is 179 minutes long. Both have lossless audio on Blu-ray.

"It is a dialog-based movie and wouldn't benefit from lossless audio"
Counterexamples: Catch and Release (Sony) is dialog-based; so are Juno (Fox) and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Image).

"It is a low-budget movie, with original mono sound and wouldn't benefit from lossless audio"
Counterexample: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a very low-budget '70s movie, released on Blu-ray by a small studio (Dark Sky Films), with a 2.0 PCM track.

This reminds me of the time when only Warner used snapcases for its releases, although it was very clear that the public hated them. I read It was rumored that the reasons for such a choice on the part of the studio were less than scientific, but it is water under the bridge now. It took a long time, but they eventually switched to Amaray cases like everybody else. Hopefully there'll be a time when we again will wonder why we were even talking about this.

The format supports lossless sound. The top-selling player supports PCM, TrueHD and DTS-MA. Most news player bitstream or decode all lossless formats. Audio bandwidth is rarely an issue - you can have a lossless track and a dozen lossy ones and still be within the limits. The only barrier is capacity.

Therefore, all movies should have lossless audio on Blu-ray. No exceptions.

OFF

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Grubert

...........
For the past couple months I tried to use some circumspection, but.........

I read that fast and I thought you said *circumcision* to which I think I had an immediate flashback to the days in which I was a wee wee young thing and some masked man holding a scalpel made me scream !

Other than that, great post.

[4K2K]

When a Hollywood film is released in Europe is the version released in Europe usually a totally different video encode than the USA version? Are there studios that usually use the USA encode for the European version or is it usually/almost always the case that a new/different video encode is done for Europe?

[Jeff Kleist]

For the DVD, yes, PAL has more resolution and a different framerate

For the Blu-ray, so long as it's the same studio, no because all the hardware has the ability to handle the different frame/refresh rates.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

When a Hollywood film is released in Europe is the version released in Europe usually a totally different video encode than the USA version? Are there studios that usually use the USA encode for the European version or is it usually/almost always the case that a new/different video encode is done for Europe?

Depends on who has the rights, Buena Vista UK will normally use the same encode for US + UK (see pirates of the Caribbean) but not all the time (see Gangs of New York), and sometimes different companies will use a separate encode (see UK Eastern Promises - Pathe VC-1 + US Eastern Promises - Universal VC-1 (same codec, different encode)) but then some might recycle an encode (see ***cant think of any right now!***)

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Depends on who has the rights, Buena Vista UK will normally use the same encode for US + UK (see pirates of the Caribbean) but not all the time (see Gangs of New York), and sometimes different companies will use a separate encode (see UK Eastern Promises - Pathe VC-1 + US Eastern Promises - Universal VC-1 (same codec, different encode)) but then some might recycle an encode (see ***cant think of any right now!***)

Yes, I remember when "Serenity" came out on HD DVD in the UK sporting a different encode than the American version... yet both were released by Universal. It was said that the UK version was better than the American version.

It will be interesting to see if Universal will choose to use the US HD DVD encode, the UK HD DVD encode, or do a new encode for the Blu-ray release.

~Alan

[Penton-Man]

Can anyone out there name any of the lensers that speak for a little bit on style during this clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBH7kjQISks

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
and self-introduced………..

10.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Can anyone out there name any of the lensers that speak for a little bit on style during this clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBH7kjQISks

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
and self-introduced………..

10.

^
Let me help y’all with the names of the first and last ()……..
1. Vittorio Storaro, ASC

10. Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC
(who was involved in his first digital intermediate post production with the film, Black Dahlia {scanned at 4K})

By the way, RAH is not allowed to fill in the names of #2 …..nor #8.

[Ben]

How about I throw a few out:

Gordon Willis
Tak Fujimoto

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Can anyone out there name any of the lensers that speak for a little bit on style during this clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBH7kjQISks

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
and self-introduced………..

10.

..

[Sith]

Hey Penton Man, heard a rumor that fox and warner are negotating
a release for Watchman to Warner for Fox to be able to release the old Batman series cause it was on there network but Warner owns the Batman rights, heard anything about this????? Didn't really want to post it
cause it is a sort of rumor, but from a reliable source...

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Sith

Hey Penton Man, heard a rumor that fox and warner are negotating
a release for Watchman to Warner for Fox to be able to release the old Batman series cause it was on there network but Warner owns the Batman rights, heard anything about this????? Didn't really want to post it
cause it is a sort of rumor, but from a reliable source...

You might want to read this:

Who Watches The Batman (1966)? Sorry, Nobody Just Yet!

~Alan

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Can anyone out there name any of the lensers that speak for a little bit on style during this clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBH7kjQISks

1. Vittorio Storaro
2. Gordon Willis
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
and self-introduced………..

10. Vilmos Zsigmond

Since some of you fellows recognize only the guys, I’ll fill in slot #7……………………

Nancy Schreiber, ASC
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0775262/

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I can't confirm audio specs yet, but the HD DVD encode of Amadeus which was done two years ago will NOT be the one released on Blu-ray.

This has been re-encoded and should take up quite a lot of room on the BD50 it will be released on. I would hope that means the Dolby Digital Plus 640Kbps track that was prepped for the HD DVD release will also be replaced with a TrueHD track but I'll confirm that when I can.

The fact that is was re-encoded only a few weeks ago should be excellent news on the WB front and a sign of good things to come.

It would be nice if WB included an isolated lossless music track for Sir Neville Mariner’s grand Mozart performances, if they choose to forego the theatrical version and only offer the Director’s cut.

[Josh]

Penton,

Will you be adding your Blu-ray collection to the site?

https://www.blu-ray.com/community/co...ber=Penton-Man

Its a little empy right now.

[hollywoodguy]

Another nail in the coffin for Blu-ray...

http://www.cepro.com/article/report_...oing_well/K294

[Slec]

I love the last line in that story... HA

Toshiba's profits fell 95 percent in Q1 2008 due to its departure from HD DVD in February.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Josh

Penton,

Will you be adding your Blu-ray collection to the site?

https://www.blu-ray.com/community/co...ber=Penton-Man

Its a little empy right now.

Who (which studio?) be da man………….. news dude?
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1886

Bet you don’t have one of these ……………