Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

Pretty much true of all media. The local used store regularly has fire sales on CDs & DVDs & Games and pays pennies on the dollar to trade in.

Yeah, recent games are the only thing you can get any sort of value for and even then you are losing a lot of money. The used cd/dvd market is pretty much dead I think.

[Elvis Is Alive]

I tend to observe that the vast majority of people who don't object to a director taking liberties in a motion picture book adaptation have not read the original source material (novel). I fall into alignment with Jeff here on this subject. If you want to take creative liberties, make an original screenplay.

On the flip side, what are some of everyone's favorite book adaptations that were true to the source? It's been years since I read the book so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but at the time I saw the film I thought "The Hunt for Red October" was very true to Clancy's book.

[Jeff Kleist]

On the flip side, what are some of everyone's favorite book adaptations that were true to the source? It's been years since I read the book so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but at the time I saw the film I thought "The Hunt for Red October" was very true to Clancy's book

It's pretty close, I don't remember anything but it's been about 8-10 years since I read it. My biggest dissapointment was the omission of the "Russians watch ET" scene from the book, I always thought it would have played out well on film

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Elvis Is Alive

I tend to observe that the vast majority of people who don't object to a director taking liberties in a motion picture book adaptation have not read the original source material (novel).

As opposed to the alternative that would be objecting to every adaptation? They're all "taking liberties".

[Jeff Kleist]

As opposed to the alternative that would be objecting to every adaptation? They're all "taking liberties".

Not every movie adaptation makes arbitrary changes

Here's a good example- Jumper

The author created a new version that wasn't stuck in the 80s, wrote a completely new continuity based on his original, and then wrote a prequel to introduce the new characters and situations.

See, what you're doing is taking it to this nitpicky point where it doesn't matter. No one is taking paint chips to the sand in Dune. But we do get upset when they invent things out of whole cloth just for the sake of putting their own stamp on someone else's work.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Originally Posted by Elvis Is Alive

I tend to observe that the vast majority of people who don't object to a director taking liberties in a motion picture book adaptation have not read the original source material (novel).

I'm a Tolkien fan who has read LOTR too many times to count, but I didn't mind the changes Peter Jackson and his co-writers made for the films.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The used DVD market is so depressed I don't think anyone is worried about that much

that's what I would think. I'm always reading on this site people going on about "selling their old dvd" when they buy a blu ray...

to whom?

and for how much? 2 or 3 bucks?

[madmojo]

Originally Posted by Elvis Is Alive

I tend to observe that the vast majority of people who don't object to a director taking liberties in a motion picture book adaptation have not read the original source material (novel). I fall into alignment with Jeff here on this subject. If you want to take creative liberties, make an original screenplay.

If they did that, people would complain about the screenplay being a rip-off instead. Heck, Avatar is already being blamed for being about ten previously made movies. I am saddened to say that due to internet message boards, there will never be an original screenplay again. You'll always have some group of people saying it's stolen from another film.

Also, why blame the director when the screenwriters should get most of the blame. The director may have some input into the storyline, but the screenwriters are the ones doing the deed.

Let's take Harry Potter as an example here. I love the book series. So does my sister. She's more on your side of this issue. She hated Prisoner of Azkaban because of the liberties it took with the book. I hated Chamber of Secrets because it was exactly what I read in the book, almost word for word. It was boring. I loved Prisoner of Azkaban.... Thought it was the best in the movie series.

I guess no matter what you do, you'll displease some very vocal minority these days. I go on the IMDB message boards some days and I end up thinking "these people are going to be the end of the world."

That was a bit of a ramble, but, well, there it is!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

See, what you're doing is taking it to this nitpicky point where it doesn't matter.

No, I'm not, because the essence of my point is that every decision that needs to be made outside of the original work is going to be seen differently by every person who watches the movie. You and I probably have radically different lists of movies that we've both seen as far as which have taken "small liberties" and which have taken "large liberties" and everything in between. They all take liberties, whether they try to or not, and we all have individual opinions on the merits of each of those individual liberties.

[Jeff Kleist]

No, I'm not, because the essence of my point is that every decision that needs to be made outside of the original work is going to be seen differently by every person who watches the movie. You and I probably have radically different lists of movies that we've both seen as far as which have taken "small liberties" and which have taken "large liberties" and everything in between. They all take liberties, whether they try to or not, and we all have individual opinions on the merits of each of those individual liberties.

Again, you're addressing this at the extreme level.

Here is the simple question to ask when you're making an adaptation

"Is what I'm about to put in the film a direct contradiction of what is in the original source material"
"Does this scene or plot point exist in the original source material"
"If either A or B= False, did I call the creator and obtain permission? If creator=dead, then answer= NO"

See how easy that is?

I respect Paramount a lot for letting Tom Clancy on the SUm of All Fears track BTW, where he complained endlessly (as is his right) about the changes they made

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by madmojo

......Also, why blame the director when the screenwriters should get most of the blame. The director may have some input into the storyline, but the screenwriters are the ones doing the deed.

Don't forget the author (at least contemporary authors) that sold the screen rights and often are credited with consultation. They seem to be happy as long as the check is big enough.

I guess no matter what you do, you'll displease some very vocal minority these days. ....

Isn't that the truth. I suspect many of them have relationship issues.

[Doctorossi]

I'm addressing it at every level, Jeff. It's just not as simple as you try to suggest that it is.

[Jeff Kleist]

But since I'm the one making complainsts about the deviations, don't I get to define my own complaint?

Don't forget the author (at least contemporary authors) that sold the screen rights and often are credited with consultation. They seem to be happy as long as the check is big enough.

Given the amount of input many creators with executive producer credit get, I assume it amounts to "would you like a movie" and "here's a check" until proven otherwise

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

Has there been much feedback regarding the flipper discs that are starting to come out? So far I've read reviews for 2 films I might otherwise get if not for the flip status: Out of Africa and Traffic. .....

I haven't tried one. Blu-ray.com review of "Out of Africa" has this:
"Caveat: This Blu had a very hard time loading on either of my PS3's, both of which are up to date on firmware. There was a noticeable grinding noise on both players, not only when the film loaded, but throughout the first few chapters and again at the last chapter. The grinding also was very noticeable if I used the Pop Up Menu to access various features."

Flipper or bad disc? I don't want it flipper or not.

[Jeff Kleist]

Honestly, with all the crap Universal is loading in front of their discs, who knows what it's choking on.

The "fresh trailers from the Internet?"
The stupid ticker?
The even stupider facebook integration?

All I know is that on my BD80 it takes over 5 minutes to reach the menu, and then another 30 plus seconds while it loads the facebook module and I exit out of it to finally get to the movie.
Or some new way to be annoying?

All of this can be solved with a simple cookie screen that loads first that drops the ones you want to opt out of, that all future movies will look for as well. I don't object to them loading fresh trailers, but I object to the fact hat it has to connect, buffer and start streaming before I can skip.

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Honestly, with all the crap Universal is loading in front of their discs, who knows what it's choking on.

The "fresh trailers from the Internet?"
The stupid ticker?
The even stupider facebook integration?

All I know is that on my BD80 it takes over 5 minutes to reach the menu, and then another 30 plus seconds while it loads the facebook module and I exit out of it to finally get to the movie.
Or some new way to be annoying?

All of this can be solved with a simple cookie screen that loads first that drops the ones you want to opt out of, that all future movies will look for as well. I don't object to them loading fresh trailers, but I object to the fact hat it has to connect, buffer and start streaming before I can skip.

Jeff,

Just turn off Internet connectivity and they load faster. I got tired of all the crap too.

[Truewitt]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

All I know is that on my BD80

Well, there's the problem right there. The Pan 80 has to be the slowest player in existence. That is one player that does not like internet connectivity. Even moreso than all the other slow Panasonic players.

[Jeff Kleist]

Jeff,

Just turn off Internet connectivity and they load faster. I got tired of all the crap too.

That would turn off other features I like, but thanks

Well, there's the problem right there. The Pan 80 has to be the slowest player in existence. That is one player that does not like internet connectivity. Even moreso than all the other slow Panasonic players.

I've never had a problem with it. The problem is more with BDLive's design, there is simply not enough memory in the spec for it, so programs are constantly swapping stuff in and out of memory thtat slows everything down.

It won't be an issue for much longer I don't think though. They'll move most of the interface stuff to computers and smartphones and simply use the disc as a key

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

But since I'm the one making complainsts about the deviations, don't I get to define my own complaint?

Of course, you're welcome to be wrong!

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

That would turn off other features I like, but thanks.

OK...I've gotta ask now. Which BD-Live feature do you like? If there's something that looks interesting I'll use my PC to access BD-Live, but I've been limiting my player's access to the Internet because of the forced streaming trailers.