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

[Truewitt]

Originally Posted by fitprod

99.9999% of these fanboys wouldn't know a proper master if it bit them on the ass. That being said, there have been titles where the QC departments noted issues with a master, but the studio over ruled them and said it was fine, only to be bitten on the butt in the end.

fitprod

It happens all the time. What would surprise me is that nobody from Jackson's camp would have at least looked at a video compression test for this. This also happens all the time, depending on how much a filmmaker cares about such things. That doesn't exclude a studio saying "too bad" to them either, though.

[Josh]

Originally Posted by fitprod

Um, this is not likely going to happen, because you would have to train someone to do the job, fanboy or not... At this stage of the game in the industry, do you think a studio or post-production house is going to do that?

Train someone to notice glaring errors? I don't think so. There is a reason when these things hit the public the errors get quickly noticed - its because people who have watched the film 20 times before have every little detail committed to memory. I may not have known which line in Pinnochio was missing, but I knew something was wrong.

[Truewitt]

Originally Posted by Josh

Train someone to notice glaring errors? I don't think so. There is a reason when these things hit the public the errors get quickly noticed - its because people who have watched the film 20 times before have every little detail committed to memory. I may not have known which line in Pinnochio was missing, but I knew something was wrong.

So, you're going to train someone by making them watch something twenty times before they QC it? People QCing it could easily have never seen the movie before, how would they know it is a "glaring error" when there's nothing technically wrong with it. Even if they thought, "wow, that looks green", they would check the master and see that it matched, and that would be all the attention that concern would need to receive.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

Picked that one wrong

This is upsetting because I love the city of Vancouver -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#43433698

And on more of a pragmatic note, the next Blu-ray Disc Association meeting is coming up very shortly in Vancouver….I sure hope my hotel wasn’t fire-bombed.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Truewitt

....What would surprise me is that nobody from Jackson's camp would have at least looked at a video compression test for this.

I would say that it is not uncommon for a Director (and/or DP) to be physically present (and active) during the color correction process in the DI suite but then, subsequently not to have viewed the actual Blu-ray product itself before it has streeted.

Or, if said Director/DP does in fact have the time to view the actual Blu-ray movie, he only watches very short samples of it due to his busy schedule with upcoming projects and his trust that the distributor will not make mistakes further on down the pipe.

[Penton-Man]

^ For an example of what I’m talking about in the first paragraph, Casino Royale was a rare case in that we were able to screen the actual Blu-ray movie for a busy, actively working Director (namely, Martin Campbell) with the master available as a reference, and he was extremely pleased with the results.

[Truewitt]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Or, if said Director/DP does in fact have the time to view the actual Blu-ray movie, he only watches very short samples of it due to his busy schedule with upcoming projects and his trust that the distributor will not make mistakes further on down the pipe.

True. And that's what I was speaking to as far as the color. It would be immediately noticeable to him with even a cursory glance. So, who knows?

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And on more of a pragmatic note, the next Blu-ray Disc Association meeting is coming up very shortly in Vancouver….I sure hope my hotel wasn’t fire-bombed.

I've always been curious... Does Apple show up? Do they participate?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Truewitt

True. And that's what I was speaking to as far as the color. It would be immediately noticeable to him with even a cursory glance. So, who knows?

Well, it certainly will be intriguing to find out a definitive, clear answer to the situation from one of the actual filmmakers or the home video division of the distributing studio itself (officially). Given the widespread website internet uproar over the situation, I am quite perplexed as to the way it is being handled.

I remember how dissatisfied some fans of ‘Dracula’ were with the black levels and color timing of that Blu-ray movie so, SPHE immediately contacted a filmmaker directly related to the project, namely Kim Aubrey -
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041447/

And Kim went on public record by explaining in detail that the Answer print used as the source was specifically chosen by FFC and specifically as to why it was chosen. Sure, a lot of people were not happy with that choice (and others were) but it was thoroughly explained that there was no *technical* mis-step in the mastering process.

rather than apparently using as a voice-piece, some third party (a self-employed blogger typing out of his study in Irvine) who is not an employee of the studio nor in anyway associated with the making of FOTR itself.

I guess different executives handle PR things differently but my humble advice would be to officially handle this situation quickly (for the sake of the fans) because the longer it festers, the more apt people are to believe that the delay is because studio representatives are formulating a CYA response *to get their story right* rather than being truthful about the apparent gross discrepancy between some select scenes in last Tuesday night’s theatrical presentation vs. the Blu-ray edition as noted online by multiple individuals who attended both the theatrical special event and have viewed the Blu-ray product.

I feel certain that someone in Burbank can get Peter J. on the phone lickety-split given the support they are giving him in filming The Hobbit at 48fps….a frame rate which is not supported by DVD or Blu-ray and will require some sort of *speed-down* conversion.

[Talkstr8t]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And on more of a pragmatic note, the next Blu-ray Disc Association meeting is coming up very shortly in Vancouver….I sure hope my hotel wasn’t fire-bombed.

Nope - the action was about 15 blocks away. The hotel says all should be fine.

- Talk

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Post Prod

My point was more that one side did not have a monopoly on FUD or delusion.

But no one said it had to be one sided, that is also why I went with the only pro-BD delusion that I remember. On the other hand this is like comparing a teaspoon of water with the ocean.

It' s just easier in hindsight to call the losing side "delusional". History written by the victors and whatnot.

I disagree. I already asked you if it would have made "BD-50 is sci-fi" any more true or false if BD had lost. Delusional is delusional and FUD is FUD no matter which side wins. Except for possibly self referencing prophesies but then they tend to be in the negative and not in the positive. (i.e. if someone said Boston would win the Stanley cup/Vancouver will lose the series, because Boston won we know it is not delusional, but that would still not make a prediction of Vancouver will win any more delusional. That is why they needed to get to game 7 because either of those teams could have taken home the cup)

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

I bet you did! Although Boston was one of the original six and a lot of hockey fans were pulling for them, despite their country of origin. My horse wasn't in the race and I was just hoping for a good series and we certainly got that!

why would country of origin of the team matter



Boston's players are 18 Canadians, 6 Europeans and 3 from the US

PS there is also Claude Julien , the head coach that is from Onatrio

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I feel certain that someone in Burbank can get Peter J. on the phone lickety-split given the support they are giving him in filming The Hobbit at 48fps….a frame rate which is not supported by DVD or Blu-ray and will require some sort of *speed-down* conversion.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Now, that’s not to say that Blu-ray spec is ‘carved in stone’ as I find 1080/60p *interesting* and Blu-ray can be updated to support new features. The important question is whether or not it serves Blu-ray at large or just a few member companies.

Couldn't the specs be updated with multiple new video format standards - like Blu-ray 3D added to the spec and HDMI 1.4 added to its supported formats (including 3840×2160p at 24 Hz/25 Hz/30 Hz and 4096×2160p at 24 Hz). eg. if they were going to update the specs for one new video format, couldn't they also add support for others that are in use/are likely to be used soon too, at the same time?

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And on more of a pragmatic note, the next Blu-ray Disc Association meeting is coming up very shortly in Vancouver…

Will they be discussing these types of things at the meeting?

[Post Prod]

Well, while I always backed blu-ray and prefered it to win. I was more passive in my attitude during the war.

Meaning I understood people who supported either and didn't think less of people who liked/bought one or the other. and spent a lot of my time trying to inform-away FUD posts from both sides. Perhaps if I had passionatly been on one side, I would have had a more blind eye to the insanity on one side or the other.

But there was plenty of it. It seemed like every day a new rumor about microsoft. Each one seeming to be more ludicrous than the last. My favorite being that they were backing HD-DVD because they knew it would fail after it won and they wanted to force people to buy all HD content from them online. I remember being embarrassed a s a blu-ray supporter by Michael Bays outbursts as well as Bill Hunt's public hissy fits. and I remember feeling embarrassed for HD-DVD supporters with almost every Amir post.

I'm almost scared to point that out as my favorite loony fud piece from the blu-side, simply because of the tone of the last few pages. I get the feeling some here think that's not FUD, it's a likely scenario.

But really it was daily lies from people on both sides about what players would and wouldn't do. People swearing the war would be decided on how many oscar winners were in the movies released by each side. Much like the current LOTR Fellowship thread, a bunch of people with hair on fire, screaming non-stop. It wasnt about home theater, it was about picking a side and fighting for it like a sports team.

The fact that anyone who witnessed the format war and followed it, could say either side didn't have a full army of people online, spreading manure around, they probably still have format war blinders on that part of their brain.

Now did one side have more FUD than the other. I'm sure, but there was no shortage on either side and no side should be bragging about taking the high road in that regard. and to be fair I think there was a quiet majority on both sides, we simply saw and heard from the trolls mostly. For the most part I think most people on both sides, just wanted to watch HD in their homes and didn't have an emotional stake in it past their initial $$ investment.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by Post Prod

Well, while I always backed blu-ray and prefered it to win. I was more passive in my attitude during the war.

Meaning I understood people who supported either and didn't think less of people who liked/bought one or the other. and spent a lot of my time trying to inform-away FUD posts from both sides. Perhaps if I had passionatly been on one side, I would have had a more blind eye to the insanity on one side or the other.

But there was plenty of it. It seemed like every day a new rumor about microsoft. Each one seeming to be more ludicrous than the last. My favorite being that they were backing HD-DVD because they knew it would fail after it won and they wanted to force people to buy all HD content from them online. I remember being embarrassed a s a blu-ray supporter by Michael Bays outbursts as well as Bill Hunt's public hissy fits. and I remember feeling embarrassed for HD-DVD supporters with almost every Amir post.

I'm almost scared to point that out as my favorite loony fud piece from the blu-side, simply because of the tone of the last few pages. I get the feeling some here think that's not FUD, it's a likely scenario.

But really it was daily lies from people on both sides about what players would and wouldn't do. People swearing the war would be decided on how many oscar winners were in the movies released by each side. Much like the current LOTR Fellowship thread, a bunch of people with hair on fire, screaming non-stop. It wasnt about home theater, it was about picking a side and fighting for it like a sports team.

The fact that anyone who witnessed the format war and followed it, could say either side didn't have a full army of people online, spreading manure around, they probably still have format war blinders on that part of their brain.

Now did one side have more FUD than the other. I'm sure, but there was no shortage on either side and no side should be bragging about taking the high road in that regard. and to be fair I think there was a quiet majority on both sides, we simply saw and heard from the trolls mostly. For the most part I think most people on both sides, just wanted to watch HD in their homes and didn't have an emotional stake in it past their initial $$ investment.

I tend to look out towards the road ahead, not the road left behind. But that's just me.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

Nope - the action was about 15 blocks away. The hotel says all should be fine.

- Talk

Bam!....or should I say 'Pan'.

Looking forward to thee Pacific Northwest then! Me bags are packed and I’m ready to go…..

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Couldn't the specs be updated with...

As I said, the Blu-ray spec is not carved in stone. It is adoptable and robust enough to cater to a broad range of interests, if needed, as the Blu-ray format is not the bottleneck, so to speak, in the system.

For instance, BD-50’s can handle 1080p 60fps for 3D movies…if there truly ever was an overwhelming need. BDA members are already talking about the possible use of higher capacity discs in the future, for movies, if the need ever arose. Although, that sort of thing would be dependent upon whether we could get the replicators on board...which again, speaks to demand and need, of which there is neither right now at this moment in time, but I’m thinking as to the future.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Will they be discussing these types of things at the meeting?

Nice try , but I’m not at liberty to answer that, nor even answer Uxi’s query above (or if we've jumped a page, on the last page), for that matter.

So, anyway, as the flight leaves in the a.m. tomorrow, excuse while I'm out of touch for a few days.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Bam!....or should I say 'Pan'.

Looking forward to thee Pacific Northwest then! Me bags are packed and I’m ready to go…..

Penton, this isn't for you...

[Show spoiler]Hey, all you kids trying to figure out P's secret identity, he's let one slip! We now know when and WHERE he'll be!

http://www.panpacific.com/Vancouver/Overview.html

Vancouver spies, make it happen!

Move along, nothing to see here...

[Penton-Man]

I really only thought that Talkstr8t would pick up on that.

I swear shark, next thing you know, you’ll be having me move my accommodations to that fueling station sitting out in the harbor several hundred yards due west.