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

[mark antony]

and to you Penton

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Happy New Year to one and all.

I hope this New Year brings everyone Good Health, Happiness and Prosperity.

Look at you, getting your digs in early!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Tell me that Arsenal does not play the most beautiful football in all of the Prem!

However, if you ask the Beeb, it was simply a case of Pompey being awful. Meanwhile, did you behold the Gods-On-Earth that tread above Old Trafford and the light that shone from Rooney's ass?

I try not to run with the media-bias conspiracy crowd, but 5 Live sure makes it tough not to. A few months ago, I decided I would count how many Arsenal victories would pass without a word of praise from them while United, Chelsea and even City soaked it up. I thought I'd get a nice shocking number like 4 or 5. Well, I literally lost count.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And how 'bout that teenager that threaded the opponent's defense and scored that goal!

... which, for me, begs the question, "Which of our mouthwatering teenagers impress you more?" Ramsey? Wilshere? Merida? I guess Walcott and Vela don't quite count anymore.

[Jeff Kleist]

Dude.
You’ve got to take a real vacation. Thee premier studio Industry Event is rapidly approaching in Las Vegas. Everyone on the audio video forums is talking about it, speculating about it, wishing they were going to it.
You know what I’m talking about……get your butt on a plane and come to Vegas –

Almost managed it this year

Doubly dissapointing because I was going to hop over to LA cause one of my very favorite J-band is taping music videos in front of the Chinese on the 9th all night long. Was going to try to CES then hop a quickie to LA to make it by 11pm for the taping

I'll be there with bells if someoen's got $400 for a plane ticket

I'm still sad I missed the surrender and victory parties. You did miss a good victory party at comic-con a few months later though

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'll get on seeing how long I can delay JP I still have my script I was planning for Braveheart, it can easily be adapted, though I'll have to find some new scenarios.

Ok, it's January 1. What do we know about Jurassic Park? October 26, 2010? Heard some work needed to be done...hopefully Universal is doing it right...

Let the fun begin...

-Esox

PS: You didn't think I would forget, did you?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

... which, for me, begs the question, "Which of our mouthwatering teenagers impress you more?" Ramsey? Wilshere? Merida? I guess Walcott and Vela don't quite count anymore.

I don’t think I’ve seen enough of them (the teenagers) play, to make a worthwhile determination.
Age aside, with Arshavin on the left wing and Theo Walcott on the right, I would love to see Arsene Wenger pick up a tall striker for the center during the upcoming transfer season.

Since, it seems that almost everyone currently playing on Arsenal isn't as tall as other teams (like Chelsea), I think that lack of height is really hurting us on crosses to the center which handicaps our offense.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by mark antony

and to you Penton

And a Happy New Year to you.
A good way to start off may be with the knowledge that you and Vincent P got the Public Enemies challenge
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ng#post2639790

correct,
without having even seen Public Enemies on Blu-ray yet.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...62#post2641562

The one (and only) scene shot with a film camera for that motion picture was the slo-mo scene (up to 150fps) that had Johnny Depp’s character departing the movie theater near the end of the movie.

And a special tip of the hat goes to phansson for being the first to come forward and offer a guess.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Anyhoo, Penton, don't take my so-called "external" links so seriously... I was, after all, linking to RAH specifically in agreement with what Jeff wrote.

Whatever.
Anyway, I don’t take any external links seriously, unless they’re worthwhile.
I’ll see if I can find you a good external link applicable to the upcoming Blu-ray – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

In a nutshell, I’m talkin about a better reduction algorithm for going from 10 bit to 8 bit and thusly providing even superior picture quality for Blu-ray viewing in 2010……something that was used both on the Blu-ray production of CwaCoM and Planet 51.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

This actually brings up the videophile condemnation pet peeve of “EE”, which has developed quite the bad boy image on the audiovideo forums due to its blatant over-usage during the days of DVD and post house mastering with small CRT displays. I really don’t care too much about that aspect of digital tweaking because we don’t have that problem and thanks to the endless conversation about the topic, I think that some people have become so over-sensitized to the appearance of sharpening that they literally spend time during the movie examining the outlines of people and objects, specifically searching for halos (despite adamantly denying ever doing so and claiming to be “distracted” during “normal” movie watching with their "obvious" presence).

Plus, the pendulum has swung so far, that I know of at least one specific example in which a motion picture has been accused of having *artificial sharpening* due to its apparent ‘edginess’ when in fact no such digital post production enhancement was ever utilized (nor at the mastering or compressionist level, for that matter) and viewers were simply responding to the clinical nature of super sharp unfiltered Ultra or Master Primes, something of which they were apparently not used to seeing because there’s a different geometry to the focal plane on some lenses compared to that of how the eyes see.

I’m more interested in the more esoteric topic in which filmmakers direct the digital colorist to apply sharpening purposely during the post production process (of a DI) and the whys and wherefores of that issue since it happens rather infrequently because as far as sharpness goes, cinematographers and Directors are much more inclined to spend their time making their images softer, either in-camera or in post with diffusion.

So, when that digital enhancement is purposely employed by the filmmaker, does anyone know why he has made that stylistic decision?
In other words, what type of ‘look’ is he trying to achieve?

No other guesses?
o.k., Teachable Moment -
It’s to make the imagery appear *gritty*, *powerful* or *hard-edged* for the lack of a better adjective off the top of my head.

One could try to provide the same *look* with grain (Example – 300 or The Wrestler) or sharpening, be it in-camera (Public Enemies) or during the non-linear color grading (The Road).

Of course, there is a converse caveat to the above, in which ‘artificial sharpening’ is instead used to provide balanced resolution from a variety of capture devices (better known as hybrid acquisition) so that all the scenes blend together as seamlessly as possible in the motion picture(Example – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
Expect more of this later *image enhancement* to be utilized as more and more motion pictures are defined by a hybrid acquisition and not just one camera type shooting everything.

Just sayin how it is.

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Whatever.
Anyway, I don’t take any external links seriously, unless they’re worthwhile.
I’ll see if I can find you a good external link applicable to the upcoming Blu-ray – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

In a nutshell, I’m talkin about a better reduction algorithm for going from 10 bit to 8 bit and thusly providing even superior picture quality for Blu-ray viewing in 2010……something that was used both on the Blu-ray production of CwaCoM and Planet 51.

I guess that explains why is cost $11 more then "Up" on Amazon.

Does this mean that the screenshot scientists will now be critiquing the reduction algorithms?

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

The one (and only) scene shot with a film camera for that motion picture was the slo-mo scene (up to 150fps) that had Johnny Depp’s character departing the movie theater near the end of the movie.

Sad to compare, but the same can be said for Crank, where the "Reservoir Dogs"-style shot (slowly walking towards cam) was also the only thing shot on film.

[mark antony]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

And a Happy New Year to you.
A good way to start off may be with the knowledge that you and Vincent P got the Public Enemies challenge
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ng#post2639790

correct,
without having even seen Public Enemies on Blu-ray yet.

Excellent News, thanks for confirming.

BTW do you think it's likely that Guns of Navarone may be making an appearence sooner rather than later?

[sharkshark]

FYI, at the "Enhanced" screen at the downtown AMC (4K sony projector) I saw Sherlock... good, fun film... Was -very- pleased to see the trailer for the Nolan film (I saw Leo and thought, oh dear, it's the Marty mess...)

Man, Inception's going to be one pretty film. LOTS of slow motion shots, clearly shot on film.

So, based on the often imprecise IMDB tech specs, it's shot on 35, but there will be an Imax DMR 'blow up' of it (http://www.movieweb.com/news/NELtyOPM5SVGQL)... Was -any- of it actually shot on 70mm in the end?

(http://www.in70mm.com/rumour/index.htm)

[JimSD]

Penton-Man, Have you heard anything about 'Race Across The Sky' (Leadville 100 documentary) coming to Blu-ray? I read on the Leadville site that it's coming to DVD in Spring 2010. I'm guessing it's probably too small for BD - hoping a mountain biker like yourself has some knowledge of it.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

If anyone decides to attend let us know about the experience. Other locations in North America per the D-BOX press release from this month are as follows:

Santikos Theatres Silverado 19 in Tomball, Texas;
Wehrenberg Theatres Ronnies 20 Cine in St. Louis,Missouri;
Emagine Entertainment’s Canton Theatre in Canton, Michigan;
Emagine Entertainment’s Cinema Hollywood Theatre in Birch Run, Michigan;
Cinéma Beloeil, in Beloeil Quebec;
Cineplex Odeon Queensway Theatre in Etobicoke, Ontario;
Mann Chinese 6 Theatre in Los Angeles, California;
Theatres at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota;
Galaxy at the Cannery in Las Vegas, Nevada;
Galaxy Highland Theatre in Austin, Texas;
UltraStar Cinemas in Surprise, Arizona;
and UltraStar Apple Valley in San Bernardino, California.

Cool! I will definitely try to get to this cinema sometime in the near future.

[Penton-Man]

I received a couple PM’s about this announcement on the News page–
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3975

I haven’t seen the Blu-ray and party poopers should remember it’s called 'ENTERTAINMENT'.
Plus, I don’t think it’s that often a motion picture creates so much buzz that NASA is compelled to made web site postings about the issue –

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/science/17essay.html

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Cool! I will definitely try to get to this cinema sometime in the near future.

I must say that even for cinemas that don’t have those special shaky seats, it was a very good year for the motion picture industry.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/..._news#34666237

^ shark, who does Jeff (Amy’s partner, not Kleist) remind you a little of, in terms of looks and expression, for which, by the way, he is sometimes teased about?
Run the trailer for Cable Hogue from imdb.
Heck, it’s well worth a look-see just to see Stella Stevens in her prime.

[Mr. Cinema]

Speaking of that announcement, I noticed Sony is providing separate 1 and 2 disc releases for 2012. Is this going to be the norm in the future? I hope not. I'd rather have 1 sku.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by JimSD

Penton-Man, Have you heard anything about 'Race Across The Sky' (Leadville 100 documentary) coming to Blu-ray? I read on the Leadville site that it's coming to DVD in Spring 2010. I'm guessing it's probably too small for BD - hoping a mountain biker like yourself has some knowledge of it.

The race - been dere, done dat.
That is actually one of the few races in which I kept my number plate (actually paper-ish) from the event for posterity (embrace the pain type thing ) and tacked the sucker up on my wall in the garage. I’ll snap a photo in the future if I get the chance and post it. I'll have to cover one of the three numbers so peeps can't track me down.

Coming to Blu-ray? Heck Jim, honestly, I didn’t even know that they did a movie for the event. What year or year(s) is it captured from?

If the movie ever does make it to Blu-ray, I can deal without seeing Wiensey's *ugly* mug yet again (just kidding if you’re reading Dave < one class act, folks), I sure do hope they show some footage of Susan D. with her million dollar smile meeting and greeting him at the finish line.

For peeps who don’t know, Susan is his delightful wife and America’s first mountain bike Olympic medalist.
P.S.
Jim, I see that’s a ‘Bolt’ helmet.
Have you ever ridden Noble Canyon or the other trails in Cleveland National Forest east of S.D.?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Man, Inception's going to be one pretty film. LOTS of slow motion shots, clearly shot on film.
So, based on the often imprecise IMDB tech specs, it's shot on 35, but there will be an Imax DMR 'blow up' of it (http://www.movieweb.com/news/NELtyOPM5SVGQL)... Was -any- of it actually shot on 70mm in the end?

(http://www.in70mm.com/rumour/index.htm)

See ………….
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...DA#post2453447