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

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

This isn't giving Sony control over their catalog, or even a Fox/MGM relationship. This is a "keep your discs in our warehouse and ship them for you" style deal. While Sony may choose to get involved with a title for additional pie, this isn't a "give us your catalog and we'll distribute it like our own" thing.

Ok, thanks Jeff.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by mark antony

Penton another Weinstein question, but not when is so and so coming out...Weinstein released two of the most disappointing and "could have been great" dvd's i've ever seen, namely the Bronston epic's Fall OT Roman Empire and El Cid. Does the deal include these titles?

Everything I've seen about this deal, so far, relates only to recent and upcoming theatrical releases (in other words, day-and-date titles). Are catalog releases even covered under this agreement?

[Jeff Kleist]

So Penton, I hope you haven't been doing any skiing, breaking some bones in the process enjoying those slopes. I hear the pain is really bad when that happens. I can't believe some of the downhillers managed to come out OK, they must have some real geniuses for trainers

[sharkshark]

Hey, Penton, hope you're enjoying the fog and wet...

I'd be interested in how this transfer will differ (aside from audio) from the HD-DVD version...
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4209

RAH's silence on that release was most revealing...

There are a bunch of fun features, not quite a replacement for the Criterion DVD (was kinda hoping they'd get to do the BD), but it's a good sign indeed. Now we just need Paths of Glory, Lolita and (especially) a crackin' release of Lyndon and I'll be pretty satisfied... Killer's Kiss/Killing I doubt will ever be improved in a major way from their DVD releases.

[sharkshark]

From here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/dv...sits_do_1.html (Eli Roth on Cabin fever)

"My director of photography Scott Kevan and I did a bleach bypass process where you progressively bleach the negative to give it a grainier look. Reel three and four we started at fifty percent and reel five and six we started at sixty-five percent then reel seven, which was a small reel... We had to add a seventh reel to go back to nothing so it would look like the first reel. So we were changing the grain structure of the movie and that was a very conscious shift that as things get worse it gets grainier and darker. Also, the group is photographed in wide-lenses as a group, but whoever is sick we photographed in single lenses. As the movie progresses it gets more claustrophobic."

I had the weird experience of standing beside Eli when he got the call that Cabin Fever had been sold... It was weird watching a guy become a millionaire before your eyes.

My original (slight, written after very little sleep) review: http://www.filmfest.ca/2002/ten.html

One to watch indeed...

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by mark antony

What I don't understand is that given that this footage has been "lost" for 80 years, if this element was made in the 70's - why did nobody say anything then?!

M

Apparently there was little awareness with regard to this being a special version of Metropolis. Apparently there were several worldwide calls for film archives and museums with regard to longer versions of the movie and only after that happened repeatedly somebody finally checked out the 16mm material that was previously not known to be the much longer version of Metropolis.

Stuff like that of course gives rise to speculations with regard to other movies that have been massively shortened shortly after or even before their release, like Greed or The Magnificent Ambersons. Imo Metropolis is a unique and fortunate case as it ran at least for some time in a longer version and that separates it from Greed and Ambersons where I am not aware of longer release prints having been available.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by mark antony

Penton another Weinstein question, but not when is so and so coming out...Weinstein released two of the most disappointing and "could have been great" dvd's i've ever seen, namely the Bronston epic's Fall OT Roman Empire and El Cid. Does the deal include these titles?

Not Penton but deals aside neither Weinstein nor Sony own these titles so I cannot see how they would go through the effort and expense to bring out improved version of these two movies especially not with the current rate of older classic releases from both studios and the costs involved in giving them proper attention.

To get proper DVD and especially Blu-Ray releases of the Bronston titles that are currently with Weinstein for the US and maybe Canada we would probably need a major studio to acquire these movies' worldwide home video rights at this point in time. We can see that this works with King of Kings (1961) where Warner holds worldwide home video rights and released a very good looking DVD. They will hopefully produce a great looking Blu-Ray version in the future, maybe for the 50th anniversary in 2011. The same could be done for El Cid, a movie that is at least as popular as King of Kings, but the current owners of the movie do not seem interested in or capable of investing the necessary amount of money to do it.

[Penton-Man]

Geez, I thought this thread would unceremoniously die whilst I was missing-in-action from the online community.
On the contrary, it’s like the freakin Energizer Bunny rabbit!

Ok, give me few minutes to wind up the mental rubber band and respond to some of the posts you guys have made since my absence and also check my PMs. I think I’ll work backwards on these interim posts so none of you sneaky bugs can slide a couple more queries in while I’m trying to play catch up with the old ones.

[Penton-Man]

I received a couple of PMs from folks asking me to comment upon the current status of SPHE’s change in policy regarding subtitle positioning for Blu-ray movies……namely, the move to place subtitles in the active picture all the time as per the winning choice selected by voters of the poll that I requisitioned on Blu-ray.com awhile ago, which I guess is buried somewhere in the bowels of this forum.

Answer –
SONY ……in other words, Soon Only Not Yet.

Specifically…… The subtitle placement change was pushed back to early Summer releases so that all territories could be informed and plan accordingly.
In pictorial words ………https://forum.blu-ray.com/501892-post2659.html

But, you guys can tell Josh Z. that the “delay” in implementation is because none of us can figure out where the “Up button on the console” is , so until we do, the predicted timeline for the subtitle position change is indeterminate, as it pertains to him.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

"My director of photography Scott Kevan and I did a bleach bypass process where you progressively bleach the negative to give it a grainier look.......

As I said before, Clint Eastwood's team decided to do a variant of the silver retention process......digitally.........in order to assure more consistency in the release prints, which they had problems with before, when trying it photochemically.

Technology marches forward……whatever image finishing works.
I’m not complaining.

Photochemical finishing is rapidly becoming a lost art.
Check out the Scientific and Engineering Awards, as for the most part, it reads like a giant accolade to the digital intermediate process……
http://www.oscars.org/awards/scitech/winners.html

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Hey, Penton, hope you're enjoying the fog and wet...
I'd be interested in how this transfer will differ (aside from audio) from the HD-DVD version...
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4209

RAH's silence on that release was most revealing...

Forgive me shark but, as you can see, I’ve been somewhat out of the loop for awhile. It’s difficult for me to keep straight in my mind all these online characters.

Who is “RAH”?
Is he the *screenshot scientist* whom Monkey is referring to here?......
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...ml#post2897088

Or is he the ‘film archivist’ and sometime movie reviewer known as Robert Harris whose analysis directly contradicts the above screenshot scientific assertions?

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

A few words about...™ Baraka -- in Blu-ray…

Simply gorgeous!
Baraka on Blu-ray is Highly Recommended!

Come to think of it, on the other hand, it’s not difficult for me to keep straight all the filmmakers and engineers involved in a post production when they offer their professional insights at Hollywood SMPTE meetings like this ……….http://www.hsmpte.org/2009%20Meeting...013%202009.htm

because they rarely make public endorsements for the proponents of proven flawed digital processes….like *screenshot science*.
Geez, even Josh Z. knows better…..

Originally Posted by Josh Z.

A movie image is comprised of grain. That grain pattern changes in every single frame, 24 times a second. Persistence of vision contributes greatly to our perception of detail in the image. When you extract a screen cap, you're only capturing the detail and grain present on that particular frame at that particular moment in time. A single screen cap does not capture all of the detail and grain visible to the eye during regular playback.

Screen caps are useful for certain things, like aspect ratio framing and color. But they're simply not a reliable indicator of how much detail a moving image will exhibit, or whether DNR was used. There are far too many photographic attributes that are easily mistaken for DNR in a screen cap, like soft focus, soft lighting, and certain lens choices used in the filming.

P.S.
C’mon Robert you can’t have it both ways.
There are many more examples of such online discrepancies in judgment between ‘archivists’ real-time viewing and *screenshot scientific* analysis.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

So Penton, I hope you haven't been doing any skiing, breaking some bones in the process enjoying those slopes. I hear the pain is really bad when that happens. I can't believe some of the downhillers managed to come out OK, they must have some real geniuses for trainers

Jeff, I fell in love with watching Olympic downhill (and Alpine events in general) after watching this run by Franz K. on TV back in the day when I was a young whipper-snapper………………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVMJKIx34SE

Does Franz remind anyone of any current modern day American downhiller…..at least in previous years’ World Cup events?

Anyway, after the 1st run of the Women’s Giant Slalom we all drove back down to Vancouver to catch us some Ladies’ figure skating and Olympic hockey!

Diversity is good !

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by JimSD

Penton-Man,
Here's a link to an article by the director of Race Across The Sky that mentions how they captured it, the cameras, etc. He says he's a 3-time finisher of the race too. Hopefully the upcoming Blu-ray isn't priced too sky high.
http://www.slapyblog.com/Home/Awesom...TRAIL-100.aspx

Nice link Jim.
When does the mountain bike movie street?
Also, something that I don’t see the author mentioning is that if you finish the race under 12 hours, one is awarded a small belt buckle.
If you finish under 9 hours, they award you a BIG one.
I heard Wiensy recently donated one of his buckles to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for a charity auction.

I, myself, would love to do the BC Bike Race
http://www.bcbikerace.com/
but the dates have always conflicted with something else work-related on my calendar.

P.S.
b.t.w, if you’re not into long endurance races and would like something a bit shorter, this is an epic that few (very few) Americans have heard about but is well worth an entry…..if you can get in (I did, a few years back, my prize possession from that event is a jersey with an anvil and hammer on it)
http://testofmetal.com/

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Bugs Bunny cartoons in 35mm with a live score is an acquired taste?

I think this music video is an acquired taste, namely live-action Kirsten Dunst intermixed with ‘cartoons’ . For those pixel counters amongst us, it was captured at an effective resolution of around 3.2k and finished in HD (only those of ‘legal’ age should view this video, as minors may have trouble controlling their hormones).

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/ca...38048wrs3Dgdy#

I contribute the above link to the Club thread on the grounds that Kirsten has Blu hair, Blu thigh-highs and was shot with Stacey’s brand of camera.

[Penton-Man]

That reminds me, where’s Spears?
Stacey, did you ever make it down to the studio and/or the ASC Open House in L.A.?
Concerning the former, did they have anything practical to offer with the new cameras, like for instance, a behind the lens filter slot or an optical viewfinder?

Also, cameras (digital or otherwise) that strive to be used for elite professional use are not like consumer electronics devices. What I’m getting at is, did they address at all what professionals really want with their cameras’ workflow, namely, long-term stability in regards to ‘firmware’……..meaning something that doesn’t change every several weeks with new version upgrades (which, not uncommonly break down a few weeks later). This might be acceptable for amateurs who are not ‘on the clock’ but, just doesn’t cut it in the professional world where projects extend over months (I’m referring to feature films and TV series) and thusly necessitate a stable and predictable platform to which to work with.

Although…….I guess the good thing about the whole situation is that it may provide new employment opportunities for Digital Production Supervisors and DITs extremely well-versed in this seemingly ever changing acquistion device.

You’re not looking into a new career are you?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

So here is a big thanks to Grover for helping us out and taking the time to do so - shows that it isn't always about money at the big studios

No love for moi?
Oh, how quickly we forget.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

The picture quality of the elements that are derived from 35mm material looked pretty good by the way and I would think that people will be happy to get this kind of quality with an eventual Blu-Ray release - actually the projection was digital and in the same resolution that the Blu-Ray will have so I got a pretty good idea now how the Blu-Ray of Metropolis should look.

The parts that came from the 16mm print still looked very bad but as Grover Crisp told me after talking to somebody who worked on Metropolis they had looked much worse before. Hopefully they will have some footage on the Blu-Ray that shows this, it certainly would make for an interesting extra.

Alpha-Omega in München land (that’s Munich to you gringos, not the Land of Little People) did much of the restoration work, I believe.
They must have a website.
Check it out...maybe they also have a little spiel or even a pdf concerning the work they did on Metropolis.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Just saw a wideshot of whistler village, and couldn't help noticing a lack of snow... And, for that matter, a lack of anybody wearing a Penton hat...

Shark,
I purposely always tilted my head down ala Gene Hackman style in Enemy of the State whenever any helicopters approached overhead or while walking around in Whistler Village where they have those sneaky webcams set up………
http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/wea...tler/index.htm
I was also looking out for the Goodyear blimp too, as I imagined it would be at the Games but I never did see the monster of the sky gliding around dem mountains.

While in Vancouver, I thought the Opening Ceremonies were fabulous because the show itself was enjoyable and the spirit of everyone around was GREAT plus, the hydraulic lift malfunction of one of the arms prior to the cauldron lighting gave me good material to tease my male Canadian cohorts about Canadian ‘erectile dysfunction’ at the most defining moment of a ‘performance’….. something of which I proudly proclaimed to the guys that I personally suffer from no such disability.

The downside (for me) was that immediately after making that comment, one of guys’ wives, upon overhearing my revelation, gave me a wink and a smile, to which my wife responded by attempting to whack me ……….. on the top of my thigh, but missed, and hit the family jewels dead-center…..so, I spent a little of the remainder of the evening speaking with a high-pitched voice, sounding like this……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzKmc...eature=related

I don’t know if it got much (if any) coverage here in the States but, in the Village, the most awe-inspiring medal performance (at least, via word-of-mouth after her condition had become known) was that of the Slovenian XC racer Petra Majdic?sp. who captured a Bronze medal racing with several fractured ribs and a pneumothorax (think, partially collapsed lung because of air in the thoracic cavity but, outside the lung) which she incurred during a prior training run.

That is one tough girl!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

Thanks for the word, Slec. Hopefully the new 3D capable Samsung TV sets will receive very positive reviews, although it may be awhile before those TVs can be evaluated for their 3D performance. A 3D TV isn't going to show 3D without the software (Blu-ray 3D movies), the glasses and emitter. So I'll probably still be tempted to wait at least until summer before buying.

As aggressive as electronics companies seem to be with bringing 3D gear to market promptly hopefully that will also mean they'll price the gear at attractive levels too.

With Avatar breaking box office records (at least in monetary terms) I sense electronics companies may see a limited window of opportunity to have 3D TV sets firmly established in the marketplace. In the past 3D movies have come and gone as passing fads in movie theaters. Electronics companies don't want the same happening with regards to full color 3D in home theater systems. With enough good movies in 3D and more 3D movie projects put into future development that could make this latest surge of interest in 3D stick around permanently. I think Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo could do much to make 3D stick around for good in electronics with a supply of 3D games.

Bobby, I’m going to have to take some time to carefully think about a reply to this ^ one because I received several PMs from different folks imploring me to publicly comment on 3D movies (at home) on Blu-ray…..a topic of which I’ve apparently been “uncharacteristically silent.”

Give me a few minutes to type up my thoughts regarding 3D on Blu-ray (BD3D).

[JimSD]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Nice link Jim.
When does the mountain bike movie street?

On their Twitter acount the most specific they get is saying the Blu-ray will be available on the raceacrossthesky.com site in mid-March. Don't worry, I'll keep checking and let you know when it's out.