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

[dobyblue]

Hi Penton-Man,

I only have one question for you..........in 27 parts!!

Just to reference an older issue from November of last year when I was appalled at the DMB release of "Europe 2009" which was "filmed with 10 HD cameras" yet only released as a CD+DVD combo:

Part 1) Just wondering if at any point in the last 10 months you might have been in music entertainment land at all and whether you know if the next DMB release might see Blu-ray? (I mean, why wouldn't it? u2 is higher on Blu-ray rankings at Amazon than the DVD)

Part 2) Can you shed any light at all on whether or not the "new media department" at Sony Music is considering releasing something on a "new media"? Just so that I'm not beating about the bush...where the heck is Sony's first "album" release? Is there a 5.1 Deluxe Thriller in the works, DMB, Pearl Jam, something, anything? I believe 100% fully and completely that Blu-ray can be a sustainable physical media for music if done right (mastered properly, not cranked to hell like CD's, surround mixes, concent clips or videos, etc., etc.) and I think a popular marketed release would see sales immediately bigger than the vinyl market.

Part 3) Just kidding! This was only a 2 part question, but I hope Back To School comes out on Blu-ray at some point, classic comedy.

Thanks,
~doby

[DenonCI]

In a way, the new "Gladiator" disc looks like it received this type of treatment http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/20...ease-stop.html although I'll need to look at it again to confirm, but it definitely is warmer.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

I am also surprised about the lenient treatment of Gladiator as opposed to Bram Stokers Dracula where the previous LD, DVD whatever was sometimes held as the gold standard or of course film prints. Obviously all of this does not matter that much with Gladiator for a reason or another and it cannot be approval from the Director or DOP.

I does seem a bit like a trend that says: I won't complain if it looks prettier to me. I still hope to hear about Ridley Scotts reasoning for the changed color palette - was this the way he always wanted the movie to look or did he just decide that he would prefer a look that is a bit more 'modern' and 'inviting' now despite having been happy with the previous rather gloomy look of the film?

You are an independent Blu-ray.com member.

For me, these days (for the sake of Insider peace and harmony ), I have no problems with Ridley’s remastering color correction choices for Gladiator, as long as they came from him…..and, especially given the fact, he feels this way about 3D conversions –

http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2010/0...rsion-and.html

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

'Technology' like this makes me angry - no wonder there is no appreciation for movies anymore when they are now watched on ridiculous displays that measure a few inches!

Sadly, it seems everything these days is pretty much based on convenience.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Well, I guess it could be anything then, including the upcoming Tommy.

I even thought about L of A even though it is rather improbable. When completed it should be perfect for showing off those Sony 4k projectors

Nope, it's not a Columbia title for Sat. evening.

[sharkshark]

...I take it that the "orange/teal" look is the DI equivalent of Autotune or over-compression in pop music, where a given palate that once may have been somewhat unique has been co-opted by a number of suites as a shortcut to make the film look "edgy".

I've mentioned it before, but my memory of Gladiator was that it was a poor-man's attempt at trying to do Saving Private Ryan with Romans. If the palate has been modified so much that it's now Transformers with Togas, well, that'd be sad, but not surprising giving the trendiness of the original look.

Much like Michael Bay's film, during the opening battle was I practically screaming at the screen, "GIVE ME A WIDE/ESTABLISHING SHOT!"

This fact is greatly reduced, of course, at home (even with your 150" screen) - seeing Gladiator on big screen was a mess of poorly cut fights and motion blur, much like many Bay-strosities that borrowed much from Scott's aesthetic.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Dennis M

OMG blasphemy! Burn the heretic at the stake!

Great cinematic achievements aside, which seem timeless, I think it’s interesting how movie enthusiasts’ tastes in films change as years pass……at least they have for me.

I look back and think about some of the mindless fluff which I loved so much to watch in my teenage years and twenties, and now I wouldn’t afford more than 15min. of my time to….much less, two hours.

For example, as a youngin, unless it was publicized to contain a lot of Rambo-style shoot-outs, action, visual effects, etc., I doubt I would have ever viewed, much less, even checked out for rental, a motion picture like this…..
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dear-John-Blu-ray/9760/

But now, I find it more enduring to watch such a run-of-the-mill flick like Dear John and other motion pictures which touch on a lot of real-world themes and choices that people could and might have to make in their real lives some day (or haven’t already).

One of the most moving Blu-rays I’ve watched in recent memory was the last 2 hrs. or so of the HBO series John Adams.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Hi Penton,

on another thread the question came up about the 6k scan of THE LEOPARD, so maybe you can clear this up:
Was the 6k scan itself perfomed in house or was it contracted out to another facility? I understand that you commented on the 4k workflow but not the image acquisition and the studio daily blog does not go into these things either and it would be asking too much from the writer anyway.

Not that there would be anything wrong with this work being performed somewhere else - 35mm 8perf is a rather unusual format and if Sony Colorworks can get the scan done via a partner facility who handles special formats why not?

And as I have written on the other thread: I really don't want to start a debate over this

Good to hear you don’t care to start a debate over it because that’s kind of a weird inquiry (i.e. was it “performed in-house or was it contracted out to another facility”) to initiate as a significant observation meriting a public posting.

Something smells a bit odd or, at the very least opportunistic for other than noble reasons. The scanning discussion of which you allude to seems like someone is attempting to make something out of nothing.

I’m sure that you mean well but, I’m curious, do you mind linking me to the thread/page concerning the how/why this facility scanning observation came up in the first place? Here, AVS, HTF, etc.?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Hi Penton-Man,
I only have one question for you..........in 27 parts!!...

That sounds like I’m giving a deposition.
lol, the only ‘winner’ in this is the transcriptionist who gets paid by the word or sentence.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Hi Penton-Man,

Just to reference an older issue from November of last year when I was appalled at the DMB release of "Europe 2009" which was "filmed with 10 HD cameras" yet only released as a CD+DVD combo:

Part 1) Just wondering if at any point in the last 10 months you might have been in music entertainment land at all and whether you know if the next DMB release might see Blu-ray? (I mean, why wouldn't it? u2 is higher on Blu-ray rankings at Amazon than the DVD)

Part 2) Can you shed any light at all on whether or not the "new media department" at Sony Music is considering releasing something on a "new media"? Just so that I'm not beating about the bush...where the heck is Sony's first "album" release? Is there a 5.1 Deluxe Thriller in the works, DMB, Pearl Jam, something, anything? I believe 100% fully and completely that Blu-ray can be a sustainable physical media for music if done right (mastered properly, not cranked to hell like CD's, surround mixes, concent clips or videos, etc., etc.) and I think a popular marketed release would see sales immediately bigger than the vinyl market.

Part 3) Just kidding! This was only a 2 part question, but I hope Back To School comes out on Blu-ray at some point, classic comedy.

Thanks,
~doby

I’m not really plugged into the music folks in NYC but, I’ll put in a query today/tomorrow and see if they’re willing to reveal any Blu musical notes….or at least tidbits for you.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Good to hear you don’t care to start a debate over it because that’s kind of a weird inquiry (i.e. was it “performed in-house or was it contracted out to another facility”) to initiate as a significant observation meriting a public posting.

Something smells a bit odd or, at the very least opportunistic for other than noble reasons. The scanning discussion of which you allude to seems like someone is attempting to make something out of nothing.

I’m sure that you mean well but, I’m curious, do you mind linking me to the thread/page concerning the how/why this facility scanning observation came up in the first place? Here, AVS, HTF, etc.?

The way I understood the discussion, that was by the way in the RAH thread here in the insider forum, it was about the studio daily blog that I linked previously which is let's say a bit imprecise:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...-new-post.html

I agree with the sentiment that it would be nice if the writer would be a bit more precise about what was done where with what kind of elements - I would certainly love to read about it!

The wording and asking you was my idea by the way as I think that this is much better to ask people who know about these things than to guess.

Hell, I'd volunteer myself to do an interview with some of the people involved as I happen to like The Leopard a lot and it would be fun

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Nope, it's not a Columbia title for Sat. evening.

I kind of had expected it would be a Columbia title because your were pointing it out. In that case I am going for THE SOUND OF MUSIC - and after that I shall not speculate any further

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You are an independent Blu-ray.com member.

For me, these days (for the sake of Insider peace and harmony ), I have no problems with Ridley’s remastering color correction choices for Gladiator, as long as they came from him…..and, especially given the fact, he feels this way about 3D conversions –

http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2010/0...rsion-and.html

Reading what he says about 3D conversions Ridley Scott does not exactly sound overly concerned with preserving all aspects of the original look of his films so changing around how Gladiator looks does not sound out of character for him and I am fine with that, after all I do not HAVE to buy the Blu-Ray. I hope though that in this case unlike with The French Connection the cinematographer shares his opinion.

By the way: Gladiator got 15th place in an online ASC poll about the best cinematography of films shot from 1998 to 2008:
http://www.theasc.com/asc_news/News_...s/News_304.php
So it seems the original cinematography was liked enough to place it there

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’m not really plugged into the music folks in NYC but, I’ll put in a query today/tomorrow and see if they’re willing to reveal any Blu musical notes….or at least tidbits for you.

Thank you, any tidbits are much appreciated.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

The way I understood the discussion, that was by the way in the RAH thread here in the insider forum, it was about the studio daily blog that I linked previously which is let's say a bit imprecise:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...-new-post.html....

I see….. the whole thing started with your allegedly incorrect notion about a facility’s scanning capability, the history of where the material was actually scanned and given that, based upon which you then inadvertently *started a nice little rumor* on Blu-ray.com and the desire by RAH that *the publicity should have been more forthright*.

Ooookay, my response to you is that you truly have my sympathy but I do not wish to get drawn into that and nothing I previously posted on this thread about the motion picture in question is fantasy nor guess-work; otherwise, I have No further comment.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

I kind of had expected it would be a Columbia title because your were pointing it out. In that case I am going for THE SOUND OF MUSIC - and after that I shall not speculate any further

I was just trying to encourage more Blu-ray.com locals to attend.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I see….. the whole thing started with your allegedly incorrect notion about a facility’s scanning capability, the history of where the material was actually scanned and given that, based upon which you then inadvertently *started a nice little rumor* on Blu-ray.com and the desire by RAH that *the publicity should have been more forthright*.

Ooookay, my response to you is that you truly have my sympathy but I do not wish to get drawn into that and nothing I previously posted on this thread about the motion picture in question is fantasy nor guess-work; otherwise, I have No further comment.

OK

In my opinion the remarks about the publicity and the rumor were really directed towards the studio daily article but I can respect if you do not want to go into more detail on this topic.

In the end I just hope that we will be seeing the result of this project displayed on a nice Blu-Ray as in my part of the world the chances of seeing a 35mm or 4k screening of The Leopard are slim to non existant

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I was just trying to encourage more Blu-ray.com locals to attend.

Sure hope they do - it is nice to see a 4k projection under optimum conditions and it will be very rare to see something similar in a regular 4k equipped theater. I surely would attend if it would not take more than 2 hours getting there.

Are other screenings open to the public, too?

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Sure hope they do - it is nice to see a 4k projection under optimum conditions and it will be very rare to see something similar in a regular 4k equipped theater. I surely would attend if it would not take more than 2 hours getting there.

Are other screenings open to the public, too?

Single Day Registration: Friday, August 13
Friday Registration
$150.00

Single Day Registration: Saturday, August 14
Saturday Registration
$150.00

Full Symposium Registration August 12-14
Non-member Fee
$350.00

http://www.amianet.org/events/theree...0/schedule.htm

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Single Day Registration: Friday, August 13
Friday Registration
$150.00

Single Day Registration: Saturday, August 14
Saturday Registration
$150.00

Full Symposium Registration August 12-14
Non-member Fee
$350.00

http://www.amianet.org/events/theree...0/schedule.htm

OK, so it is for the complete day which makes sense I guess. It will certainly keep the mobile phone wielding Coke and popcorn crowd away from the screenings