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

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

I agree. Just last weekend one of my players was given a yellow card for supposedly tripping a player when they both made impact with the ball at the same time. Then later in the game an opposing player chest bumped and then pushed one of my players and the ref swallowed his whistle and must have eaten his yellow and red cards for dessert!

My club team (Arsenal) is killin me this season so far, with or without *help* from the refs.

[Penton-Man]

For serious movie collectors and fans, break out dem credit cards, as there is a lot of good stuff being auctioned off for a good cause, namely, items from a boatload of past motion pictures -
http://www.profilesinhistory.com/hol...s-charity.html

of current note, there is a chance for lunch or a phone conversation with Bob Gale, the co-creator of the BTTF films…http://www.profilesinhistory.com/ite...xperience.html

I say, go for the beef!...rather than the phone call. For non-locals, you’re able to bid online….so no excuses for the dedicated collectors with fat wallets and big hearts .

[sharkshark]

Some news for you cats (straight from Water Murch's mouth)

- An HD master has recently been done for RETURN TO OZ, BD is forthcoming
- Murch is directing again, starting with an episode of CLONE WARS.
- I asked him directly about the saving of the 77/80/83 cuts of STAR WARS (hell, he's flying back to Skywalker Ranch) and he assured me they were being taken care of.
- He's also working on some HBO project he couldn't talk about.

There, take with grains of salt.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Some news for you cats (straight from Water Murch's mouth)

- An HD master has recently been done for RETURN TO OZ, BD is forthcoming
- Murch is directing again, starting with an episode of CLONE WARS.
- I asked him directly about the saving of the 77/80/83 cuts of STAR WARS (hell, he's flying back to Skywalker Ranch) and he assured me they were being taken care of.
- He's also working on some HBO project he couldn't talk about.

There, take with grains of salt.

LOved Return to Oz

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

For serious movie collectors and fans, break out dem credit cards, as there is a lot of good stuff being auctioned off for a good cause, namely, items from a boatload of past motion pictures -
http://www.profilesinhistory.com/hol...s-charity.html

of current note, there is a chance for lunch or a phone conversation with Bob Gale, the co-creator of the BTTF films…http://www.profilesinhistory.com/ite...xperience.html

As long as the price doesn't go much above the "estimate" I think I can persuade the wife into allowing a little purchase..... lot 138 is what I'd go after....

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

As long as the price doesn't go much above the "estimate" I think I can persuade the wife into allowing a little purchase..... lot 138 is what I'd go after....

Lots of good items in there for people thinking of decorating the walls of their home theaters and such.

P.S.
I really should be heeding what I propose to others, since every 6 months or so, as my wife enters the room of one of our home theaters, she quips “Is it really necessary to have all this grey foam stuff on the walls and ceiling”? “It just looks so ugly.”

Followed by, “Can’t you rip all this stuff down and put some framed posters up or something. I think people would appreciate that more.”

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

... I flipped on the bitrate meter on my PS3 (which drove the audience nuts ) and I’ll tell you that the Fox folks certainly didn’t skimp on the average or max bitrates. Wow-za!

Oh no!

You haven''t turned into one of those bitrate scientist have you?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by wallendo

Oh no!

You haven''t turned into one of those bitrate scientist have you?

I knew that the famous waterfall scene in the motion picture would really stress the Blu-ray codec/encoding with a lot of completely random input data, ala similar to this –https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...tml#post690593

So, I was curious as to how many bits the home media compressionist threw at those shots. Subsequently, I kept the bitrate meter on for several minutes just to see how they handled some of the remainder of the movie. Impressive, as I noted a couple pages back, they certainly didn't skimp.

Looking back at my old linked post above, I guess the irony of the whole exercise was that Dante S. (the D.P. for The Last of the Mohicans) was also coincidentally, actually the cinematographer who had the original idea of designing the wedding scene shot at different times of day with its inherent differences in sunlight/sunset (along with adding confetti and including a shoot on a rainy day) for the Digital Cinema Initiative committee’s StEM project I described above literally 2½ years ago.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

P.S.
I really should be heeding what I propose to others, since every 6 months or so, as my wife enters the room of one of our home theaters, ...

Uh, just how many "home theaters" do you have, Penton?

"You own a yacht? Which one is it? The big one?"
"Certainly not! With all the unrest in the world, I don't
think anybody should have a yacht that sleeps more than twelve."
-- Marilyn Monroe & Tony Curtis in "Some Like it Hot"

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

What I find more troublesome is that some digitally shot material is being submitted to post production facilities in which a few cinematographers are mistakenly assuming that they do not need to abide by the traditional 5% total cut-in rule which has been standard practice with film camera set-up (i.e. 2.5% on each side is the normal difference between camera aperture and projection aperture) which has ultimately led to continuous framing problems, so-to-speak, of the digitally projected images at your local digital Cineplex, thru no fault of the theater owners/operators.

Since no one has asked, I will: Why was this necessary with film, and why is it still necessary with a digital workflow?

TIA,
-Jim

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

During the digital restoration process, the film’s gamma can be altered by the archival/preservation team producing some exaggerated contrast and increased midrange detail as compared to the original theatrical presentation, so, the question becomes….are modern day audiences accepting of such *contemporization* of thee really old classics?

I've seen the original Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon projected (probably in 16mm) as well as a couple others a few decades ago.

IMHO, I welcome the increased greyscale range. If folks object that this is not as originally projected, then we might as well all go home, also throwing away new tools to align three-strip technicolor; c.f. Gone With the Wind.

[Penton-Man]

Top of the Morning!

Tip of the hat today to Roger D…http://www.theasc.com/asc_news/News_...s/News_313.php
And it seems somebody at the distributing studio is aligning themselves for Oscar visibility with a December holiday release…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uco41...layer_embedded

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

Uh, just how many "home theaters" do you have, Penton?

Oops.

Well, through the grace of God and probably an army of guardian angels above, my wife and I have been modestly successful in our chosen professions and more relevant to your query, quite successful in our investing from about 1990-1998….believe me, thru dumb luck rather than any real financial wisdom. Purely right place at the right time type of thing, with ballsy risk-taking.

Ergo – to answer your question. Two (upstairs and down) in our main abode and one in each get-away place we keep, i.e. at the beach, up in Big Bear and also back East (Baltimore area) at the home I essentially grew up in , as I could never really sell that…sentimental value and all (which reminds me, speaking of Baltimore, heads-up Jeff. If you plan on doing a music thing at the Convention Center at the end of July 2011, I’ll be in the Inner Harbor area for a wedding reception,etc. on those same dates I think, so PM me and we may be able to hook up for a drink).

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, through the grace of God and probably an army of guardian angels above...

^
b.t.w. – If anyone here is into spiritual movies and such, might I recommend keeping an eye out for this motion picture …http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1630036/

An all-around good guy and someone who knows a tad bit about color correction recently is featured here in this YouTube clip- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KrVhoBgJEc about the flick.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

Since no one has asked, I will: Why was this necessary with film, and why is it still necessary with a digital workflow?

That gets really complicated really quickly but, I’ll try to give you the Cliff notes version without tripping over myself. With celluloid, 2.5% is the normal diff between the projection aperture and the camera aperture. Digital acquired images also require this because digitally projected images can also project upon the theater curtains on the right and left sides of the image so the area of image outside projection aperture is not certain to be seen by audiences.

In essence, it is critical that the right and left sides of the camera aperture area are about 2.5% of the width beyond the image projection area (aperture) in order that both DCPs and film negatives can be produced properly.

Some digital motion picture productions (I'm not naming names) have chosen to place the digital image (I’m talking 1920) fully within the film-out projection aperture; however, this is not a good idea because ultimately, some theatrical audiences will see black edges shimmering on either side of the screen at venues with projectors which have some trapezoidal geometry.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

I've seen the original Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon projected (probably in 16mm) as well as a couple others a few decades ago.

IMHO, I welcome the increased greyscale range. If folks object that this is not as originally projected, then we might as well all go home, also throwing away new tools to align three-strip technicolor; c.f. Gone With the Wind.

Fair enough , as I was just looking for opinions because, like I said previously, there have been some ‘increased contrast/brightness’ complaints at demos of digital restorations of some old movies (about 50 years old…or older) in the recent past.

When I think about it, it’s actually quite ironic because, on one hand, you’ve got some respected professionals complaining about increased gamma, demonstrating too much mid-range detail and exaggerated contrast as seen with some past digital restoration demos, whereas, on the other hand, I got myself entrenched in a thread on this forum where some are complaining about decreased gamma with The Last of the Mohicans.

[MerrickG]

Penton,

A few reviews of the Alien Anthology have come up.


And guess what?

James Cameron apparently DOES have a clue how his films should look

[sharkshark]

FYI, saw a digital print of the new PSYCHO source, and it looked FANTABULOUS. Again, if the BD looks half as good, we're rockin'.

Stuck it out for a digital screening of THE GODFATHER as well, and then spent the evening watching two films with Isabella Rosellinni in attendence (her dad's A VOYAGE IN ITALY, and, natch, BLUE VELVET)

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

BLUE VELVET

Let it mean an imminent BD!

Let it mean an imminent BD!

Let it mean an imminent BD!

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Oops.

Well, through the grace of God and probably an army of guardian angels above, my wife and I have been modestly successful in our chosen professions and more relevant to your query, quite successful in our investing from about 1990-1998….believe me, thru dumb luck rather than any real financial wisdom. Purely right place at the right time type of thing, with ballsy risk-taking.

Oh, this is funny. I seem to have this effect on some people around me...

My first ex-wife, my first best man, my first officemate (and a pile of ex-co-workers), have all hit it big (millions) in various facets of the computer industry over the years and retired. Another schoolmate has his picture in the computer museum with a group described as (really) the founders of the Internet.

Congrats., Penton. You fit right in with this august group.

As for me, well, they say you are more likely to be hit by lightning than win the lottery. So far, lightning has hit the power pole in front of my house, and then another pole a couple doors down, and then, after moving, a tree close to the new house.

So, I laughingly claim my riches are my "million dollar daughter" (who I wouldn't trade for anything), and my "million dollar girlfriend" (for whom I'm very lucky to have).

L'Chayim