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

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

For all you resolution junkies, the new Red Dwarf specials are all being shot at 4k. It's the RED camera, so it's probably not a good reference, but I believe that makes it the first TV show to have a 4k pipe

Thanks for the details, Jeff, but no, this doesn't help me out with regard to my 4k and 6k scanning comment, earlier. The Red 1 resolution (which is much more geometric resolution than chromatic resolution) doesn't have much benefit that I can imagine in this kind of application. The value of using 4k scanning with fast modern film stocks is the ability to pick up the last level of resolution from the OCN with a sufficient Nyquist frequency to prevent aliasing at the highest frequencies.

[Penton-Man]

Dude, you’ve really got to keep up with this technology stuff.

"This (RED) is basically as good as 35mm film and a lot of people would argue that it is slightly better".
at about the 3:15 mark-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGM4dxRS8c

Warning --do not watch the above ^ clip if –
1. You are prone to getting headaches from someone yammering.
2. You haven’t had at least 10 cups of coffee this morning.
3. You, or either of your parents worked for a major newspaper and now are unemployed.

Back later, as my young niece ("Uncle Penton, why is your icon picture thingee so fancy") is visiting us this week/weekend from back East and we’ve got an Anaheim Disneyland run to do with my sister and all her children.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Where’s Esox (with 1 “s”)?
He should be able to provide an appropriate quote from Braveheart (the scene when they’re in the forest, planning).

Hamish Campbell, "Some men are longer than others!"
Old Man Campbel (in response), "Aye, yer mother been telling stories about me?"

Can't wait for the Blu...

[sharkshark]

hey, penton, did a cursory search and came up with nuthin... mind telling us about your own home theatre? what do you use for BD playback when chillaxing and watching a flick (or do you use the studio screening room with a 4k...)? Can you still watch films purely for enjoyment (ie, on Laserdisc...)

[okrogius]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

On that note, do any James Bond freaks know which Bond flick boasts the greatest number of foreign location shoots of any James Bond movie to date? (I’m counting England as the home base of James Bond and therefore all sets there total 0)

Any guesses?
Hint –
One location is where Penton-Man proposed to the then Miss Penton-Girl in a rather elegant fashion, I must say, on one knee on dem hard bricks.
Another hint-
One location is reportedly the driest place on earth……….and no, I’m not referring to my back yard in SoCal from about April till December.

[Disclaimer- the above calculation is at least according to the production notes]

Quantum of Solace seems like a good guess if you're asking for distinct filming locations in non-UK countries. If going by maximum number of distinct non-UK countries, it would probably be The Spy Who Loved Me. If the question is number of foreign locations portrayed (rather than actually shot at), the winner seems to be Casino Royale.

(None of this is really of top of my head, did end up looking up a lot of it)

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Most reviewers did not like the stylized look of Hancock. It looked as if there was a problem with the lower IRE's getting lost somewhere in the production pipeline but of course the deep blacks and oversaturated colors can also have been an artistic choice and this is something that I do not to argue but a lot of reviewers do.....

I don’t see that as a legitimate excuse in determining the picture quality of a Blu-ray movie in terms of rating the technical quality of the encode.
I see that more of a conscious or unconscious *sweet spot* in the spectrum of color saturation that home theater enthusiasts deem to be excellent. In other words, if the filmmaker’s color palette falls outside of that fictitious sweet zone or bell shaped curve, either being too saturated or too desaturated, then the picture quality of the Blu-ray loses points in terms of being ‘transparent’ to the source?

I can appreciate though, how difficult it can sometimes be for non-professionals to separate the “picture quality” of the film master from that of the transfer (i.e. the HD video master) from that of the encode (the Blu-ray movie itself) without having some inside knowledge of the production, or at least a professional knowledge of the materials and methods used or, at the very minimum, having had attended the theatrical presentation and having excellent recall in regards to technical appearance of the imagery.

In that regard, Hancock is a relatively new feature film and anyone that attended the theatrical presentation (and likes to envision themselves as a picture quality guru) would have recognized and recalled that the richly saturated colors were present in theatrical showings. They were quite intended by the filmmaker (Peter Berg). Additionally, the ‘chain of custody’ so to speak, for this film was unbroken, in that the same digital colorist did the previews, and the color grading of the digital intermediate and the HD master (all on the Sony lot), which aint always the case.

[Penton-Man]

^
P.S.
Hey Oliver, since the recent conversation here moved to beautiful girls/women and since you mentioned the Berlinale, I assume you are either a Berliner or are somewhat familiar with that city?
This is something that I have been curious about for years…… being, back when I was a very young whippersnapper (too young to even drive), I fell in love with a beautiful blonde Berliner and we often walked by this bombed out (from WWII) church that was a historical monument type of thing which had next to it, a new modern building, which I guess was a new church (old vs. new theme for Berlin) and I wonder, what is the name of that old bombed out church and is it still there to this day?
All I can tell you is that I was staying at the Hilton Berlin and it had to be within walking distance of that hotel.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

hey, penton, did a cursory search and came up with nuthin... mind telling us about your own home theatre?

Not at all.
Each show opens with dancing girls before the projector warms up.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=5772

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Yesterday's was much better

Horse,
I have a bone to pick with you!
Will you please tell your fellow countryman that I WAS KIDDING , in the B.T.W. back in May of last year (disregard the poor grammar)…………
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...nes#post850037

then, this is reported about 9 months later………
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29436337

[Eternal_Sunshine]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

(...) we often walked by this bombed out (from WWII) church that was a historical monument type of thing which had next to it, a new modern building, which I guess was a new church (old vs. new theme for Berlin) and I wonder, what is the name of that old bombed out church and is it still there to this day?

Yes, it's still there and called the "Gedächtniskirche" ("memorial church"):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_...emorial_Church

[Esox50]

BTW Penntonn-Mann ....

On the subject of Braveheart, hopefully Paramount has used a cleaner print than they used for the DVD (2000 release). Lots of black flecks, dirt, and such on the DVD.

[MerrickG]

Penton,

I know you hate it when people whine in your thread, but I do have to express that I loved Killzone 2 and think they did a great job, but Guerilla absolutely BLEW it on the controller sensitivity. Its almost unplayable for me. Its either too slow or too fast and is damn near impossible to do a quick aim and many times feels like the number one enemy.

I have read many gaming threads and many people are complaining about this.

I hope you can politely let someone in the know know about this issue and hope it will pursuade Guerilla to release a patch.

[huntifosi]

Penton, have you been hiring Maya(sp?) out to the studios? 'Life' on NBC last year and now on 'Sarah Connor Chronicles'. Hope she is getting paid/fed well!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Eternal_Sunshine

Yes, it's still there and called the "Gedächtniskirche" ("memorial church"):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_...emorial_Church

Thanks for that.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by huntifosi

Penton, have you been hiring Maya(sp?) out to the studios? 'Life' on NBC last year....

I’m quite impressed that you picked up and remember that sequence as it was all of only something like 10 sec. in duration.

Wasn’t Maya though.

[Penton-Man]

I’m leaving for a local Blu-ray picture quality mission this evening ……..*a meeting of the minds, so to speak* with a source that works at WB. I’ll find out if there is anything I can report “on the record” to you folks late tonight or tomorrow, i.e. Monday.

I’ll be entering the discussion with an open mind and I just hope that something positive in nature is not Against All Odds……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sd0W1RyMnE

We shall see.

P.S.
Hey, I recognize the guy on bass (in the background)….I think that’s Gandalf the Grey from this motion picture………
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=104

Later.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I’m leaving for a local Blu-ray picture quality mission this evening ……..*a meeting of the minds, so to speak* with a source that works at WB. I’ll find out if there is anything I can report “on the record” to you folks late tonight or tomorrow, i.e. Monday.

Thanks for your efforts!!!

[Anthony P]

I’m leaving for a local Blu-ray picture quality mission this evening ……..*a meeting of the minds, so to speak* with a source that works at WB. I’ll find out if there is anything I can report “on the record” to you folks late tonight or tomorrow, i.e. Monday.

I’ll be entering the discussion with an open mind and I just hope that something positive in nature is not Against All Odds……..

If you can get something positive then we don't care if you can't report back with it. Eventualy we will find out. Good luck in getting them to understand something worth doing is worth doing right.

[sharkshark]

Hey, I recognize the guy on bass (in the background)….I think that’s Gandalf the Grey from this motion picture………
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=104

Later.

Hey, don't mess with the Leland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Sklar)

btw, feel free to get us a firm date on LOTR while you're there, k?

[Squozen]

There must be something wrong with me - I didn't find Amadeus as monstrous as everybody else seems to. Sure, it's DNR-ed, but so is everything Warner brings out. Maybe I'm just so used to their rotten picture quality that I don't even get offended anymore.