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

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by micks_address

The bolded piece hits the nail on the head for me - if a film looks like it supposed to then shouldnt it be regarded as first class? what bugs me is this constant talk of veneers of grain and such in blu-rays affecting video quality.. when in some intances it is as intended.. how do reviewers know which films should have grain and which shouldnt? unless they have watched the film recently in a cinema?
Cheers,
Mick

They don’t………unless they have some knowledge of film stocks, formats, exposure and lighting. People like RAH can make an educated guess based upon that data alone…..others are making wild assertions.
Witness a past accusation of dnr involving the Blu-ray The Nightmare Before Christmas – for which the accusers are clueless to the Kodak stock used.

Regarding The Godfather, an interesting aside is the fact that F.F.C. has mentioned in past interviews and commentaries that he was convinced that he was about to be fired from The Godfather project. However………..

during the production of The Godfather, he won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Patton, which gave the financiers second thoughts about letting him go from The Godfather project.

Good thing for all of us, they didn’t.
I think he may allude to all this during the following interview……………….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6PJsiGCoY

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Grubert

Each to their own... There are also people who say Blade Runner is boring but what can you do...

What is killing me is that I just heard that Sony has just delayed/cancelled Dr. Strangelove. Can you confirm that? If so, why was that?

Don’t know anything about it.
Could be Marketing has delayed it for awhile. Titles are constantly getting reshuffled around and this is really nothing new as the same thing happened with DVD’s when they ruled.

I do know that Stanley Kubrick was never happy with any of the release prints……according to Grover C., who supervised the 4K restoration.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by meckel

not rumors... from Bill Hunt's site

The official word on the Iron Man BD is in from Paramount. The discs that will be available on street date at your local retailers WILL be fixed and working fine, so no worries. We're also told that because the discs will be corrected by street, there will be no need for any kind of exchange program. Just so you know.

Back later. Stay tuned...

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Back to Penton

Don’t know anything about no stinkin discs so keep an eye on Bill Hunt’s Digital Bits for any updates and an upcoming review on the Blu-ray edition of this title by some reviewer they have there named Jeff Kleist, who is also a new member of our forum.

I do know a little of the post production workflow for this feature film, and a little about its principal photography, i.e.- a tiny bit of the visual effects greenscreen stuff was captured with a Panaflex 65mm camera for the inside helmet shots.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Mystery Clock

4:45pm CT, end of a long tedious day:

Your score: 0
Gender: Male
Age range: 40-49
Best score for your gender and age range: 0
Highest score for your gender and age range: 1462



Thanks for the link. Now if only my wife would believe me...
-John

If she doesn’t, you can always tell Ms. Violet……………….
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/violet/

or Ms. Orange
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/experiments/orange/
but, don’t hold your mouse on her tummy and twirl it around, or you may get mighty dizzy.
^
The above links are from a true scientist (one with a doctorate after his name) and who won a Technical Achievement Academy Award for …………...fake grain.
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Hobbyist/student questions for Penton of Mr. Harris:

Are the newly restored Godfather movies stored on a computer or on master tapes?

What precautions have been taken to preserve the newly restored movies to help prevent the possibility of damage to the master tapes again (if stored on tape and not hard disk)?

I see RAH already chimed in.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

The guy who scored 1462 must have been color blind!

That was ME !

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

The new restorations are supported by redundant copies of data tapes as well as new sets of 35mm black & white separation masters, 4k derived printing negatives and newly created interpositives.

^
Hopefully not all stored in the same geographic location in case of an unforeseen disaster like an earthquake or a…………fire.

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

That was ME !

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Don’t know anything about it.
Could be Marketing has delayed it for awhile. Titles are constantly getting reshuffled around and this is really nothing new as the same thing happened with DVD’s when they ruled.

I do know that Stanley Kubrick was never happy with any of the release prints……according to Grover C., who supervised the 4K restoration.

^
Just to clarify the above, I was referring to the fact that Stanley K. was never really happy with the release prints shown back during the original theatrical presentations in ’64 – ’65.

[Penton-Man]

I see that our news editor Josh is keeping abreast of the Iron Man situation……
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1815

Somebody should really inform Josh that there is no way the Blu-ray disc situation can be rectified in a matter of a few weeks, doesn’t he realize that we should be right smack in the middle of a BD50 replication doomsday catastrophe as first reported ad nausea in *scientific* posts several months ago near the end of the format war.

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

They don’t………unless they have some knowledge of film stocks, formats, exposure and lighting. People like RAH can make an educated guess based upon that data alone…..others are making wild assertions.
Witness a past accusation of dnr involving the Blu-ray The Nightmare Before Christmas – for which the accusers are clueless to the Kodak stock used.

Regarding The Godfather, an interesting aside is the fact that F.F.C. has mentioned in past interviews and commentaries that he was convinced that he was about to be fired from The Godfather project. However………..

during the production of The Godfather, he won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Patton, which gave the financiers second thoughts about letting him go from The Godfather project.

Good thing for all of us, they didn’t.
I think he may allude to all this during the following interview……………….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6PJsiGCoY

Didn't the studio initially reject the Copolla script for Patton partly because of that beginning monologue, which is part of the reason why it sat idly before being made?

Adds a whole new dimension to the godfather saga:

Diretor almost gets fired on arguably the best American film but is saved by critical recognition for a screenplay he wrote that was rejected by the studio. Priceless.

[Penton-Man]

For the record, Gordon Willis ASC has informed me pursuant to the above………..
“I SAID ACTORS MOVE CAMERAS....IF THEY'RE STILL...YOU'RE STILL. THEY MOVE, YOU MOVE....ALTHOUGH MUCH OF THE GODFATHERS WERE DESIGNED TO WORK WITHIN A STRUCTURED FRAME. THE OVERHEAD LIGHTING WAS DESIGNED FROM THE GET-GO....PART ONE....AND YES, IT WAS TO HELP STRUCTURE BRANDO.”[/QUOTE]

^
I received several P.M.’s from RedOne cinematographers asking if Gordon Willis really relayed the above information to me in the past several days.

Yes, he really, really did.
If there are any more doubting Thomas’s around, I would suggest they ask RAH, who should be able to confirm as he remains in close contact with Mr. Willis.

For the lensers out there who are familiar with The Godfather II and enjoy the nuances of cinematography I’ll also mention that the opening sequences of Ellis Island were captured at 2.8 with all the film one stop overexposed.

The contemporary material in the film was all shot at a half stop underexposed.

[Penton-Man]

Later..........gotta run.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

For the record, Gordon Willis ASC has informed me pursuant to the above………..
“I SAID ACTORS MOVE CAMERAS....IF THEY'RE STILL...YOU'RE STILL. THEY MOVE, YOU MOVE....ALTHOUGH MUCH OF THE GODFATHERS WERE DESIGNED TO WORK WITHIN A STRUCTURED FRAME. THE OVERHEAD LIGHTING WAS DESIGNED FROM THE GET-GO....PART ONE....AND YES, IT WAS TO HELP STRUCTURE BRANDO.”\QUOTE
I received several P.M.’s from RedOne cinematographers asking if Gordon Willis really relayed the above information to me in the past several days.

Yes, he really, really did.
If there are any more doubting Thomas’s around, I would suggest they ask RAH, who should be able to confirm as he remains in close contact with Mr. Willis.

For the lensers out there who are familiar with the Godfather II and enjoy the nuances of cinematography I’ll also mention that the opening sequences of Ellis Island were captured at 2.8 with all the film one stop overexposed.

The contemporary material in the film was all shot at a half stop underexposed.

These kinds of insights into the films, plus the great restoration work that has been done, make me want to give the films another chance. I was pretty young when I first tried to watch them (I'm 33) and they moved a little too slowly for me then. I'm interested in seeing them again- into my blockbuster queue they go!

Thanks for the interesting tidbits.

[saprano]

Penton have you heard anything about if "catch me if you can" is coming to blu?

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I see that our news editor Josh is keeping abreast of the Iron Man situation……
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1815

Somebody should really inform Josh that there is no way the Blu-ray disc situation can be rectified in a matter of a few weeks, doesn’t he realize that we should be right smack in the middle of a BD50 replication doomsday catastrophe as first reported ad nausea in *scientific* posts several months ago near the end of the format war.

Of course. How silly of us.

Remember folks, that new fixed disc you receive is a figment of your imagination.

Gary

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I see that our news editor Josh is keeping abreast of the Iron Man situation……
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1815

Somebody should really inform Josh that there is no way the Blu-ray disc situation can be rectified in a matter of a few weeks, doesn’t he realize that we should be right smack in the middle of a BD50 replication doomsday catastrophe as first reported ad nausea in *scientific* posts several months ago near the end of the format war.

Penton,

To be fair, aren't we only talking about a few hundred thousand discs (worst case)? With current production capabilities, that's about 10 days working 24/7, correct?

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Didn't the studio initially reject the Copolla script for Patton partly because of that beginning monologue, which is part of the reason why it sat idly before being made?

Adds a whole new dimension to the godfather saga:

Diretor almost gets fired on arguably the best American film but is saved by critical recognition for a screenplay he wrote that was rejected by the studio. Priceless.

..

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

The comments offered below are meant to place a bit of reality to the various posts on other sites proffering everything from color is wrong to concepts such as "for the restoration, those guys made a print and cleaned it."

For the cleaning of photographic emulsions, we generally find that an extra fine or 0000 steel wool works best.

..

[bluskies]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Don’t know anything about no stinkin discs so keep an eye on Bill Hunt’s Digital Bits for any updates and an upcoming review on the Blu-ray edition of this title by some reviewer they have there named Jeff Kleist, who is also a new member of our forum.

What's his screenname here?