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

[wakeboredb]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I once calculated the amount of time in hours that I worked on my motorcycle(s), [keep in mind these were racing dirt bikes] and compared it to the time I actually rode the thing.

The ratio came out to be around 10 to 1 (work on bike/ride bike).

I have a sport bike that I ride to work and for fun pretty much rain or shine so I probably ride it more than I work on it. As long as I can bear the temperature outside, it's always a great day to ride

I did adjust my valves, and put on new dogbones last weekend. This weekend I have some new clutch springs to put in. I just started riding last summer, and I've been very surprised how much more bike maintenance I do than on my car and truck. My bike isn't even 1 year old, so all of my work has been pure maintenance or modification.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Do you recall one of the initial perceived issues belabored ad nausea by the *scientists* who just couldn’t grasp the concept that the Blu-ray of Bram Stoker’s Dracula was as transparent as technically possible to the Director selected and approved answer print which was used as the source and who incessantly promoted the idea online that either the colorist or the compressionist screwed up?

Haha, remember one of the crazies was threatening me, "I'll punch you're lights out!!!". What a joke. Talk about taking yourself and HD WAY too seriously.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Haha, remember one of the crazies was threatening me, "I'll punch you're lights out!!!". What a joke. Talk about taking yourself and HD WAY too seriously.

No I don't remember that.

PM me the culprit's online handle and I'll be sure to send him some free samples of Lithium..............from Tijuana.

[Esox50]

Time for us to "shake down" or put some pressure on the geek again, and get it on the schedule?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1064

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

No I don't remember that.

PM me the culprit's online handle and I'll be sure to send him some free samples of Lithium..............from Tijuana.

"PMS"

[Dan S.]

Penton- I checked my mailbox today and, to my great joy, found a box from California. I hope to spin the movies up in the very near future. Thank you again!!!

I would check them out tonight, but the road bike is calling...

[Penton-Man]

Some entries on this thread
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...=1#post1822025

remind me of this…………..
http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion...pixelgrain.htm

People should keep in mind that most filmmakers (exception being Steven S., Quentin T.) don’t normally enter the pre-production phase with as much passion as some here do in regards to pro-grain or anti-grain for the imagery of their storytelling. Their thinking is much more directed at what they believe will be the best tool (be it a film camera or a digital camera, of which the camera’s inherent workflow is just as important as the camera body and lens) to enable them to tell the particular story they have in mind.

B.T.W., for those that feel that film emulsion technology isn’t advancing and has hit a brick wall, this recent announcement should be a note –
http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion...09/Apr08_1.htm

Especially since Vision3 500T (unless it is pushed) is so finely grained itself that many cinematographers and colorists think of it (500T) as already nearly being grainless compared to older stocks.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Dan S.

Penton- I checked my mailbox today and, to my great joy, found a box from California. I hope to spin the movies up in the very near future. Thank you again!!!

I would check them out tonight, but the road bike is calling...

I hear ya.

[mikey p]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

.........
remind me of this…………..
http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion...pixelgrain.htm
..........
B.T.W., for those that feel that film emulsion technology isn’t advancing and has hit a brick wall, this recent announcement should be a note –
http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion...09/Apr08_1.htm

Especially since Vision3 500T (unless it is pushed) is so finely grained itself that many cinematographers and colorists think of it (500T) as already nearly being grainless compared to older stocks.

Thanks for both these links neat (fun/interesting) stuff.

[Secret_Smile]

Just wanted to let you know, I received my goodies today.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by mikey p

Thanks for both these links neat (fun/interesting) stuff.

Yeah , almost every line in that session is some sort of metaphor if you are familiar with the mediums. I also enjoyed the credits at the end which disclose that both digital and film cameras were used for the production and specified exactly which camera was used to shoot what.

Did you watch Session 2 (click on the menu at the top), where they talk about their ‘sex life’ and when Mrs. Grain takes Mr. Pixel “shopping”?
http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion...pixelgrain.htm

And how about Session 3?

Does anyone know what Mrs. Grain is referring to when she is abducted and yells...”I’ve been digitized” – which sort of sums up in a nice storybook fashion how Wally Pfeister feels about the process in general and remains one of the last philosophical hold-outs.

Given that fact in itself, it galls me to no end that the *scientists* would be so arrogant and elitist to think that they would be more offended by any “edgy” look (in The Dark Knight) than would Wally or Chris Nolan, if it was not strictly artistically intended by these filmmakers on the Blu-ray edition, especially since Wally sat in on some of the mastering in which a consumer display (Pioneer Kuro) was used for the Blu-ray production.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Time for us to "shake down" or put some pressure on the geek again, and get it on the schedule?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1064

He has no input in that regard.

His job is just to make sure that dem Blu-rays are as purty as possible given the limitations of the principal photography, the film master and the video master.

Now, it's off to Vegas.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Given that fact in itself, it galls me to no end that the *scientists* would be so arrogant and elitist to think that they would be more offended by any “edgy” look (in The Dark Knight) than would Wally or Chris Nolan, if it was not strictly artistically intended by these filmmakers on the Blu-ray edition, especially since Wally sat in on some of the mastering in which a consumer display (Pioneer Kuro) was used for the Blu-ray production.

While I agree with your sentiment and would never doubt Nolan's and Pfister's interest, commitment and abilities, I do find it odd that, by all apparent evidence, the Blu-ray transfer was made from an IMAX DMR source, complete with visible post-processing artifacts not present in the 35mm theatrical release version.

[Stacey Spears]

especially since Wally sat in on some of the mastering in which a consumer display (Pioneer Kuro) was used for the Blu-ray production.

At one point Ned Price QCd the first 10-minutes of every WHV HD DVD and Blu-ray title. He was not afraid to reject. My favorite time was when he did not even look at the display, but instead saw some clipping on the WFM and rejected it.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

While I agree with your sentiment and would never doubt Nolan's and Pfister's interest, commitment and abilities, I do find it odd that, by all apparent evidence, the Blu-ray transfer was made from an IMAX DMR source, complete with visible post-processing artifacts not present in the 35mm theatrical release version.

Well, I wouldn't find it "odd" if you guys read about halos every single day of the week on some forums, as one will become so sensitized to their appearance that one will begin to subconsciously search for them without following the normal regions of interest that everyone else on this earth looks at when they are truly invested in the story itself.

Read the P.S. here……………
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=8398

And also if you need further enlightenment then change the title of this article to ….
Where enthusiasts look (in contrast to *screenshot scientists*) when watching movies in real-time

And view one of the Scanpaths on the left side of the page………
http://www.eri.harvard.edu/faculty/p...eos/videos.htm

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

At one point Ned Price QCd the first 10-minutes of every WHV HD DVD and Blu-ray title. He was not afraid to reject. My favorite time was when he did not even look at the display, but instead saw some clipping on the WFM and rejected it.

Lol, was it an HD deliverable that was queued for Europe or somewhere else outside the U.S.?
Ned should have been present when they (WB) made the HD master and/or encoded Amadeus, perhaps then, it wouldn’t have been so detail scrubbed by dnr. At least the input provided by RAH and myself is being acted upon over there in video.

I really feel for the colorists that grade HD television shows or movies because sometimes despite having direct input from the Director and the D.P. in order to achieve a certain ‘look’……..their work is ultimately rejected by Q.C. personnel because it didn’t fit the accepted “clipping criteria”.

There has been more than one instance where colorists have been ordered to go back and redo their work because they were accused of ‘black crush’ in a particular scene, and subsequently, by the necessitated redoing, they have had to lift the blacks which ultimately produced a milky grainy look and makes it impossible to grade the rest of the scene with any kind of faithful creative value.

Q.C. can be a double-edged sword if there is not good communication and understanding between the creators and the quality control technologists.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, I wouldn't find it "odd" if you guys read about halos every single day of the week on some forums, as one will become so sensitized to their appearance that one will begin to subconsciously search for them without following the normal regions of interest that everyone else on this earth looks at when they are truly invested in the story itself.

Well, I didn't search for them, myself, and I found the appearance of the Blu-ray to be quite enjoyable, indeed.

However, others (not friends of yours) did find them and, while I'm satisfied with the product, I do find it indicative of a choice that's difficult for me to understand. If the achieved look, which left behind the visible DMR artifacts on the BD, is intentional, why was a DMR-processed source not also used to produce the conventional 35mm release prints?

It sounds like you are now arguing that Nolan and Pfister may have, reasonably, not noticed these by-products during BD authoring, whereas your original post on the subject suggests that they not only noticed them, but intended for them to be there.

[Stacey Spears]

Lol, was it an HD deliverable that was queued for Europe or somewhere else outside the U.S.?

No, it was the very first VC-1 compression test for WHV. The clip was encoded, decoded and dumped back to tape. Ned was comparing two tapes, the D5 source for the encode and an encode/decode of the same. The clipping occured during the pre-process of the video, after capture from tape, but before encoding.

[Stacey Spears]

What is your opinion of the Panasonic plasmas now being used by MPI? I believe Mr. Yarbrough is responsible for the switch.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Well, I didn't search for them, myself, and I found the appearance of the Blu-ray to be quite enjoyable, indeed.

However, others (not friends of yours) did find them and, while I'm satisfied with the product, I do find it indicative of a choice that's difficult for me to understand. If the achieved look, which left behind the visible DMR artifacts on the BD, is intentional, why was a DMR-processed source not also used to produce the conventional 35mm release prints?

It sounds like you are now arguing that Nolan and Pfister may have, reasonably, not noticed these by-products during BD authoring, whereas your original post on the subject suggests that they not only noticed them, but intended for them to be there.

I don’t argue. That’s for lawyers who stand up in court, law students and online posters with similar frustrated mentalities. If I did, I would have taken royal offense to the last line of Torsten’s post on the last page in which I think he was overly harsh to an otherwise fine in-depth Blu-ray review esp. since I was told that Rocket Post did the actual tech work starting with their ‘FAB Tech’ HD log scan of the negatives rather than anyone at the BBC……………….
http://www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com/

If you’re confused, then you’re not paying attention to my previous posts; otherwise, I don’t care because I’m also not inclined to enter into any online debates regarding semantics.

The IMAX version was the preferred vision of Chris Nolan for this motion picture and the Blu-ray edition tried to emulate that vision as closely as possible. If you look very, very closely at the IMAX version of The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) you will find very infrequent thin haloing around some things in some shots. Whether or not it was identified by the filmmakers at the time of real-time post production work, it’s a tiny price to pay to the anal-centric *scientists* in order to achieve the overall ‘look’ desired by the creator of that motion picture also.