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

[cjamescook]

Just returned from two weeks in the American Southwest, so pardon while I catch up.

Coolest movie site: Monument Valley, site of many Westerns. (first visit ever)

Interesting find: Film Museum in downtown Sedona, AZ
Mostly a lot of one-of-a-kind pictures from the estate of the original(?) Marlboro Man. It's funded by his son, who also owns Pink Jeep Tours. They did give out a sheet listing moves filmed in the area.

Coolest non-movie, non-landscape sight: Seeing the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time in the dark skies of Torrey, UT.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

The most relevant thing to me was that Kwai’s restoration was done utilizing the OCN as the source, using a scanning resolution of 4k to harvest the imagery.

It was cool to note that the restoration was at an AR of 2.55:1, for which no prints at that ratio existed. Or am I being too geeky and repeating what everyone already knows?

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

This got me thinking about another issue common to photography as well as cinematography: chromatic aberration. This is an optical problem...

The best camera lenses often include optical elements and various kinds of coatings to fight chromatic aberration. But few if any lenses are perfect at totally eliminating the problem.,.

Like most things in life, you can mostly eliminate it if you are willing to pay.

Astronomic photography has even higher optical requirements. Refractor telescopes can be (in increasing order of color correction): achromats, apochromats, or super-achromats with objective lenses employing exotic glasses, such as flourite and lanthanum. There is cross-fertilization between the needs of astronomic and film industry lenses.

How do I know? I have a 90 mm super-achromat whose objective was built from blanks carved out of the scraps of movie camera objective material.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...ml#post3628846
^ what, no comments?

At the very end of the interview, Jim talks about degraining and denoising the Aliens Blu-ray. I would have thought with the constant preoccupation on internet forums with film grain and sharpening, his remarks would have been of some, at least a little, interest?

At the risk of being late to the table...

This was old news before I went on vacation. I think James' quote was reported over at The Digital Bits. Regardless of where, after investigation it was reported that grain was reduced, but not completely eliminated (despite how James phrased it). There wasn't any complaints of lost detail in the early viewings and folks said, hey, he cares about such things, too.

So, wonder of wonders, can we be getting past the era where every mention of grain or NR causes an explosion of controversy? One can only hope.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Bloggers- ”this above all: to thine own self be true” with Blu-ray reviews or lack thereof.
http://www.astor-theatre.com/calendar/70mm.html

Please don't rub it in, I have been to half a dozen festivals and never managed to see Hamlet in 70mm

The Astor theatre is unique in that they have their own (unfortunately flat) print of Ben Hur that they paid for themselves which is really incredible given the fact that Warner does not deem Ben Hur worthy of a new 70mm print!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

And I thought you would pick the Smurfs! :

Okay…..okay, as you’ve worn me into submission.

Back in ’07 (https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...tml#post339009 ), I was busy sharing with you the pics of the babes on the prior page there but, here you go …..from the same Halloween party the alleged owners of Blu-ray.com exposed by Penton-razzi !

Smurfs live and Party!.jpg

P.S.
Deci, in the pursuit of truth, justice and the Blu-ray way, make this pic accessible to non-members too!

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

So, wonder of wonders, can we be getting past the era where every mention of grain or NR causes an explosion of controversy? One can only hope.

lol, well, given the recent public comments about Aliens, I think some people/posters will silently just slap their brow in frustration when they read Jim’s latest comment about Titanic (last answer at the bottom of the page) -

…..”so we're taking out all the grain and sharpening the whole thing up, so it should look quite spectacular. And then we're going to the stereo conversion. So it should look gorgeous”. From -

(http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...?click=pm_news)

[DenonCI]

Penton,

Much better start to the Soccer season this year. My U-12 Boys team won their first match 1-0. Now my weekend plans consist of regaining my voice

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

lol, well, given the recent public comments about Aliens, I think some people/posters will silently just slap their brow in frustration when they read Jim’s latest comment about Titanic (last answer at the bottom of the page) -

…..”so we're taking out all the grain and sharpening the whole thing up, so it should look quite spectacular. And then we're going to the stereo conversion. So it should look gorgeous”. From -

(http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...?click=pm_news)

Well, nobody can claim to be surprised when he sees a Cameron movie on Blu-Ray looking completely degrained and sharpened up - there have been plenty of warnings by the man himself

I wonder if there will also be a "normal" 2D Blu-Ray of Titanic that has not been degrained, sharpened etc. otherwise it would seem that Mr. Cameron has no respect at all for the medium film and how he shot his movies in the first place.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Well, nobody can claim to be surprised when he sees a Cameron movie on Blu-Ray looking completely degrained and sharpened up - there have been plenty of warnings by the man himself

I wonder if there will also be a "normal" 2D Blu-Ray of Titanic that has not been degrained, sharpened etc. otherwise it would seem that Mr. Cameron has no respect at all for the medium film and how he shot his movies in the first place.

3D->2D conversion is simple:



If the patch is required, does that mean the studios are advocating piracy (the kind requiring this mode of couture, natch... )

[Anthony P]

I thought it was this guy


started the site to gain acceptance. Poor Ray, what a tragedy

[Penton-Man]

Geez sharkshark, it seems every time I turn around, the Toronto Film Festival is coming out with another press release. I just can't keep up. I see now you’ve bagged “The Boss”…..

http://www.tiff.net/press/pressrelea...take-the-stage

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

Penton,

Much better start to the Soccer season this year. My U-12 Boys team won their first match 1-0. Now my weekend plans consist of regaining my voice

It’s worth it.

I’m sure you’re aware of the good community service you’re providing by donating your time and energy to teaching things like teamwork, sacrifice, discipline in the guise of playing a club sport with a round ball but, what you may not be aware of is that there is probably at least one kid out there who was just like me…..meaning, next to my father, the greatest inspirational character role model I ever had was my coach from my grade school days, whom to this day, I reflect back with fondness and gratitude.

The values he embodied in me at an early age served me well during challenging times in the pursuit of a professional career (non-soccer).

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

Well, nobody can claim to be surprised when he sees a Cameron movie on Blu-Ray looking completely degrained and sharpened up - there have been plenty of warnings by the man himself

I wonder if there will also be a "normal" 2D Blu-Ray of Titanic that has not been degrained, sharpened etc. otherwise it would seem that Mr. Cameron has no respect at all for the medium film and how he shot his movies in the first place.

You, as a cinephile, may wonder but, I doubt many techie fanboys will, as the motion picture contains no space ships nor space monsters, etc.

Speaking of the Titanic and another real world application of *the fad*….
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/...news/#38895367

[Penton-Man]

Kudos , Robert Z. -
An ego-less example of accepting an offered olive branch with professional elegance and sincerity ….
https://forum.blu-ray.com/3d-hdtvs-p...out-event.html

PaulGo –
If all stays on schedule, expect a Sony 3D home projector (based on the SXRD tech) launch by the end of the year. Technology marches on.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Geez sharkshark, it seems every time I turn around, the Toronto Film Festival is coming out with another press release. I just can't keep up. I see now you’ve bagged “The Boss”…..

http://www.tiff.net/press/pressrelea...take-the-stage

I take it, by the above, that you have not been incessantly checking my Twitter feed.

Yeah, Bruce showing up for both the Gala screening of the Darkness doc and this Mavericks session.

Lots to look forward to - linking to my site from here is verbotten based on BC.com rules, but you're personally welcome to check often during the fest

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

The values he embodied in me at an early age served me well during challenging times in the pursuit of a professional career (non-soccer).

"Values? We don't need no stinkin' values..."

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

PaulGo –
If all stays on schedule, expect a Sony 3D home projector (based on the SXRD tech) launch by the end of the year. Technology marches on.

cool, I guess that means they will be showing at CEDIA in a few weeks?

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

3D->2D conversion is simple:
[...]
If the patch is required, does that mean the studios are advocating piracy (the kind requiring this mode of couture, natch... )

Good one - although I doubt it will have the automatic grain restoration and desharpening module built in

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You, as a cinephile, may wonder but, I doubt many techie fanboys will, as the motion picture contains no space ships nor space monsters, etc.

Could be. To be honest I do not like Titanic all that much so it would not affect me for that one but I fear that he might do the same for True Lies and Terminator 2 which I happen to like.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Speaking of the Titanic and another real world application of *the fad*….
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/...news/#38895367

I have to admit that I find this a bit silly but to each his own

[Penton-Man]

I agree that some cutting-edge applications are much more noble than others when it comes to dimensionalizing traditional imaging to viewers whether it be with native stereoscopic image acquisition or computer generated 3D reconstructions of multiple source angles…..http://www.webmd.com/video/3d-mammogram

I’m just hoping that you and others are willing to keep an open mind (and wallet) for Hugo Cabret (shooting in Paris now), given the undeniable quality of the talent involved….
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf...assion_1157366

Otherwise, I guess it’s the Bundesliga in the future for you (http://www.focus.de/kultur/medien/fu...id_543901.html ), as I’ve always maintained that sports will be the main driver for the adoption of 3D in peoples’ homes with other types of entertainment serving a complementary role…at least initially.