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quote:

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The thing that amazed me was how hard it was to keep the DVD in sync
with the film, we had to pause it all the time because it kept
getting well ahead of the movie on the screen.

Clearly in Film we run at 24 FPS, Video/DVD (pal) run at 25 FPS
(US 60Hz use some kind of frame skipping) so I know thats the problem

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Getting back on topic: I've noticed that a few times in the theatre and been puzzled by it. I'm disappointed that the sound doesn't have much "oomph" to it during the fanfare, thinking that it's too bad I've paid to watch a movie at sub-optimal volume, but then when the movie itself gets going, it sounds fine.

MGM was formed by a merger brokered by the producer Irving Thalberg in the autumn of 1924, so I guess the logo must date from then.

Many of you have indicated that you really like the current Fox logo (when it is appropriately loud and dynamic, of course), however, I'd like to mention that I actually have come to dislike the current fanfare logo. Why? Because the current version is timed so it can include both the studio fanfare AND the "CinemaScope Extension." Okay, so you're saying you really love that piece of music. I do too...but "flat" movies shouldn't include it! That piece of music was introduced to be included on Fox's CinemaScope movies in the '50s. I feel it was effectively "re-introduced" for "Star Wars."

In the '70s and '80s, many of the Fox movies used a silent logo. But with the exception of the "Star Wars" movies (which were scope, and used the '50s version for the first movie and a newer, original recording for the others that I don't think was ever used on any non-"Star Wars" Fox movies) and "The War Of The Roses" (which was 'flat," but used the full fanfare with extension in an interesting way), I cannot think of very many other Fox movies that used the full version until they switched to the current version (in 1994?).

I'll bet that people around 30-35 years old or younger think of the full Fox fanfare with CinemaScope extension as "belonging" to "Star Wars," whereas people in their 50s or older probably (correctly?) associate the music with the CinemScope films of the 1950s.

And as far as "Die Hard" having one of the more effective renditions of the fanfare, I certainly agree, but does anybody know what was up with the image for the Fox logo that was used??? It was stretched outward for those first two "Die Hard" movies. It's as if a "flat" version was incorporated into the "scope" negative. (Don't grab your DVD to see what I'm referring to as they've used a different version.)

That's the nice thing about running change-over -- you're always there to do that kind of stuff.

Frank

I guess I'll have to rig up something similar to John Wilson's solution in order to have that "grunt" every time. IMNSHO when an audience hears that logo they know they're about to see a movie! Yes I'm biased--my dad was a music editor at Fox from the early '50's through the early '70's, and my mom was a dancer in several Fox films during the '50's (they met on the set of The Egyptian). My folks used to joke that we should stand and salute whenever we kids heard that logo.

Paul

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Empire and Jedi used a (then) new recording of the fanfare conducted by John Williams, a version which most folks acknowledge lacked oomph. It wasn't entirely clear from the articles I read whether it was retained in those two SE's or replaced by a more recent one.

As for Moulin Rouge, I'll have to listen again but I always liked the way the film opened.

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