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Topic: Interstellar and fader 7

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-19-2014 09:20 PM

The AMC Northpark in Dallas TX destroyed their fi35mm print on the first show. Pretty colorful scratches!

I've heard of other 35mm prints getting ruined in the first week as well, but the locations escape me at the moment.

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Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 11-20-2014 04:49 AM

quote: Joe Redifer
Why would anyone intend this where everyone is bad-mouthing the sound in your movie? I await your logical, well-thought out reply.

I just find it interesting and the sound was not so terrible IMHO, just a few lines were hard to get. Just my personal feeling, no logic involved! [Smile]

I guess everybody were bad-mouthing Picasso paintings as well at the time [Smile]

Brad,
I was told the Odeon in Leicester Sq. had to replace R2 of their 70mm print after a few days. [Smile]

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 11-20-2014 05:01 AM

I guess you're mixing Interstellar topics right now. The Picassos were in the review topic [Wink]

.

Odeon Leicester Square did get a new Reel 2? There was a spare print left? Or did they actually strike a new reel 2 for them?

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Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 11-20-2014 05:13 AM

I've heard they printed one for them on purpose.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 11-20-2014 02:24 PM

Let's go with this Picasso analogy. Do you think that in the future the movie will be PRAISED for it's occasionally mumbled dialog?

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Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 11-20-2014 05:07 PM

We'll both be well dead if/when that happens! [Smile]

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William Kucharski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 244
From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 06-11-2015 08:31 PM

(Rehashing an old thread, I know.)

quote: Bobby Henderson
I've personally seen the fader in a good THX house forced downward by a mix that was way the hell too loud. While it might be possible to run one movie at 7 another might arrive and have to be turned down to 6 or even 5 to play at a comfortable level for people who like bombastic movies. We tried playing Goldeneye at 6.5 in a test run in a THX house here in Lawton. It was painfully loud. I couldn't imagine playing it at 7 the way the theater was set up. We couldn't get through the opening action sequence without turning down to 6. During regular shows it dropped to 5.5 due to loudness complaints. The THX house had been recently re-tuned when Seven arrived (that sounded awesome). There was nothing wrong with the theater setup. Goldeneye was just too hot a mix to run at 7 in that THX house.

This is what I miss about THX; it shouldn't be up to theatre owners or projectionists to decide how loud is "too loud," I want to hear the movie at the level the filmmakers intended, deafening or not.

The whole point of THX was the theatre was supposed to have been calibrated for reference level and the filmmakers decided the ultimate volume level.

A good 90% of the time I go to theatres I dislike the experience as the volume is way too quiet; if the blast at the end of the Atmos trailer isn't ruffling your pants legs, it's too soft.

If Nolan thinks the rocket launch should be 120 dB, I want to hear it at 120 dB; I don't want to have to wait until it's released on home video to hear the movie as intended.

Unfortunately it's too often turned down because some patron complained or because AMC's paper-thin walls are transmitting too much sound.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-11-2015 09:04 PM

The filmmaker is not the one paying for the theater ticket - the viewer is. When we played Inherent Vice at a festival last year at a volume level approved by the director's personal assistant, who had attended a test screening that morning, six people walked out and complained that it was too loud before the first reel was done. They had been joined by many more by the end of the show (and keep in mind that this was a festival, and so these customers were very used to being in movie theaters and listening to movie sound - it's not as if we had a house full of people who had last been to one in 1973), one of whom even threatened to report us to the city for violating safety ordinances.

I don't doubt that most theaters play movies at a lower volume than their directors would like, because I've shown major feature films to their actual directors several times over the last year, and on almost every occasion was asked (either by the filmmakers themselves or people working for them) to turn the volume up way beyond what our usual customers would feel comfortable with. If we played our regular shows at those levels, most of our regular customers would walk out, demand a refund and never come back.

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David Buckley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 525
From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand
Registered: Aug 2004

posted 06-11-2015 10:35 PM

quote: William Kucharski
If Nolan thinks the rocket launch should be 120 dB, I want to hear it at 120 dB

Absolutely.

Volume is just like any character in a movie. I know its a stretch, but we dont turn down George Clooney and replace himn with a lesser actor mid-showing because an anduence member doesn't like it. And so the same should be with the character of volume.

Sure some people don't like volume in theatres, heck they may not even like the volume of life. The big thing that digital audio has given cinema sound over the old optical tracks, even SR, is dynamic range. OK, more channels, better separation of channels, lower noise floor, extended frequency response, these are all handy additions but dynamic range is the big one. Something like the dynamic range of life can now be portrayed in the theatre, and I for one think it should be.

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Stephan Shelley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 854
From: castro valley, CA, usa
Registered: Nov 2014

posted 06-11-2015 11:04 PM

Let not forget who it is that pays us all here in the long run. That would be the audience. More important is why do you want to drive those that pay the bills out of the theatre. If you do then they will just watch it on the small screen where they can control the audio level and not come back the the theatre that assaults them audio wise.

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William Kucharski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 244
From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 06-12-2015 04:01 AM

quote: Stephan Shelley
More important is why do you want to drive those that pay the bills out of the theatre. If you do then they will just watch it on the small screen where they can control the audio level and not come back the the theatre that assaults them audio wise.

But that's just it… I'm in the audience. Many people like me are in the audience. Part of the theatrical experience is getting what you can't get at home, and a big screen is only part of it; most people don't have a sound system they can feel at home, either, and few home theaters can do 120 dB at low frequencies.

The competition for theatres is watching at home via disc or stream, and not unlike the days when movies were first threatened by TV, what will bring people out? a large, quality picture and sound that they can't get at home - an experience.

People may be "driven away" by loud sound, but they just plain don't return to a theater with soft sound.

Older patrons might not like the loud volumes, but if you've been in a dance club lately you know younger patrons expect at the very least the kind of bass power in the theater they experience at a club.

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Thomas Hauerslev
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 06-12-2015 06:04 AM

Just bought earplugs before this afternoon performance of "Jurassic World" in digital IMAX 3D. When I was a projectionist 20+ years ago, I sometimes got complaints because I played films louder than my colleagues. And none of us played it at 7 on the Dolby fader. That would be too loud. IMAX in Copenhagen opened some weeks ago, and seeing, or rather listening to that SPL for more than 2 hours is enough - it's simply too loud and unplesant. There is no need to play films this loud. And it appears the sound level is managed by some computer in Toronto. It's probably true, but still too loud for my taste. And that is saying a lot.

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Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 06-12-2015 07:25 AM

Did anyone ever take an SPL meter to an IMAX presentation?

There are always complaints about sound levels in cinema, but it seems IMAX is really notorious there. I guess it's part of their concept - the largest picture, the loudest sound. The idea is not to faithfully reproduce, but to impress, so people consider IMAX as 'special'. And of course it's targeted primarily at younger audiences, which tolerates higher sound levels in general (or lost their hearing already on techno raves). And it's true, IMAX local staff has no means to reduce the sound level.

@William: Think about it. You may actually think you want 'Level 7'. But you never know how loud an actual presentation has been played. I think you are right when you want a movie to be played louder. But don't insist on 'Fader 7'. You could regret it quickly. Hundreds of people (=individual human beings) sitting dispersed in a large room. You can never get it right for everyone. A single number can never express the complexity of sound-track,sound-systems, room, and individual perceptional aspects.

Actually we can be quite lucky that the human hearing capabilities between individuals are not so much different as e.g. their age, look, size, etc. is... ;-)

- Carsten

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-12-2015 12:19 PM

quote: William Kucharski
...and few home theaters can do 120 dB at low frequencies.

Given that sustained exposure to the mid-90s will cause permanent hearing damage for most people, I'm relieved to hear it (excuse the pun)!

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 06-12-2015 01:32 PM

quote: David Buckley
Volume is just like any character in a movie.

How about bad EQ and an overall shitty sound setup? Nolan and others don't account for that. 7 in one auditorium does not sound the same as 7 in another (unless your sound tech kicks ass AND the people buying the equipment also kick ass). You can't just dial it to 7 and say "This is what the director intended!" No, the screening room where HE watched it is what he intended. You're not matching that at all. You're ruining a character in the movie. And like I believe I've said before, the director watched it again and again in quick succession and got used to the sound. It no longer had any "punch" to him. His solution? "Increase da volume of dat part so it'll hav da impacts!!!"

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