|
|
This topic comprises 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Another Christopher Nolan anti-digital rant
|
|
|
|
|
Bill Brandenstein
Master Film Handler
Posts: 413
From: Santa Clarita, CA
Registered: Jul 2013
|
posted 02-24-2016 05:31 PM
As much as everyone here hates the poor quality level of LieMax or digital projection done poorly, at the end of the day what really counts isn't the aesthetic quality, but what sells tickets. I really, really hate that. The average consumer just wants to have a good time, whatever that means, and hasn't a clue whether the image is all that great, nor cares. Averages win, doncha know?
Meanwhile, if you can market a souped-up sound mix, or a 70mm presentation, or anything else that gets people to think of having a good time AND better presentation quality simultaneously, then you have a fighting chance.
However, to hear that the Vista killed their Star Wars print is horribly disappointing. Lance Alspaugh's reputation is better than that. (Or was?) Sorta explains the short run, however, which I was sad to have missed.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
|
posted 02-24-2016 11:06 PM
This is not an ad hominem attack, but all sorts of alarm bells ring in my head when someone feels the need to assert that in X years of doing something, they've never made an error or been involved in an accident. The fact that they feel the need to make that assertion is usually a sign of defensiveness, and if that assertion is actually true it usually means little more than that they've had very good luck over the course of their career.
I have accidentally damaged prints over the 27 years (on and off) I've worked in projection booths. The first time I did it, the chief I was working for asked me a very simple question: what are you going to do to avoid a repeat? He was looking for me to think about it and come up with a sensible answer; in other words, to show that I'd learned from my mistake. That's the same question I've asked every projectionist I've supervised since who has had an "honest mistake" accident.
The most recent was last fall, when I failed to notice damage to one tooth on an intermittent sprocket, that caused some very small leading edge perforation nicks on a single reel. It was an acetate reel (thicker, so wants less gate pressure) running immediately after a polyester one (this was a shorts show as part of a festival), and I'd also forgotten to back off the gate pressure. These two things in combination caused the perf nicks, which the archive that owned the print found when it returned. These nicks were so tiny that my naked eye couldn't see them during spot checks on the rewind after projection (I always stop the reel at one or two random points while rewinding it after projection, and check for any signs of damage that weren't there when the reel was received), but the archive did. My response to this was immediate replacement of the sprocket, and adding "check gate pressure" to the mental checklist I go through after every changeover, even if there has been no change of film base type from the previous reel run on that machine.
My point is that "I don't make mistakes ... I cannot have made this mistake" is not a helpful one when you're in a job that involves taking responsibility for prints costing four of five figures. Human beings will make mistakes occasionally, always have, and always will do. The trick is to figure out why they happened and put sensible measures in place to avoid the risk of a repeat.
None of which will do anything about the "projectionist" who simply doesn't care, and therefore is beyond help.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 02-25-2016 09:46 AM
quote: Bill Brandenstein
However, to hear that the Vista killed their Star Wars print is horribly disappointing. Lance Alspaugh's reputation is better than that.
Yes, yes it is, and the Vista is a fine theater with an excellent reputation for presentation. Which, given the tendency of the good folks here to report relatively minor projection issues in cataclysm-level terms when they have an axe to grind, makes me to wonder how bad this show really was. I mean:
quote: Tyler Purcell
a two week old 35mm print of The Force Awakens that was completely destroyed. When I say destroyed, I mean it was to the point of being unwatchable
COMPLETELY DESTROYED. THE POINT OF BEING UNWATCHABLE. Wow! But it wasn't bad enough for him to get up and get his money back:
quote: Tyler Purcell
The print was poorly made and the projectionist put is sticky fingers all over it, there were several seconds of black dots leading up to the splices. There were entire reels scratched throughout
. . . the key word there being throughout, meaning that my man sat through and watched this unwatchable, completely destroyed print long enough to comment on the entirety of the show. Why? Why sit through it if it was that bad? Me, I would have picked my ass up and taken it over to the ArcLight. What was the point of showing this picture on film in the first place, especially in as well a digitally equipped theater as the Vista, and what is the point of seeing same? Yes, it was shot on 35mm, but given the level of digital finish the whole thing had to have been scanned out end to end, at which point statements like "seeing the movie the way it was meant to be seen" do a lot of walking.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tyler Purcell
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 180
From: Van Nuys, CA
Registered: Dec 2015
|
posted 02-25-2016 02:34 PM
Hey Mark;
I couldn't walk out, I was with my parents and a bunch of my friends. I had already seen the film digitally and I wanted to see what it looked like in 35mm. So I convinced everyone to go to the Vista and see it in 35mm! Everyone was excited because we all know how "special" a film screening is today.
The print was poorly made, they didn't bother color matching it. They probably scanned out the digital files and said that was that. So highlights were over exposed and nothing was "white" the film had a yellow/warm tint over it the entire print. Some of the night scenes were also very yellow, which was just ridiculous. Had the lab even bothered trying to make it right, it would have looked a lot better. Then you add the beat-up nature of the print... I mean, it was just bad all the way around.
Now I've never assembled a theatrical 35mm print before, but I have edited 35mm and 16mm on a flatbed. So I know what dirty fingers do to a print and that's exactly what it looked like. Plus, the sides of the print were trashed, scratches, dirty, just nothing really left. The center of the print was scratched at times as well, nice light cinch marks throughout many scenes. There were even deep gouges AND sideways scratches towards the tails of each roll. What's funny is that the projector itself (registration/focus/lamp brightness) was all spot on. So the projector was clearly working fine, it was how the print was handled and who took care of the projector.
Another side note, we were there for the early showing, which was around 2:00 I believe on a week day. The line was around the block at 12:30 before the ticket counter was even open! It wasn't a bunch of kids and parents, it was a bunch of adults. Listening to the people in the theater talk, it was clear people went there to see it in 35mm. So to say people don't know the difference, that's bullshit. Yes the general popcorn stuffing, soda drinking, mouth breathing idiots, couldn't care less. However, there are A LOT of people who know what film is and how "special" this screening was.
Yet, it was a completely failed attempt to show the movie. I would have been outraged if that was MY film, especially after only two weeks of showing, good grief! This goes back to what I was saying about people caring. You can't be THE ONLY THEATER IN THE US showing a print of a film and NOT take pride. The projectionist showed up 10 minutes late, he threaded the thing in 5 minutes and the show started 15 min late! What a poorly run joint! The vista use to be great, but after this experience, I bet they don't even bother running 35 anymore.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tyler Purcell
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 180
From: Van Nuys, CA
Registered: Dec 2015
|
posted 02-25-2016 08:49 PM
Right, but I'm an enthusiast and filmmaker who goes to the cinema on a rare occasion because of the things I mentioned. You are the people who make the magic happen, but aren't necessarily sitting in the audience during a sold-out screening.
So here I am, opening night of Interstellar at the Cinerama Dome, in 70mm. I wanted to make sure the print was perfect, which it was. Yet, I was stuck sitting next to some big guy with two 2L jugs of coke, a popcorn box big enough for a family and TWO hot dogs. He had zero interest in the film, all he wanted was a place to sit and eat. He must have gotten up three times during the film, forcing all of us in the row to literally stand up and get out of the way. I complained and got a free ticket, saw the film again two days later during an off-time when people weren't around.
Few months later, 2800 miles away in Boston. I went to a screening of Mission Impossible; Rogue Nation. It was the first movie I had seen since Interstellar and it was a weekday screening. Besides the projection being atrocious, ( was contemplating walking out, but wanted to see the conclusion) the people in front of me were again, more interested in throwing food around, talking and being on their phones. I was so pissed off, I went right up to them in the middle of the screening and told them to stop it. They wound up leaving, having paid $20 for the IMAX theater ticket, but ruined half the film through aggravation.
So here we are, opening night of Star Wars The Force Awakens at Arclight Cinemas Hollywood. Beautifully presented with perfect sound and picture. I purposely get tickets in the small screen to insure it wasn't going to be a problem. Yet, a family of 3 kids and parents come into the screening 20 minutes after the trailers start, so a good solid 5 minutes after the film itself has been running. They sit down in front of me, mom hands the kids iPads and starts texting on her phone. I couldn't believe it! I leaned over to the mom and said, this is a movie theater, not a living room. She didn't get it... eventually the kids threw one of the iPads in the air during a quiet scene and the rest of the audience screamed at the family, but it wasn't enough. An usher walked in and asked them to leave, but the father argued with him. Eventually the mother grabbed the kids and walked out of the theater, leaving the father by himself in the row. The film was half way over before he gave up and followed them.
So you can pick on me all you want for being "holier then thou", but all I want to do is watch a movie. These are just THREE recent experiences and I could list another 3 if you want. See, I don't want to deal with an out of focus projector, damaged screen, aliasing, hexagonal lines on bright sections and flatness. I don't want to deal with a blown up speakers and distortion. I don't want patrons smelling like a dumpster or playing with their electronic devices during the movie either. Why should I pay the cinema for anything when all it does is offer me IDENTICAL quality to the BluRay which I can rent for a dollar in a few months and watch it at home? Don't you get it? You can take all the money you want from people, but it's not going to stop the downfall of cinemas. What's offered AT the cinema needs to be a better experience then it is today. This is coming from not only a patron, but a filmmaker who cares about cinema more then you could ever imagine. $20- Premium theaters aren't really solving anything, but putting more money into the pockets of the studios. Until the cinemas wake up and realize there is a very systemic problem, we will continue to see the downfall of theaters. It may only take one or two years of bad receipts to start closing theaters. I bet the next economic downturn which is suppose to happen this year, COULD start that trend. Honestly, NONE of my filmmaker friends go to the theaters anymore, we all have the same problems and we solve them by simply waiting. Once the studio's figure out how to make money on demand, good bye cinemas.
So you can sit there counting money, but the last laugh will be on the cinemas.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
![[fu]](graemlins/fu.gif)
(not talking about the rare mishap, but almost destroying or rendering unwatchable a rare and priceless print is absurd and unacceptable at this point).
Printer-friendly view of this topic