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Author Topic: D5 Projection Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-20-2008 05:44 AM                        I am with Tony on this -- the studio is being told that NO theatre in town can play this D5 format and the studio is saying that everyone in exhibition in the entire town are the ones who "need to be educated?" Seems to me the studio origially made the decision that it is in their best interest to have a press screening of their product in this market. Yet they seem to be shooting themselves in the proverbial foot with this arrogant attitude. If they are so flippant as to say that if no theatre in town can play their non-standard D5 format (non-standard at least for normal theatrical exhibition), then the town won't get the press screening tells me they can't want to play it that badly. As if a theatre could give a rat's ass whether they do a press screening or not. To put it bluntly, the studio needs to press screen their film allot more than the theatre needs to play it. So let's get this straight -- the Big Dubayah doesn't have the wherewithall in all of their vast production facilities to be able to run off a copy in ANY format they want so that a theatre can play it on existing theatrical equipment? Gimme a break. Oh, wait....could this be some suit deciding that making, say, a BluRay DVD copy would compromise security, whilst sending out a format that no one can play will thwart those exhibitor pirates? How much you want to bet that is somehow behind this sillyness?  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-20-2008 10:24 AM                     Frank, you're right but you're also wrong. D5 and HDCAM (and HDCAM SR) are professional high-end video formats, and they are essentially as close as video gets to the quality of film. The studios are uncompromising on the quality of their advance press screenings (rightly so!), and that is a good thing. We should not encourage them to drop their quality standards. If you're running press screenings and you don't know what D5 and HDCAM SR are, then you do need to be educated. And yes, they probably don't really care too much about having a press screening in Kansas City, MO. If they did, they would hire and integrator to go and set it up. If you don't run press screenings (which is to say, you're a normal theatre), then this does not apply to you. But then you're trying to dip your toes into a (somewhat lucrative) market that you're not familiar with, and that means it pays for you to learn the conventions and understand the game before screaming to high heaven. BluRay Disc is a substantial step down from HDCAM SR and D5, because of compression and much more limited colorspace (but yes, it can attain the same 1920x1080 resolution that those formats can). To be honest, studios can and should be (and are) more concerned with piracy of high definition digital elements like HDCAM and D5, because they can be perfectly copied and represent far higher quality versions of the movie than a DVD or BD screener. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-20-2008 10:40 AM                        quote: John Hawkinson And yes, they probably don't really care too much about having a press screening in Kansas City, MO. Isn't that the headquarters of AMC? Wouldn't it be in the best interest of one of Big Distributor's largest clients to have a press screening there? On the other hand, given the dearth of film reviewers these days, I'm surprised they have press screenings outside of NY/DC/LA/Chicago. What about trade screenings? Trade screenings usually take place before press screenings (don't they?). It sounds more and more like someone in LA shot off his mouth and got WB right in the foot. Edited to not disparage distributor [ 10-20-2008, 02:10 PM: Message edited by: Martin McCaffery ]  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-20-2008 12:08 PM                        I see your point, John, but on the other hand, Patrick's theatre, which I assume is a "normal" theatre and wasn't offering itself out as a rental space for press screenings was approached by WB's ad agency, not the other way around. Seems like the WB agency was just shooting in the dark trying to find a venue. For the WB suit to then cop an attitude because the theatre isn't equipped with this or that odd playback format is just a tad arrogant, IMHO, don't you think? The other side of the coin is that maybe the WB suit should be the one to get educated about what equipment is usual in standard theatres' booths and what they are normally capable of handling and not get all bent out of shape when a theatre isn't familiar with some formats a studio uses in specialized venues. At least the theatre, in the person of Patrick, went about trying to find out what D5 was and responded civilly, not answering the WB ahole in kind.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-20-2008 12:14 PM                     Guys, this is not Warner Brothers. Please don't impugn them. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-20-2008 07:30 PM                     I'll say this...the last several Disney screenings I've done off of tape...it was HDCAM-SR and Disney supplied the deck in a road case. Disney is definitely a class act when it comes to their screenings (at least with me) and always have been. They always want it done right! I can think of very few theatres that have D5 decks on site and I wouldn't advise any to purchase one right now as I see a distinct trend towards HDCAM-SR. The only theatre that comes to mind in the DC area with a D5 deck "in-the-rack" is the AFI/Silver in Silver Spring, MD. Then again, they have a quasi-broadcast facility on-site too so HDCAM, D5, DVCam...etc are all racked up. The theatre like space I can think of that has/had an HDCAM-SR on site in the DC area is the National Geographic theatre...which also has the Sony SXRD projector too. The ad agency in this case should have contacts for renting/shipping such equipment to the theatres they are going to screening in...as well as 2K projectors and DMA8 Pluses too. That is just what it takes to run screenings nowadays. To not do that is to expect all cinemas to have dubbers at the ready not too long ago. Those that did such work regularly...did...those that didn't...did not. Steve  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 10-20-2008 08:40 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag The ad agency in this case should have contacts for renting/shipping such equipment to the theatres they are going to screening in...as well as 2K projectors and DMA8 Pluses too. That is just what it takes to run screenings nowadays. Exactly. Instead of copping an attitude the agency should have offered to provide the gear to do the show. That is exactly how all of my past experiences have been, and the studios/agencies have been nothing but helpful. quote: Steve Guttag To not do that is to expect all cinemas to have dubbers at the ready not too long ago. Those that did such work regularly...did...those that didn't...did not. Very true, and this is the classic "chicken before the egg" scenario....in the case of my screening room at UC Irvine, we never had a dubber and so never had the opportunity to do any advance work..now that I have a dubber, bet we'll never use it. But at least I have encoders on both projectors now so we can tie in to digital track decks. quote: jhawk Guys, this is not Warner Brothers. Please don't impugn them. John, I don't think anyone is trying to impugn the studio, only the jackalope who came off with an attitude. Perhaps the OP can contact the studio involved directly, and let them know what happened, and offer to do the screening IF the studio agrees to rent the deck for them.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-20-2008 08:45 PM                     Sorry, Tony, I was unclear. My point was that the "major studio starting with a W" isn't Warner Brothers. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 10-20-2008 08:57 PM                     Thanks John for that clarification. Now I'm trying to think of what the other studio that starts with W could be.... And for anyone who figures it out, I'm not asking for a public posting of that name..  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 10-21-2008 08:12 AM                     The studios always pays for the rental of the deck. I have a D-5 and HD-Cam SR in my booth and HD-Cam, Digi-Beta, DVCam, DVD plus Avid playback.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-21-2008 10:36 AM                        Show-off  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-21-2008 10:51 AM                     Come ON, Bill. You don't have quad HDCAM SR playback for Sony's SXRD 4k projector (over 4x dual link HD-SDI)? If not you, then who? We are sorely disappointed! (I didn't mean to suggest any theatre would get stuck footing the bill for renting a D5 deck; merely that I'd prefer to rent the deck myself and bill the studio rather than having the ad agency rent the deck and bring it to me. Fear-of-middle-men I guess it is...) --jhawk  |  IP: Logged

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