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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Author
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Topic: Jurassic World : Flat Format
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Carsten Kurz
Film God
Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009
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posted 06-22-2015 07:46 AM
@Ron: Our masking has three stops, closed for 1.37, then flat, then scope. Before our digital install, there was a wall rotary switch that could only move it to these positions. The actual positions are set through switches on the motor shaft and there is no way to add additional contacts there.
When we went digital, the rotary switch was paralleled with three individual relays. We found out that by switching on the relays only for a specific amount of time, then dropping it, we were now able to get to any intermediate position, while the original stops could be considered as hard 'safety stops'.
We can now adjust the horizontal masking to any intermediate position by simply dropping the relay from the server playlist after a specific number of seconds, and we have specific macros/SPLs set up for 2:1 and 2.2:1 including these timings.
It's quite accurate, and we still have the fixed positions for standard flat/scope. You should inquire with your installer wether something similar is possible with your masking system. They may not count in the possibility that your server based cues allow for timed position changes. Depending on load, temperature, humidity,etc these intermediate positions may not always be accurate to the cm, but who cares. The installer may tell you it's not done properly this way, but as long as the standard stops still work...
- Carsten
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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006
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posted 06-22-2015 10:22 AM
I did a press screening of an upcoming movie the other day. The director,
who is fairly well-known, flew up from Los Angeles to be at the event.
Before the show, the first thing he did was come up into the booth and ask me
to run some of his movie so he could check the aspect ratio, becuase, he said:
"The last two movies I went to see were projected in the wrong aspect ratio"
When I inquired what movies they were, he said Tomorrowland & Jurassic World.
Duh! Why am I not surprised? (I should have asked what theater he saw them at)
We then had a several minute interesting conversation on aspect ratios.
He seemed genuinely surprised to find out that most theaters no longer have 'real'
(dedicated staff) projectionists and are usually only set up to show the two most
common aspect ratio formats. Perhaps they should start teaching this little, but
apparently widely unknown fact in 'director's school' !
He also sort of apologized for "making" me do the aspect ratio test for him,
because , he said. "you clearly know what you are doing".
(Hey, I wouldn't come down to a film set and tell him how to direct a movie, so
I don't always appreciate it when one of these guys tells me how to project one)
But, overall, he was a nice guy.
. . . and as long as he thinks I 'know what I'm doing", I gave him my card. LoL
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-24-2015 04:01 PM
Our masking setup also has a three position hard stops -- Scope (full open) 1.85 and 1.37. But what to do about 1.66? Well with a projectionist in the booth, that was easy. He just pushes the STOP button at the appropriate time. This has to be done with the curtain open, which is something I don't like, I'd rather have the masking set to position while the curtain is closed so the audience doesn't see it move. They watch a cartoon at 1.37, the curtain closes, the mask moves to 1.85 or scope, the curtain opens and the audience sees a screen obviously wider than what they were just watching. With the "push the stop button for 1.66 or 1.75 (some Disney classics), he has to see the size of the picture with the curtain open so he stops at the right place.
If as Carsten says, the playlist can be accurate enough in terms of time in seconds, in order to stop the mask motor at any specific spot,. i.e., replacing the projectionist pushing the stop button, then the problem is really solved.
Perhaps if it is going to be a regular thing that studios are releasing titles with off-standard widths, then the easiest way to deal with it would be to have masking that can be set to any variable width the exhibitor desires, no matter what the studio sends out. At the very least, this would be a way to force exhibitors to have functioning masking. Or maybe not.
I agree with our own resident Nostradamus, Mr. Miller -- if it keeps going the way it is, there'll not be any reason to be fretting about such things masking stop points. You don't need masking on a smart phone or and iPad or computer monitor. And you don't need masking on a flat panel TV...all you have to do is just set the picture to the STRETCH setting!
Sometime when I see what the public puts up with -- ala RPissX underlite, disgusting hotspotting, horrific contrast and soft focus images, where the ONLY thing "premium" about these BS venues is the premium price which they seem all too happy to PAY EXTRA FOR -- I hang my head in despair and think, the public deserves whatever shit it gets.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-29-2015 03:10 AM
Hey, I wanted to see JURASSIC WORLD in black and white, and I can't understand why theatres aren't offering it in both color AND black and white versions so that people like me who don't like watching movies in color will have a choice. If that sounds facetious, the idea that a filmmaker has to offer a film in a process other than how he/she intended an audience to experience it is just as facetious.
Mike, what makes you think 3D is dead? That's really getting to be a tired old cliché. If you want to go back as far as IMAX 3D films starting in the mid-1990s, or even if you want to be more conservative and start with the main-stream, digital 3D presentation of stereoscopic commercial feature films in 2008 with JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH or if you want to place the marker at 2009 with UP and TOY STORY and of course the landmark AVATAR in 2009, 3D to date has outlasted the 50s "fad" by 4 times as many years with no signs of it "dying."
Look, no question, 3D feature production has leveled off, but it has found its place in what films work with it and which do not. Yes, certain genre of films don't lend themselves to stereoscopic presentation, but others definitely do, and it just so happens that films which do, coincidentally or not, are the tentpoles which are usually are very profitable -- many are blockbusters. So as long as films that are made in 3D like JURASSIC WORLD are raking in LOTS of money, the 3D process is not about to evaporate into thin air any time soon.
Face it -- 3D has now become just another tool in the lexicon of technology that the producers and filmmakers can decide to use when making deciding how to make a film, no different than choosing Atmos or scope, or for that matter, color. And for whatever technical shortcomings one can point out in today's digital 3D technology, it's MILES above the original foray in the 50s (which lasted less than 2 & 1/2 years) and the single projector/xenon light source system ala RealDim 3D, is a technology still in flux and will most likely improve, especially with laser light sources or dual 4K projectors -- improvements that will only strengthen the 3D tool, not weaken it as a desirable presentation system.
For those Winnipeg who don't like watching movies in 3D, they can always wait for the 2D video version to come out.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-29-2015 08:55 AM
OK, but let's make your challenge fair -- are you going to release your test 3D title at the same price point as the 2D version, or are you going to bias it with a surcharge that people find heinous as is currently the case?
Let's apply your test this way -- offer a feature in two theatres -- one showing it in 5.1 stereo and one in Atmos, but put a 4 dollar upcharge on the Atmos version. Better yet, offer it in 5.1 stereo in one theatre and in mono and another, but again, put that surcharge on the stereo version. Would you really want to judge how efficacious an enhancement technology is by that kind of a front-loaded test? This 3D roll-out from the get-go in 2008 has always been tainted by that mercenary albatross.
Then again, even WITH the hefty surcharge, people STILL chose to see JURASSIC WORLD in IMAX 3D and shell out their outrageous price-tag over the 2D "regular" screen version when IMAX was ONLY offering it in 3D. And the IMAX engagements STILL represent a good chunk of the way-over-the-top profit margin realized on JW. Bottom line and to your point, people did vote with their pocket books for 3D. True, that won't be the case with every 3D release, but you can be sure that even if that kind of positive monetary incentive only happens on a handful of titles a year, it's enough that stereoscopic releases will continue to be produced well into the future.
So yah, you can call it a "fad" if you like, but money talks and that fad will remain a staple in the industry for the foreseeable future, IMHO.
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