Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Academy's "Sound Behind The Image"

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Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-12-2007, 08:28 AM:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's program "The Sound Behind The Image"

quote:

Sound, Camera, Action!

In conjunction with its upcoming “The Sound behind the Image” program on May 17, the Academy’s Science and Technology Council presents a screening series highlighting sound achievement in a selection of influential and immensely popular films from the past four decades. While these films have often been singled out for their striking visuals, spectacular sequences or career-making performances, their success owes a considerable debt to the ability of sound to augment and clarify action.

All screenings will take place at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood, except for the 20th anniversary screening of Lethal Weapon, which will be held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

Saturday, April 28, at 7 p.m.
Grand Prix (1966)

Sunday, April 29, at 7 p.m.
The French Connection (1971)
Jaws (1975)

Friday, May 4, at 8 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater
20th anniversary screening of Lethal Weapon (1987)

Saturday, May 5, at 7 p.m.
Top Gun (1986)
Platoon (1986)

Sunday, May 6, at 7p.m.
Total Recall (1990)
Speed (1994)

quote:
Grand Prix (1966)
Premiering a new 70mm print from the original Super- Panavision camera negative, courtesy of Warner Bros. and the Academy Film Archive. James Garner stars as American Grand Prix driver Pete Aron in this classic John Frankenheimer film about the world of auto racing. 179 mins.

Academy Award winner: Film Editing (Fredric Steinkamp, Henry Berman, Stewart Linder, Frank Santillo), Sound (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, sound director), Sound Effects (Gordon Daniel).

quote:
The French Connection (1971)
Featuring a new print courtesy of 20th Century Fox. In what director William Friedkin described as “a dirty, stark and ruthless story,” mobsters and cops try to outsmart and outshoot each other to control a valuable shipment of pure heroin. 104 mins.

Academy Award winner: Actor (Gene Hackman), Directing (William Friedkin), Film Editing (Jerry Greenberg), Best Picture (Philip D’Antoni, producer), Writing – Screenplay based on material from another medium (Ernest Tidyman).

Academy Award nominee: Actor in a Supporting Role (Roy Scheider), Cinematography (Owen Roizman), Sound (Theodore Soderberg, Christopher Newman).

quote:
Jaws (1975)
Featuring a newly struck print from the original negative from the Academy Film Archive, courtesy of Universal Pictures. Steven Spielberg’s classic thriller stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss as three men who must overcome their differences to destroy a three-ton great white shark. 124 mins.

Academy Award winner: Film Editing (Verna Fields), Music – Original score (John Williams), Sound (Robert L. Hoyt, Roger Heman, Earl Madery, John Carter).

Academy Award nominee: Best Picture (Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, producers).

quote:
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Featuring a special 20th anniversary retrospective panel discussion hosted by Shane Black with a rare 70mm archival print from the original release, courtesy of Warner Bros.
Mel Gibson and Danny Glover portray two L.A. cops who are forced to team up to unravel a suicide that is actually a murder - and the secrets don’t end there. 110 mins.

Academy Award Nominee: Sound (Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vern Poore, Bill Nelson).

quote:
Top Gun (1986)
Premiering a newly struck print, courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Tom Cruise stars as a pilot at an elite flying school who falls in love with his instructor, played by Kelly McGillis. 110 mins.

Academy Award winner: Music – Original song (“Take My Breath Away,” Music by Giorgio Moroder, Lyric by Tom Whitlock).

Academy Award nominee: Film Editing (Billy Weber, Chris Lebenzon), Sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Kevin O’Connell, Rick Kline, William B. Kaplan), Sound Effects Editing (Cecelia Hall, George Watters II).

quote:
Platoon (1986)
Featuring a print from the Academy Film Archive collection, screened courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Director Oliver Stone probes the psyches of young soldiers fighting in Vietnam. The film’s ensemble cast includes Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker and Johnny Depp. 119 mins.

Academy Award winner: Directing (Oliver Stone), Film Editing (Claire Simpson), Best Picture (Arnold Kopelson, producer), Sound (John K. Wilkinson, Richard Rogers, Charles “Bud” Grenzbach, Simon Kaye).

Academy Award nominee: Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Berenger), Actor in a Supporting Role (Willem Dafoe), Cinematography (Robert Richardson), Writing – Screenplay written directly for the screen (Stone).

quote:
Total Recall (1990)
Featuring a print from the Academy Film Archive collection, screened courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In the year 2084, construction worker Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is haunted by recurring dreams of another life involving a mysterious woman on the planet Mars. 109 mins.

Academy Award winner: Special Achievement Award – Visual Effects (Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, Alex Funke).

Academy Award nominee: Sound (Michael J. Kohut, Carlos de Larios, Aaron Rochin, Nelson Stoll), Sound Effects Editing (Stephen H. Flick).

quote:
Speed (1994)
Featuring a print from the Academy Film Archive collection, screened courtesy of 20th Century Fox. In this action-thriller directed by Jan de Bont, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock star as two passengers trapped on a city bus that is wired to explode if its speed dips under 50 m.p.h. 115 mins.

Academy Award winner: Sound (Gregg Landaker, Steve Maslow, Bob Beemer, David R.B. MacMillan), Sound Effects Editing (Stephen Hunter Flick).

Academy Award nominee: Film Editing (John Wright).

Posted by David M. Leugers (Member # 2968) on 04-13-2007, 04:05 PM:

Wow, I wish I could see at least the new 70mm print of "Grand Prix". The opening of that film was truely inspiring and a tremendous example of the effective use of sound. Seeing it back
in 1966 on the big screen was one of my favorite experiences going to the movies as a kid.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-13-2007, 06:35 PM:

Yeah, it's too bad there isn't a good network of 70mm-equipped revival houses complete with good equipment and skilled booth personnel. If that kind of "infrastructure" was there, then I might have more of a realistic opportunity to see new 70mm prints like Grand Prix and others I've missed (like the 70mm DTS release of Patton for one).

Those specialized theaters out in Los Angeles all but seem like a last bastion for classic 70mm shows.

Total Recall and Top Gun both had 70mm Dolby mag prints in their original releases. Are these upcoming screenings going to be 70mm as well?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-13-2007, 07:27 PM:

Hey now...the AFI/Silver has both...the best equipment and top personnel too. Kinoton FP75ES projectors are nothing to sneeze at!

Recently, they've run 2001:A Space Odyssey (mag) and Playtime (DTS).

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-13-2007, 08:08 PM:

Like I said, or maybe not clearly enough, those screening rooms are all out in Los Angeles. There's nothing like that in my part of the country anymore. I think the nearest decent 70mm equipped movie theater to where I live, that also plays classic prints, is the Paramount down in Austin, TX. It would be really nice if something like that existed in Oklahoma City or Dallas at least.

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 04-13-2007, 08:25 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Like I said, or maybe not clearly enough, those screening rooms are all out in Los Angeles.

Isn't the AFI/Silver in Maryland?

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-13-2007, 11:02 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Total Recall and Top Gun both had 70mm Dolby mag prints in their original releases. Are these upcoming screenings going to be 70mm as well?

I'll be mighty disappointed if they end up showing 35mm prints with optical sound. If they at least put a 5.1 digital track on the announced new 35mm print of "Top Gun" that'll be fine with me. But what's the point of showing an SVA Dolby presentation as that certainly isn't the mix that garnerned the Oscar nomination or caught the attention of soundtrack enthusiasts. I'd rather they secure an original 70mm print from the original run even if it's scratched, faded and splice-ridden; at least it'll have that great discrete magnetic soundtrack.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-14-2007, 03:30 AM:

quote: Michael Coate
I'd rather they secure an original 70mm print from the original run even if it's scratched, faded and splice-ridden; at least it'll have that great discrete magnetic soundtrack.

WRONG! Paramount only has one 70mm print of Top Gun in the US and I ran it several years back for a weekend show. Each reel was from a different original print and each reel had varying degrees of damage to it both physically (splices and scratches) as well as affecting the mag track from reel to reel. Trust me, it was godawful.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-14-2007, 07:41 AM:

quote:
WRONG!

You guys don't get many opportunities to tell me I'm wrong, so I bet you experienced a great deal of pleasure in writing that. All upper case and an exclamation point, too! Shall I send you a box of Kleenex so that you can wipe yourself off? [Razz]

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 04-14-2007, 10:18 AM:

Don't Worry.
The Grand Pooh-Bah Pi Boo Boogie Boga Bady Dudy Never misses the oportunity to show everyone how good his grammar is when spelling "wrong". [evil]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-14-2007, 01:47 PM:

Don't worry Mike, I've got a roll of Bounty here.

The point was that the 70mm Top Gun print is TRASHED beyond belief, and a projected DVD would be a better choice than running that godawful print.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-14-2007, 02:04 PM:

With that silly line up time is better spent looking for unusual rocks in the desert. Give me Dr. Doolittle any day over this pile of trash. Jaws is probably the only exception there [thumbsup]

! Truely, there isn't a single film there that I'd want to see. Almost seems like they are at the bottom and scraping the barrel just for something to show.

Mark

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 04-14-2007, 02:57 PM:

What are mag sound masters stored on? How crazy is it to go sep-audio and hook up a digital dubber?

I suppose that you could get the audio from the DVD, or even from whatever digital recording was used to produce the DVD (before the reel breaks were cut out)...

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-14-2007, 03:28 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
With that silly line up time is better spent looking for unusual rocks in the desert. Give me Dr. Doolittle any day over this pile of trash.

"Doctor Dolittle"??? Mark, they want people to show up. [Big Grin]

(And why is "Doctor Dolittle" the most misspelled movie title in history? It's DOLITTLE, one "o"!!!)

quote: John Hawkinson
What are mag sound masters stored on?

The answer is contained within your question.

quote: John Hawkinson
How crazy is it to go sep-audio and hook up a digital dubber?

To do an interlock isn't crazy at all in the Academy's screening rooms as they've done it before numerous times. In fact, that's how I imagine they'll be showing "Grand Prix" unless they've gone out and mag striped it. (That print, unless this is an even newer one, was first screened at the Linwood Dunn in May 2006. The print had no sound on it at all, no mag, no DTS timecode, nothing. The sound was on a hard drive.)

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 04-14-2007, 03:44 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Almost seems like they are at the bottom and scraping the barrel just for something to show.

Looks to me like they're showing movies that go with their theme of

quote:
a screening series highlighting sound achievement

quote: John Hawkinson
How crazy is it to go sep-audio and hook up a digital dubber?

Depends on how much footage has been chopped out of the print.

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 04-14-2007, 05:32 PM:

quote:
The point was that the 70mm Top Gun print is TRASHED beyond belief,

There was a 70mm print hear in the UK as I saw a screening at the BFI Imax in London about 5 years ago.

It did not look too bad then....

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-14-2007, 05:42 PM:

quote: Michael Coate
Doctor Dolittle"??? Mark, they want people to show up.

Thats my point! I think there are probably better examples than what they have choosen. Indeed save us all from Dr Dolittle... I couldn't stand it even as a small kid.

Mark

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-14-2007, 06:06 PM:

quote: Mike Schindler
Isn't the AFI/Silver in Maryland?

Yes. But it might as well be in Los Angeles from my perspective. I'm near the geographic center of the country. Those theaters are on the east and west coasts.

I can justify driving a couple hundred miles each way to see a high quality movie presentation. I cannot justify spending a lot more money on plane tickets and hotel rooms to see a movie.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is more than big enough to support some kind of high quality movie theater capable of showing newly struck 70mm prints of old movies. I think Oklahoma City is a big enough market to support the same thing as well.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 04-14-2007, 09:57 PM:

Bobby, Oklahoma’s tourist association could spring for a Todd AO set-up to show Oklahoma! The thus-equipped theatre could then also present other 70mm shows.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-15-2007, 12:59 AM:

Well, yeah logic would suggest the state of Oklahoma really should have some high quality venue in which to show something like the 70mm Todd-AO version of Oklahoma! Sadly, that isn't the case. Outside of the IMAX-3D theater Cinemark has in Tulsa and the Iwerks 15/70 domed screen theater at the Omniplex in OKC I don't think there are any other 70mm equipped screens left in the entire state. Pretty damned sad.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 04-15-2007, 01:07 AM:

One imagines AMPAS has access to a 70mm print that nobody else knows about... Hey Bill, does the Bel Air circuit do 70mm?

--jhawk

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-15-2007, 01:11 AM:

quote: Michael Coate
I'll be mighty disappointed if they end up showing 35mm prints with optical sound.

Couldn't this statement be better clarified by adding the word analog? After all, the Dolby Digital track is technically an optical track, too.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-15-2007, 01:23 AM:

Jesus christ, Paul! When will your crusade to discredit me cease?

Yes, a Dolby Digital track is, technically speaking, optical in nature. But any intelligent person who read my entire post including the two sentences that followed the sentence that caught your eye would've been armed with the appropriate context to interpret what I wrote.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-15-2007, 08:52 AM:

quote: Michael Coate
Jesus christ, Paul! When will your crusade to discredit me cease?

LOL! Get over yourself. I'm doing nothing more here than holding you to the same standards you need to hold everyone else to.

Posted by Brian Guckian (Member # 1678) on 04-15-2007, 05:47 PM:

The commonly accepted understanding of "optical sound" for 35mm is the SVA track.

Case dismissed! [Big Grin]

Now we need to convert those selected Dallas / Fort Worth and Oklahoma theatres to show 70mm...put in JJs, Vic 8s, MP75s, whatever! Or - what if the same theatres have dormant 70mm capability that could be restored?

Posted by Thomas Hauerslev (Member # 566) on 04-17-2007, 12:15 PM:

Hey guys I just updated the information you need to attend the next Todd-AO Festival in Karlsruhe ín Germany from October 5-7, 2007.

We show 70mm films in an original 70mm Cinerama cinema - and we show the original prints, in 6-track mag. So stop complaining, and get your - well whatever - over here and enjoy the films, the fun, the beer, and the good company.

http://www.in70mm.com/festival

Cheers Thomas
www.in70mm.com

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 04-17-2007, 12:43 PM:

Hmmm...according to Routeplanner, the German fest is only 377 km from where I am.

Intriguing... [Cool]

Posted by Thomas Hauerslev (Member # 566) on 04-17-2007, 12:56 PM:

The easiest way to Karlsruhe from abroad (outside Germany) is flying to Frankfurt am Main and then take the train directly from the airport to Karlsruhe main station. It's a one-hour train ride.

John, why did you relocate to Belgium?

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 04-17-2007, 01:02 PM:

quote: John Hawkinson
Hey Bill, does the Bel Air circuit do 70mm?

No, most houses are equipped with 35mm and or video. Afew are equipped to do seperate track and picture.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-17-2007, 05:40 PM:

quote: Paul Linfesty
LOL! Get over yourself. I'm doing nothing more here than holding you to the same standards you need to hold everyone else to.

quote: Brian Guckian
The commonly accepted understanding of "optical sound" for 35mm is the SVA track.

Case dismissed!

Get over myself??? What are you, a parrot? Your buddy Henderson pulled this same stunt a few months back.

So I have high standards regarding effective communication... Where's the problem in that?!

Thank you, Brian, for being a voice of reason. Just ignore Paul. It's evident that he has something stuck up his ass (besides his boyfriend's cock).

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-17-2007, 07:47 PM:

Cool off guys! [Mad]