Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: "Benjaman Button" Premiere Falls Victim To Faulty Digital Projection

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-25-2008, 01:01 AM:

Link To Story

'Button' Premiere Undone By Digital Dilemma

Screening of Oscar Hopeful Goes Awry
By DAVID S. COHEN, ANNE THOMPSON

"Welcome to digital," wrote producer Frank Marshall in a morning-after email following Thursday night's aborted unveiling of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Paramount had sweated every detail Thursday as the studio prepared to screen its long-anticipated Oscar hopeful to a hand-picked audience of press and prominent bizzers at the DGA Theater. Marshall and partner Kathy Kennedy were on hand to introduce the $150 million-plus pic, which they had been nurturing for 18 years.

Par execs were so eager to get the movie in front of guild and Academy members and key press that they weren't willing to wait another week for release prints. In any case, finicky director David Fincher preferred to showcase his technologically ambitious digital movie -- which deploys complex visual effects to make Brad Pitt age backward -- with a digital projector. The two trial runs during the day had gone smoothly.

But "Benjamin Button" became the latest Oscar-season victim of digital gremlins.
The picture had a peculiar green tint, and in the audience, d.p. Claudio Miranda got a sinking feeling. "Initially I thought there was something wrong with my eyes for a second. I was rubbing them," he told Daily Variety, "I said 'no way.' "

He dashed to the projection booth, and a few minutes later brought the lights up and stopped the screening. "We like green but not that much," he apologized to the packed house. "The movie's not supposed to look like that."

After several abortive attempts at addressing the absence of magenta, the screening was canceled. "On the right setting it was wrong and on the wrong setting it was right," explained Marshall, who apologized to various invitees gathered in the lobby for an impromptu party, helping themselves liberally to the planned post-show food and drink.

"When you shoot a movie digitally," Kennedy told Daily Variety later, "you're dependent on those projectors being calibrated perfectly and everything working perfectly. Even the condition of the screen is important."

Marshall added, "This is a modern-day version of the film breaking, but you can't paste it back together and keep going."
Across town at the ArcLight, another digital screening for Screen Actors Guild members went off without a hitch.

The chagrined publicists and filmmakers hastily scheduled a slew of screenings beginning Saturday at noon to accommodate those who missed the film Thursday.

Everyone pointed to the digital projection system, which Par rented for the occasion, as Thursday night's culprit.

Of course screening glitches are nothing new; broken film, busted projector bulbs and switched or missing reels have long plagued screenings. One publicist recalls with horror an unspooling of "Six Weeks" in which the second reel turned into a rabid killer dog movie. The 2006 Toronto Film Fest world premiere of "Borat" broke down and was canceled.

But pristine and perfect digital was supposed to solve all that.

An October digital screening at the Landmark of Steven Soderbergh's Spanish-language "Che" took cinema verite to a new level as it played without subtitles for 15 minutes before the lights went up and everyone was sent home. A few weeks later at the Wilshire Screening Room, subtitles from "Che" spilled over the opening minutes of "Doubt"; the problem was quickly fixed. A Miramax spokesman said the digital projector had not been "properly vetted" after the previous screening of "Che."
"Doubt" writer-helmer John Patrick Shanley laughed when told about the glitch, and recalled sitting through the entire premiere of "Joe vs. the Volcano" with the movie out of focus. "You just feel terrible," he said. "You work so hard and here are people getting their first exposure to the movie. Maybe their only exposure."

These recent problems raise questions about screening room hardware and projection-room expertise in operating new d-cinema projectors.

When Kennedy welcomed the Saturday noontime aud at the far grander Paramount Studio Theater, she quipped that it was like being "upgraded to first class." The pic proceeded with notably better color.

Afterward Kennedy and Miranda agreed that the Par venue was better for "Benjamin Button" anyway.
"Most cinemas are like this one," said Miranda. The digital projector "lives there. This one is flawless."

Aside from the DGA snafu, Par found one upside to digital screenings this season. At a Nov. 16 screening of "Revolutionary Road" at the Raleigh Pickford screening room, a woman became ill during the pic's final scene. When the audience yelled to turn on the lights, the projectionist halted the film, and an ambulance took the woman away.

After rewinding a few minutes, the movie resumed, so the audience could get the full impact of the climax.

That would have been impractical with a film print.

<END>

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-25-2008, 01:19 AM:

The DGA had to rent a DC projector?!

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-25-2008, 01:31 AM:

quote:
The DGA had to rent a DC projector?!

Yes, Tim- - I found that statement curious too.

Also, at the end of the story it says:
"After rewinding a few minutes, the movie resumed, so the audience could get the full impact of the climax. That would have been impractical with a film print."

Yes, it would have been impractical with a film print ON PLATTERS. But pulling a reel off of a (change-over) projector rewinding some or all of it, and re-threading is something any competent projectionist can do in 5 minutes or less.

In the case stated in the story where the lights were turned up so an ambulance could be called for a sick patron, there would have been more than enough time to accomplish this.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-25-2008, 06:05 AM:

They didn't specify which theatre the DGA was using. We happen to service a theatre the DGA uses in Washington, DC for screenings. It does not, presently, have a DCinema projector though it has had video for years, in addition to 16 and 35mm film.

As such, it would depend on the venue as to whether the theatre had a DCinema projector, on-site.

What I find interesting is of all of the film based snafus...they were all correctable that day (unless the out of focus reel was printed that way...to which, every important screening I've done had two prints and we had a run through). The lack of rewindability is just plain hogwash too.

Steve

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-25-2008, 06:19 AM:

quote: Frank Marshall

"This is a modern-day version of the film breaking, but you can't paste it back together and keep going."

Welcome to the future.

quote: Jim Cassedy

Yes, it would have been impractical with a film print ON PLATTERS. But pulling a reel off of a (change-over) projector rewinding some or all of it, and re-threading is something any competent projectionist can do in 5 minutes or less.

It's possible to do it in that time on a platter too. Yes, it's easier on reels, but it's not like it can't be done on a platter.

Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 11-25-2008, 09:27 AM:

Damn Jim, you beat me to this. I was going to post it with the teaser title "Benjamin UnButtoned!"

At the Telluride Film Festival Tech Director Chapin Cutler has long insisted we have an entire redundant system for everything we do. People who don't skydive don't understand the absolute importance of having a second 'chute and skydivers who didn't have a second 'chute when they needed it aren't here to talk about it. Projection may not be life and death, but you would never know it by looking at a director or producer when there is a breakdown like this.

And those digital screenings at Showest? If you go into the booths you'll see a second server and second projector, or sometimes even a 35mm print running simultaneously. When you cannot afford a no-show, spend the money for a redundant system or suffer the consequences.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 11-25-2008, 03:59 PM:

Jim,
I couldnt agree with you more. Heck, if they had called around Im sure they could have gotten a player with a back up on loan from any of the major integrators.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 11-25-2008, 05:25 PM:

I can't believe they wouldn't have a backup system. That is really inexcusable for such an important screening.

Now THIS is the way to do it
Radio City Music Hall -- Lion King Premiere
70mm print synched to 35mm Dolby Digital (70mm print was sounded)
70mm print run reel-to-reel as backup.

Backup picture...backup sound. As Mr. Pytlak would say, "Film Done Right"

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-25-2008, 08:37 PM:

Damn. I was hoping this story would be about the movie playing backward.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-30-2008, 07:31 AM:

You're right, Mark. Disney seems to get it.

Chicken Little Premier at El Capitan:
Two DLP Projectors running in sync, one showing left eye, one showing right eye.
Third DLP projector running in sync showing both eyes via RealD field sequentializer z-screen thing-a-ma-jig - in stand by mode in case the two DLP projector show goes haywire.
35mm Projector also running in sync - just in case all of the digital stuff craps out at the same time.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 11-30-2008, 08:56 AM:

I would be quite curious to see stats on how often these backup procedures actually "save the day." Especially how often now versus historically.

I realize no one has numbers, but anecdotes? How often did the 70mm premiere actually need the 35mm backup? Or how often did anyone changeover to the second 35mm print running along side the primary 35mm print?

One in a hundred premieres? One in a thousand?

One assume there are a lot more failures today, given the infancy of digital cinema technology, but how often does it happen, really?

--jhawk

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-30-2008, 09:16 AM:

In all fairness to film premieres there have been as many flubs film related over the years! Lamps exploding during important Hollywood premieres, cranky dubbers, wrong order of reels, its all happened!

Actually Disney now does all their premieres in digital... but they run two seperate systems in sync. They also hire Christie directly to do these premieres. As such they have yet to resort to using the backup system.

Probably the biggest digital fiasco I know of was for HBO Films at Radio City Music Hall where neither the primary nor backup system would function... this necessitated them sending nearly 5000 people home. This was right at the beginning of the 2K days though when things were VERY iffy.

How often does a digital system fail these days? 2K failures are very rare but Sony could provide more data on system failures than anyone else in the Biz!

Mark

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 11-30-2008, 09:39 AM:

I guess what I mean is not how often has there been a failure, but how often has the backup system proved its value?

Having a backup system doesn't help much for reels out of order. I suppose it helps you with a lamp explosion. And if they both fail, well, you might as well not have had a backup system either.

In this case, though, it doesn't strike me as a backup issue as much as bad testing. The read-between-the-lines I get out of the article is that the DP noticed a color problem that the tech runthroughs didn't notice...

--jhawk

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-30-2008, 10:47 AM:

quote: John Hawkinson
The read-between-the-lines I get out of the article is that the DP noticed a color problem that the tech runthroughs didn't notice...

Its very obvious if you're running something in the wrong color space... If the DP wanted his own custom color gamut then he shoulda been present at time of calibration. Seriously... this DP's custom color balance would never be visible in todays film release prints.... thats gotta drive some DP's crazy!

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-30-2008, 11:27 AM:

I have definitely been on my back up print for the big show...more than once too. However, the problems were caught on the run-through. These were "EK" prints and were supposed to have been QCed.

One that immediately that comes to mind was a premier of "NEW WORLD" at the Kimball theatre in Williamsburg, VA. The primary print had a defective digital soundtrack on reel 2. ON the run-through, upon changeover to reel 2, we got what sounded like pink noise cycling through the channels, in addition to the soundtrack. We were running a CP500/70 with basement readers. The Dolby tech immediately suspected the basement readers...to which I showed him we were tracking 2s...no Fs, no dashes...on the O'Scope...all was clean. We then replaced the digital cards in the CP500 (had spares of those nearby)...same thing. So I then said, "what about our backup print?" "It ran last night at the Goldwyn theatre right?" "Certainly it is going to be fine." Threaded it up...no problems....to which there was an immediate phone call to the alledged QC person for the first print we were running.

As to equipment failure during a 1-off show...yup...had that happen too. In Philly...I had a switcher rectifier shoot its cookies in the middle of the premier. I was having to tend to two screens too. I was in the booth of the other screen at the time tending to the lesser experienced operator. The dreaded call came in on the walkie. I b-lined to the other booth...assessed the problem and then....put the SPARE rectifier on line. Informed the studio we were ready to resume the show and we were back on line at their cue.

So...if you don't have spares of essential equipment on premieres...get out of the business...you don't get second chances.

I think it is going to be a bit expensive though to always have a spare DCinema projector around for the just-in-case situation. Now if everyone would adopt Mark's dual projector 3D...then at least you'd always have two in every screen. But again, that makes the whole digital thing that much more expensive.

Steve

Posted by Jon P. Inghram (Member # 4125) on 11-30-2008, 02:24 PM:

quote:
"On the right setting it was wrong and on the wrong setting it was right,"

The way I read this is that it looked correct when something was set to the "wrong" setting. If so, why cancel the show?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-30-2008, 03:04 PM:

Don't take reporter's stories too seriously...they'll say most anything...really.

Steve

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-30-2008, 10:41 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
I think it is going to be a bit expensive though to always have a spare DCinema projector around for the just-in-case situation.

Switching digital projectors in and out is not all that easy when you need to also switch the KDM!!! It typically takes right now 2 weeks for the studios to get new installs into their records before you can even book a digital print. Servers are much easier to switch in and out and are not always affected by the KDM itself. Premiere show prints would probably not be encrypted so as to allow this to easily happen just in case. I have yet to see a large format digital print that is encrypted... they usually just let the location honor what is ever in the locations contract.

Mark

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-01-2008, 03:05 PM:

What's terribly odd on this is WHY wasn't there a pre-screening of this movie to ensure that EVERYTHING was in order instead of diving in head first before checking to see if the water is deep enough.

Somebody really fubared on this one.

-Monte

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-01-2008, 03:06 PM:

quote: Jim Cassedy
The two trial runs during the day had gone smoothly.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-01-2008, 05:47 PM:

Okey, missed that one... but still agree: why not a 35mm film backup...

What would cause the excessive green then? Did one of the color arrays in the engine might have gone bad?

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-01-2008, 06:21 PM:

quote: Monte L Fullmer
why not a 35mm film backup...

Well Monte, with some filmmakers Post-Production schedules running late. Some studios might only have digital versions of the film available to screen off of. Last week we had two screenings of a major studio release. The film is slated to open in the about a week. The studio told us the 35mm prints would be available for screenings after Dec. 1st., so last weeks screenings would be on D5 format. So on Monday the 1st. screening was on D5 and later that afternoon the studio told us the Tuesday screening would change to 35mm from Technicolor. So sometimes there is not a 35mm print available to screen or if there is one it might be on the wrong coast at the time.
Doing these types of screenings they go over everything, but this time the projector took a dump on them.

Posted by Chase Taylor (Member # 778) on 12-02-2008, 11:27 AM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
It typically takes right now 2 weeks for the studios to get new installs into their records before you can even book a digital print.

It only took about 2 days for ours to turn around for "Madagascar 2". The equipment came in and I sent serial numbers out immediatly to the studios, and two days later we booked "Madagascar 2" (October 30th) in digital.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-02-2008, 12:31 PM:

I can't believe most studios only use ONE backup system!!! What if the backup fails? The people would be pissed, the movie would bomb at the box office, everyone would laugh at you and you'd likely never work again. At my theater, we have three backups running for each movie at all times... every auditorium.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-03-2008, 09:25 AM:

We recently four-walled our theatre for a small independent studio that was premiering its film here in Brooklyn. They were still working on it and it was only available as a file (Final Cut, I think) in this guy's Apple laptop. We don't have a video projector and only rent for occasions when one is needed for non-DCinema stuff. Initially I questioned them about the appropriatness of this kind of ECinema setup for a premiere, but the producers & the studio insisted this was just fine with them, in fact, they spec-ed and arranged for the rental themselves -- an Eiki "Theatre" 10,000L 3LCD unit which sat in the booth on a slant table (severe down angle for which the keystone correction couldn't fully correct).

Thing is, when their video was output to the projector, in ANY version -- VGA digital, RGB, even SVideo (we tried them all) -- the image was very VERY dark. The producer was insisting that the projector was faulty but once he brought up the menu on his laptop, it was obvious that the projected menu was bright as you'd want, yet the movie image behind it was still very dark. I told him it wasn't the projector but that it was either 1) the away the film was authored or 2) the way his Apple laptop was outputing the signal. Whatever, the image was too dark to be even marginally acceptable. I resisted asking him, so how come he didn't have a 35mm print. But I did ask him if there was any way he could adjust his laptop to kick up the video level and adjust the gamma. He played with menus for more time than we had to spare before we had to open the house, and he finally gave up. No, he didn't know how to adjust anything.

Anyway, the night was saved because of my distrust of running a movie for 1500-2000 people off a laptop without a backup. When the producer originally told me there was no print but only the "digital" file and that he would bring it in on his laptop, I insisted that he also bring in either a DigiBeta or at least a DVD that we could run in sync; I wanted a backup. He only brought in a DVD copy so we set that up and it played fine -- bright picture....as good as a DVD blown up to a 40ft screen can look...you know, [dlp]

The audience seemed to love it and we heard not a complaint about the quality -- they seemed to think they were watching a regular movie. The producers were also thrilled (who wouldn't be -- they charged $20 a butt). And they want to do it her again. Hopefully by the time they come back to do a regular run they will have some prints available, film and at least a DigiBeta or BR copy so I don't have to take a handful of horse tranquilizers again.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 12-03-2008, 05:00 PM:

Frank it could be the computer and it also can be the projector. I have had a projector come in out of calibration...believe it or not, each TYPE of input (analog video, digital video as well as computer) has separate internal calibrations to set the white point, brightness and contrast. Thus, using the SAME TERMINALS you could have a computer and a DVD player look drastically different.

One thing we do when we set up a projector is to use our calibrated generator to the initial set up...if it looks good with that (color, brightness, contrast) then we've ensure the projector is right...we then do final calibration on the devices themselves.

Steve

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-04-2008, 03:06 AM:

True, Steve, but thing is, when he through up his laptop destop wallpaper image and with all the icons, it all looked perfect. Even when he was trying to adjust with a menu window on top of the image, the menu was fine but the movie still playing beneath it was very dark. And we did plug into digital, VGA and RGB inputs and all three had the same problem. The DVD looked fine. He was happy so I was happy.