Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Using Trademark Names Incorrectly

This is topic Using Trademark Names Incorrectly in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 05-07-2012, 08:27 PM:

Our venue is presenting THE SOUND OF MUSIC A Sing-Along. Yea, it's on video. [puke]

Anyway, I noticed that the copy reads, blah blah....the Julie Andrews film in glorious Technicolor. Now of course it is decidedly not in Technicolor, even if they were talking about film, it was made in unglorious Deluxe. And of course, it isn't even FILM -- it's video. And lastly, but of lesser importance, in movie parlance, one doesn't attribute the film as "the Julie Andrews film," but "the Robert Wise film."

Aside from looking just inaccurate and silly, how close do we come to treading on Technicolor's corporate trademark by claiming in our advertising that it is "in glorious Technicolor"?

I believe the subcontractor that has made the deal with Fox to do these sing-alongs simply handed their copy to our marketing director who just cut and paste. So how did the sing-along producers make such a bunder one might ask? My guess is that they are vidiots who probably too young to even know that there is a difference between dye transfer and everything else, or care. I am also sure they have little or no interest in the film as FILM, but only in their sing-along bastardization and how much $$ they can suck out of the grand old lady. Fine; I get that, but shouldn't they at least be accurate about whose trademark they are bandying about...ESPECIALLY applying it to the likes of VIDEO?

Would there be some legal ramifications to dropping the name Technicolor on a presentation that is anything BUT Technicolor?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-08-2012, 03:08 PM:

It's par for the course.

I've had good laughs over the years just watching how the logos from Dolby and DTS have been badly reproduced in movie end credits, movie posters, newspaper ads, etc.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-08-2012, 03:13 PM:

I don't know why people keep using the phrase "glorious Technicolor." I know it means something to us film-heads and a few other purists, but to the general public it's nothing. They only know color or B&W. I'll bet even a purist would have a hard time telling glorious Technicolor from plain old color in an a-b test.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 05-08-2012, 03:24 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
I believe the subcontractor that has made the deal with Fox to do these sing-alongs simply handed their copy to our marketing director who just cut and paste.

We've run this twice, once on film, once DVD, both as 3rd party rentals. The supplying company does provide them with all the publicity material, plus all of the idea crap to make it what it is: The Geriatric Version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The real only way to make this movie tolerable is to imagine Tom Waits singing all of the songs [evil]

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-08-2012, 05:35 PM:

Real Technicolor and other colors are pretty easy to tell Mike...so I'll take your challenge...any day.

-Steve

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 05-08-2012, 05:57 PM:

We had some posters come in for a re-release of THE SOUND OF MUSIC where the art director had sampled a lot of the original artwork. Unfortunately one particular part of the original artwork includes the very large statement "CINEMASCOPE - COLOUR BY DELUXE"

We're showing the 4K restoration from the TODD-AO elements. Sigh.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-08-2012, 08:38 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Real Technicolor and other colors are pretty easy to tell

Like back in 2000 when "Family Man" came out. There were a few IB Tech prints struck for this feature.

I was employeed with Edwards Cinemas at the time as area technician and stationed at our 14plex in out town.

I get a call from the booth mgr at the EDW's 21 plex in Boise of a DTS problem he was having with one print.

I go check it out what was going on. The booth mgr told me that the one print of "Family Man" refused to play in DTS in the assigneed big house and did a switch with the other print that was playing in a small house so the feature could play in DTS.

He also mentioned that the soundtrack was totally different - something he's never seen before and wondered if this was the cause of the bad playback in DTS.

We went over to that small house and the first thing I noticed on how the picture looked on the screen, for it was totally sharp, chrisp and clear with magnificent colors along with great contrast for a scope movie. Just something that I haven't seen for a very long time, yet looked very familiar.

I went to the projector to see the film path and did notice something odd with the soundtrack: it was a BW camera stock grey sound track for all formats.

Then it dawned on me: This location got an IB Technicolor print of "Family Man" from Technicolor! I went back to the booth where the cans were stored and it was on the label: "IB Print"

..and the booth manager didn't even catch on what he had.

I then told him that this should have stayed in the big house being that it looked so good on the 65 ft wide screen in the big house, but realized that this camera stock was making it hard for DTS to be read.

The greenish blue stuff that is out nowdays is nothing to dye transfer prints of yesteryear..

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 05-08-2012, 09:54 PM:

4K from the TODD-A-O elements...I'll take that ANY day over what we will probably will get -- my fear? a freakin DVD, not even BluRay. These jokers have been doing this for a number of years now and they more than likely mastered their DVD disc with subtitles and I would be surprised if they even bothered to back to remaster when the BluRay was released.

Martin, where did you get the 35mm print? Was it subtitled or did they come in with an additional video projector to do subtitles?

And Mike, I am with Steve on this one -- hells yah you can tell an IBTech print from an Eastman. As for the NAME Technicolor, I think you are right, Joe Movie-Goer may have no idea at all what the name mean other than there may be some mild name recognition factor there, but put a IBTech image up on the screen and anyone with eyes can see the richness there. You can damn near FEEL the color depth of an IBTech.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-08-2012, 11:05 PM:

OK Steve and Frank, maybe I should have left "even a purist" out of my post. But I'll still bet 99% of general public-type people wouldn't be able to tell the difference, or wouldn't care. I base this on the fact that every time I ever apologized for a scratched print, most audience members here swore they never even noticed.