Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Video Allows George Lucas to actually Direct His Movie!

This is topic Video Allows George Lucas to actually Direct His Movie! in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-21-2004, 01:18 AM:

Click Here for the page at Star Wars.com that will load a 15MB Quicktime movie to watch how George is using video to revolutionize movie making. Sometimes the audio is hard to understand due to the poor, unskilled compression job that was done to it, but it should be enough to get the over idea. Anyway video allows George to see the actors on big monitors, and that has encouraged him to get up from his chair and actually approach the actors and direct them when he sees something wrong! Is this a George Lucas first? Why does George have no chin?[av=t]

If the Star Wars site is busy, you can download the file here. Also 15MB.

Quicktime 6 be required, yo.

Posted by Wolff King Morrow (Member # 2226) on 07-21-2004, 02:17 AM:

Joe, just curious:

Exactly how many "emovitar" photos did you take? I think I want a gallery page of all of them. Challenge: Do you have one for bemused resignation?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-21-2004, 02:35 AM:

There are 27. No gallery for you unless you can answer this random obscure question:
[av=u]
Who is the guy that does the voices for Neo Geo games?

PS - I have no concept of "bemused".

Posted by Wolff King Morrow (Member # 2226) on 07-21-2004, 03:50 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Who is the guy that does the voices for Neo Geo games?

You have no idea how ironic a question that was to ask me. I answered it in the September issue of "GameFan" magazine waaayyy back during their first year of publication. They teased me for my rather unusual name, but it was still cool to get my letter printed anyway. I still have the magazine and will scan the page for you. BRB...

Edit:
Okay, here's a quick and messy scan of the mail section in the September 1993 issue of Gamefan magazine: (my letter is in the upper left)

Link to server off-site for discussion removed per archival policy. Read the FAQ.

[ 07-21-2004, 12:53 PM: Message edited by: Brad Miller ]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-21-2004, 05:04 PM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Why does George have no chin?

The monster posing as a beard ate it.

Pretty concise way to issue my 2000th FT post.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-21-2004, 05:40 PM:

Oops! Sorry Cliff, no link in your post, so I can't give ya a gallery!

Anyway, has anyone else besides me watched the Quicktime? [av=m]

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 07-21-2004, 06:26 PM:

It does seem silly that it's such a novel idea that Lucas gets up to interact with his actors. Any good director will be scrutinizing the performances in any way he/she can.

I think, like the clip says, that having the "video village" makes it a lot easier, removing the necessity of having dailies and all that. But they make it seem like "we can FINALLY do these things, thanks to technology!"

And I, of course, had to go through and watch all those documentary things and get myself worked up, anticipating this movie. If I keep this up, I'll be one of those "I can't wait! It's going to be SO great!" droids you run into every now and then.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 07-21-2004, 11:09 PM:

That clip is basically a commercial for really big plasma screens. The way people talk is just like they do on those TV shopping channels "I bbqued before, but only since I had the Butchermaster Samurai Chef 2000 knife set has it become the complete experience it is now".

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-22-2004, 12:27 AM:

How do we know they are plasmas? Was it mentioned? Either I couldn't understand what was being said becaise of the incompetant audio compression or I just wasn't listening.[av=k]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-22-2004, 01:14 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
video allows George to see the actors on big monitors

Video taps are nothing new. (First stuck on Panaflex cameras by Phil Hill.)

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-22-2004, 01:34 AM:

Ya gotta watch da Quicktime! They talk about video taps and how they and Phil suck! [av=m]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-22-2004, 01:40 AM:

In the video, George actually says to the Director of "xXx":

"We're making a little commercial for plasma screens here."

...or words to very similar effect. That's almost an exact quote.

Joe: The sound quality was not bad. Something's wrong with your computer setup (or your ears).

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-22-2004, 04:06 AM:

Nah. I guarantee my speakers are better than yours. You are just used to crappy compression.[av=m]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-22-2004, 08:36 AM:

Too bad you're not a member of the site. Then you would have been able to see a bigger version about a month ago. And maybe you'll actually be able to hear it on your spark-o-matic speakers too.

[Razz]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-22-2004, 09:22 AM:

The trend for monitors for on-set use is large screen LCD, not plasma. CRT monitors are still preferred for color and tone scale, despite their weight. Unless the display and viewing conditions are well controlled, a monitor is NOT a good way to judge lighting and color.

Kodak has just announced a Kodak Display Manager system to aid in controlling monitors:

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/news/nab2004breakthroughsP.shtml

quote:
Kodak Display Manager System with its Lustre V2.0 system on both a monitor and a digital projector in its suite at the conference. The Kodak Display Manager System consists of a calibration tool and proprietary software that automatically adjusts images displayed on a computer monitor to simulate the film look. The Kodak Display Manager System and Kodak color science technology are also being shown in the Kodak booth.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-22-2004, 10:45 AM:

I seem to recall someone telling me that Skywalker Sound hates plasmas.

Anyway my speakers for my computer are quite large. Perhaps the compression was designed for crappy laptop speakers or those wimpy computer speakers with the volume knob that is actually on one of the speakers. Seriously, if you guys can't hear the audible artifacts, I sure hope your not tuning auditoriums![av=m]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-22-2004, 02:54 PM:

The best way to listen to a bad audio is to find the smallest speaker possible. This is why family home videos with the built in camera mic sounds much better when played through the 2 inch speaker inside the television than through the stereo system. I use a pair of JBL 8430 speakers for my computer and indeed the audio on that download was horrible.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-23-2004, 11:53 PM:

OVERKILL ALERT:

To quote the characters "Toht" and "Belloq" from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK...

"You Americans! Always over-dressing for the wrong occasion!"

"You would use a bulldozer to find a china cup."

[ 07-24-2004, 03:07 AM: Message edited by: Manny Knowles ]

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 07-24-2004, 03:09 AM:

Yep, I've heard the classic tales: the best way to mix a music album is through a crappy, mono speaker. Get it to sound good through that, and THEN worry about fine tuning through professional monitors. Since "hit singles" are mostly only ever heard through bad reception car radios, it's a good method.

However, most of the music I hear over the radio didn't seem to use this, since I usually hear too much high end noise, and drum cymbals just muck up the tone.

As for audio compression, nothing beats Real Audio compression! That stuff is the BEST sounding stuff I've ever heard. I mix ALL my music through a filter to simulate that, but geez, I can never reproduce the fine, subtle effect that Real Audio can achieve! [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-24-2004, 05:28 PM:

I have nothing against making a version of a recording for consumption via a lesser format or medium -- in fact, I think that's a very sensible thing to do -- but I would personally insist on "mastering" for the best possible sound at the time, otherwise it's a wasted opportunity.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-24-2004, 06:13 PM:

quote: Manny Knowles
I would personally insist on "mastering" for the best possible sound at the time, otherwise it's a wasted opportunity.

The same applies to pictures! [thumbsup]

Compression and subsampling always take their toll. [Frown]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-24-2004, 06:57 PM:

...and just one look at your member photo says it all! [Eek!]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-24-2004, 08:32 PM:

That's just age! [Wink]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-24-2004, 08:41 PM:

What!? NO LINK? [Confused]

John -- do you realize your post is shorter than your signature!?

(Just teasing you, John.) [Wink]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-24-2004, 09:48 PM:

Ya know Manny... I think ALL of John's posts where he doesn't post a "QUOTE" is shorter than his sig!

>>> Phil

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-24-2004, 10:04 PM:

I'm usually brief and to the point! [Cool]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-24-2004, 10:10 PM:

Great come-back, John! [thumbsup]

>>> Phil

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-24-2004, 10:18 PM:

Manny, did you miss the link to kodak.com in John's post? [Razz]

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 07-25-2004, 10:22 PM:

Yeah John, you'd better add the contents of /go/motion, or at least a summary of it, to your signature. [Cool]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-26-2004, 01:35 AM:

Great! Make that signature even longer.. [Roll Eyes]