Projection Protocols for Tár

[Martin McCaffery]

The note from the Director-Writer-Producer is kinda adorable. I guess if Tár will be playing lots of art houses, maybe there will be actual projectionists that can read this. The idea that theatres have masking is quaint. As is the idea that the projectionists can adjust focus. Surprised light levels weren't mentioned because it is a darkly shot film

I hope he doesn't see Tár in the real world, it will break his heart. It's nice to be appreciated.

FWIW, ran the screening chart. Focus was sharp. Masking was off by about a pixel on the left. Top, bottom, and right are spot on.
TarLetter.jpg

[Mike Blakesley]

It's interesting that he mentions playing trailers "at 6.3 or even 5.5." We actually play our trailers at 3.9. They'd be way too loud at those other settings. Our movies usually play at 5.7 or so.

[Leo Enticknap]

"Please ensure that the sound is set to 85dB" is very sloppy wording. When playing what? We know this means when playing pink generated at -20dBFS and with the audio processor's fader at the reference level, but a typical theater manager does not.

The mastering of classical music recordings typically uses a lot less dynamic compression than in other genres, and in some cases none at all. Someone sitting in the audience during the live performance of a typical symphony or concerto written between around 1750-1950 and holding a SPL meter would see numbers fluctuating between the 30s and the 90s (in the case of a Bruckner symphony, almost instantaneously in some places!), which is not going to happen in rock, jazz, or pretty much any other musical form. So if a theater manager adjusts levels for 85 during a pianissimo passage, there isn't going to be much left of the speakers once it gets seriously loud.

[William Kucharski]

It's interesting that he mentions playing trailers "at 6.3 or even 5.5." We actually play our trailers at 3.9. They'd be way too loud at those other settings. Our movies usually play at 5.7 or so.

That's so incredibly depressing, but you knew I'd say that.

[Jon Dent]

We usually run trailers at 4.5 and features between 5 and 5.5 depending on dialog levels, because we're a business that needs a continuing stream of paying and happy (i.e. not deaf afterwards) customers to stay open.

I also feel bad for Mr. Field. His heart is in the right place but it isn't a projectionist's world anymore.

[Martin McCaffery]

We run trailers anywhere from 3.0 to 5 (we get non-hollywood, downloaded trailers for special events with volumes all over the place). Features are usually in the 4.5 to 5.5 range. I adjusted Tár to the speech levels and ended up running at 6.5. You do get blasted by the orchestra, but that's intentional and not ear shattering.