Well, that's interesting. I've never seen that actual camera before, but IMAX is traditionally shot in 70mm, and as far as I'm aware that hasn't changed. Basically, it means being shot in a higher resolution. It won't make a difference to a standard cinema projection, but will look a lot better on the big IMAX screen.
Okay, so here's what i took from the video linked.
1. Directors are asking practical effects artists to come into a project early, because they are trying to achieve a certain look. The entire production is then designed around this look, the effects are created, lit, filmed, and then someone in the studio is insisting that certain effects then get replaced by a digital creation to achieve completely the opposite look and it makes things look disjointed. The studio themselves are insisting the effect gets paid for twice.
2. When the practical effects guys are called in, they're only being given a three month lead time, when they really need AT LEAST six months. Doctor Who gets a three month pre-production, and it's a t.v. show, and arguably a lot more disposible than a Hollywood movie. Don't get me wrong, i love Doctor Who, but it's a sad day when it looks just as good, if not better than, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
It does look like practical effects are deliberately being supressed. Obviously the video is biased, but since it's Woodruff and Gillis and they've worked in the industry for as long as I've been alive, I'm gonna give it some credence.
JEDIT Also, I'm gonna say, having looked at some behind the scenes articles and videos, The Hobbit is a really bad example. Yeah, some of us may prefer the physical stuff, but it would seem that Pete just wanted it to look the way it does. In fact, if he had his way he'd replace all the Orcs in the Rings trilogy with CGI, so be thankful THAT hasn't happened.
Okay, I'm confused. Was that in reply to my post? 'Cause i was asking a genuine question. I honestly don't know why the decision was reached to shoot the Hobbit in that way. Also, I didn't really think that anyone was saying that cgi is 'The Devil'. I was under the impression we all thought it was a tool. You know, like lighting, models and make up. You use it when you have to. Babylon 5, in fact, is an excellent example of this. As are most movies that David Fincher makes. The Hobbit movies are a prestige product, yet in their home versions looks cheap and nasty. This is not the only film i can point to this year that is like that. Step forward... well, step forward this years summer season. And any horror film released over the past five years. It's easy to pick specifically on a film like the Hobbit, when we all expected so much from it, but that's distracting from the fact that most Hollywood 'Prestige' pictures just look a bit cheap compared to a few years ago. CGI is not the problem. Apparently, if you watch the video, the studios are the problem, specifically the lead times that they are currently giving to these productions that are hampering the effects artists and not allowing them to deliver the quality that they want to deliver. Nobody cares about the medium used. Only that it looks good.
JEDIT I was replying to two posts up.
Think I've gotta go with Ryan on this one. Really, if shooting 48fps is gonna make things look cheap and/or rubbish whatever you do, don't use it. I had gathered from the initial tests before filming that people were already divided on the 'look', so why use it at all? And I am seriously asking the question, 'cause i don't know. Was it hubris on the side of Jackson, in an I'm right, you're wrong sort of way? Did the studio insist that it be filmed that way for the 'novelty'? Hmm...
Well, I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned. It's the BBC's annual Doctor Who related cock up! http://www.hypable.com/2014/07/07/doctor-who-scripts-leak-online/
Yes, that's right. Someone's leaked the scripts for the first five episodes. The first episode is surprisingly good. That is all. (By that I mean, i will NOT be posting spoilers. You're gonna have to find it yourself if you want it. Torrent sites have them).
But that's the things that you saw that made your life a little bit better thread. This is the good news thread. Unless i missed something?
On topic; GOOD NEWS (Insert image of Farnsworth here), I talked to one of my best friends today for the first time in about a year and a half, on the Skype. Lovely to see both her, the husband and the kids, and catch up with events in 'The Hometown!'
So sad. That actually has the look of a film that would come before the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. I hate what's been happening to the Hobbit movies. As to the general state of pratical effects, that's even worse. So sad...
Yeah, Yahoo! buying it was a surprise, for everyone. Even the industry analysts said the same. This forbes article, http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillbarr/2014/06/30/the-community-renewal-by-yahoo-is-a-glimpse-into-televisions-future/, however, says it shouldn't have been a surprise. Apparently, they've been building to this for a while, it's just that no-one noticed. I'm so jealous that you get to watch it all together, I've been watching from the beginning, so i never had that :( How far have you got?
And yes, it's sad that so many great shows seem to get cancelled, but I'm surprised it lasted this long. NBC have never known what the show is, who it's core audiance is, or how to market it. In fact, NBC were ALWAYS the problem with this show getting a larger audience. I'm just glad Sony found another buyer.
JEDIT: Hitchikers radio play for free. Sweet!
I somehow missed this thread, but agree with the community news. Best thing ever. Had a smile on my face ever since. We actually get our six seasons, and Harmon seems to be on form at the moment, so it should be good. All hail to our new 'Yahoo!' Gods!
Ysalamiri?
Seven. Seven's plot was entirely dependent on the killer getting caught. I'm certain there are earlier examples though..
I much prefer Kid Karate 4: Girl Karate
OMG! Has it really been ten years? I don't usually post, as you all know, but i have to say....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OT.COM!!!!
Well i knew the exchange rate was bad, but 700 bucks for Jedi? That just sucks. I thought it was bad enough for it to be 375 pounds. Unfortunately, this is an expensive hobby, hence the fact that i have so many more cutdowns than features. We`re fairly lucky in the UK though, as the hobby seems to be very much alive- not only do we have the two major distributers here (Classic Home Cinema and Derran), we also have a lot of collecter and trader fairs during the course of the year, so bargains are always there to be had. Star Wars is always expensive, though. Mine cost me 420 pounds, and it`s one of the later run prints, so not even the best out there (in fact, i have a sneeking suspicion it was taken from the same print that the UK 1993 thx video and European thx laserdiscs were taken from, the red scartch is present over C3PO on the Tantive 4, and various other tell tale marks present themselves through the course of the movie. It`s not long after this time that Derrans master print broke, and no more copies were made).
And yes, i did make enquiries to Puggo last year, but he was busy with paying clients at the time and understandably declined to do the transfer, saying i could get into contact with him at a later date if i still wanted it done and he could find the spare time, but due to a combination of being both busy or just too lazy at various points of the year, i haven`t done so. I have, however, been trying to build my own telecine machine, but i don`t think the results from it would be as good as a workprinter as it is. Basically, i need to sit down and have a proper look at it and figure a few things out- it needs a new lens, the drive assembly needs work, needs to be more stable in threading the film through, but again it`s finding the time- the last time i did anything with it was back in March. And, of course, any further modifications are going to cost money that i don`t have.
And wow, you really know your Gordon. I`m actually surprised that there aren`t more of the serials available for free download, as i wouldn`t have thought the original material was copyrighted anymore. If you go to www.archive.org and search for Flash Gordon under moving images, they have only the one serial- Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (is this Space Soldiers under a different name? I don`t have enough knowledge about the subject to know), available as one movie or it`s separate chapters. Maybe it`s just a case that decent versions of the others haven`t been located and uploaded yet. I hope you win your auction and that it is the serial you want, though.
Hello. I collect 8mm digests and features. I have all of the star wars ones (naturally), including the German digests. I also have the Derran full length scope version of Star Wars. I almost got Empire, but it all fell through at the last minute, goddammit.
In terms of other digests, i can highly reccomend both Close Encounters (if you can find one that holds decent colour), and North By Northwest. The latter is my favourite hitchcock, and lends itself very well to the digest format- it`s really well edited, taking in all the best scenes of the movie, and feeling like a nice little 18 minute film, with all the major plot points in tact. Close Encounters is more of a whistle stop tour. It`s really fun to watch, but you can`t help feeling that you`ve been robbed of most of the film. Oh actually, the Jaws two part 800 foot digest is excellent aswell- the first part breezes quickly through the island based story, with the second part being exclusively the 'Three Men On A Boat' section. This is actually one of the best digests i`ve seen as it is basically all of the wheat and none of the chaff.
Other than that, i seem to have amased a large collection of Disney. An Italian print of Snow White full length, which i have yet to dub into English, along with the official digests of said film. The Brer Rabbit segment of Song Of The South (brilliant), Winnie the Pooh digests and Sleeping Beauty (the Disney feature ones, though, are segments rather than digests). I also have a couple of old school musical digests.
I want want want both Alien and Raiders- these are supposedly excellent, but always seem to sell for a lot whenever i see them come up. There`s also supposedly a load of superman digests that can be edited to form a 1200 foot cutdown of the movie, giving you a one hour version of the movie, i`d like to have those aswell.
I`d be very interested to know if anyone else has any reccomendations, or whether there are any other collecters. Oh, and i`m very jealous of Flash Gordon. Since i started collecting, that`s one of the ones i`ve wanted. I love those old serials, have done since i was a boy, but have never seen all of the parts come up- it always seems to be the middle segments that come up for sale, and i wouldn`t want to buy them and then not be able to get hold of the beginning and end. Come to think of it, i haven`t bought any super 8 for a while. Maybe it`s time to go shopping again...
Hello. I firstly want to say thankyou very much for the hard work in bringing us these edits- they truly are amazing. I`ve been looking for a 'proper' version of highlander II since the original video release. And now i have three. The first time i watched the movie was a greek pirate vhs when it was still in theatres, and absolutely loved it. When they released the official version.. well, i couldn`t believe what they had done to it. Of course, i had a ray of hope in the renegade version, bought it, and was disappointed again. Not the version i wanted. So seriously, thank you very much.
Anyway, i don`t know if they`ll be any use to you, but i thought i might post the covers that i created when i downloaded the torrents. Some links:
preview (Special Zeist Edition)- [IMG]http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3936/coverfinalszezm7.th.jpg[/IMG]
pack of files- http://rapidshare.com/files/134789151/HighlanderIIFinal.zip.html
The zip pack contains the covers in bitmap form, the original Paint Shop projects plus all the assets used. I have to say, there are no logos or details or anything in way of a description on the covers, which is why i have included the projects and assets. Should anyone wish to adapt the covers, they are more than welcome, but i really really like the way they look (these are, after all, the covers i have on my own versions). There is also a blank disc cover- i created it, but never finished it with logos or titles because the layout never worked. Since i don`t use labels on discs, i just gave up, but it`s there for anyone that wants to use it.
Personally, i could never get the cover layout to work with dvd logos- it always either looked too cramped, or just plain rubbish (of course, i do have an internal argument with myself quite often that they`re a bit sparse without them). It is, however, very easy to adapt the captions on the back to a description, i just never bothered. I`m currently working on a 'super duper boxset of all the versions' cover to fit wider dvd boxes, and will post that when finished.
Once again, thank you very much for gifting the world with these films. The extended zeist version is just awesome.
