Fang Zei

re: the wipes

Which ones are they and were they not salvageable from the lpp print?

Anchorhead said:

I agree that Driver comes across as grounded and appreciative. Judging from interviews, people seem to really enjoy working with him. I’ve only seen him in one thing (This Is Where I Leave You). He was very good in that.

Fixed, although I haven’t actually seen the movie for myself.

Bob Iger said there will not be a Disney logo at the front of the movie.

I hope it’s just the Lucasfilm logo with no sound and nothing else.

Everything else will undoubtedly be the same, though. There’s no good reason it wouldn’t be.

I just happened to be in Paris (capital of the Federation) visiting my sister the week JJ’s Star Trek reboot came out in France and Belgium a couple days before anywhere else. We were lucky enough to go see it opening day “VO” with very small and non-distracting subs. It was on film with a white screen, which I’ve heard the Europeans prefer over the silver variety.

3D has really thrown a wrench into the way we see movies these days.

John Doom said:

Are you saying child actors are cheaper than adult actors? 😄

Fang Zei said:

Peter Suschitzky’s cinematography in TESB is one tough act to follow.

Alan Hume actually walked out because he didn’t like how GL was treating Marquand. Alec Mills took over for the last month of production.

I’d genuinely like to know more about these.

GL wanted to use multiple cameras for more coverage to work with in the editing room, while Marquand wanted to use only one or two.

SilverWook said:

I might have an opportunity to see it in 70mm in January, (I presume it will stick around longer than that) but a lot has to fall into place the next few weeks.

Would love for it to be my first viewing, but I think spoilers will be impossible to avoid by then. 😉

They will probably keep playing the 70mm version until late March when Batman v Superman is released. Some of that was also shot in actual 65mm IMAX.

Oh, and I feel the exact same way re: first screening.

I just found out I won’t be able to see it 70mm opening weekend unless I feel like getting five hours of sleep on Sunday night.

Okay, that’s not so bad, but even just having to wait that entire weekend to avoid spoilers will feel like an eternity.

At this point it’s looking like I’ll be seeing the earliest 2D Thursday night screening at the closest place showing it to where we live (an AMC). It’s not until 10, since this isn’t one of the theaters that’s showing it on half a dozen screens and they’re only showing 3D at 7.

It works out perfectly though since my sister and I have an event to attend earlier that night and we can go from there. I’ll probably leave early and get to the theater in time to grab good seats since they’re not doing reserved seating. I’m wondering how much of a window I should give myself. I almost want to get there two hours early just to be sure.

So, I’ll be seeing this at the same time as you west coast 7pm people.

Peter Suschitzky’s cinematography in TESB is one tough act to follow.

Alan Hume actually walked out because he didn’t like how GL was treating Marquand. Alec Mills took over for the last month of production.

Also, the film stock used for the movie is what resulted in a blue tint over everything.

The Arriflex thing is probably down to economy. They were shooting in England for large stretches of the movie so maybe it made more sense to rent European.

At the end of the day it makes a difference what format you shoot in.

As digital as the movie looks, it would look even more like that if they’d gone with Alexa.

When JJ made his first two movies, the best alternative to film was RED. It’s a much different story now just a few years later, but the best digital camera is obviously still not good enough for him and numerous other filmmakers.

We should be thankful that they’re at least finishing it at 4K. I think they might even be rendering the vfx at that res but I might be jumping the gun there.

I’ll be curious to see what percentage of the finished movie is comprised of entirely cgi-free in-camera shots.

Wazzles said:

Does anyone know of any 35mm showings like, anywhere? I haven’t heard anything.

It’s a moot point since TFA was finished as a DI just like 99% of all movies made these days, so you’re not really gaining anything from 35mm projection although some would argue there’s still “a certain something” to seeing it that way. Christopher Nolan is an ultra-rare holdout/exception, hence the “see it on film two days early” release for Interstellar.

If your theater has 4K projection (all of the Regals and AMCs do now), you’re seeing TFA at its full level of detail.

To answer your question, I’m not aware of Disney striking 35mm prints for TFA. Someone mentioned they might’ve stopped distributing on 35mm except for overseas. The film-only dollar theater in my college town just closed within the last several months because they couldn’t pay the rent. They were one of the couple hundred in the U.S. to show Interstellar on film. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure the two (count 'em) theaters here in the DC area that were showing it on film can also do 4K, so Disney wouldn’t bother spending more money for less qc.

For the theaters out there still limping on without digital projection, this might serve as a harsh lesson.

towne32 said:

They are 720p.

Okay, then the person who was telling me something to the contrary about the first and possibly second movie didn’t know what he was talking about. No biggie.

I am curious though why they aren’t full 1080.

Does Harmy just prefer to avoid copyright entanglements or is there some technical reason?

Didn’t Harmy say in his recent YouTube video that he expects to be done fairly soon with ROTJ? He said he’s waiting on 35mm print scans for the relevant shots in the movie.

Also, this is as good a place to ask this. Are all of the most recent versions of the De-EDs stuck at 720p or are the first and/or second movies now in 1080? I feel like I’ve heard conflicting stories on this.

A friend of mine was a year and a half old in May of 1980 when his parents brought him to see Empire.

I told him how jealous I was that he got to see it on the big screen during its original run, even though he doesn’t remember it at all.

It’s too bad Disney cheaped out and didn’t strike more 15/70 prints.

Yeah sure I get that it’s expensive but come the f*** on, this movie is gonna make all the money in the world and they’d still turn a major profit off those theaters.

Dark Knight Rises was, I’m fairly certain, the only time a movie was playing at all three of the Smithsonian’s 15/70 locations simultaneously, and TFA will easily outgross it. I guess it’s apples and oranges since there won’t be nearly as much native IMAX footage in this film. That was probably Disney’s line of thinking.

I do find it odd, though, how there aren’t any full-sized IMAX locations in New York or Chicago that are playing this.

Haven’t made up my mind yet.

Thursday night 70mm screenings at Air & Space DC sold out before I even knew they were showing it there. As of now the only available opening weekend showtimes are 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and Sunday. I might have a new job soon, which would likely rule out Friday (damn). Interview is tomorrow, so I’ll know soon.

One of my friends here was saying he wants to see it opening weekend but not opening night.

Meanwhile, the group Mrebo and I became acquainted with at a recent screening of Harmy’s ROTJ said they’ll be getting together to go see TFA as well, so I’ll have to look into that.

If no one I know wants to see it Thursday night I might just cave and go see it with my sister or something. All the opinion pieces and reviews are gonna start showing up and I hate having to avoid those things. I spoiled Interstellar for myself by not excercising self-control and simply waiting until I saw it several days after it opened. If I couldn’t do it for Interstellar, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to for Episode VII.

There are still plenty of 2D, non-reserved seating Thursday night showtimes near me that aren’t sold out. Well, not yet.

I’m also waiting to see if The Avalon, which is technically the closest movie theater to where I live, will be showing the movie at all. They haven’t posted their daily schedule past this coming week, so I might just stop by and ask.

Ah, decisions decisions.

To the comment earlier about Jakku being surprisingly close to the core:

I noticed it’s about halfway there from Endor. Maybe the Rebels just kept fighting the Imperials straight back to the core worlds and Jakku was the sight of a decisive battle along the way?

I instantly recognized her as “that chick from Ghostbusters.”

Also, I’m glad someone finally bumped this thread.

Rattatak from the Tartakovsky clone wars is apparently canonical as well, unless they went there / it was mentioned in TCW or the NuEU and this isn’t noteworthy.

The movie is officially finished.

http://www.slashfilm.com/new-the-force-awakens-tv-spots-show-maz-kanata-more/#more-326272

Considering all the various formats this will be presented in, it makes sense they’re finishing it nearly a month ahead of time. I’ve heard the IMAX dmr process takes a couple weeks.

I was watching that video the other day. Interesting stuff.

Of course I’m now blanking on what the official reason given back in late 2012 was to do three movies instead of two. I want to say the reasoning was simply “why the hell not do three instead of just two?”

At least, that’s how I recall it.

I still haven’t gotten my tickets. Partially it’s because I might be getting a full-time job soon (it would only be temporary, but still 9 to 5) so I don’t want to get tickets right now for the 70mm on Saturday if it turns out I don’t get the job and end up with nothing to do on Friday. Then I would gladly avoid spoilers for half a day and just see it Friday afternoon in all its IMAX glory.

The Smithsonian also has a ridiculous surcharge just to reserve tickets online, and they don’t even do reserved seating.

I’m also considering meeting up with some out of town friends to go see it, so there’s that to consider as well.

Also, I might not be able to resist just going to see it Thursday night. My sister works just a couple blocks from a Regal with a 7:15 2D showtime that hasn’t sold out yet, and I still have a regal gift card that she gave me. The multiplex closest to where we live (an AMC) isn’t showing 2D until 10.

I’m still waiting to see if the theater that’s technically closest to our house is going to be showing the movie or not. They’re an independent (and technically non-profit) two-screen theater that mostly shows the lower budget and indie fare, but sometimes they show the bigger movies as well. Star Trek Into Darkness was actually the first thing they showed upon becoming DCI-compliant and it looked/sounded amazing.

During the ad campaign for Prometheus, I knew someone who thought it reminded him of Alien. My friend and I told him that it was indeed part of the same franchise and his excitement quotient jumped considerably.

Another one of my friends didn’t realize it until he was in the theater watching it with his girlfriend and the Weyland corporation was brought up.

Fox probably thinks they’d be throwing away money by not explicitly connecting the title this time around.

Based on the evidence, they’re probably right.

SilverWook said:

I think watching Harmy’s versions while in line for Episode 7 would be a great way to start a conversation.

I have to largely credit noticing the original version of Empire playing on a laptop several rows ahead of me in the theater during the hour or so before the midnight opening of RotS with leading me to these forums in the first place.

Reading this thread has reminded me I still have yet to read the Dark Lord paperback my friend let me borrow years ago. I might start with that before finally tackling the OT novelizations (first edition paperback copies I found at secondhand stores) and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (the 90’s paperback copy with the GL intro).

As for the movies themselves, my sister just asked me the other day if we have them (I haven’t been able to shut up about TFA for the last several weeks). I explained to her that the highest quality copy I own is cowclops v2, which I acquired only a couple months before the out of the blue GOUT announcement. Don’t have the prequels, sold them off along with my '04 OT box years ago. Never got the GOUT or the blu-Ray as I considered either option to be sending the wrong message with my wallet. Gave away my '97 silver box VHS to goodwill collection when my parents sold their house just over three years ago, right before the Disney deal happened. Aside from that I’ve got the '95 faces/thx p&s VHS box which I got at a secondhand store only a few years ago pretty much just for the Maltin interviews (for some stupid reason). Also got the '86 p&s VHS of Jedi I found at my local video store’s sale shortly before ROTS came out. My p&s VHS of TPM might still be lying around unless I gave that away as well.

So yeah, if my sister wants to re-watch the OT over several nights then it’ll be cowclops v2, which looks surprisingly decent when upscaled and the PCM audio can’t be beat. Who am I kidding, I’ll probably re-watch these discs myself if she doesn’t want to. To be honest though, I’ve watched them so many countless times that it doesn’t make much difference to me. I’ve already got such a massive backlog of other stuff I want to watch anyway.

Interesting how we’re seeing that clip of Poe just days after seeing the book cover illustration of him meeting with Von Sydow’s character. The clip would appear to be from that scene, based on the lighting.

As for Billie Lourd, maybe she’s just a random Ensign in the Resistance?

I am still curious though as to whether this will be DCPs of the 2011 version (which is based off the now ancient 2004 master) or if it will be the newer 4K version we’ve been hearing about.