Last "good" movies in a movie theatre:
Double Feature of "The Blob" and "The Day The Earth Stood Still" at BlobFest.
Last "ehh" movie in a theatre:
Total Recall (remake)
You fix Mainframe computers by "rebooting" them.
You never have to go to the bathroom. You never have to eat or drink, either which might be why you never have to go to the bathroom.
You never fart, burp, or sneeze unless it's required to move the action forward.
You look good all the time, so do all your friends/spouses/coworkers - unless you or your friend/spouse/coworker is the "awkward" one.
Your office or government agency always has the most up to date equipment and furniture -- and the fastest computers.
There's always some awesomely appropriate song playing in the background everytime you do anything.
It's rare for anyone in your world to be older than 43.
I kind of feel like I'm intruding since I don't have a well thought out response like the rest of you...
I'll keep my response simple, but has anyone seen the movie "Metropolis?" C3PO looks an awful lot like the female robot.
Happy Birthday, Mark! You're still my favorite Jedi after all these years!
Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
HewittYoda said:
The only person who truly knows was the theatre's famed projectionist and he passed away last November.
Under suspicious circumstances, no doubt. :)
LOL!!
Actually, he passed away from health issues. He was in his 70s and a master of his craft. He was one of the top projectionists in the nation and the absolute top projectionist on the east coast. He was always interesting to talk to, very involved with film preservation, and one of the last of a dying breed.
lpd said:
Hey HewittYoda did you take any pictures? And welcome to the forums.
Hey lpd -- I do have pictures from that night, but not the kind that everyone here would want to see. I didn't get a chance to take screen shot pictures because I was working the event. At the time, I kept thinking I should take more pictures, but I was absolutely basking in the glow of the screenings. My pictures are more random; the marquee, the crowds, the theatre after it emptied out, etc.
Bingowings said:
I'm not anti-SE as such.
I'm very much against it being the default version and the OUT being tucked away as The Apocryphon Of St Marcia.
I wouldn't be anti-SE if I could purchase clean scans of the original theatrical releases of these films. The copies I have on DVD are dirty scans. Star Wars has awful film weave, too. I thought Steven Spielberg did a great job with his release of ET to DVD. He included the original theatrical release and the 2002 Anniversary Edition; both as clean scans.
none said:
HewittYoda wrote: We didn't have a chance to do a serious technical calibration specific to this print.
Would be interested in hearing more about this process. And what changes do you remember being made, between showings, that night.
The pictures/video of that night have become significant reference material for everyone round here, so learning what they lack or what they got right would also be great to hear.
thanks for stopping by.
Harmy wrote: I think I do know where the print currently resides though. And so do quite a few others.
And many of us don't have a clue and are not privy to that info, so all you insiders reading, write down your story for posterity. and dump it into the public domain when you are ready. Get together, write a book.
Bare with me -- I'm a Mainframer and I'm still learning how to navigate the forum. :)
As far as calibration to the print we had, we made no visual calibrations to the print that night. We spent most of our time on calibrating the sound. We were going from the Twilight Eclipse soundtrack (can I have a "Yuck!" please?), which was a DTS soundtrack, to the Dolby Stereo soundtrack and that required us to bump up the volume and bass quite a bit. We did that during the first show, while the movie played.
I'll have to go back and look at the pictures. I keep hearing comments about the ship at the beginning looking pink, but I don't remember that from the actual show. Each IB Tech print will be dyed slightly different, so there will be some color differences even between prints.
As for The Senator print's location, since I don't know Harmy in person, he might have an idea where it is located. I heard about this print a few months before we ran it. Its location and owner were a seriously guarded secret, so I doubt many others know where it is. I've also heard there are a few prints floating around, so other prints might have more of a "social" presence than The Senator print. I saw on another forum today where someone is claiming to have the print copy we screened and they are claiming to be scanning it. I can tell you that with The Senator print, that is absolutely not true. The print we screened was hidden away after we screened it. I do know that it has not been uncanned since we screened it.
Harmy said:
Oh, wow, a girl. Here? For real? ;-)
Alright then, cool story, sis :-)
Yep! A girl! I'm very anti-Special Edition Star Wars, so this forum is great!
Harmy said:
Cool story bro :-)
I think I do know where the print currently resides though. And so do quite a few others.
I have my ideas, as well, at least for this particular print.
btw - I'm not a bro, I'm a girl! ;-)
Hi Everyone! I realize I'm a little late to the game with this thread, but I just stumbled across it while I was looking up old news about The Senator. I was a volunteer there for several years up until the last night that you're discussing. I was the "curtain puller" for both shows that you see in some of the footage on YouTube for this night! I also assisted the projectionist...yes, it was one of the greatest nights of my life!
Anyhow, I've been reading through this extremely lively discussion and thought that I might be able to give you more insight into the presentation.
Big Question: Where did we get the print? I don't know. The only person who truly knows was the theatre's famed projectionist and he passed away last November. Tom Kiefaber might know and if he does he won't tell you where it is. He wouldn't tell me whether or not he knew the owner and I was an "insider." That print is more heavily guarded than you'll ever know.
Why wasn't the screening stopped by Lucas? We published this event very last minute. These screenings spread by word of mouth (and internet) mostly. I'm not sure the screenings were even on Lucas' radar. If they were, he might have left it go because it was "The Senator Theatre." Under the former owner/operator, The Senator Theatre was one of the first historic movie houses to go through THX Certification. Under the former owner/operator it also was a theatre that upheld Lucas' TAP (Theatre Alliance Program) standards. So, maybe Lucas knew we were showing the print, but was being nice?! At any rate, we were waiting for Lucas' goons to come get the print. No one from Fox had been notified that we were going to play the print.
Where is the print's location? I don't know the exact location, but is is located somewhere within a three day drive from Baltimore. It is a British IB Tech print, but it is not located in Britain. The print was not shipped in via BWI airport, it was driven to the theatre.
Someone mentioned the cropping of the film cutting off the sides and top. Someone else mentioned this being due to condition of the sides of the film. The condition of the this print was absolutely excellent with no scratching along the edges. It either was not played much or it was handled by an extremely experienced projectionist through its entire existence. The masking issue was due to the that we had been playing Twilight Eclipse and the screen was still masked for that film. The rest of the equipment (projectors, amplifiers, etc.) was also setup for Twilight.
When this print showed up, it was uncanned, built, and put up on the screen with no technical calibration (masking changes, speaker placement changes, etc.). The first show (4:00 or 4:30, I forget the exact time), was the first time we saw the print on the screen. We didn't have a chance to do a serious technical calibration specific to this print. Could it have looked and sounded better? Yes. If we would have had time to work with the print, we could have made it look perfect. As it was, it was still the most awesome night of Star Wars fans, Senator Theatre fans, and historic theatre appreciation ever.
I watched the film get broken down at the end of the night and re-canned as I talked with the projectionist. It disappeared out of the theatre before I could blink. Lucas' goons never did come after the print. :)
If you have any other questions about that night, let me know!