Leaving Las Vegas

[8th Man]

The Youg Indianna Jones Chronicles was also shot S16 and I'd have never guessed that considering George- Digital Freak- Lucas had produced it . Plenty of T.V. is still 16 like the first few seasons of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer" before it switched to 35. Strangely the biggest difference between the 16 & 35 episodes is the flesh tones- a little more muted in 16.

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PRM

[Matt Pacini]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by crimsonson:
[B]"When I see a short film or feature shot in Super 8 - its seems news. But if shot on DV - as MAtt refered to b4- its not."

(Matt Pacini resonds):
It's NOT news when a film is shot digital?
Are you kidding me?
That's just about the only thing being talked about in interviews and write-ups about The new Star Whores movie, not to mention The Anniversary Party, and a couple others (I don't remember the name of the onestarring Rahda Mitchell... Nice girl, I met her at the Santa Barbara Film Festival...Hmmmm).
You could not get one sentence into the article, without some big deal being made about how it was shot on digital video, not film. They barely even talk about anything else regarding the picture.
I call that making news, don't you?

crimsonson:
"Remember perceived quality is not the only determing factor of the success of a format. If that was the case films would always be shot in larger than 35mm format. Ease and cost plays equal, sometimes bigger role."

(Matt Pacini responds):
Well, I don't know how to break this to you, but yes, all films ARE shot in 35mm.
The amount of released films shot in anything else, is such a small sliver, to be almost not worth mentioning (except that they ARE meontioned in a big way, because they're shot in digital video, thus being a big news story in all the trade mags.)
However, you are right about quality not being the sole determining factor, but that contradicts your own logic from your last post, about if it weren't good quality, why would Pro DP's be getting DV cams?
They will shoot on a freakin box camera, if that's what someone wants them to do, because they're professionlas, they make their living doing this, and they're not going to lose work over it.
If you read American Cinematographer, you will read interview after interview, with these same guys basically saying that they will shoot whatever someone wants them to shoot on, but they do NOT have raving compliments about DV at all.
They all still prefer film. They have to eat just like the rest of us!


Matt Pacini

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[Ronson]

"The new version of Hamlet staring Ethan Hawke was shot with Super-16, if I'm not mistaken."

dogstarman-

I listened to the director, Michael Almereyda, talk about his version of Hamlet at the Austin Film Festival's Screenwriting Conference last year.

According to Almereyda, the film was shot on digital video -- whether it was miniDV, DVCam, DigiBeta, or Lucas' new baby, I can't remember -- and eventually transferred and printed to 35mm.

There may have been a Super-16 step in there, somewhere, but the raw footage originated on digital video.

Ronson

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[crimsonson]

MAtt:

Regarding Super 8 and digital:

News or not news
More pros and amateurs seems to be still using DV more than Super8. I am not saying the Dv is better than Super 8 either (that is a personal call). My point is its a medium only.

Regarding 35mm:

"Well, I don't know how to break this to you, but yes, all films ARE shot in 35mm.
"

I did not say it was not. I am confused?

I did not say DV is superior to Super 8 but it offers certain traits that many people finds as an advantage, including pros (and me). I think there is a misunderstanding in here. I have feeling you maybe reitarating my point and vice versa.

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[This message has been edited by crimsonson (edited October 02, 2001).]

[MovieStuff]

Remember, the vertical resolution on super 16mm is the same as regular 16mm. All you get is a different aspect ratio using aspheric lenses. So there's more information on the sides but not the top and bottom. Young Indiana Jones was not release letterboxed, which means that it had no more resolution than something shot regular 16mm.

Young Indiana Jones was shot on Super 16mm but for entirely different reasons than most people would guess. Since they were doing a lot of effects, they needed the extra width to assist in being able to reposition the image for compositing purposes. The larger width of the image gave them that little bit of room.

However, as I understand it, the final scenes (effects or otherwise) were actually all transferred to laser disk and then edited using the earliest of the non linear systems of that time period. So, even though YIJ was shot on super 16mm, resolution was hardly the deciding factor since they were limiting their final output to the SVHS quality that laser disks provided; something far below even regular 16mm.

Roger

[rexster]

I am not at all a pro of the likes of you guys but I have something interesting to share that you may find interesting.

About two months ago I visited a friend who is doing post on Michale Mans' ALI film and saw a lot of DV footage that coverd everything from Will Smith shadowboxing to African landscapes.

I don?t know what's going to be use in the Film, but it seems even in the biggest Hollywood productions thease days, DV is being used one way or another.




[This message has been edited by rexster (edited September 30, 2001).]

[8th Man]

Roger,
I always assumed they were shooting S16 so that when t.v. became 16/9 these shows would make the transition more easily amd have more lasting power.
That's assuming they composed shots with that in mind.
Young Ind. Jones has been released on video, is it in letterboxed format?

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PRM

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 8th Man:
Roger,
I always assumed they were shooting S16 so that when t.v. became 16/9 these shows would make the transition more easily amd have more lasting power.
That's assuming they composed shots with that in mind.
Young Ind. Jones has been released on video, is it in letterboxed format?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Haven't seen it on video. Might be. I'm not sure that many people were thinking that far ahead regarding 16:9 when that show was made. You could be right, of course. The article I read specifically talked about the need to reposition the image during compositing; something they did all the time back then also in VistaVision. It would make sense that they would want the same advantage in super 16.

Their effects were done electronically with no printing back to film. Certainly, they wouldn't want to do the effects and composites over again just for a recent 16:9 release. I would be surprised if the video is letterboxed but who knows?

Roger