posted 03-30-2004 02:38 PM                    

• "Seed of Chucky"
  "Van Helsing"
  "Shall We Dance"
  "King Arthur"
  "Stepford Wives, The"
  "I, Robot'"

posted 03-31-2004 05:07 PM                    

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Scope 2.40 (print digital created from 3 pref neg)

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posted 04-01-2004 10:01 AM                       

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Does this mean it was shot in Super35?

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quote:

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Tarantino always visualized Kill Bill as a widescreen (2.4:1 aspect ratio) movie. Richardson prefers shooting in anamorphic format, because of the degradation of image quality inherent to the optical extraction required by the Super 35 format.

“Casino was the only film I’ve shot in Super 35 format,” he says, “and I was terribly disappointed with the release print quality. It was devastating to me. Quentin had a similar experience with Reservoir Dogs. Films stocks and lenses have improved, but there is still a chasm (separating the Super 35 and anamorphic formats).”

The problem was that Tarantino had written specific “zoom” lens shots into the script. Richardson felt that the anamorphic zoom lenses available from Panavision didn’t provide a fast enough T-stop to properly execute those shots. That drove the decision to use a digital intermediate process. That approach enabled Richardson to shoot with spherical lenses in Super 35 format and “squeeze” the images into a 2.4:1 aspect ratio during digital mastering. Basically, the edited cut of the negative is scanned and converted to digital files. The images are timed for shot-to-shot and scene-to-scene continuity in a digital suite, and then recorded out to an intermediate film used as a master for release printing. It’s a familiar tactic for Richardson, who has shot many commercials that have been converted to digital format and manipulated in telecine suites. However, this is his first experience with a “film-out” from a digital intermediate.

He suggested shooting Kill Bill in three-perforation 35mm format. That trimmed film and lab costs by 25 percent. Richardson explains that essentially covered costs for the digital intermediate process. There is no downside, since the digital files can be recorded out to a four-perf 35mm color intermediate film with no loss of picture quality.

Front-end processing and release printing were slated for Technicolor Labs, in Los Angeles. Tarantino agreed with Richardson’s suggestion about creating and timing a digital file at Technique, the lab’s subsidiary in the Los Angeles area.

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