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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Advertising 35mm!
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Eric Hooper
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 532
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: May 2003
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posted 06-23-2012 12:42 AM
Got an email today from CinemaSF, which runs the Balboa and Vogue theatres in San Francisco, advertising that they will be the only theatre in San Francisco running the Batman Marathon in 35mm!
Here is an excerpt from the email:
"We have a very exciting Dark Knight announcement: Due to the amazing persistence of Jan Klingelhofer (our booker extraordinaire), we will not only be showing BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES all in a row on Thursday, July 19 at the Balboa, but we will have them exclusively in 35mm!!! We will be the only venue in the city to screen the marathon in 35mm. Wooo Hooo!"
They will actually probably be the only theatre in San Francisco running The Dark Knight Rises in 35mm when all is said and done. I'm pretty sure all other venues, including the Presidio and 4 Star, with the exception of a few Landmarks, have gone digital.
Will theatres advertising that they are showing movies using 35mm film be attractive for niche movie goers? Will it bring more patrons to the theatre who might be a bit nostalgic in their movie going experience? Is it something worth advertising?
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 06-23-2012 11:31 AM
*Yawn*
It wouldn't attract me, since I suspect that all of these 35mm prints were derived from digital intermediates, in which case the DCP is closer to the original source material -- and an exact copy of it -- and not subject to accumulation of dust, scratches and mechanical artifacts inherent in film projection.
(And should I also mention high-speed printing?)
(And isn't it logical to assume that these are likely used prints?)
The way I see it, when you strike a film print from a DI you don't really gain anything except the analog defects which a good projectionist tries his/her best to mitigate. The film-huggers may find those defects to have a certain kind of "charm" but they are simply miscalibrated poseurs.
Real film lovers -- who have seen film at its best -- hate seeing dirt, scratches and splices in a print. And ideally there would never be any jump/weave but that's a practical impossibility with 35mm. So a certain amount is TOLERATED, which is very different from "being in love with it."
And, no -- I don't care if the movie was "shot on film."
And, no -- not even if it was shot in 70mm or IMAX.
Shooting on film is great and all -- but the fact is that a lot of that detail gets "thrown away" when the DI is mastered and, hence, doesn't make it to the final film print. If the DI is 4K then so is the print. Might as well see it "clean" in 4K digital.
At this point, I'd only make a special effort to see a 35mm print if it was struck from an actual cut negative.
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-24-2012 01:10 PM
What Manny said. Also Manny you didn't ask the question, just how good is the film presentation at this particular theater?
Many people are turned off by BAD digital (you know, Sony projectors, underlit screens, poor boresight/Scheimflug, 3D box in the projection path, etc). As a result many people think ALL digital is bad, which is absolutely not true. It is just as easy to do digital wrong as it is to do film wrong. The only difference is that it is up to the salesman and corporate suits trying to shave a few pennies off of the equipment spec, and ultimately the skill, dedication and time permitted to the installation tech as to how good even a properly spec'd system will look. As you know, many "techs" are nothing more than non-techs being sent in with bare minimal training who are instructed to drop the projector on the pedestal, aim, zoom, focus, maybe shoot colors and run. There IS more to it than that...if you want digital to look good, just like how there is more to it than that if you want film to look good.
Few people seem to get this.
Getting back to the topic, I can see how if there is a customer base that has been subjected to bad digital experiences how they would flock to this film theater, even if they weren't the best at presentation, so for that the marketing department has done a very good job. Will it actually be better? Highly doubtful. Just re-read Manny's post above.
In regards to seeing the movie in 15/70 IMAX or digital LIEMAX, wow what a freakin' joke. Its sad to know this will probably be the last IMAX film ever. Past that, the IMAX company has essentially turned themselves into a joke, pulling the next "THX". It will work for a little while, then people will realize the "IMAX" name means about as much as "THX" does now...nothing.
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-24-2012 09:25 PM
quote: Manny Knowles
In actuality, the film presentations will probably have dust, dirt, scratches and -- if they are plattered -- they will certainly have visible splices too -- all of this on the first day.
Ummm, excuse me??? Visible splices? Not in MY theaters they didn't! I always used 8 perf splicing tape or usually ultrasonic splices. If you want to get into a platter argument, there was also no loss of frames (better than manual changeovers), no focus drift at the reel changes (as the lens heats up from changeovers), no sloppy Kinoton-type dousers (from changeovers), no color temperature difference (from changeovers), no light uniformity difference (from changeovers), etc. But for the sake of Steve, let's not go there. We don't want him to get too fired up. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
quote: Manny Knowles
And we all know -- image quality only goes downhill from there with each and every showing.
Ummm, excuse me again??? Only at the crappy theaters Mr. Manny! At the GOOD theaters each show got BETTER, and yes there were quite a lot of theaters that would run FilmGuard religiously on every single show. That was the ONLY way to obtain an absolutely flawlessly clean presentation with film.
quote: Manny Knowles
How do I know this? Remember when Dolby was doing those inspections way back around 2004? That's how I know. Crap showings already on opening day. Even in Los Angeles, where you'd think they'd know better.
Finally an accurate statement from your post. Crap theaters = crap showings. Sadly this was the norm, and as a field guy for TAP I never saw a single "opening day" show that was as good as the first OR last show at the theaters I projected at.
Not attitude, fact. Some people on this thread like Joe (who could also honestly boast that and not be exaggerating) can vouch for those statements.
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