Re: Pro film dropping faster then consumer

In article <43F0D236.9020502@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Gordon Moat <moat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Philip Homburg wrote:
Assuming one lp/arc-minute, a flat screen, 4096 pixels wide will support a
field of view of 33 degrees. That corresponds to the horizontal field of
view of 60mm on 35mm film.

So, everybody who is more to the front of this (and in my experience,
there are plenty of seats where the horizontal field of view is larger than
33 degrees) is not a the limit of visual resolution.

Excellent overview. Thanks. I never thought to equate it to the field of
view of a lens. I assume by 60 mm on 35 mm you mean a still photography
camera and not 35 mm movie camera?

Yes, this is after all a group about 35mm still picture photography.

Well, I don't know about the stability of digital projectors, but I would
assume that in time, either digital projectors will be able to calibrate
themselves (for example using a small camera in the theater and
using the feedback from the camera to optimize the projection) or is set
once by the operator for a particular projector/movie combination.

Unfortunately nothing like that so far. This is similar to the high end
camera, in that the operator needs to adjust the parameters of capture.
Even then with cameras there may be a need for further adjustment in
post. It does surprise me a little that an accurate auto adjust do not
yet exist at the high end, though maybe that is more due to
labour/economic/union worker aspects.

My guess is these things just take time. At the moment the existance of
high quality projectors is important enough.

The next step is making the projector affordable.

After that will come improvements to the user interface, etc.

I doubt that union worker aspects will mean much outside the US.

I don't see any reason why the operator would have to be present during the
actual projection of a movie.

How often have you seen much of any electronic gear that ran without
having some problems? On the other hand, I could imagine some point in
the future when a high speed connection to the theatre is all that run
it, much like cable television. The only barrier might be objections to
getting rid of that person at the theatres; some people don't like being
replaced by technology.

On a small scale I built such a system for radio broadcasts. Power
failures may cause problems. And that is about it.

A basic disk subsystem can easily handle 100 MByte/s (just stripe two
disks). At 24 fps, you get more than 4 MByte per frame. During interactive
editing this is probably enough for two stream (if you compress an 8 Mpixel
image using jpeg to 2 MByte, you have more than enough quality left).

Compressing the data is generally not good choice in editing, though
there are a few proprietary methods now available. The system I saw last
had a 10 GB/sec fibre channel communications link.

For non-realtime editing, there is no problem with using compressed video
streams for preview, and using the real data when the project is rendered.

You can't do that for live television, but for anything else, the
editing software just saves the editing commands and renders the
project at a later time.

If you are really into this stuff, and want to see more, there is an
event that takes place in Amsterdam called IBC. I don't remember exactly
what time of year that happens, but you might find it interesting. You
can ask lots of questions of the engineers and manufacturers.

Yes, I went to the IBC for at three times in a row now.

However, the IBC is about video, not movies.

Last september was basically the first year that HD could be considered
mature. HD was everywhere.

I assume that next year will be about TV over the Internet.

I doubt that HD solutions are up to the standards of people who are
used to 35mm movies.

I think some people forget the labour costs involved in
making movies; these people are not getting minimum wage. I have yet to
meet an editor that was not well paid . . . very well paid.

But the barrier to entry is likely to be high as well.

DV is great for documentary work. You can easily have a two person crew
and do some good work. I don't think it translated well for features,
though some of the advocates of Dogme films seem to like it. I saw one
of those, and I thought it was a good story, but I did notice some
technical issues.

Well, it is consumer television standard. What do you expect.

There were a flood of people trying to get into features, documentary,
and other motion projects soon after the Sony VX1000 and Canon XL1 came
out. Then when Apple first introduced Final Cut Pro there was another
wave of people trying to get into the business. I think this has already
played out, and those that tried it largely found out that while it
seemed like the path to riches, it was more likely the path to spend
lots of money. The old saying of "if you want to make a small fortune,
start out with a large fortune" sort of applies here.

I don't know. Ever since consumer video cameras and (editing) video recorders
became affordable, people have been trying to make a living making low-cost
commercial documentaries, etc.

Some people have what it takes and they make a decent living. Other people
don't make it.

The interesting thing is that some people provide high quality results
and have to invest significant amounts of money to keep up with developments.

But other people manage to sell a much lower technical quality, and don't
have to invest as much.

I think that at the moment DV is more less the standard for semi-professional
SD quality video. If you got the money, you go for digital betacam. Below that,
there is not really anything other than DV.

Actually, DVcam and DVCpro, rather than DigiBeta. Sony are dropping the
digital betacam in favour of DVcam. DVCpro is actually the Panasonic
flavour of basically the same thing.

I think that SD is basically over except for consumer formats such as
DV/DVcam.

JVC now have an HD camera at a
reasonable price, and I think Panasonic are also entering that market.
You can probably put together a working kit for near $US 10k with some
minimal support gear.

I guess that for HD you want the equivalent of Sony calls HDCAM SR.

I'm not sure that spending 10k on HD equipment is a good idea. Most
likely there will be too many compromises to really enjoy the extra
resolution.

Some Dutch film makers do claim that the cost of 35mm film is a significant
part of their budget. But they also claim that the digital movie
cameras/systems they used were not there yet when it comes to quality and
ease of use during post processing.

On a production level, I have usually heard that editing was the
greatest expense. Either renting time on an editing system, or paying
someone who was good at it.

It sounds strange the editing a sequence is more expensive than recording
it. But maybe it is true.

So could you recommend a good Dutch movie to see? We have a couple
independent theatres locally, and they might have something coming up.
If you know of a DVD version, maybe I can find a rental.

A couple of examples of relatively recent movies:
- Off Screen(2005). A confused man takes hostages in the wrong building in
Amsterdam and kills himself in the end (this really happened). The movie
tells a surealistic story about how he got to this act.
- De Grot(2001). Thriller
- Minoes(2001). Childeren/family movie. A must see if you like cats.
- Zusje(1995). A young man visits his sister. But he sees everything through
his videocamera.
- Philleine Zegt Sorry(2003).
- Left Luggage(1998). Great film about orthodox jews.

Older Dutch movies:
- De Vierde Man(1983) Very surealistic movie.
- De Aanslag(1986) Movie about the effects of the actions of the Dutch
resistance during WWII
- Een Vlucht Regenwulpen(1981) The effects too much Protestant religion
can have on a person.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done
by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make.
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
.

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