The Dark Knight Specs - Page 2

ATimson · 09-30-2008, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Swarce

Why does this bother me? Because I zoom the 2.40:1 image from my projector to fill my 2.35:1 screen. The 1.78:1 image will be outside of my screen dimensions. This sucks for me and anybody else with this screen setup. I will probably have to settle for the SD version of this movie!

Except you're not losing anything if you cut off that material above/below the 2.35:1 line--it was already cut off in theaters, and will be cut off on the SD-DVD.

Nicholas Martin · 09-30-2008, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATimson

Except you're not losing anything if you cut off that material above/below the 2.35:1 line--it was already cut off in theaters, and will be cut off on the SD-DVD.

That's not entirely true, because if you did a straight crop of the IMAX scenes certain things (Batman's head in the Sears Tower shot among them) would be gone.

Inspector Hammer! · 10-01-2008, 12:49 AM

Anyone who knows me even a little bit here knows that i'm all about maintaining the OAR of any film.

Having said that i'm wrestling with this one for mainly one reason, i'm afraid the jumping from 2.40:1 to 1.78:1 will remove my attention from the film. It seems that it would be pretty jarring with the film switching back and forth like that.

Again, they're maintaining the OAR of the IMAX dimensions and I appreciate that but I don't want to sacrifice the immersive experience of watching the film, either.

Also, I don't know what the bits means when it says "will thus recreate the IMAX experience at home"? I don't know about anyone else but I don't have a 3-story screen in my living room lol. It will recreate the IMAX ratio yes but it will not recreate the experience i'm sure.

Maybe it won't be as bad as that and it will be fine but i'm just thinking ahead, that's all. In the end I applaud them for doing this, they took the time to think about the integrity of both theatrical and IMAX ratios and you'll never hear me slamming a studio for that.

Roger_R · 10-01-2008, 09:29 AM

Quote:

This should have been done by seamless branching....
--John

Have to hold something back for the inevitable special edition.

Nicholas Martin · 10-01-2008, 01:30 PM

I'm sure we all have our preference in terms of which aspect ratio we enjoy over another, and I prefer the HD 1.78:1 /theatrical 1.85:1 AR.

I find that with those two being so close, it's easier (for me) to process everything happening on screen without having to look around to specific areas, something I find myself doing (and missing something as a result if something is happening elsewhere on screen) watching a 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 film. That opinion is based purely on theatrical viewings.

At home, of course that doesn't become an issue though I'm sure that one thing that will annoy me about the shifting AR will be the ghost images of the black borders on the plasma when viewing the IMAX stuff.

Josh Steinberg · 10-02-2008, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!

Anyone who knows me even a little bit here knows that i'm all about maintaining the OAR of any film.

Having said that i'm wrestling with this one for mainly one reason, i'm afraid the jumping from 2.40:1 to 1.78:1 will remove my attention from the film. It seems that it would be pretty jarring with the film switching back and forth like that.

Again, they're maintaining the OAR of the IMAX dimensions and I appreciate that but I don't want to sacrifice the immersive experience of watching the film, either.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw the film in IMAX (I had already caught the regular 35mm version a couple times) but I was worried about the aspect ratio changes being jarring or taking me out of the film as you described. Oddly enough, for me, the result was the exact opposite.

The way that it's shot, there are a few sequences that are entirely in IMAX, like the opening bank heist, that were absolutely spectacular in the IMAX-sized frame. I've seen the Blu-Ray release of that sequence on the Begins disc and I think the look and feel of it carried over particularly well.

There are also a bunch of single shots in the film that were in IMAX, establishing shots, exteriors, aerial shots. These are the ones where I was more worried about being pulled out of the film; I figured with a full sequence, after a second or two I'd be over it. Again, my experience was opposite what I expected: the larger IMAX-sized exterior and aerial shots made the world within the film seem absolutely giant, and cutting to the 35mm footage actually made me feel like I was now being drawn into this world.

(A perfect example of this was the Hong Kong sequence; we first see Hong Kong in IMAX, we see Fox landing in IMAX and walking into the LSI building in IMAX, but when it cuts to Fox meeting with Lau in a restaurant area, it's regular 35mm. And it actually makes sense, because this is a little scene with two people talking, and the transition just works right; then, when we see Batman standing on the top of the Hong Kong skyline preparing to jump, it switches back to IMAX and we're again reminded of how much larger than life Batman is.)

I know it might not be for everyone, and I completely agree that seamless branching should have been used to give the viewer the choice. That said, I don't own an HDTV or a Blu-Ray player. (I do have a projector that I'm very pleased with, and that handles my cable's HD broadcasts spectacularly.) The IMAX version of the film was such an experience and such a joy to watch that this will probably be the release that makes me buy a Blu-Ray player. Whether it's in full 1080p or downconverted to 480p on my machine, having seen the film with the IMAX sequences in it, I don't ever want to see it without them again.

Just my two cents.

Nicholas Martin · 10-02-2008, 12:17 PM

The biggest surprise to me was the sheer amount of sequences in IMAX. I never expected the entire SWAT/Joker/Tumbler/Batpod chase sequence to be completely IMAX, or the entire skyscraper/sonar fight.

Absolutely incredible.

It may be only 42" on my TV (believe me if I could afford a projector I would) but that's plenty for me to enjoy.

I hope that when people actually see it, everyone will be pleasantly surprised.

Zack Gibbs · 10-02-2008, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicholas Martin

The biggest surprise to me was the sheer amount of sequences in IMAX. I never expected the entire SWAT/Joker/Tumbler/Batpod chase sequence to be completely IMAX, or the entire skyscraper/sonar fight.

I read that they became so comfortable with the IMAX cameras they ended up using them far more then they had planned on. Many of the Non-IMAX scenes were still shot using the IMAX cameras, they just didn't choose to emphasis them with the open frame.

Douglas Monce · 10-02-2008, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!

Anyone who knows me even a little bit here knows that i'm all about maintaining the OAR of any film.

Having said that i'm wrestling with this one for mainly one reason, i'm afraid the jumping from 2.40:1 to 1.78:1 will remove my attention from the film. It seems that it would be pretty jarring with the film switching back and forth like that.

The aspect ratio of Imax is NOT 1.78:1, but rather 1.44:1. If they are presenting the Imax segments at 1.78:1 then they are clearly not using the OAR.

Doug

Inspector Hammer! · 10-02-2008, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

The aspect ratio of Imax is NOT 1.78:1, but rather 1.44:1. If they are presenting the Imax segments at 1.78:1 then they are clearly not using the OAR.

Well, that sucks.

I didn't see the film in IMAX so I didn't know what the OAR was for it to be honest.