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A few words about...™ CE3K -- in Blu-ray

post #1 of 73
1/6/08 at 12:12pm
Thread Starter 
Bringing CE3K to high definition (Blu-Ray) disc would not be a feat for the faint of heart if only releasing a single version.

To bring all three versions to BD disc at the same time, and on the same disc is begging asking for trouble.

But, with what must have been an enormous amount of technical planning, this release has come together without a hitch.

The film itself has not had an unproblematic history. Beyond it's overall scope and the sheer number of optical (pre-digital) effects shots the film stock chosen for those shots -- Kodak's CRI -- was stock known for it's quick fading characteristics. This is something that needed to be dealt with.

With the exception of a handful of shots which exhibit small technical problems which apparently could not be solved digitally, and an occasional blue sky which seems to have a bit of odd shading, this huge release has arrived in absolutely glorious form. Let me be clear, whatever problems there are miniscule and as far as I can tell, unavoidable.

CE3K is a most own disc -- a huge production, brought to high definition with the highest of quality, inclusive of the interweaving of all three different versions. On the audio front, be forewarned that sonically, this is a disc that will clean the lint out of one's speakers.

CE3K from Sony / Columbia Pictures comes Extremely Highly Recommended as one of the top high definition releases of 2007.

RAH
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray]
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post #2 of 73
1/6/08 at 8:41pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

WTF is CE3K???
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post #3 of 73
1/6/08 at 8:50pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

What the heck is "WTF"?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
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post #4 of 73
1/7/08 at 4:10am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Watched it some days ago. I think it looks like the film. In this case the original photography is such that maybe a third of all shots have blurry tops and bottoms from the anamorphic Panavision lenses. Only the middle part is in focus. I found it irritating. But that's how it was shot. :-)
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post #5 of 73
1/7/08 at 8:06am
Thread Starter 

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Anamorphic Panavision lenses are not blurry from top to bottom.
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post #6 of 73
1/7/08 at 9:47am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Thank you very much, Mr. Harris.

I agree wholeheartedly, and I was particularly amazed this title looks as good as it does in HD. I know time has not been kind to the particular stocks of that era, unfortunately (especially considering the exceptional quality of much of the content.) And if anything, I was even more impressed with the audio...kudos to Sony for not one, but two lossless audio presentations.

Watching the disc a couple months ago when it was released had a special resonance for me, having just returned from a marathon trip around the West which just happened to include a stop in Northeastern Wyoming at a particular monolith of note (not to be confused with a certain other monolith from a certain other sci-fi film of note.)
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post #7 of 73
1/7/08 at 11:22am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

I think this is an absolutely beautiful set. The image quality on this HD release is magnificent - one can now see Zsigmond's use of (what appears to be) a vignette filter in certain scenes.
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post #8 of 73
1/7/08 at 3:12pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michel_Hafner
Watched it some days ago. I think it looks like the film. In this case the original photography is such that maybe a third of all shots have blurry tops and bottoms from the anamorphic Panavision lenses. Only the middle part is in focus. I found it irritating. But that's how it was shot. :-)

Robert Harris is right Anamorphic Panavision doesn't have blurry tops and bottoms. They do tend to have a fairly shallow depth of field when compared to spherical lenses.
But the plain of focus is sharp across the whole frame unless a split diopter is used.

Doug
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post #9 of 73
1/7/08 at 5:33pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce
Robert Harris is right Anamorphic Panavision doesn't have blurry tops and bottoms. They do tend to have a fairly shallow depth of field when compared to spherical lenses.
But the plain of focus is sharp across the whole frame unless a split diopter is used.

Doug
While there is split diopter use, the "blurry tops and bottoms" is - what I think is - the use of a vignette filter.
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post #10 of 73
1/7/08 at 7:17pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Harris
On the audio front, be forewarned that sonically, this is a disc that will clean the lint out of one's speakers. RAH

Thank you! Maybe...FINALLY I can get my wife to STOP using the damn vaccum cleaner on my Paradigm Monitor 11s! Argghhhh!
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post #11 of 73
1/7/08 at 7:37pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

I have a dumb question. I love this disc, I love how it looks, in terms of retaining that "film" texture, how do they do that? Do they not use a Lowry type process, or do they just do it more carefully, or what? I'm just curious what the pipeline is, in general terms, from a 30 year old faded, problematic film stock to the final result.
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post #12 of 73
1/7/08 at 8:05pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Watched this just this past weekend and I was blown away by the picture (more impressed even than Blade Runner). I couldn't stop thinking "man, it looked like it was filmed yesterday. In fact, it looks even better than that!"
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post #13 of 73
1/8/08 at 4:41am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Harris
Anamorphic Panavision lenses are not blurry from top to bottom.
Of course not. But that's not what I said, was it. I said blurry top and bottom. And it's easy to see. Just watch the film and focus not on the middle but the top and bottom. Many shots are simply blurry on top and bottom. That is a fact. And the rest are not.
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post #14 of 73
1/8/08 at 4:44am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce
Robert Harris is right Anamorphic Panavision doesn't have blurry tops and bottoms. They do tend to have a fairly shallow depth of field when compared to spherical lenses.
But the plain of focus is sharp across the whole frame unless a split diopter is used.

Doug
Watch the HD. Many shots have a blurry top and bottom and are sharp in the middle. Others are sharp from top to bottom.
More here:
Cinematography.com - A Community of Film and Video Production Professionals
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post #15 of 73
1/8/08 at 5:38am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Felix Martinez
While there is split diopter use, the "blurry tops and bottoms" is - what I think is - the use of a vignette filter.

Well there are filters that will create a vignette effect. I don't remember seeing anything like that in Close Encounters. Where exactly are you seeing this in the film?

It could be that the matte box chosen for for a particular lens was just ever so slightly too small and was cutting into the edge of the picture. It could also be a side effect of all of the special effects shots being used in the film.

Also I really don't remember a split diopter being used much in the film either, except for maybe the scene in the trailer where they are interviewing Richard Dreyfuss.

Doug
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post #16 of 73
1/8/08 at 5:46am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michel_Hafner
Watch the HD. Many shots have a blurry top and bottom and are sharp in the middle. Others are sharp from top to bottom.
More here:
Cinematography.com - A Community of Film and Video Production Professionals


Thats part of your answer again right there. The matte box maybe too tight. when the lens is wide open the edges of the matte box maybe creeping into the frame.

Also a lens that appears to be very sharp all the way across the focus plain at f5.6, may appear to be slightly blurry at the edges at f2.0. And of course with the Anamorphic lenses anything that is not right on the focus plain becomes distorted because of the squeeze factor. This is why out of focus lights in the background appear to be oval in a film photographed with anamorphic lenses. Also lens flairs go oval too.

Doug
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post #17 of 73
1/8/08 at 3:50pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce
Also I really don't remember a split diopter being used much in the film either, except for maybe the scene in the trailer where they are interviewing Richard Dreyfuss.
I believe the Neary "mashed potatoes" dinner sequence also makes use of the split diopter.

And forgive me, as I do not know what filters Zsigmond used on CE3K, but there are quite a few shots were there is an oval-shaped area in the center of the frame which is sharp as a tack, while the periphery is blurry - like a vignette blur.
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post #18 of 73
1/8/08 at 4:05pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

I think the sound is more impressive to me than the killer video quality.

I also got a free motion picture soundtrack with purchase as a bonus.

This is stellar must own package especially for the $34 I paid for it.
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post #19 of 73
1/9/08 at 1:07am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce
Well there are filters that will create a vignette effect. I don't remember seeing anything like that in Close Encounters. Where exactly are you seeing this in the film?
Doug
Many times. If you have it watch and you will see. If you have and can't see I'll go back and get some time codes.
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post #20 of 73
1/9/08 at 4:45am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michel_Hafner
Many times. If you have it watch and you will see. If you have and can't see I'll go back and get some time codes.

I'm not doubting that you see it. I just haven't noticed it myself. I'll have to go back and take a look at it.

Doug
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post #21 of 73
1/12/08 at 10:40am

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

I thought this was supposed to have a PCM track...if it does I can't find it. My cheap bluray player doesn't do TrueHD or DTS-MA. The DTS-MA downconverted did still sound great though
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post #22 of 73
2/15/08 at 9:42pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

Is anyone experiencing audio dropouts while playing the TrueHD track? Out of the four Blu-Ray titles I have with TrueHD tracks, Close Encounters is the only one giving me trouble so far. The DTS-MA track plays fine, although my Sony BDP-S500 can only play the DTS core.

I suspected maybe the inexpensive HDMI 1.3a cables I installed were responsible, but I swapped them out for a better pair and the dropouts are still there. They seem to occur only during the most intense audio sequences (the flyover of Roy's truck, the police car chase, Barry's abduction, just to name a few).

Close Encounters is also the most complex of my four discs (longest load time), so I suppose there could be a compatibility issue. My player has the latest firmware available, however.
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post #23 of 73
2/16/08 at 5:20pm

Which one to watch first?

I just got the set and am wondering if someone could advise me as to which one to watch first having never seen the movie to begin with.

I mean it would seem to make sense to watch the original release first, but thought maybe in retrospect those of you aficionados of it might recommend a different order for a newbie to the film.
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post #24 of 73
2/16/08 at 6:30pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

I think the best version of the film is actually the most recent one - the director's cut. So I'd recommend that. Or failing that, the original 1977 theatrical release. The 1980 Special Edition contains a notable extra scene that, while spectacular, spoils a bit of the film's mystery (it was filmed at the behest of the studio), and was wisely dropped from the director's cut. I'd watch that last.

That said, you can't go wrong with any version of this masterpiece. They're all four-star films.

--Jefferson Morris
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post #25 of 73
2/16/08 at 7:53pm

Re: A few words about...™ CE3K -- in BD

I think a first time viewer should watch the original 1977 version; then, all subsequent viewings should be of the Director's Cut. The 1980 S.E. makes for an interesting take on the narrative and even though it is justifiably lambasted for stealing the audience's collective right to envision its own endings, as Jefferson Morris says, it does so as spectacularly as could be possible, so it's worth a look once the Director's Cut becomes comfortably familiar to you...
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post #26 of 73
4/7/10 at 11:47am
To me, the 77 version is vastly superior. Sometimes a director does need to be forced to finish his damned film. Shots of the ship in the desert and the UFO shadow passing over Neary's speeding truck are utterly unnecessary in the long run. What is great about the original theatrical release is the characters: rather than have an endless scene of Roy's noisy, cluttered and deeply unlikeable family, as we get in the SE and DC versions, we get Roy's toy train crashing into a ravine and a shot of him sitting back unhappily; that tells us all we need to know about his situation - toy trains are no longer doing it for him.

In the 77 theatrical cut, each character is dealt with respectively. Roy's situation is dealt with, then Jillian's, then Lacombe's, then they are all brought together at the end, a la Bridge on the River Kwai. The checker-boarding of their scenes in the two subsequent versions destroys the personal drama, it breaks up each persons' story just as it's getting underway and makes it feel like television. Adding the Cotapaxi scene and other little "cool" bits just turns it into a large screen Amazing Stories episode. All we ever need is the opening sequence with the planes because the pilots of those planes are the first to come off the Mother Ship at the end; full circle. 

Adding the family fight, with that ridiculous scene of Roy sobbing in the bathtub, deflates the family fight the following morning, when Ronnie leaves him because he's shoveling dirt into the house. Without that midnight battle, Roy's actions the next morning are all the more powerful and we can absolutely understand why Ronnie would take the kids and leave.

Close Encounters has a complicated psychology and telling the story as simply and linearly as possible makes it a beautiful drama, rather than a jazzy sci fi. The 77 cut feels like a complete human odyssey.
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post #27 of 73
4/7/10 at 6:16pm
Good comments, Sean, and hard for me to disagree with.  So I won't. 

Also, in case anyone wasn't aware of it, Wal-mart is now selling this for only $15.00.  A real bargain, if you ask me.

- Mark
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post #28 of 73
4/8/10 at 5:36am


Quote:
Originally Posted by 24fpssean View Post

To me, the 77 version is vastly superior. Sometimes a director does need to be forced to finish his damned film. Shots of the ship in the desert and the UFO shadow passing over Neary's speeding truck are utterly unnecessary in the long run. What is great about the original theatrical release is the characters: rather than have an endless scene of Roy's noisy, cluttered and deeply unlikeable family, as we get in the SE and DC versions, we get Roy's toy train crashing into a ravine and a shot of him sitting back unhappily; that tells us all we need to know about his situation - toy trains are no longer doing it for him.

In the 77 theatrical cut, each character is dealt with respectively. Roy's situation is dealt with, then Jillian's, then Lacombe's, then they are all brought together at the end, a la Bridge on the River Kwai. The checker-boarding of their scenes in the two subsequent versions destroys the personal drama, it breaks up each persons' story just as it's getting underway and makes it feel like television. Adding the Cotapaxi scene and other little "cool" bits just turns it into a large screen Amazing Stories episode. All we ever need is the opening sequence with the planes because the pilots of those planes are the first to come off the Mother Ship at the end; full circle. 

Adding the family fight, with that ridiculous scene of Roy sobbing in the bathtub, deflates the family fight the following morning, when Ronnie leaves him because he's shoveling dirt into the house. Without that midnight battle, Roy's actions the next morning are all the more powerful and we can absolutely understand why Ronnie would take the kids and leave.

Close Encounters has a complicated psychology and telling the story as simply and linearly as possible makes it a beautiful drama, rather than a jazzy sci fi. The 77 cut feels like a complete human odyssey.

I still have a soft spot for the 77 cut. I never really knew why, and I think you nailed it.

I watch this annually.  I find one afternoon when everyone's out of the house, turn off the phones, no interruptions, crank up the volume so the initial "sting" music cue before the Mexico sequence pushes my hair back like that Maxell ad, and I'm back in Dec. 1977.

Wonderful Blu-ray.  And it's a steal at the $15-$18 range which I've recently seen at Costco and other places lately.  I wouldn't be surprised if the current deluxe release gets retired for a 1-disc version sometime down the road.

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post #29 of 73
4/8/10 at 8:25am
Same here, guys, perhaps it's nostalgia - my preference for the 77 cut - but I don't think so. On Amazon, love for the 77 version is unanimous. It just feels like a complete film, a real movie. Both subsequent cuts feel like tedious tv movies.

Anyway, I could really go on dissecting the pros and cons of each version. I watch it several times a year, maybe three. I never cease to be amazed by the shot of Barry opening the door to the orange light; the sound on this blu ray nearly rattles my windows out. I love the film because the characters who are called to the mountain have imagination - the aliens reject the team of scientists and philosophers lined up in the orange/red suits and take Roy instead - because he built a train set. I love that!

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post #30 of 73
4/8/10 at 2:51pm
Count me in with those who prefer the 1977 version (although I do like the extension of the mashed potatoes scene--in fact, I thought that the longer scene worked very well in the novelization of the film, and when I read that Spielberg was working on the "Special Edition" I wrote him a letter expressing my concerns about what I had read, and asked him to please consider extending that scene in the film--the article I had read implied Spielberg was considering shortening or deleting that scene).

Here's a question that I asked sometime back in this forum or some other:  Does anyone recall Francois Truffaut saying the line "Run, Mr. Neary!" in a quiet voice, as he looks out the window watching Roy escaping toward the mountain?  I saw the original many times during its initial run, and this moment sticks in my mind very clearly.  Yet it is nowhere to be found on the DVD or Blu-ray.  What is there, though, is what seems to be a very crude transition in the soundtrack during that sequence, in the spot in which I believe the line may have been.  (Or was the line never there in the film, and perhaps what I am remembering is a line in the novel?)
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray]
$12.98 at
See it »