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Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

post #1 of 9
9/25/08 at 9:46am
Thread Starter 
An excerpt:
Quote:
David Phillips, who works on DVD Development for Criterion, told me that "We're offering people the ability to see what is essentially 95% of the visual quality of our high-definition tape masters, something that we've dreamed of for a long time." After all, these guys have been working with digital masters that clock in at about 2K resolution for some time, which is far higher than HD. "As good as standard-def DVD looks, we've been looking at these HD images for so long and feeling like it's a shame that we can't share this." HD is the way most of these films are meant to be seen, and the people at Criterion get visibly excited when talking about the possibilities.

But with that huge uptick in resolution for the consumer, Criterion is faced with a lot of problems that they didn't have when their masters were converted to standard definition for DVD. After all, they're often dealing with old films, created before there was fancy low-grain filmstock and digital processing. And with the technology they have today, how much restoration and processing is too much?

Really, the mission of Criterion is "trying to replicate the original experience of seeing that movie when it was first released," according to Phillips. While they certainly have the ability to process old films until they look like they were shot on a DV cam, that's not the goal.
And their plans for releases:
Quote:
Criterion is releasing its first Blu-ray films in November, starting with The Third Man, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last Emperor, Bottle Rocket and Chungking Express. They plan to release two films a month in Blu-ray next year, with HD releases ramping up as sales shift from DVD to Blu-ray.
Criterion Collection: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD
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post #2 of 9
10/15/08 at 11:51am
Thread Starter 

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

From Criterion's blog:
Quote:
Naturally, the primary goal was to make the transfer of the feature itself as faithful to the filmmakers’ vision as possible. Ideally, that’d be a piece of cake, considering that all of the creative talents associated with Chungking are alive and well today. But at the time that production of the disc was under way, Doyle was wrapping up his directorial effort Izolator/ (a.k.a. Warsaw Dark), Wong was busy redux-ing his martial arts meditation Ashes of Time, and I just didn’t have any luck getting in touch with the other cinematographer, Andrew Lau. There were lots of close calls and “almost there” possibilities, but in the end nothing gelled. (Although, thankfully, I did get word from Wong’s associates that the film should definitely be presented in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio.) I kind of felt like Chungking’s Cop 223, always being separated by an infinitesimal 0.01 cm from getting lucky.

Anyway, the Express production kept chugging along—our standout MTI department executed a Herculean restoration job on the picture, Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns recorded a breezy commentary that fits the movie’s spirit perfectly, and a British TV program containing excellent mid-’90s interviews with Wong and Doyle turned up (thank you, David Thompson!)—but basically we had to do our best with the feature master, based upon visual references recommended by Jet Tone Productions, Wong’s company.

Fast-forward—or, to mirror Wong’s cinematic language, jump-cut—to a couple of weeks ago, when we heard Doyle was in New York working on the latest Jim Jarmusch picture. (Pretty great the way all these talents in the collection just crisscross each other, isn’t it?) That’s right, the hardworking DP was actually in the Big Apple.

Now, by this point, we were already at our initial DVD-R and BD-R stages for Chungking. That means that . . . we were done. Basically, we just had to go through the discs and check them to make sure there weren’t any errors or problems.

But the prospect of getting Doyle’s stamp of approval on our transfer was too tantalizing, and important, to let slip by. So our tech director, Lee Kline, contacted Doyle and persevered until he got the cinematographer to find time in his hectic schedule to swing by and check out the results of our work. Not surprisingly, Doyle did request some changes, ones that only someone closely involved with Chungking’s overall visual presentation would’ve known. They weren’t anything too major: dialing out some green in a few shots, warming up Kai Tak airport interiors, fixing a couple of skin tones. Still, it meant we’d have to “start over” to a certain extent, inserting those fixes and reauthoring both the standard def and Blu-ray discs.

But it was a price worth paying. Not only did we get Doyle to sign off on our presentation of the film, but we also had the chance to meet a bona fide cinema visionary, one who happens to be a total riot in person. Lee likened him to Keith Richards, and I have to say that it’s a dead-on comparison. We were treated to some pretty hilarious stories of Doyle’s transcontinental adventures (believe me, he’s had plenty of them) and a bit of insider gossip to boot.

So, even though it’s unfortunately too late to include this important bit of info in our printed packaging, let the news break here first: cinematographer Christopher Doyle approved the Chungking Express transfer. And thank you, Mr. Doyle, for helping to make what I truly believe to be the best possible DVD presentation of this much-beloved film.
Check out the rest of the article :

On Five: The Criterion Collection Blog
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post #3 of 9
10/15/08 at 1:45pm

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

I posted this a few weeks ago, but it's a good article!
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post #4 of 9
10/15/08 at 2:30pm

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

I have a pre-order in for Chungking Express as I'm a Kar-Wei Wong fan but have never seen that movie. Which of the other initial Criterion titles are a good bet? I've seen Bottle Rocket (two snaps, "hated it") and probably caught Man Who Fell To Earth on TV at some point but don't recall it in detail. I'm tempted to go with The Third Man since that is a touchpiece that's been referenced so often in other works.
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post #5 of 9
10/15/08 at 2:56pm

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

Good too know!
"TLE" is a OAR battle royal; here's "CC's" take:
On Five: The Criterion Collection Blog
Here's HTF's review of the "CC" SD DVD:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...t-emperor.html
Here's DVDBeavers comparison of SD DVD's:
The Last Emperor - Bernardo Bertolucci
wonder why the difference in PQ between the "CC" theatrical & TV?
No wonder this title is in OAR hell! :-0
(even tho 2.0:1 is my fave AR)
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post #6 of 9
10/20/08 at 7:35pm

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent Hutto
I have a pre-order in for Chungking Express as I'm a Kar-Wei Wong fan but have never seen that movie. Which of the other initial Criterion titles are a good bet? I've seen Bottle Rocket (two snaps, "hated it") and probably caught Man Who Fell To Earth on TV at some point but don't recall it in detail. I'm tempted to go with The Third Man since that is a touchpiece that's been referenced so often in other works.

For me...the must haves are The Third Man, 400 Blows, Walkabout and The Man Who Fell To Earth.

The Third Man is one of the best movies ever made.
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post #7 of 9
10/21/08 at 6:32pm

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

OK, so I've preordered Chungking Express and The Third Man and would definitely like to get Walkabout which I've always read about but never seen. I'll think about The Man Who Fell to Earth one day but the prospect isn't really thrilling at the moment. And 400 Blows is one I ought to see before I die but have never worked up any great urge, maybe the Criterion Blu-Ray will provide the impetus.

Thanks, Claire.
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post #8 of 9
10/22/08 at 12:08pm

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

The following is speculation my part.

If you have any interest in The Man Who Fell to Earth, you should pick it up sooner rather than later, because I don't think Criterion will have the rights to it for very much longer.

Criterion licensed the film from Anchor Bay, who licensed the film from Studio Canal. Anchor Bay had licensed a lot of Studio Canal films and most of them are now, or will soon be, OOP and have been/or will be rereleased by Lionsgate. (In fact, on the SD DVD front, Lionsgate will be rereleasing The Wicker Man in January and I expect Anchor Bay's editions to go OOP. So, if anyone wants the 2-DVD version you should pick it up now because it seems like Lionsgate is only releasing the 88 minute version.)

Now, if The Man Who Fell to Earth is one of the Studio Canal titles that is now, or will soon be, with Lionsgate, Criterion's release will go OOP. (Unless, Criterion was able renew the license directly from Studio Canal or Lionsgate, but I wouldn't risk it.)
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post #9 of 9
10/23/08 at 5:54am

Re: Gizmodo: How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD

Well I redid my Amazon pre-order to get The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Third Man and of course Chungking Express which is the real prize of the bunch. I also added The Last Emporer, aspect ratio cavils notwithstanding, because I remember it being quite a spectacle in its original release and even with its framing squeezed down it should be awesome. My wife has never seen it.

When the next batch come available I'll get Walkabout and probably 400 Blows and that ought to just about tap out my classic movie budget for the next good many months. Thanks to all for the suggestions.
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