A Few Words About A few words about... Gone with the Wind (1 Viewer)

[stephen la]

if anyone else is still interested in seeing the digital projection for free. as mentioned above by GerardoHP, I got that link above to work by changing the GWTW in the url to lower case.. a registration forum comes up.. it asks for guild association.. do I just leave that blank? it looks like they only have openings right now for sat & sunday at noon
click below for the updated link.
www.theculverstudios.com/gwtw
is it just the new dvd projected on a screen or something better? thanks Gerardo!

update!
I signed up for the screening ..was instructed I would get emailed tickets and directions.. but receieved nothing.
man was I bummed.. I have to wait till xmas before I can watch the dvd

 

[GerardoHP]

No, they're not just projecting the new DVD. According to what they told me, they're using a high definition tape that is the same as the source for the new DVD. The picture is, as you can imagine, ultra sharp and crisp. It's showing at the studio in 2 theaters, one is the same theater where David O. Selznick looked at rushes for his movies, including GWTW. The other is the slightly bigger Thomas Ince theater. Both are good.

 

[Michel_Hafner]

What was this projected with? A 2K projector? Were there
black bars to the left and right of the picture? These
projectors don't have 4:3 aspect ratio but 16:9. For these
old films there should be full aperture 2K projectors
(2048*1536 pixels). Actually, if this was a 4K restoration they should have a 4K projector.

 

[GerardoHP]

David Tomlinson, who is one of the studio's new owners and who was hosting the event dressed as Rhett Butler, told me that the studio has DLP projectors but (and I'm paraphrasing here) since DLP projectors wouldn't have showcased the extremely high quality of the tape they were given by WB, they had to bring in new projectors for the occasion -- and here's the part I'm not sure of -- I think he called the projectors 8K or something like that. In fact, I think he said the tape was an 8K tape, but I may be wrong.

The film was shown in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio with black bars on the sides and what appeared to be the same stereo sound mix as the DVD.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Gotta chime in with the news that I have got the dvd at last.

Very impressed with the booklet

I will chime in later with my thoughts

 

[Roger Rollins]

I was there, too.

It was jaw-dropping.

The DVD itself is jaw-dropping, but seeing it projected this way, WHERE IT WAS FILMED (!) is an awe-inspiring experience.

Kudos to Warner Bros. and the new trustees of the former Ince/DeMille/Selznick/RKO/Desilu/Culver lot for doing the greatest film of all time proud!

..and by the way, if anyone reading this hasn't purchased the DVD yet, you are robbing yourself of the finest DVD presentation of any film, classic or recent, yet released. I'm fully convinced of that now.

 

[GerardoHP]

Perfect description. That's exactly how I felt.

Now I wish they would re-release the film, even if on a limited basis, so that others would have the chance to see it that way.

 

[Roger Rollins]

Perhaps they will Gerardo. I hope they will.....

Meanwhile, in case they don't, the new DVD is a revelatory experience for those who 'tthink' they've seen the films already.....but there is SO much story to be revealed.....

 

[Michel_Hafner]

Ok, that tells me it was a 2K DLP instead of a 1K DLP of the old kind (2048*1080 pixels instead of 1280*1024). So there was horizontal and vertical resolution missing since the original digital master is at least 2048*1536. There are no 8K projectors or sources. No 4K projectors outside of labs as well. That will change next year, though.
I'll see the digital projection soon in London at a BFI event about digital restoration of classic films. Should be super interesting.

 

[GerardoHP]

So, Michel, are there projectors that are able to show 2048 by 1536?

 

[Michel_Hafner]

I'm not aware of any digital cinema projectors that have 4:3 aspect ratio and could show full aperture 2K. The coming 4K models can show it by upscaling the 2048*1536 to 2730*2048, setting 4096-2730 pixels to black evenly on both sides. That's the best you can expect for a long time.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Watched it at last. Gorgeous.

I almost miss the misregistration and the multicolored specks resulting from dirt being on one of the three strips of negative. Almost.

I found only one restoration quibble. In the fade from black to the scene where Bonnie has the pony accident, the color of Rhett's coat as he walks out of the house pops from one color to another (drastic color changes from one frame to the next, then back again) until the fade is complete. Not in a photochemical fashion, but as if the automated digital color correction didn't get the by-hand tweaking that I'm sure was lavishly applied everywhere else. Looks like the filter was set to make certain adjustments at certain brightness levels, and those thresholds were reached at several-frame intervals instead of every frame within the fade.

That's it! Not bad at all.

Historical question: for the original theatrical release, did the overture, entr'acte and exit music have an onscreen title over a freeze frame, or was it simply black leader (or the projector bulb turned off/curtain closed)? What we're seeing now is a digital freeze of a single frame, which probably takes up less bitspace than letting the encode bother with thousands of visibly identical but technically unique film frames in a row.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Most theatrical films, including Gone With the Wind, had overtures and exit music played against a closed curtain on black leader. I remember seeing negative dust on the curtains at one point and that was my first clue that the overture music was actually on the film itself and not just music being piped into the theatre.

West Side Story and Star! are two rare instances in which overtures have accompanying picture elements. And you would never see a card bearing the word "OVERTURE" in a theatrical screening!

 

[Roger Rollins]

The cards over the Overture, Entr'acte, Exit Music are a product of the video/TV age. In the theater, the curtains were closed......

 

[Jay Pennington]

Thought so. Thanks!

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Great to see such positive remarks from Mr. Harris on this new set.

It's my wife's favorite movie, so I went ahead and ordered it as a Christmas gift. This is a title I certainly don't mind "double dipping" on!

 

[Cees Alons]

... and the double dipping leaves you with an excellent demo of how the DVD medium evolved further in only a few years!


Cees

 

[Robert Harris]

The mis-registration that Mr. Pennington mentions may have been part of an optical or near a splice, neither of which is going to pull together. This is not a "flaw" in the new process.

Another example of a film with an "on-screen" overture is My Fair Lady.

RAH

 

[BarryR]

Didn't WEST SIDE STORY have a kind of onscreen overture too before the actual film started?

 

[ScottR]

I was literally in tears watching this new dvd, and not just from the film itself. I felt as if I were viewing an antique portrait, while at the same time marveling at the marvelous technology that allows me to view the film in this way. I can't describe the feeling I got watching this set. I was transported back in time to a creative period in Hollywood history. And for four hours, I sat riveted at the love and care put into this release. There truly hasn't been anything like it. When the Ultra-Resolution Oz arrives, I will honestly feel as if my collection is complete, because I will have the two crowned jewels of my movie-loving life looking and sounding better than they ever have before. David, Victor, George, Clark, Vivien, Leslie, Hattie, Butterfly, and all the rest would have been very proud, and I'm sure mesmerized just like the rest of us.