Speculation on 'Contact' - Design Impact of Chair (1 Viewer)

[Ken Chan]

A note on how this movie was supposed to end: was it in the book, or a proposed draft of the script where instead of Ellie going through the worm hole, the aliens actually sent Earth to another system.

That's not in the book. As I recall, in the book, there are five people that go on the trip, so the whole "who's the one person that gets to represent all of humanity" and "was she hallucinating" doesn't work the same. In fact, these are some of my least favorite changes, in a movie I really like overall.

I forget if the book has anything about the chairs. They may have made up that whole bit for the movie too.

 

[Max Leung]

The DVD is great - but it is getting long in the tooth! I'd gladly double-dip for a 2-disc edition with remastered video - the compression artifacts on a large screen TV is very obvious, particularly the night Arecibo scenes and the large array evening scenes.
Luckily, I had a chance to view a BS Hi HDTV version - 1920x1080i. I witnessed details I had never seen before - a gorgeous transfer at the maximum broadcast mpeg2 bitrate!
Let's hope the Blu-ray/HD-DVD version tops it...
It's a great movie - it doesn't age at all, despite the celebrity cameos.

 

[PeterTHX]

Just watched in in HD on HBO HD. Awesome!

Well, not too awesome for me. HBO HD has the nasty habit of broadcasting movies, such as this one, in mere Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround.
They have 5.1 capability! They broadcast a LOT in 5.1, except the films you'd EXPECT them to such as:
Titanic (WTF)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Face/Off
Fox, NBC, ABC all broadcast their features (past & present) in 5.1, Showtime too.
Boo HBO HD!

 

[Tino]

I agree Peter. Awesome was referring to the film.

I think that the reason those films are in DD2.0, and if you notice in their original OAR, is because HBO didn't master them in HD, otherwise they would have been cropped.

Thet received those masters from the studio. I think Michael Reuben explained this practice and can probably clarify it further.

 

[PeterTHX]

because HBO didn't master them in HD, otherwise they would have been cropped

That's ANOTHER thing that bugs the hell out of me.

HBO: right now the majority of HD watchers out there (the ones who really care about HD) are the ones who want things like 5.1 and (drumroll): OAR!

Showtime shows their 2.35 HD films IN letterbox 2.35. Both channels show 1.33 material pillarboxed to 4x3. Now why would HBO not letterbox when they pillarbox? An example is TNT-HD. They crop 2.35 and stretch 4x3 (because of this I rarely watch the channel).

I fear for Blu-ray. I was hoping that OAR would be OAR, period. But these HD channels showing 2.35 or 1.33 material cropped to 16x9 (1.78) shows we have a may have whole new generation of OAR fight ahead of us.

Enthusiasts who care about HDTV want OAR. If it's 2.35, show it 2.35. If it's 5.1, it needs to be 5.1. Showtime gets it. HBO does not.

BTW: I agree, the film itself is terrific. I will snap up the Blu-ray edition when available.

 

[Brett_M]

Chuck,

The China Syndrome is fun to shred but the explanation of how the reactor generates electrcitiy is pretty good. The rest? Well, let's just say that 3 Mile Island and that movie is reason why we have brown outs now.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

When I HEAR a reactor going wah-wah-wah-WAH, I have to laugh And to make it really simple, a nuclear reactor doesn't make electricity...it is just a hot rock. That heat is used to make steam, which is used to make electricity
I'm definitely shrinking my list on what I'll pay for in HD (too many damn DVDs), but Contact is near the top of the list.

 

[Brett_M]

Chuck,
I know how electricity is created. I just didn't want to bore the other readers of this thread
Since you opened the can of worms:
1. Uranium fission leads to
2. Thermal energy which
3. Water heated to steam
4. Steam turns turbines
5. Turbines turn generator (coil of wire in a magnetic field)
6. Electricity produced
That's mainly what my students learn from The China Syndrome...and the fact that it's main stars are superb and the movie is intense without a musical score.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I was still shorter
HOT ROCK!!!
How do the VFX look in HD? As good as they did in 1997?

 

[Kami]

Speaking of VFX (which still hold up), this was one of Weta Digital's first "big" projects.

 

[Sean Laughter]

Weta did the FX in "Contact"? I had no idea.

As far as the movie, the thing that struck me about the movie versus the book is that the movie is a much more "emotional" experience, whereas the book is a much more "intellectual" experience. I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's how the two different experiences played to me.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Not totally, WETA did a small portion. Most of the effects were done by SPI...Sony Picture Imageworks. Which I don't believe exists anymore. Zemeckis was a staunch supporter of PJ early on, hence his "throwing a bone" to WETA after The Frighteners. I have no idea what they did for the film, but I know the big stuff was SPI. They even had a logo and everything
And I do recall they really were good. The DVD has some excellent VFX features, including a Machine flyaround that I still love. I wish more folks did that with CG models.

 

[PeterTHX]

SPI won the Oscar for "Spider-Man 2" last year.

You better believe they are still around, Sony Pictures Imageworks is one of the biggest FX houses in Hollywood.

It was Warner's FX house that went away.

Industrial Light & Magic also contributed heavily to "Contact", but the bulk of the work was SPI.

 

[Kenshiro]

I also caught this the other night on HBO HD.

Still a great movie IMO, haven't seen it in 4 or 5 years. Forgot about the assembled talent of actors involved in this picture.

The HD transfer wasn't too shabby either, considering it's probably 7 years old?

It was disappointing that it was only broadcast in 2.0 Surround. IIRC, the DVD had a pretty good Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

That's right, Peter. I knew it was somebody. Is Dykstra the creative head of SPI (as Muren effectively is for ILM)? I knew Dykstra was the power behind Spidey...I was unaware the banner of SPI was still alive.

 

[PeterTHX]

Ken Ralston moved to SPI as a senior supervisor, and this was his first project there.

Zemekis had always used ILM as "his" FX house since "Back to the Future", where he established a working partnership with Ralston that resulted in:

The Back to the Future trilogy

Death Becomes Her (oscar)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (oscar)

Forrest Gump (oscar)

So when Ralston moved from ILM to SPI Zemekis followed.

Since "Contact" Zemekis & Ralston at SPI have done:

What Lies Beneath

Cast Away

The Polar Express

 

[Claire Panke]

I believe Weta was responsible for the "worm hole" sequence.

 

[PeterTHX]

I believe Weta was responsible for the "worm hole" sequence.

Actually, a lot of that was ILM. They played cleanup for the film the same way they did for "Titanic" and recently "The Chronicles of Narnia"

 

[Max Leung]

As far as the movie, the thing that struck me about the movie versus the book is that the movie is a much more "emotional" experience, whereas the book is a much more "intellectual" experience.

That is exactly what I felt! The book and movie are different yet complement each other perfectly.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

They played cleanup for the film the same way they did for "Titanic"

Easy Peter. ILM had four composite shots. FOUR. Four extremely difficult shots; they were farmed to ILM not because DD couldn't do them...but because DD had bigger problems (and not enough time), and ILM was the only house that had the experience and ability to create the composites in the limited time. You are overstating ILM's input on the big T to say they cleaned it up.