http://www.rushprnews.com/2008/08/22/academy-to-salute-akira-kurosawa/
Looking forward to the Blu Ray. :)

Yes, hopefully they will take advantage of this and release a nice Blu-ray version as soon as possible. I assume Criterion would release it in the US, maybe BFI will do the honours for Region B.

Think Rashomon was always a bit over-rated. Much rather have a cleaned up Seven Samurai or Kagemusha or Ran....or anything else by Kurosawa to be honest.

I stumbled into your question on another forum Michel. They wouldn't need to do anything unusual with the scanning.

They would be limited in what they could do with regard to grading because of the already limited dynamic range of the print material but you can't get a pint out of a half pint pot. They should have been able to get decent results even with a print : always assuming what they ended up with was the best the film can possibly ever look regardless.

Also because its B/W I'm pretty sure its not quite the same scenario as today's low contrast negative stock with lots of dynamic range ending up on high contrast print stocks with limited dynamic range.

I think/suspect the print stock wasn't that high contrast ( more limited dynamic range) relative to the negative stock. So using a print wouldn't be as disadvantageous in terms of dynamic range recovery as a modern day scenario. It would be more like an IP....possibly.

(I) ...think Rashomon was always a bit over-rated.

Funny, that's not the way =I= heard it!


Sorry, film nerd joke...;)

Regarding 4k scan, won't someone think of the trees! TREEEEEES!!!!

Think Rashomon was always a bit over-rated. Much rather have a cleaned up Seven Samurai or Kagemusha or Ran....or anything else by Kurosawa to be honest.

Any is welcome to me. Ran would be especially welcome since the current released HD is atrocious. But even more than Kurosawa I want Ozu restored in 4K.

I think Throne of Blood and Ugetsu should get 4k restorations! But I'll definitely get Rashomon on blu-ray...once it is confirmed to have grain and no DNR of course!

Not to sound too anti-PC, but the earlier kurosawa art films have always had too much talking. And they're black and white. (Yes, I said it).

FWIW, I thought Ran and especially (Yume [dreams]) would translate much better to highdef.

I did enjoy all the kurosawa films, though I think they stand well alone by themselves without all the hype from the afficianados. The hype actually detracts from the enjoyment of the movies by themselves, and Rashomon is likely one of the ones with the lowest budgets (read, forget about eye candy here, people's eyes, how they move their mouths, through each retelling of the same store from different perspectives, that's what Rashomon is about) Because Rashomon was Kurosawa's first award winner, people speak glowingly about it to the point where there's just no way to criticize this film without sounding like an oaf. Rashomon's a great movie, but it's got flaws, just because it's in a foreign language doesn't mean it gets a free ride. It is not perfect! In fact, it's kind of boring to the kids, even though I find it fascinating. Observant people can even point out that the chinese movie : Heroes uses the same story telling method with much greater production values (read : nice eye candy, nice colors).

Dreams, I always enjoyed --- this is like a series of eastern-themed Twilight Zone stories done with incredibly beautiful scenery. This movie is probably more suitable to the highdef format than Rashomon ever could. And, Dreams is in color. And people don't talk as much.

Think Rashomon was always a bit over-rated.

WHAT? Rashomon... that 1951 Japanese film that nearly revolutionized cinematic storytelling and paved the way to Modern Cinema is getting a 4k treatment? :p

That's great news! On my opinion, if you have to start somewhere, Rashomon is a great place to start! :)

Here's one frame from Yojimbo master print in 6K. :)
http://www.ramjetfilms.com/peter/ARRI6K/0000400.tif

Here's one frame from Yojimbo master print in 6K. :)
http://www.ramjetfilms.com/peter/ARRI6K/0000400.tif

jeez! 130mb file :eek:

Here's one frame from Yojimbo master print in 6K. :)
http://www.ramjetfilms.com/peter/ARRI6K/0000400.tif
Very interesting, thanks!

I made a mockup of what it could look like on Blu-ray:
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/7500/yojimbo1080pmockupfinux2.th.png (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yojimbo1080pmockupfinux2.png)

I'd buy it. :)

If this is the entire frame it also seems to confirm that the OAR of Yojimbo, and most likely Sanjuro, is 2.55:1, and Criterion needlessly cropped them to 2.35:1 on the latest DVD re-issues. Hope they won't do that if they release them on Blu-ray (and it is noticeable in some shots compared to other more correct releases, as Kurosawa placed characters far out to the sides.)

Very interesting, thanks!

I made a mockup of what it could look like on Blu-ray:
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/7500/yojimbo1080pmockupfinux2.th.png (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yojimbo1080pmockupfinux2.png)
If this is the entire frame it also seems to confirm that the OAR of Yojimbo, and most likely Sanjuro, is 2.55:1, and Criterion needlessly cropped them to 2.35:1 on the latest DVD re-issues. Hope they won't do that if they release them on Blu-ray (and it is noticeable in some shots compared to other more correct releases, as Kurosawa placed characters far out to the sides.)


It's almost certain 2.35:1 is correct for this film. Although the aspect ratio for 35mm anamorphic changed to 2.35:1 after the introduction of Cinemascope prints with optical sound tracks around 1955, it was not uncommon for the actual in-camera aperture to still expose the full silent area (which would be covered up by the sound track on the final print). This extra in-camera width is likely what you're seeing, as this scan is from a master positive, not a final release print.

Well, as far as theatrical presentation goes, I guess it would likely have been shown in 2.35:1, but I'm still not convinced that was intended instead of just out of necessity. If you check the Sanjuro comparison here (http://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4082), in my mind the composition on the R1 version isn't as good. Particularly the person to the far left in the first, third and fourth shots gets awkwardly cut off/crammed into the picture, as well as the window in sixth one. In the R1 version it is just barely visible, so you don't know quite what it is, which makes it annoying.

Well, as far as theatrical presentation goes, I guess it would likely have been shown in 2.35:1, but I'm still not convinced that was intended instead of just out of necessity. If you check the Sanjuro comparison here (http://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4082), in my mind the composition on the R1 version isn't as good. Particularly the person to the far left in the first, third and fourth shots gets awkwardly cut off/crammed into the picture, as well as the window in sixth one. In the R1 version it is just barely visible, so you don't know quite what it is, which makes it annoying.


I'm seeing some extra space on the left side of the image in the R2-Japan caps... almost precisely the area that would be covered up in an actual print. If any transfer is technically wrong, it's the Toho one.

http://www.rushprnews.com/2008/08/22/academy-to-salute-akira-kurosawa/
Looking forward to the Blu Ray. :)

What...no 10K?... :D

-THTS

If this is the entire frame it also seems to confirm that the OAR of Yojimbo, and most likely Sanjuro, is 2.55:1, and Criterion needlessly cropped them to 2.35:1 on the latest DVD re-issues. Hope they won't do that if they release them on Blu-ray (and it is noticeable in some shots compared to other more correct releases, as Kurosawa placed characters far out to the sides.)

Toyoscope, Kurosawa's preferred anamorphic medium, was an "ordinary" scope format with an AR of 2:35:1 (CinemaScope, Panavision, et al).

To my knowledge, both Yojimbo and Sanjuro were shot with that aspect ratio and not in the 55mm 2:55:1 AR format, which was Fox's first anamorphic widescreen effort (The King and I, et al); they subsecuently settled for the 35mm CinemaScope film format. Cinerama also sported that AR... ;)

-THTS