R Harkness
12-02-07, 06:50 PM
I recently caught the new theatrical release of BladRunner. One of my all time favorite films. Given the goals and design for my new Home Theater room - moving to projection - is running constantly through my brain I couldn't help but also muse on the experience of seeing that film projected in a commercial theater.
First about the new director's cut: Despite how much I love the film I've always viewed it as a glorious failure. I was a fanatic about Ridley Scott's previous big sci-fi flick, Alien and eagerly awaited BladeRunner. But when I first saw it, while I was astonished by the visualization of the future and the effects, I found it fairly flat and uninvolving over-all. My main experience was of disappointment. B
But then I started to go back and view it again (I almost always used to go see a movie more than once)...but with changed expectations. I'd gotten over the initial disappointment with some of the pacing, acting, plot etc and would go back just to experience the world created within that film. And as I did...over and over and over...the rest of it grew on me. I saw it countless times as it kept coming back to the theaters, and saw it every time it came to our local IMAX theater.
For me BladeRunner is THE movie I think of when I imagine my projection based home theater. The idea of reproducing the cinematic effect of entering it's world, as I did in the theater, is a constant barometer so I always test out a projector with portions of that movie. A display has to reproduce the film-like, gorgeous, dark atmosphere of that movie to make it into my consideration.
And BTW, while I'm generally not one for re done directors cuts and all their typical bloat (nor do I lie awake ruminating on how awesome it would be to see scenes they cut out of the original movie), this directors cut was very cool. Subtle but reasonable changes through-ought and the new sound track and sound mix was terrific - great new sounds for the "spinners" flying around and a very dramatic sense of new dynamics in the mix.
But on to the visuals - it was projected film. (The cinema is outfitted with 70m, but I'm not sure yet if it was projecting 70m or 35m). This is a well maintained movie theater and the projected image was just gorgeous! Some residual rope lighting along the aisles could be seen to raise the black levels on portions of the screen, but generally the black levels were pretty good...close to one of the new LCD projectors, by eyeballing it.
And creamy, noise-free, solid shadow areas for the most part.
While on a "home theater" level of criteria I could ask for better black levels...hey...it's film projected in a commercial theater....the contrast and brightness struck me as almost ideal. By that I mean there was plenty of punch to the image: the lights of the city and flying spinner vehicles, the bursts of fire in the opening shots, where all dynamic and had great "life" and believability to them. And it did this without abandoning the film-like look and turning into "video." As a cinema buff I love that. Film has that special organic quality, it somehow captures something very "right" and organic about real life objects, while at the same time giving a sense of "otherness"...of a dream or an artists other world. A perfect marriage of believability and fantasy that makes it effortless for me to lower my guard and luxuriate in the story and cinematography.
But a lot of consumer displays, with blazing brightness and sharpness, can give me the sense that movies shot on film have suddenly become movies shot with hi-def video cameras. Hi-Def video (that is, without any film-like modifications) is completely awesome for a sense of clarity and realism; for making you feel you are watching an animal show or a sports event through a window. But that same unvarnished realism and clarity for me works against the fantasy aspect of film making...like how regular NTSC video never had that artistic quality and always felt cheap. Or like you were watching actors in a play, vs a fully realized dramatic "world."
So I was enthralled by that quality: a wonderful sense of richness and life, but without looking neon-bright or video like. THAT's really what I'd like to see with movies shot on film in my projection set up. (I'd add that I don't have a problem with some movies having a realistic you-are-there appearance. It does work for some films).
I also sat at two places - up front where the image was huge, and then closer to the back. When up front of course there was that immersion factor. For sheer see-into-it size it did the entering-the-world-of-blade-runner thing wonderfully. All the ships,buildings etc felt life-sized. And I didn't necessarily find it a chore to watch.
However, the image was somewhat soft. But it didn't bother me. In fact it helped me realise that, while I appreciate any consumer display's ability to do a sharp image like the next guy, for my goal getting a rich image in terms of contrast and convincing black levels easily trumps getting the last vestige of sharpness.
That said, when I moved to the back of the theater the image did tighten up and look sharper.
I can't wait for this to come out in HD and I'm going nuts not actually having a projector and theater to watch it in yet.
That's the end of my musing. Just sharing....
First about the new director's cut: Despite how much I love the film I've always viewed it as a glorious failure. I was a fanatic about Ridley Scott's previous big sci-fi flick, Alien and eagerly awaited BladeRunner. But when I first saw it, while I was astonished by the visualization of the future and the effects, I found it fairly flat and uninvolving over-all. My main experience was of disappointment. B
But then I started to go back and view it again (I almost always used to go see a movie more than once)...but with changed expectations. I'd gotten over the initial disappointment with some of the pacing, acting, plot etc and would go back just to experience the world created within that film. And as I did...over and over and over...the rest of it grew on me. I saw it countless times as it kept coming back to the theaters, and saw it every time it came to our local IMAX theater.
For me BladeRunner is THE movie I think of when I imagine my projection based home theater. The idea of reproducing the cinematic effect of entering it's world, as I did in the theater, is a constant barometer so I always test out a projector with portions of that movie. A display has to reproduce the film-like, gorgeous, dark atmosphere of that movie to make it into my consideration.
And BTW, while I'm generally not one for re done directors cuts and all their typical bloat (nor do I lie awake ruminating on how awesome it would be to see scenes they cut out of the original movie), this directors cut was very cool. Subtle but reasonable changes through-ought and the new sound track and sound mix was terrific - great new sounds for the "spinners" flying around and a very dramatic sense of new dynamics in the mix.
But on to the visuals - it was projected film. (The cinema is outfitted with 70m, but I'm not sure yet if it was projecting 70m or 35m). This is a well maintained movie theater and the projected image was just gorgeous! Some residual rope lighting along the aisles could be seen to raise the black levels on portions of the screen, but generally the black levels were pretty good...close to one of the new LCD projectors, by eyeballing it.
And creamy, noise-free, solid shadow areas for the most part.
While on a "home theater" level of criteria I could ask for better black levels...hey...it's film projected in a commercial theater....the contrast and brightness struck me as almost ideal. By that I mean there was plenty of punch to the image: the lights of the city and flying spinner vehicles, the bursts of fire in the opening shots, where all dynamic and had great "life" and believability to them. And it did this without abandoning the film-like look and turning into "video." As a cinema buff I love that. Film has that special organic quality, it somehow captures something very "right" and organic about real life objects, while at the same time giving a sense of "otherness"...of a dream or an artists other world. A perfect marriage of believability and fantasy that makes it effortless for me to lower my guard and luxuriate in the story and cinematography.
But a lot of consumer displays, with blazing brightness and sharpness, can give me the sense that movies shot on film have suddenly become movies shot with hi-def video cameras. Hi-Def video (that is, without any film-like modifications) is completely awesome for a sense of clarity and realism; for making you feel you are watching an animal show or a sports event through a window. But that same unvarnished realism and clarity for me works against the fantasy aspect of film making...like how regular NTSC video never had that artistic quality and always felt cheap. Or like you were watching actors in a play, vs a fully realized dramatic "world."
So I was enthralled by that quality: a wonderful sense of richness and life, but without looking neon-bright or video like. THAT's really what I'd like to see with movies shot on film in my projection set up. (I'd add that I don't have a problem with some movies having a realistic you-are-there appearance. It does work for some films).
I also sat at two places - up front where the image was huge, and then closer to the back. When up front of course there was that immersion factor. For sheer see-into-it size it did the entering-the-world-of-blade-runner thing wonderfully. All the ships,buildings etc felt life-sized. And I didn't necessarily find it a chore to watch.
However, the image was somewhat soft. But it didn't bother me. In fact it helped me realise that, while I appreciate any consumer display's ability to do a sharp image like the next guy, for my goal getting a rich image in terms of contrast and convincing black levels easily trumps getting the last vestige of sharpness.
That said, when I moved to the back of the theater the image did tighten up and look sharper.
I can't wait for this to come out in HD and I'm going nuts not actually having a projector and theater to watch it in yet.
That's the end of my musing. Just sharing....