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Topic: 13th Warrior in IB Tech

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-23-1999 04:29 PM

Buena Vista is releasing select prints of "The 13th Warrior" in the IB Tech matrix dye transfer process. I have just heard from my booker (who went out of his way to get one...thanks to Mr.Beck!) that the Galaxy will be receiving one.

These prints can be easily detected by the edges, as they are black and white stocks with 3 "layers of color" (to put it simply) added to it to produce magnificent colors! The last such print I ran like this was Bulworth and was fantastic!

Hopefully these prints will make a comeback. Anyone else get one? They are apparently far and few.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 08-23-1999 05:42 PM

I haven't received my print yet, but I want an IB Tech, although I am sure I won't get one. If I do get one, it's a damn good thing that I have FilmGuard since I am running Christies. Actually, come to think of it, we had an IB Tech print of Gone With da Wind and it looked awful, as if one of the colors (red) was printed slightly out of alignment or something. And I don't think that the shedding was all that bad. I hear IB Tech prints are supposed to shed like no tomorrow. We had Bulworth and it shed like no tomorrow, but the edges were normal color, if I remember correctly, and the image didn't look too fantastic. So I doubt that was IB Tech. Oh well, I can always hope. Enough rambling for now. More later.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-23-1999 06:31 PM

Sounds like the matrix on your GWTW print was off alignment. As to shedding, yes they will shed like no tomorrow. Anyone run a recent black and white film on polyester stock? It'll have the same shedding...but with vibrant colors.

We ran Bulworth in IB for (I believe) 5 weeks...using FilmGuard of course. We didn't wipe the projector down once in the entire run. No need to. No shedding.

Similarly, we've ran titles with FilmGuard such as Schindler's List, Ed Wood and that recent Woody Allen Celebrity movie. No shedding whatsoever. Prints all looked perfect throughout the run.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-24-1999 04:13 PM

Are the IB Tech prints the ones with the letters "YCM" printed on the tails of the reels instead of the word "CONTACT"??

I've often suspected that there were some prints in IB.
"Lost World" and "Con Air" were two of them. I'm not sure why but the "look" of them was different and the film just had a different "feel" to it.

Is "modern" technicolor made the same way as they used to (Three-strip camera) or do they use a regular camera and make color separations out of the camera neg. ?? I was told that the latter way was being used exclusively due to cost.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-24-1999 09:04 PM

The three-strip Technicolor process (three B&W negs exposed in camera) hasn't been use since the introduction of Eastmancolor negative in the early 1950s. IB prints continued to be made from seps off of Eastman negs until the early 1970s (at Tech Hollywood; Tech London and Tech Rome kept making IB prints for several more years, which explains the much-sought-after British IB Tech prints of Star Wars).

The way to tell if a print is in IB is to look at the soundtrack; it will appear to be greyish (like it would on a B&W print) rather than black. The soundtracks are printed first onto B&W stock, then the silver is bleached out of the rest of the film (the "silver mine in the lab" that some authors have referred to--Tech recovered the silver and sold it for high prices in the 1970s!), and the dye-transfer process is used to print the picture. I doubt that Con Air and Lost World were printed in IB Tech, since the process was in its early stages of (re) development at that time.

For anyone who is interested, I can recommend Haines' book "Technicolor Movies," published in the early 1990s. It's not up-to-date with the latest reincarnation of the process, but it has a fascinating history of IB printing and the company itself, along with technical information and photographs of the machinery.

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Aaron Sisemore
Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day!

Posts: 3061
From: Rockwall TX USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 08-24-1999 09:52 PM

Randy:

I doubt that there were any IB prints of Con Air or Lost World, This is the first time I have heard anything of it: I think Scott Norwood had a list of the post-95 features that had IB prints made ( lets see if I can remember soem of them now

Bulworth
GWTW Reissue
Wizard Of Oz reissue (the 1.33 prints, not the 1.33-in-a-1.85-frame ones)
Apt Pupil

( I know there were more)

As far as the ETS labels they would read 'MATRIX' or 'IB' on tha label, and TES usually uses the green label and the words 'IB DYE' on the labels for their prints...

Aaron

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Aaron Sisemore
Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day!

Posts: 3061
From: Rockwall TX USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 08-24-1999 09:55 PM

Additionally: The YCM's on the tails are NOT a good way to tell if they are IB- The Eastman prints of 'Oz' had the YCMs just like the IB prints did, albeit in the letteboxing... The give-away is the SDDS track ( if it has one) being monochrome grey rather than cyan based like an Eastman print... or the sides of the print being obviously B/W...

Aaron

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Christopher Seo
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 530
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-27-1999 04:44 AM

I am very happy two say both prints our theater got are IB Tech... nos. 79 and 88. We didn't ask for them...perhaps we have a knowledgeable booker. Does anyone know the number of IB Tech vs. regular prints in this case?

It surprises me that the gray soundtrack produces acceptable sound. Is there no leak-through of light? And why *is* the soundtrack gray instead of black? Do all IB Tech prints have a soundtrack like this?

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Christopher Seo
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 530
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-27-1999 04:46 AM

And by the way... the leaders of these IB Tech prints say both "YCM" *and* "CONTACT PRINTER"... I suppose the IB Tech printers are considered contact printers..?

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-27-1999 05:38 AM

I got print #69. Perhaps 1-200 are all IB prints???

Anyway it was a fabulous print! Just beautiful! I REALLY hope the studios continue with this!!!

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 08-27-1999 04:35 PM

Too bad the movie sucks. I noticed that the cameras seemed to have different film stocks or settings in them, as it kept jumping back and forth from grainy to fine.

We had an IB Tech print of Apt Pupil once. It didn't look that great.(Nothing notably special about it - except the insane shedding). I guess you could say that I have never seen a good looking IB Tech print (We also had Gone With The Wind which looks awful). We didn't get an IB Tech of Antonio Banderas, but oh well. Maybe someday the studios will get smart and use this process on good movies---movies that people come to see. Bulworth didn't do well, and neither did Apt Pupil or Gone With The Wind.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 09-13-1999 01:24 AM

Christopher Seo and all others who are running a dye transfer print of "13th Warrior"...

How are the prints holding up? Shedding problems? Static? Sticking? I've heard many bad reports from others running such prints and am curious how this run fares.

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Christopher Seo
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 530
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-13-1999 05:58 PM

The prints have run quite well (and this, without the benefit of FilmGuard). Shedding is pretty low, maybe better than most color Kodak prints. For some reason, this film is almost the only one to leave a waxy (rather than the usual 'crusty') buildup on the bands in the gate. Toward the end of the show the film can stick (on Neumade platters) but this has never been a major problem, I suppose due to the humid climate where I live. Still, I was surprised to see them doing so well.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 09-14-1999 06:39 AM

I believe that Technicolor is now edge-waxing their dye-transfer (IB) prints, per Kodak specifications and SMPTE Recommended Practice RP151. If so, that would explain the slight "waxy" buildup and improved resistance to projector abrasion and shedding.

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