ExhiBrief: A Message to Exhibitors From Baz Luhrmann
5/24/01

Fox is sending out the following note on presentation to exhibitors from Baz Luhrmann, director of the studio's "Moulin Rouge," which played at two New York and L.A. theatres to sold-out crowds over the weekend (grossing $167,540 for an average of $83,770) and which goes wide on June 1:

To the Exhibitor,

Two points that I would like to raise about Moulin Rouge. Firstly the film begins in black before the Fox logo and you hear the sound of the audience murmuring. I mention this so that projectionists are aware of exactly what to expect.

I would like to make another point. As Moulin Rouge is a musical the sound level is very important and we have found that the show has been playing very well in various sized houses at 6.5 (on your sound meter), although in a very big space you may find 7 is appropriate. I know that you will determine the correct level in your particular house and I thank you for taking the time to make this adjustment.

I know that the most important moment in the film's life is in your hands and I pass on these remarks so that we can get the best results for our most precious audience.

Warmest Regards,

Baz Luhrmann
Director of Moulin Rouge

'The opening scenes are out of focus and dirty so as depict an old film. This is intentional. Please do not try to focus on these scenes' or some such thing...

Two points I will (sadly) make to Baz...

1. The multiplex kids don't focus the films anyway and...

2. They'll have the entire print scratched before you know it, so you could have saved your money on those scratchy effects.

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Cruel.

Joe -- you need to get back into the business and run a theatre that knows how to "Do Film Right".

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Theatres that provide proper training and incentive to learn the needed skills generally have excellent projection and sound. Their projectionists are encouraged to really care about presentation quality and make projection a career. Theatres that treat the projection room as a "revolving door" minimum wage job of threader and button-pusher, or an add-on to a busy manager's schedule, generally get what they pay for -- poor projection.

I agree that AGE has nothing to do with a person having the knowledge, skills, and passion (!!!) to be a good projectionist. A really good projectionist LOVES film (although it usually isn't their only love ).

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

I mean the 15 and 16 year olds who don't give a rats arse about what they are doing. They are out there and it is commonly known that they are, with a very few exceptions, not capable of seeing the job as anything more than that...a job. Hence, they do not care about what they are doing and are not attentive to the basics of the booth.

We ran the premiere here in Melbourne for Baz and Nicole Kidman. The initial tech. screenings were ran at 19fl centre screen. Fox requested some extra oomph so we ran at 21fl for the actual premiere screening. We had show prints and the film dazzled on screen.

As the film was only finished days before, we ran in Dolby Digital as the DTS was not ready.

I can't actually remember the last time a director asked for the SMPTE standard (196M I think)of screen luminence to be provided for his film. Most are so worried about the sound which varies so much from house to house.

I know that screenings of Moulin Rouge at other circuits here ran at around 12fl. Where does all the light go? Assuming the theatre is correctly equiped in the first place, add this up.

Old lamp 15%
Poor alignment 15%
Dirty mirror 10%
Dirty lens 5%
Dirty heat shield 5%
Dirty port glass 5%
Dirty screen 5%

I think you will agree I have understated the actual effect that many of these areas can have in reality, but the loss at this imaginary theatre is a whopping 60%!!!!

Is this your theatre????

Most theatres never guess with sound alignments and have good equipment to test and align. Unfortunately most theatres do just stab in the dark with light.

If you do not have a light meter, you are only guessing and have no hope of delivering to your audience the directors intention.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Obviously a poor illuminated film would compound such problems for the theatre going public. Generally Coburg's films are pretty well illuminated so I guess it was the film.

cheers Peter

It may be that your print of the movie is printed too dark, but ours absolutely glows! Even the darkest scenes are full of shadow detail and every detail is laid bare.