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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Topic: New 2001 OCN (elements)70mm prints.
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Victor Liorentas
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 800
From: london ontario canada
Registered: May 2009
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posted 03-28-2018 12:41 PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/christopher-nolan-present-2001-a-space-odyssey-cannes-films-50th-ann iversary-1098021
'2001: A Space Odyssey'
The festival will be getting the world premiere of the unrestored 70mm print of the 1968 masterpiece.
Christopher Nolan will be heading to Cannes for the first time this year, but not with a film of his own.
The director will be on the Croisette to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, introducing the world premiere of an unrestored 70mm print edition of the film.
The screening will take place on Saturday May 12, and is set to be attended by Kubrick's family, including his daughter Katharina Kubrick and long-time producing partner Jan Harlan.
"One of my earliest memories of cinema is seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 70mm, at the Leicester Square Theatre in London with my father," said Nolan. "The opportunity to be involved in recreating that experience for a new generation, and of introducing our new unrestored 70mm print of Kubrick’s masterpiece in all its analogue glory at the Festival de Cannes is an honour and a privilege."
For the first time since the original release, the 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative, without any digital tricks, remastered effects or revisionist edits.
"Stanley Kubrick in the official selection! It is a great honour for the Festival de Cannes to host the 50th anniversary celebration of one of the most extraordinary films in the history of cinema. And to welcome to the Festival for the first time Christopher Nolan, whose presence creates a precious bond between past and present, without which cinema would have no history," said Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux. "We are looking forward to this unique 70mm projection which will prove, if proof were necessary, that cinema was indeed invented for the big screen."
Nolan will also participate in a Cannes Masterclass on Sunday May 13, during which he will discuss his award-winning filmography and also share his passion for the work of Stanley Kubrick. 2001: A Space Odyssey will return to select U.S. theatres in 70mm beginning May 18, 2018.
“I’m delighted that Cannes has chosen to honour 2001: A Space Odyssey," said Christiane Kubrick. "If Stanley were alive today, we know he would be in admiration of the films of Christopher Nolan. And so, on behalf of Stanley’s family, I would personally like to thank Christopher for agreeing to introduce this very special screening."
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David Kornfeld
Film Handler
Posts: 24
From: Cambridge, MA/USA, USA
Registered: Apr 2017
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posted 03-29-2018 07:51 PM
Okay, more info: 2001
quote:
Not So Fast On That 70mm “2001” Mastering
It’s been announced that Cannes Classics will host the world premiere of an unrestored 70mm print of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey on Saturday, 5.12.18, in the midst of the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival.
A new but not restored 70mm print of 2001, struck from “new printing elements made from the original camera negative”, will be shown. An official festival release says that the idea is to “present the cinematic event audiences experienced 50 years ago.” The 70mm Cannes print, created by Warner Bros. with supervision by director Chris Nolan (who will introduce the film at the special Cannes screening), “is a true photochemical film recreation — no digital tricks, remastered effects or revisionist edits.”
Sounds like a reasonable idea, but restoration guru Robert Harris (Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, Spartacus, Rear Window) says “non…c’est des conneries. C’est pour les nerds de cinema.”
The new 70mm print they’ll be showing in Cannes “will not look like 2001 did in 1968,” Harris claims. “My problems with the project are not with what’s being done, or how it’s being done. It’s with the verbiage of the press release. It can’t be an authentic recreation of how the film looked 50 years ago for any number of reasons. Color stocks, black levels and grain structure are different now, color temperature of the lamps has changed but can be adapted. They were using carbon arc lamps in ’68 and they aren’t now, and on top of everything else the film stock is different — the stock used for original prints was a stock that arrived back in 1962. And so the images will ironically look too clear.”
(Harris is speculating, for example, that Cannes audiences might see that Dr. Heywood Floyd‘s floating pen is actually mounted on a circular piece of lucite or glass, which the original ’68 film didn’t have the resolution to deliver.)
“What they show may be beautiful — I’d like it to be — but they’re not working from the original camera negative, which has been badly damaged,” Harris explains. “They’re working from ‘new printing elements’ taken from the original negative, which basically means a fourth-generation print. All original prints were struck from the camera original. They won’t be using the original film stock that the original 2001 was printed on, which was Eastman 5385, a 1962 film stock, that had appropriate film grain to the way the film had been designed. So it’s not off the negative, they don’t have the original film stock, and they’re be making it off a dupe rather than using 4K or 8K files.
“All of that noted, stocks are so good today that the fact that a print is fourth-generation may not matter.”
Final Harris thought: The promising news is that FotoKem, the lab producing the elements, does superb work, so in the end everything should look wonderful, if a bit shop-worn. Most important thing is that the skies must be black, black, black!”
2001: A Space Odyssey will also return to U.S. theaters in 70mm beginning on 5.18.18. But why not in uprezzed IMAX, fellas? 2001 freaks worldwide would cheer this.
Mr Harris certainly always knows what hes talking about.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 05-25-2018 07:03 PM
And now the bad news: Attended the 10:55pm show at the Village East Cinemas. Never been there before. Fairly nice restoration of what must have been a very impressive Yiddish Theatre in its day. After admiring the architecture, I then do notice that the screen and masking (yes, at least there was masking) seem to have been just propped up against the wall as and after thought. No curtain of course, and the screen is silver so I know no matter how good this 70mm image is going to look, it is going to have a hotspot.
That said, it's all minor stuff, because after I encouraged all the professors in the Film Department and the young techs there that they HAD to experience a 70mm presentation of this masterpiece, and then dragging two of my colleagues into the Manhattan from Brooklyn at a little more than an hour before midnight to watch a 3 hour movie...how embarrassed and astonished was I to find a picture that was out of focus on 1/3rd of the right side for the entire THE DAWN OF MAN sequence, and it remained soft overall throughout.
This certainly was not what 70mm should have looked like. Was this the fault of this newly minted print? I can't imagine Chris Nolan would have been OK with it ever being released if this was the best all that work could produce. So let's assume it was the lenses, the projector gate, whatever, and not the print. Lets assume the weave and jitter, though not terribly bad, was also the projector and not the print.
Next comes the second half and the lopsided focus is somewhat improved, but only to the extent that it is even, but still very soft across the screen. I (and my colleagues) sit and watch a picture that is not even as good as a 35mm print. So much for all the blah blah bah I had done about the incredibly sharp image they would see watching 70mm FILM.
Now the REALLY bad news...the horror actually: probably about 10 min into the second half after the Intermission, comes two parallel scratches in the MIDDLE of the effen image; two about a foot apart and then soon after, two more show up a couple of feet way from the first set of train tracks. These black lines remained for the rest of the film, scarring the bright image of Jupiter and playing across the Victorian room and poor aging Bowman's face and then across final image of the Star Child. My friends could hear me gasp when they first appeared and them moan softly as they stayed forever.
How is it possible for a print to get damaged so soon after only playing a week? Stupid question -- if the projectionist doesn't have a clue or the equipment hasn't been serviced in decades, a print can get ruined after one showing. This whole experience, especially seeing that print condition and an image that looked NOTHING like the 2001 I knew and loved gave me cramps in my stomach for three hours.
Luckily these aren't emulsion scratches (but give this theatre another week), and I assume some Film-Guard can to some extent minimize these scratch lines, but the idea that a brand new 70mm print can't last pristine for more than a week says something about the state of affairs even in NYC when it comes to the level of technical expertise available for film presentation. It almost makes it seem like all that work and love that Chris Nolan poured into this project was for nothing. Or maybe Warners should be more careful where they book these expensive prints.
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David Kornfeld
Film Handler
Posts: 24
From: Cambridge, MA/USA, USA
Registered: Apr 2017
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posted 05-25-2018 09:25 PM
I'm really sorry to be the one to have to state the obvious, but it should come as a surprise to exactly nobody that these prints are going to get damaged; some of them heavily; and many of them almost immediately. As Ive said -- exhaustively -- on a different forum, in interviews, in the press, blah blah blah, almost nobody working a booth these days knows how to handle this supremely unforgiving format anymore. There are a few -- a precious few -- scattered about who still do. But those few will not be the ones handling these prints throughout the entirety of their runs, so expect all of them to wheeze back to Warner in a disastrous or semi-disastrous state. Thats simply how things are these days. It's awful, but there it is.
You cant spend forty years busting unions, firing operators, forcing them to retire, replacing them with floor staff, & then wonder why the skills they had no longer exist & your elements are getting trashed. Occam's Razor applies here: it's a simply case of cause & effect. I mean, duh.
Mr Angel: I feel for your crummy experience; I really do. If you want to see it done right, come to Somerville any time from 1 - 14 June. Bring your friends. The picture will be sharp, bright, & clear. Unless someone at the Music Box screws up (highly unlikely), the print will be in excellent shape. I know it's a bit of a trek, but itll be worth the effort, even though we dont have a huge curved screen here.
There are members on this forum who will vouch for my presentation. And Mr Angel: itll be my treat.
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