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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Movie Theatre Preference? Digital or film projection? Imax?

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phillr

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I've been visiting my local AMC lately as i've become enamoured with it's digital projection. My first time there I thought it was alright. But then I watched the same movie at a film projection theatre and suddenly all the scratches, dust, etc... was a huge distraction for me (my friend's didn't notice).

Am I becoming too picky? I'm not a Red-head, not too familiar with 4K vs. film et al. But if you had the option to see a movie in digital or film projection, what would you choose? Disregarding technicalities like sound system, 'type' of projector, cost, etc....

What also comes to mind is the new Batman coming out. To tie in to my previous question, would it be 'better' (finicky term I know) to see it in digital projection, or in an Imax theatre?
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phillr.blogspot.com
 
Have a new AMC theater close (1 month Old) all 12 screans are with Sony 4k. Screened Hancock the other day and although it looked amazing in digital 4K. Having worked with the RED for a awhile IMO I think it would have looked even better if was captured on RED or just digital.
 
I am having difficulty trying to figure out which screens are digital projection when planning a trip to the movies. For example, I would like to see a 2K projection of Wall-E in orange county. How can I find digital sceens and showtimes?
 
I think for the most part if it isn't advertised, then it's in film.
For me, the local AMC bills itself as an all-digital theatre (4k or 2k is unknown).

The other theatre chains advertise as having 'some' digital screenings. For them, I have to scan the individual showtimes on the *corporate webpage*. The webpage has seperate listing for digital screenings. Don't know whether such differences showup in the local newspaper/printed showtimes
 
Sometimes if you go to the actual websites for the theater chain, they list which screens are digital. Sometimes. Otherwise, you may just have to start taking note that "Theater 8 in so-and-so theater seems to be set-up for digital" etc.

I saw "Wall-E" in the theaters in a film print -- when you mentioned some sharpness problems before, you didn't mention that it was a scope print. Not only does the movie artificially mimic anamorphic focus problems, but many theaters cannot focus an anamorphic print across the screen with edge to edge sharpness. The one where I saw "Wall-E" had problems of that nature -- the center was sharp but not the left side.

At least with the spherical lens on a digital projector, a 2.40 image will probably be more evenly sharp from side to side.

I saw a few minutes of "Get Smart" to check out the Genesis photography and it seemed just OK compared to the 2K D.I. (probably) of the film-shot "Don't Mess with the Zohan" playing next door... a bit muddier maybe but similar. So I went back a few days later at another theater to watch more or "Get Smart" and it looked much sharper and richer. Took me ten minutes to realize that this was a digital screening.

All the best-looking screenings of Genesis-shot movies have been the digital screenings.

I have this belief that IF no film-out will be done, 2K/HD resolution is fine for 2K projection in most theaters. It's really in the film-outs and dupes to release prints where starting out with a 4K image seems to survive the loss in the chain better. And since nowadays you have no idea how your movie will be shown, starting out with 4K seems safer if you can afford it, though most movies use 2K for their D.I.'s. I just think that's a bit of a compromise. But 2K for digital projection seems fine for most moderate sized screens.
 
I'll say that I've seen a lot of horribly projected film prints- grainy, scratched, gate weave, bulb set too low, soft focus, fringing, incorrect aspect ratio, etc. I've seen very few if any botched digital projections. So I'd have to say digital. IMAX is typically tasty too though of course rarer.

Noah
 
Projector age...

Projector age...

cinepost35 said:
Have a new AMC theater close (1 month Old) all 12 screans are with Sony 4k. Screened Hancock the other day and although it looked amazing in digital 4K. Having worked with the RED for a awhile IMO I think it would have looked even better if was captured on RED or just digital.
Click to expand...

The thing I am most concerned about with digital projection is the aging of the projectors. The DLP projector we have here is several years old, and seems to be getting dim so the brightness was turned up or something, anyway the blacks are washed out, and the highlights clipped. What will the projector look like five years from now?

With film its just light and lens, the image forming part is as fresh as the print even in a projector that is 100 years old.

Several of the smaller theaters around here are now projecting with video projectors. One I went to was showing SD (I know this because they said so)! There is talk of showing DVDs in the repertory theaters, in one case that is what was shown, in another BetaSP tape.

I went to see two movies a few weeks ago, "A Four letter word" (2007) was shown in blasted HD video projection and "The Fall" (2008) on film, by far seeing "The Fall" on film projection was a far more pleasant experence the yellows, reds, and blacks were better, its like looking at an oil painting vs. an Ipod. The video projection has some issue with the screen also that makes an unpleasant feeling in the eyes, maybe it needs a UV filter?

IMAX was great, but most of the big movies that end up on IMAX are digital blowups and do not have the shapness of the first IMAX demo movies that came out years ago.

70mm is better than just about anything when the projector is in focus if you get a good print and projector, too bad it is a dead format. I just saw "Brainstorm" (1983) in 70mm here, and the titles were better than anything you can get with digital printing now, perhaps, no visable alaising super sharp and clean (unlike the recent Star Wars movies).

If the 4K projectors are maintained I guess it is a "good thing" but if not then we end up with the old video projector look... dusty smoked optics, lamp on the way out, and lens out of focus, brightness turned up no black and clipped whites, fogged colors from the mirrors being burned.

From the stand point of a low budget (no budget) filmmaker, if I make a 35mm print I can "four wall" and get it projected anywhere, but with digital there maybe DCI roadblocks to getting the work shown or at least needless expenses that would prevent the work from ever getting shown in a theator.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
I have this belief that IF no film-out will be done, 2K/HD resolution is fine for 2K projection in most theaters. It's really in the film-outs and dupes to release prints where starting out with a 4K image seems to survive the loss in the chain better. And since nowadays you have no idea how your movie will be shown, starting out with 4K seems safer if you can afford it, though most movies use 2K for their D.I.'s. I just think that's a bit of a compromise. But 2K for digital projection seems fine for most moderate sized screens.
Click to expand...

So are you gonna push for a 3K filmout on Manure? :)
 
phillr said:
But then I watched the same movie at a film projection theatre and suddenly all the scratches, dust, etc... was a huge distraction for me (my friend's didn't notice).

Am I becoming too picky?
Click to expand...

What is a "film pro-ject-ion"? Is that how cavemen used to watch movies?

Kidding aside, what bothers me more than the scratches and dust is the wobble of the projector (left-to-right jitter... I forget the correct term for it). Sometimes it's really bad, other times tolerable, but I've never been to a theater without it. Of course, what's really funny is when there's wobble in the original film footage cut with un-wobbly footage. Alternates between smooth and wobble with each cut.

Then there's the lower resolution of a release print. It doesn't pull me into the movie as well as a frame with greater detail. I'm really looking forward to 4K.

I've only been to a handful of film projections in the three years since they opened Cinetopia. I'd pay $20 to go there if I had to, but don't tell them that, because I like paying $7.25.
 
Digital... all the way!

I have a movie theater 10 minutes from my house that only has film projectors. I drive 45 minutes to see the same movies projected in 2k on Christie projectors.

The colors are so much cleaner... there's virtually no grain.

I can't stand the "look" of film on the big screen.

-Thor
 
Considering that The Dark Knight has some key action scenes shot in Imax, would it be better to see the movie in Imax or digital projection?
 
Movietickets.com lists digital showings but they are dependent on the theater providing the information. Some theater companies like National Amusements proudly display their digital showings while others don't. My personal preference is for digital but I haven't any idea how often or even if any of the local theaters get maintenance as they are always moving the projectors around.
 
I prefer my home cinema (1080p high contrast projection in ideal room) to cinemas concerning image and sound quality. Cinemas don't measure up with regular prints. 2K DLP is nice but the black levels are still poor. Same for 4K SXRD/DILA. The best are EK prints in professional screening rooms, closed to the public, unfortunately.
 
The video projection has some issue with the screen also that makes an unpleasant feeling in the eyes, maybe it needs a UV filter?
Click to expand...
Maybe what you're seeing is moire from the projector's pixels not being blurred out enough?

(my friend's didn't notice)
Click to expand...
I think most people just don't notice the difference... and I think in the end, it's what most people think that's important.

Though I think digital projection and 3-D will likely be the way of the future... most people like it more (and obviously you can't not notice it).
 
4k Sony...

4k Sony...

I went on a tour of our of the projection area of our local AMC. 12 4K Sony projectors.

The projection manager said there is no real way for the general public to know if they are going to screen something 4K, 2K or film.

It isn't theater specific either. Each of the theaters has both a film and a Sony projector installed on a track. Roll the Digital projector in for digital, roll the other projector in for film.

I was kind of disappointed to see all of these 4K projectors with no 4K content either!?

Everything (including WALL-E) was at 2K.

I am hoping Hellboy is 4K, but I don't know how to find out - other than calling up the projection manager and asking him to check the file?

Dylan Macleod
Cinematographer
Toronto, Canada
www.dylanmacleod.com
 
I saw Sunshine in 4k at the Landmark in Westwood. It looked amazing! So far though the only other thing I've seen has been Across the Universe, which kind of blew, but looked great in 4k.
 
dmacleod said:
I am hoping Hellboy is 4K, but I don't know how to find out - other than calling up the projection manager and asking him to check the file?
Click to expand...

The only current release - and one of the very few releases ever, at least to date - to go out in a 4K DCP is Hancock. Hellboy, like just about every digital release, is being sourced from a 2K DCP.

The hype of 4K and the reality of 4K, at least in terms of real-world theatrical distribution, are worlds apart.
 
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