Prometheus...

[Antonio Ribeiro]

Visually, an amazing film. And RED 3D footage really, really shines. As for the script, it was a really bad film... really, really bad.

 

[Alex D. da Silva]

Looks good but the film is mess and really boring!!!

 

[Alex D. da Silva]

God! No longer please, enough is enough!

 

[Matthew Bennett]

Watched it last night... my god, terrible script for a companion piece to Alien. The top minds in Hollywood too, how did they mess this up?

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

I'm against editing in RAW. I Accept working in raw (obviously) only on grading.
in RAW you can't scrub at the same speed as you do with Offlines and that's is vital for some editors. I'm not talking of realtime playback but scrubs a 4 minutes clip in 2 seconds just to see what happen in it and see 50 random frames, not 5.
With offline you could use smaller and slower drives at the editing and keep the raw on a secure big raid.
probably on this film they have 200TB of hi-speed raid for editing but it's not really necessary if you transcode.
debayer should be done for creating proxies and for grading, not for the long editing process. EDL are there to allow you this

Ah, they're using four rigs, not three, and there is a fifth rig on steadycam when needed.

Oh, I see! If this was my experience I would not use Raw editing either! I use Premiere Pro cs5.5 on an i7950 based computer with Mercury Playback Engine. I jump around timelines that are hours of content and scrub without issue at 1/4 playback / pause resolution. So I am fortunate, I guess. If there was even a fraction of a second of delay I would not use it this way.

Hard drive space hasn't been an issue because I can hold many hours of footage on my 2tb raid. For a movie the size of Prometheus, they could easily afford a large fast raid. But to each their own.

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

So sad to hear the script is bad! I am so impressed with Rapace and Fassbender that it actually really bums me out! ... I still plan to see it, just to hope against hope.

 

[Alex D. da Silva]

Both Fassbender and Rapace are good. At least they do their best with a profoundly non-sensical script.

 

[ChrisLyon]

I doubt any companies are working in anything larger than the production specs except a couple shots for some odd sampling reason. Production hands out delivery specs at the beginning and that's how everyone will work/deliver their shots.

2.2k VFX resolution, shot at 2:1 for options in IMAX and 2.35 traditional cinema, digital 3D, and film prints. So, essentially both versions of the movie are cropped. Jim and others have spoken to the advantages of 2:1 several times for this exact purpose and by all accounts, this seems to be the intention of Scott and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski. For Prometheus, they shot 2:1 and only used 93% of the frame so they could have room for digital fixing of the convergence among other things.

http://electronicdesign.com/article...takes-flight-cuttingedge-vfx-technology-73934

There are no 4k 3D IMAX venues that I'm aware of. If there are, they are few and far between. Most IMAX Experience venues use dual Christie 2k projectors powered by DLP technology. Even traditional 3D cinemas with a 4k projector generally run 3D at 2k, so unless there is a specific venue touting 4k 3D or you are seeing a dual strip 70mm 15 perf, you won't see the full quality. Even if you do, the VFX were completed at 2.2k and with 1300 VFX shots, that's a lot of the movie running off of that 2.2k plate.

That said, I saw it last night and I was amazed. There is quite a bit of detail and I wasn't feeling the crunch the way I usually do in IMAX Experience screenings. However, I'm sure that just means a 4k screening (if the VFX had been finished at 4k) would be simply amazing.

Edit: For those wondering, the IMAX Experience was 16x9, not 2:1

 

[Paul Korver]

I went to see it at my local Vue. Despite them bombarding you with their 4K projector marketing, the film definately wasn't in 4k. Its quite misleading. It would be great if there was something at the start of the movie so you'd know what you're paying for.

Despite that, the film was pretty good. Some of the 3D was the best i'd ever seen, the rest was the usual mix of being either distracting or unnoticeable/pointless. Shallow dof seems to be the killer for me.

Dave

Pretty frustrating. Dave... you may want to join/like this TRUE 4K CINEMA facebook group dedicated to bitching about (and hopefully changing) this very issue.
http://www.facebook.com/TRUE.4K.CINEMA

-Paul

 

[Leo Ticheli]

Had it not been for my naive hope that it would somehow improve instead of getting worse with each scene, and my respect for Ridley Scott, I would have walked out of Prometheus.

The usual disclaimer; opinions vary, but I am very disappointed. No, shocked; and a bit embarrassed for Mr. Scott.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

 

[Les Dittert]

I saw it in Imax 3d, at Universal City.
Image quality: Some very noticeable white sharpening halo's around the dark characters against light backgrounds at start. Only distracted me for a short while, I am very forgiving of these things.
3D: Nice, little discomfort. I forgot about it for most of the movie, didn't call attention to itself.

Plot: Weak, too many belief suspension moments for me. Silly stuff like saying ' nice snake .... ' yea right.
Ship crew: Seemed like they didn't know each other before the trip. As if they picked them up in front of a Home Depot for the mission.

Fun to watch. Should sell moderately well to teens.

 

[Leo. C. Rogers]

OK... here we go. Ridley Scott. Prometheus. EPIC 3D. Trailer due out this week. Incredible.

We began this journey to build cameras to change the world. I can't think of a better payoff for our efforts than to have Ridley shoot and release this movie.

Ridley is one of my all time favorites. Blade Runner is my favorite movie. Alien is all world. To have Prometheus "Shot on RED" is such an honor.

Watch.

Jim

I just watched Prometheus. I watched it with my wife who is a decade or so younger than me. She left the screening with some questions. I left with all my expectations met. I'm forty or so. Been waiting a long time for this.

 

[Tom Tomlinson]

2.2k VFX resolution, shot at 2:1 for options in IMAX and 2.35 traditional cinema, digital 3D, and film prints. So, essentially both versions of the movie are cropped. Jim and others have spoken to the advantages of 2:1 several times for this exact purpose and by all accounts, this seems to be the intention of Scott and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski. For Prometheus, they shot 2:1 and only used 93% of the frame so they could have room for digital fixing of the convergence among other things..

Thanks for finding the info. I just came from my digital Imax 3d screening here in NYC and would like to make a few comments on what I saw.

1-I was surprised to see a pillar boxed presentation. The screen was set for widescreen. I didn't expect Ridley Scott not to do full width. I think it would've improved the viewing.
I thought it was 1.89 but it may have been 2:1 based on your link. I figured the auditorium masking would move in but it never did. So the projected black distracted me too. But then isn't he sacrificing too much resolution rezzing it down to fit in a 2048x858 (or 1716x858) pillar boxed image?

2-I found the 3-D minimal at best. Maybe I have to go see it in another theater. BTW this was a $20 ticket. AMC raised their ticket prices.

The visuals were amazing ...its too bad about the plot.

 

[Antonio Forjaz]

Just watched it in IMAX 3D at century city mall in LA.
I must say I enjoyed the movie, and it looked real good too.
The 3D for the first time did not bother me at all, actually forgot about it.
The EPIC really shines in this movie.
Worth going to watch...

 

[Tom Tomlinson]

2.2k VFX resolution,.

Could this be a typo on the journalist end--maybe its 3.2K for the 3184x1592 2:1 in yellow they have in their chart. I don't see any 2.2k in there?

 

[Michel Hafner]

I saw it in Imax 3d, at Universal City.
Image quality: Some very noticeable white sharpening halo's around the dark characters against light backgrounds at start. Only distracted me for a short while, I am very forgiving of these things..

If that is what it is it's extremely disappointing. Halo producing sharpening and detail enhancement is stone age. Today we have far better methods. Even for use at home (e.g. Darbee Darblet).

 

[Alec Morris]

bummer

bummer

Saw it today at Arclight in Hollywood (just a mile from Red Studios) and was stunned when they gave me active shutter glasses. I love Passive 3D. It doesn't hurt my eyes at all (I've got a Vizio passive TV that has never bothered me), but those heavy ass active ones actually gave me a headache. And as usual, the screen was incredibly dark. Sucks that even arclight has poor 3D presentation.

Also, really unfortunate that the script was so poorly thought out. Would have loved to see the true prequel that Jon Spaihts allegedly wrote before Damon Lindelof got his hands on it. i adore alien, and blade runner is my favorite movie. i was looking forward to scotts return to sci fi more than django unchained, the master, and the dark knight rises combined. so disappointing.

I mean seriously (SPOILERS!!)... The geologist in charge of MAPPING the cave/ship gets LOST after running away. There's a super advanced surgery machine that is only programmed for men (presumably for peter weyland). But then weyland says he is in the last few days of his life and has financed the voyage to see if the engineers can save him. If he's days from dying and only the engineers can save him, then why the hell does he need a surgery machine!!! then when shaw has her abortion, everyone just decides to ignore the alien squid baby thats hanging out in the ship. "anyone think we should go see that alien baby that our scientist just had removed via c section?' 'No, let's just go see the engineer that is sleeping in his ship for some reason.' 'should we send someone thats staying on the ship to check it out?' 'no, that would make too much sense." plus, why the hell was it a squid on a planet with no water?? and how the hell did david the android miraculously know how to operate everything on the ship? does someone that speaks 5 languages consequently have the ability to fly a helicopter? NO.
then one of the genius scientists that somehow isn't smart enough not to get lost morphs into a crazed super zombie. what does that have to do with the alien universe?? nothing. it just happened because a decapitated cobra went down his throat (or melted his helmet, i'm not sure which genius scientist it was)
and the whole movie is based around the premise that the engineers made us, and now for some reason want to destroy us. why? oh, it's apparently not at all important until the sequel. why did they give us a map to some sort of weapons research planet? again, apparently not important.

i thought it was going somewhere interesting when the tiny worms made their way into the black stuff. I assume the worms became the cobra thing (that the genius biologist somehow decided was totally safe to treat like a pet, because thats how all genius biologists act around wild animals). In a movie based around the idea of faith, it was interesting to think accelerated evolution would be a villain of sorts. One seemingly peaceful life form (the worms) dies and gives birth to a new, more aggressive form (cobra). So, if the worms were the engineers, then humanity would be the cobra, the life form born of another's sacrifice (assuming the opening scene is earth and shows the genesis of the human species). so in theory, humanity would be the monsters, the violent creation of a more peaceful race. this is interesting, because it would suggest that life on our planet is inherently violent, and we use faith and religion to blind ourselves from the horrific truth of what we really are.. violent monsters in a violent world, where we evolve not to grow but to survive. BUT NOPE. the engineers are even more violent that us. it took one look at david and takes his head off, ash style.

the cinematography was breathtaking, however. and fassabender was out of this world. i would be astonished if he didn't get an oscar nomination. beautifully shot, beautifully directed, beautfully performed. too bad it was a shit script.

 

[Oliver Cross]

beautifully shot, beautifully directed, beautfully performed. too bad it was a shit script.

Very glad to hear this kind of thing so I don't feel like a big spoil sport for not liking this movie. The script was just derivative, lazy and quite frankly full of itself. I think I could have probably stomached the plot if the characters weren't so boring/annoying (good characters can save silly sci-fi in my opinion). I did however think that Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender did a very good job with the material and it hardly needs to be said that this film is absolutely gorgeous. I complete forgot I was watching a RED Epic movie in 3D and was completely immersed in the images.

 

[Steve G]

Hitler and prometheus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3BV2u8YWps#!

 

[Al Lougher]

Saw it in IMAX 3D last night. Terrible, terrible film. I had read it was not very good so left my expectations at the door but even found the visuals disappointing. The 3D was meh. What a waste of good talent, apart from David Lindelof who should not be allowed to go near a typewriter again.

This will open strong this weekend then word of mouth will kill it.