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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 :)

SAMSARA in 4K -- now it's official

Tom Lowe

Tom Lowe

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Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson's new film SAMSARA was shot on 65mm film, but in a sign of the times, no 70mm prints have been made. Instead, the film is being shown at the Toronto Film Festival in 4K. In my mind, this pretty much establishes 4K as the new display gold standard, even among the most devoted film lovers.

An article about SAMSARA and TIFF:
"Making an afternoon debut was "Samsara," a wordless and plotless image-based doc that sold out all three of its public screenings. A sequel in mood and technique if not in story line (it doesn't have one) to the 1992 film "Baraka," the movie travels around the world, from an enormously striking landscape of temples in Burma to a meat-processing plant in the United States.

Its director, Ron Fricke, was the DP on Godfrey Reggio's classic film "Koyaanisqatsi"; "Baraka" and "Samsara" both take a similar approach, with time-lapse photography and gorgeously composed shots of landscapes that range from the frightening to the astonishingly beautiful.

It is also a pointed and ruthless critique of much human activity; when Jane Fonda recently saw the film, said sound mixer Matthew Iadarola, she ended up sobbing.

One of the interesting facets of "Samsara" is technical: it was shot in 70mm and then transferred to an ultra high-definition 4K file. But TIFF, according to producer Mark Magidson, didn't have any theaters equipped to show the format.

To complicate matters further, the festival would have offended sponsor Christie if it brought in a 4K system from Sony, the company that currently markets them to movie theaters. So Christie hastened production on its in-the-works 4K projector and installed one in a theater at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. As a result, Samsara is unique in having all of its screenings in the same room."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/12/idUS338054389420110912
Click to expand...
 
Sounds like it...
 
Samsara-5.jpg

Samsara-4.jpg

Samsara-3.jpg

Samsara-2.jpg

Samsara.jpg

Samsara, Ron Fricke, 2011.

Samsara (2011 documentary)

Did You Know?: Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning "cyclic existence".

Samsara is a Tibetan word that means “the ever turning wheel of life,”

and Fricke describes the film as a “guided meditation on the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.”

Technical Specifications

Color info: Color

Camera: Panavision 65 HSSM (Panavision System 65)

Negative format: 65 mm

Process: Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format) / Panavision Super 70 (source format)

Printed format: 35 mm (anamorphic) / 70 mm / D-Cinema

Aspect ratio: 2.20 : 1 / 2.35 : 1 (35 mm prints)

Directed by
Ron Fricke

Writers
Ron Fricke Concept and treatment
Mark Magidson Concept and treatment

Producers
Myles Connolly ... line producer
J.C. Earle ... associate producer
Mark Magidson ... producer
Dileep Singh Rathore ... line producer: India
Sushil Tyagi ... producer: India
Noah Weinzweig ... producer: China

Original Music
Marcello De Francisci
Lisa Gerrard
Michael Stearns

Cinematographers
Ron Fricke

Editors
Ron Fricke
Mark Magidson

Sound Department
Greg Mauer ... foley mixer
Miguel Rivera ... supervising sound editor

Visual Effects Department
Donald Strubler Jr. ... digital compositor

Editorial Department
J.C. Earle ... assistant editor
John Persichetti ... digital colorist

Music Department
Michael Stearns ... musical director

LINK>>>

Toronto Film Festival 2011>>>
 
RR there's a screening at Paramount on the 15th in 4K if you can wrangle yourself a ticket.

As far as a trailer, I haven't heard anything about distribution yet. I suppose they would wait until distribution time to release a trailer?
 
Tom Lowe said:
As far as a trailer, I haven't heard anything about distribution yet. I suppose they would wait until distribution time to release a trailer?
Click to expand...

Maybe they know more about it:

Distributors

MPI Home Video (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Orland Park, IL:
16101 S 108th Ave
Orland Park, IL 60467
USA
Phn: +1 800 323 0442
http://www.mpihomevideo.com/
 
This is cool, but just last year at the bell lightbox theater, TIFFs new home they projected original prints of 2001 A Space odessey in 70mm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGPwlEq005w

David

I guess they are showing it away from the main space, which is sad because they actually are equipped to screen a print. My guess is that 4K DCP might be a bit more cost effective.

David
 
I have been waiting for this films for years now! Can't wait! Although I would probably have to settle for Blu-ray in the not-so-near future.
 
Despite 4K projection being the only option, I still would have liked it if they took full use of the negative and finished it in 8K.

Regardless, I'm itching to see anything on a 4K DLP projector.
 
Trust me, extensive testing was done. The 65mm was scanned at 8K and finished at 4K. 4K is now the official Gold Standard™ for display.

I seriously doubt that much could be gained scanning at 10K+ for an 8K finish, especially not the low-light or astro shots.
 
Sanjin Jukic said:
Samsara-5.jpg

Samsara-4.jpg

Samsara-3.jpg

Samsara-2.jpg

Samsara.jpg

Samsara, Ron Fricke, 2011.

Samsara (2011 documentary)

Did You Know?: Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning "cyclic existence".

Samsara is a Tibetan word that means “the ever turning wheel of life,”

and Fricke describes the film as a “guided meditation on the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.”

Technical Specifications

Color info: Color

Camera: Panavision 65 HSSM (Panavision System 65)

Negative format: 65 mm

Process: Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format) / Panavision Super 70 (source format)

Printed format: 35 mm (anamorphic) / 70 mm / D-Cinema

Aspect ratio: 2.20 : 1 / 2.35 : 1 (35 mm prints)

Directed by
Ron Fricke

Writers
Ron Fricke Concept and treatment
Mark Magidson Concept and treatment

Producers
Myles Connolly ... line producer
J.C. Earle ... associate producer
Mark Magidson ... producer
Dileep Singh Rathore ... line producer: India
Sushil Tyagi ... producer: India
Noah Weinzweig ... producer: China

Original Music
Marcello De Francisci
Lisa Gerrard
Michael Stearns

Cinematographers
Ron Fricke

Editors
Ron Fricke
Mark Magidson

Sound Department
Greg Mauer ... foley mixer
Miguel Rivera ... supervising sound editor

Visual Effects Department
Donald Strubler Jr. ... digital compositor

Editorial Department
J.C. Earle ... assistant editor
John Persichetti ... digital colorist

Music Department
Michael Stearns ... musical director

LINK>>>

Toronto Film Festival 2011>>>
Click to expand...


sounds very interesting is there a trailer we can watch?
 
Tom Lowe said:
Trust me, extensive testing was done. The 65mm was scanned at 8K and finished at 4K. 4K is now the official Gold Standard™ for display.

I seriously doubt that much could be gained scanning at 10K+ for an 8K finish, especially not the low-light or astro shots.
Click to expand...

I supposed since no 65mm prints are being made, you're probably right. The difference would be minimal, not worth the cost and time I suppose.
 
Tom Lowe said:
Trust me, extensive testing was done. The 65mm was scanned at 8K and finished at 4K. 4K is now the official Gold Standard™ for display.

I seriously doubt that much could be gained scanning at 10K+ for an 8K finish, especially not the low-light or astro shots.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Imagica makes a 11K scanner to handle IMAX and 65mm negatives.
 
Chuck Z said:
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Imagica makes a 11K scanner to handle IMAX and 65mm negatives.
Click to expand...

And yet, Ron and Mark have chosen 8K scan to 4K display for their new film, which required four years of filming around the world, plus untold amounts of tribulation and treasure. This film is their baby. Do you think they would sell it short? There is a reason they chose 4K. It's not a random number.
 
Tom Lowe said:
And yet, Ron and Mark have chosen 8K scan to 4K display for their new film, which required four years of filming around the world, plus untold amounts of tribulation and treasure. This film is their baby. Do you think they would sell it short? There is a reason they chose 4K. It's not a random number.
Click to expand...

Well, what Chuck is saying is that the option is in fact out there, and clearly an 8K image is going to look better than a 4K image. But, considering that the highest resolution available to the filmmakers for projection is 4K, it makes more sense economically to finish the film in 4K.
 
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