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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 :)

Steven Soderberh’s State Of Cinema Talk

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“Lucy”

“Lucy”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film) I finally went to see the “Motion Picture Film” “Lucy”! It was yesterday at the local theater and “only” IMAX Theater (in 2D the way it was shot) in Escazu, or in Costa Rica for that matter, boy it took a while for the film to get the big screen here, my opinion; It was great Film!. For all the publicity the film has received in Costa Rica, the local distributor has done a really LOUSY JOB of getting “it-to” theaters to play the film. Why is that? I don’t know, but they certainly did a LOUSY JOB!

I must confess that my preference in movie “genre” is the “Action Adventure” and it certainly it was that! The Film was great it had for me a “Science Fiction - Action Adventure Genre” which made me suspend my belief for the 130 minute running time. Maybe it was the budget, it only cost $40 Million to make, and IT HAS MADE a few more dollars than “The Bourne Legacy” which cost $125 Million to make, and is now playing on Cable TV, which by the way it was also a good movie in my opinion. Meanwhile “Lucy” continues its “Theatrical Run” (ever so slowly) it has earned over $300 Million (Worldwide: $313,407,000 to be exact) and still counting, the numbers are still changing from week to week. So the question persists; Why do people go see one film over the other?

We are only talking about “Theatrical Distribution” HERE, the numbers are important because that will determine the price in subsequent markets, so you have to make a good showing, HERE. By the way “Lucy” was “R” rated and the “The Bourne Legacy” was “PG” so that does not carry any water with me. “Lucy” has already made Money for everyone involved in its production, because of their $40 Million Dollar Budge!

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=lucy.htm “Box Office Mojo”; UPI was the distributor for most of the World, I don’t know, but they’ve done such a LOUSY JOB. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bourne4.htm “The Bourne Legacy”; distributor “Universal”! Look them up if you like and compare the two films side by side on “Box Office Mojo”.

Humberto Rivera
 
I’ve been watching a marvelously enjoyable Motion Picture Film on Cable TV that’s actually beyond my comprehension, but I’m slowly adapting to it. It’s called “Cloud Atlas” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(film) I’ve heard about it when it first came out, but somehow I just did not go the Movie Theater to see-it or PAY ANY ATTENTION-TO-IT, it would have really have been worth of the trip. The movie is long, 172 minutes (2 hours and 44 minutes), it transcends Time in a manner I’ve never experience or seen before, I watched the film about five times now, and going to continue watching the film as long is on one of my Movie Max Cable TV Channels, I’m not sure I totally understand it, but I think I do, a paradox, I see a different dimension that go beyond the Film, ITS REMARKABLE.

From Wikipedia; “Cloud Atlas is a 2012 German drama and science fiction film written, produced and directed by The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. Adapted from the 2004 novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, the film has multiple plotlines set across six different eras. The official synopsis describes it as "an exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, AS ONE SOUL IS SHAPED FROM A KILLER INTO A HERO, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution." During four years of development, the project met difficulties securing financial support; it was eventually produced with a $102 million budget provided by independent sources, MAKING IT ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE INDEPENDENT FILMS OF ALL TIME. Production began in September 2011 at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany. It premiered on 8 September 2012 at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival and was released on 26 October 2012 in conventional and IMAX cinemas. IT POLARIZED CRITICS, and has been included on various BEST FILM AND WORST FILM LISTS. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for Tykwer (who co-scored the film), Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil. It received several nominations at the Saturn Awards including Best Science Fiction Film, winning for Best Editing and Best Make-up.” Wikipedia

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=cloudatlas.htm Box Office Mojo “say-it-made” $130,482,868 World Wide, that’s just not enough money for a movie with this kind of budget, the rule of thumb is that needs to make two and one half times its original cost to break even. The film cost $102 Million Dollars to make! It’s understandable to see how many people did not understand the Movie, including “Yours Truly” but that’s just simply irrelevant because it works on your subconscious and conscious mind and on many other levels, beyond the everyday life. You have to watch it over and over again, and each time “I like-it-more” but not sure on the understanding the reason why, I have an idea, and that idea is still developing beyond what’s been written about-it, but we’re not there yet. I think this movie is truly what “Film Art” is all about!

I think about my own experience with everything, moments like when I listen to Ludwig van Beethoven, a man that was practically deaf, his Ninth Symphony, especially the fourth moment, it moves me beyond a normal experience of this world; When I think about the girlfriends I had when I was a young man, I remember about 12 or 14 women that I was with in particular and how different one was from the other but they were all enjoyable experiences, I especially remember the first kiss from my second wife, it was on the grass in Griffith park in Los Angeles, I remember-it like it was yesterday; I remember the Vietnam War, being an “Infantry Man” in the “US Marine Corps”, I can still see the rain coming in the distance valleys of Vietnam as the sun shine was bright and hot, the coming rain toward us was dark and cool, we were all dress for the approaching rain in the middle of the rice patty, going on patrol almost every day in enemy territory, engaging the enemy two or three times a week in fierce fire-fights, a warrior never likes the sound of war, but is the first to defend his country when threaten. It goes beyond the political to about 60 some odd “Marines Platoon” being fired upon by the enemy and returning fire with a fierce aggression as we move toward the their position, when ambushed in the jungle you have an immediate action to perform, and that’s an immediate frontal assault with maximum fire power, otherwise you will die in the “Killing Zone”, were talking time counted in seconds not minutes, we were a team on the move, the Fifth Marine Regiment, First Battalion, Alpha Company, First Platoon that’s who we were;

I remember the birth of each and every one of my five children to this day, I love them all, and will till the day I die and beyond; I remember going through a period of reading everything I could get my hands on, I especially remember Joseph Campbell, and traveling with him through his books and his adventures; I remember my own travels throughout the “Entire World”, all the cultures and people that I experience and came into contact with, from Moscow, to Switzerland, to England, to Japan, to China and many more places, the list is too long and varied; I remember Dave Johnson a professor at USC Cinema who use to wear Hawaiian Shirts, didn’t give a shit about anything, and was a “Great Film Teacher” as was everyone else at that time when the “Cinema Department at USC“ was in the “Old Horse Stables”; I remember reading the preface to the book “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” by Henry Miller describing how a being from within him took over his soul when he was writing something that grab hold him and did not let go of his soul until he finished, I remember the same thing happening to me many times; and many, many, many more things too long to mentioned here, all from the last 72 years of my life, that’s just a tiny, tiny example of my life, WHAT A TRIP!

All those thoughts all mixed up in the memories EACH one of us creates, carefully stored in a folder of memories, they can be call forward at any time, and sometimes it’s when someone says something, or you run into a person from the past and suddenly deep from within it all comes forward from your brain cells clear as day, a walk alone on a lonely beach, or we pick-up a little trinket we have just collected and stare at it. I think that God will call when he wants me, meanwhile I continue living my life one day at a time, one week at the time, one month at a time, one year at a time, and one decade at the time, till the day comes when we move to another world.

That’s what the “Motion Picture Film” “Cloud Atlas” reminds-me-off, LIFE, among many other things! Think about how you can call the past forward in a non-linear way, you go from here to there, the before during and after, all mix-up, but it all makes sense to you when you do-it that way. It-is a remarkable Motion Picture Experience, in my humble opinion! It’s remarkable that it was made at all; it’s remarkable that it’s showing on Cable TV without Commercial interruptions all over the World. Someone recently asked me; “Why do I choose to express myself in RedUser.net, using this thread”, and “I really don’t know why, but I do, so I’ll continue to post here”.

Humberto Rivera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Miller -
 
Humberto Rivera said:
I’ve been watching a marvelously enjoyable Motion Picture Film on Cable TV that’s actually beyond my comprehension, but I’m slowly adapting to it. It’s called “Cloud Atlas” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(film) I’ve heard about it when it first came out, but somehow I just did not go the Movie Theater to see-it or PAY ANY ATTENTION-TO-IT, it would have really have been worth of the trip. The movie is long, 172 minutes (2 hours and 44 minutes), it transcends Time in a manner I’ve never experience or seen before, I watched the film about five times now, and going to continue watching the film as long is on one of my Movie Max Cable TV Channels, I’m not sure I totally understand it, but I think I do, a paradox, I see a different dimension that go beyond the Film, ITS REMARKABLE.

From Wikipedia; “Cloud Atlas is a 2012 German drama and science fiction film written, produced and directed by The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. Adapted from the 2004 novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, the film has multiple plotlines set across six different eras. The official synopsis describes it as "an exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, AS ONE SOUL IS SHAPED FROM A KILLER INTO A HERO, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution." During four years of development, the project met difficulties securing financial support; it was eventually produced with a $102 million budget provided by independent sources, MAKING IT ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE INDEPENDENT FILMS OF ALL TIME. Production began in September 2011 at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany. It premiered on 8 September 2012 at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival and was released on 26 October 2012 in conventional and IMAX cinemas. IT POLARIZED CRITICS, and has been included on various BEST FILM AND WORST FILM LISTS. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for Tykwer (who co-scored the film), Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil. It received several nominations at the Saturn Awards including Best Science Fiction Film, winning for Best Editing and Best Make-up.” Wikipedia

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=cloudatlas.htm Box Office Mojo “say-it-made” $130,482,868 World Wide, that’s just not enough money for a movie with this kind of budget, the rule of thumb is that needs to make two and one half times its original cost to break even. The film cost $102 Million Dollars to make! It’s understandable to see how many people did not understand the Movie, including “Yours Truly” but that’s just simply irrelevant because it works on your subconscious and conscious mind and on many other levels, beyond the everyday life. You have to watch it over and over again, and each time “I like-it-more” but not sure on the understanding the reason why, I have an idea, and that idea is still developing beyond what’s been written about-it, but we’re not there yet. I think this movie is truly what “Film Art” is all about!

I think about my own experience with everything, moments like when I listen to Ludwig van Beethoven, a man that was practically deaf, his Ninth Symphony, especially the fourth moment, it moves me beyond a normal experience of this world; When I think about the girlfriends I had when I was a young man, I remember about 12 or 14 women that I was with in particular and how different one was from the other but they were all enjoyable experiences, I especially remember the first kiss from my second wife, it was on the grass in Griffith park in Los Angeles, I remember-it like it was yesterday; I remember the Vietnam War, being an “Infantry Man” in the “US Marine Corps”, I can still see the rain coming in the distance valleys of Vietnam as the sun shine was bright and hot, the coming rain toward us was dark and cool, we were all dress for the approaching rain in the middle of the rice patty, going on patrol almost every day in enemy territory, engaging the enemy two or three times a week in fierce fire-fights, a warrior never likes the sound of war, but is the first to defend his country when threaten. It goes beyond the political to about 60 some odd “Marines Platoon” being fired upon by the enemy and returning fire with a fierce aggression as we move toward the their position, when ambushed in the jungle you have an immediate action to perform, and that’s an immediate frontal assault with maximum fire power, otherwise you will die in the “Killing Zone”, were talking time counted in seconds not minutes, we were a team on the move, the Fifth Marine Regiment, Second Battalion, Alpha Company, First Platoon that’s who we were;

I remember the birth of each and every one of my five children to this day, I love them all, and will till the day I die and beyond; I remember going through a period of reading everything I could get my hands on, I especially remember Joseph Campbell, and traveling with him through his books and his adventures; I remember my own travels throughout the “Entire World”, all the cultures and people that I experience and came into contact with, from Moscow, to Switzerland, to England, to Japan, to China and many more places, the list is too long and varied; I remember Dave Johnson a professor at USC Cinema who use to wear Hawaiian Shirts, didn’t give a shit about anything, and was a “Great Film Teacher” as was everyone else at that time when the “Cinema Department at USC“ was in the “Old Horse Stables”; I remember reading the preface to the book “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” by Henry Miller describing how a being from within him took over his soul when he was writing something that grab hold him and did not let go of his soul until he finished, I remember the same thing happening to me many times; and many, many, many more things too long to mentioned here, all from the last 72 years of my life, that’s just a tiny, tiny example of my life, WHAT A TRIP!

All those thoughts all mixed up in the memories EACH one of us creates, carefully stored in a folder of memories, they can be call forward at any time, and sometimes it’s when someone says something, or you run into a person from the past and suddenly deep from within it all comes forward from your brain cells clear as day, a walk alone on a lonely beach, or we pick-up a little trinket we have just collected and stare at it. I think that God will call when he wants me, meanwhile I continue living my life one day at a time, one week at the time, one month at a time, one year at a time, and one decade at the time, till the day comes when we move to another world.

That’s what the “Motion Picture Film” “Cloud Atlas” reminds-me-off, LIFE, among many other things! Think about how you can call the past forward in a non-linear way, you go from here to there, the before during and after, all mix-up, but it all makes sense to you when you do-it that way. It-is a remarkable Motion Picture Experience, in my humble opinion! It’s remarkable that it was made at all; it’s remarkable that it’s showing on Cable TV without Commercial interruptions all over the World. Someone recently asked me; “Why do I choose to express myself in RedUser.net, using this thread”, and “I really don’t know why, but I do, so I’ll continue to post here”.

Humberto Rivera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Miller -
Click to expand...

Humberto, first of all... thank you for your service.

I too remember the staccato rat-a-tat-tat from my experience in Viet Nam... from behind my 71H20 MOS typewriter '-)

Being mostly confined to a compound during my tour, other than the daily trip to Group HQ to deliver the morning report with my driver Crates, either by ambulance or jeep... the things I remember most about Viet Nam was the stinkin' rice paddies on that trip into Da Nang or when back in compound, the occasional smell of burning diesel mixed with shit in latrine half-barrels.

Being an ambulance company located next to an Evac Hospital just down the way from China Beach, we weren't a high priority target. We were essentially non-combatants and the people in the hospital were for all intents and purposes out of the war since it was an evac hospital. In fact, shortly after arriving In Country (as a unit) the Company Commander made us give up our M-16s and store them after some fool in a tent was supposedly cleaning his weapon and fired a bullet into the mess tent next door during the noon meal. Luckily no one was hit.

That was o.k. because our compound was next to a Special Forces compound so we felt pretty safe. What I'm saying is that I didn't experience those hyper-vigilant moments you did so my memories aren't quite as intense as yours.

But I suspect another reason is that our brains work differently. I abhor obscurity. I don't mind enigma if it is solvable to a universal clarity. And while I will utilize the trope that can be interpreted in individual ways in my writing, as an audience member I prefer lucidity in the resolution of conflict.

Being of this mind is probably why I'm not a fan of mult-layered complex scripts. My feeling is that in order to do justice to a character or subset of characters, one must make their story known so they can be understood completely by the audience. Therefore, I probably would not be as enthusiastic about the movie you mentioned as you are.

But that's just a "different strokes..." kind of thing and is unimportant.
 
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Elsie, I want to thank you for your remarks. You’re absolutely right, but we are two people from approximately 7,000,000,000 (7 Billion) people on the planet, each one of us is going to have a uniquely different perspective on their own life’s, it’s inescapable. You’re experience in Vietnam, is just a slice of your entire existence, and that’s just to the moment, none of us knows when we’re going to check out, we all have an open date. The film “Cloud Atlas” was controversial to say the least; IT POLARIZED CRITICS, and has been included on various BEST FILM AND WORST FILM LISTS. On a subconscious way it spoke to me without understanding it, but as time went by I GOT IT.

That reminds me of Lester Navarro’s film class at USC Cinema, he said; “you don’t have to understand what I’m talking about right now, but one day in the future you will”, and so it was. One day when working on a film, and I set up shot, I remember what he said that occurred more than once, may he Rest in Peace, IT WAS LIKE A LIGHT GOING ON, he also made us made-us make an abstract book of what he was talking about, which we did not understand, and WE ALL DID. It’s the kind of class where you get an “A” or and “F” no in between, we all got “A’s”. The class was held in his studio on Cauhenga Boulevard, it was called “Graphic Films” in Los Angeles I can still remember a young Douglas Trumbull http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Trumbull laboring on an optical-printer in the back, on the wall the Storyboards’ for the “Birds”, and coming in a few times was Frank Capra Jr. consulting on their OMINIMAX Project. The man was a genius!

That made me remember going to the Movies in the mid-to-late 40’s in Puerto Rico when I was a little boy growing up, nothing to do with anything, I just remember. My grandfather use to advertise on the radio the store next to the Paramount Theater, across the street from La Luz Theater, and around the corner from Victoria Theater, they were the only they were three Movie Theaters in town, it a was a little town called Rio Piedras, with a small town feeling of a typical Spanish population at the time, I was between five and nine years old, and they led me in the Theater for free for many years. Like most cities made by the Spaniards in the 1500s they always centered on the Catholic Church, no matter the country today, look at Los Angles (it has a long name that ends with LA), Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Saint Agustin, Florida and on and on. That’s kind of a “foggy-way” of looking at the theme for “Cloud Atlas” there is always a connection, right before your eyes.

Watching the Movie “Patton” yesterday on Cable TV I was struck by the dialog, on one scene a British General says to him; “George you should have made an excellent General for Napoleon” and General Paton answers him; “I did, but I did” that’s a reoccurring theme of the film, that General George Patton was convince he had been a General on those wars long ago, without any further explanation. The film was writing by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, the reoccurring theme that General Patton had been on the same fields of battle is what “Could Atlas” is someone about, a 1970 Motion Picture explored the same subject, but “Cloud Atlas was more abstract on its treatment of the “Past, Present, and Future”, just something to think about.

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patton_(film); “Patton is shown to believe in reincarnation, while remaining a devout Christian. At one point during the North Africa campaign, he takes his staff on an unexpected detour to the site of the ancient Battle of Zama. There he reminisces about the battle, insisting to his second in command, General Omar Bradley (Karl Malden) that he was there.” Wikipedia.com

Thanks Elsie, here is to diversity, I’ll drink to that on any occasion, the “Motion Picture Business”, it’s a Global World Wide Endeavor that we are all involved in, no matter the level or The Country, Globalization has taken over “Motion Pictures”, and films get most of their revenue from foreign sources. We’re Seven Billion People in the World, and approximately 400 Million People in the USA and Canada.

Humberto Rivera
 
I see an unstoppable trend developing, but ever so slowly! It’s the constant numbers game in the “Hollywood Press” that continues to ignore the “World Wide Numbers”, but those same numbers made 50% of the revenues a while back, and then they were 60% of the revenues, and in the not too far future they might make up 75% of the revenues, the numbers are with their percentages going to the World Revenues and not Domestic, more theaters are being build overseas especially in China and Russia, and other groups with a middle class Countries like Brazil and others counties of Africa. S3D is a trend that can’t be ignored no matter what people think there will always be a 2D version of the S3D movie.

This is a odds with the World Wide population trends on both ends of the spectrum, the younger crowd and the older crowd, there are more of us around the World, and were living longer, interesting figures http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/18/world-population-new-study-11bn-2100 How can you try and future proof your film, shoot in at least 4K, or down rezz whenever possible from 6K, keep a 6K print for the future, have a fast pace style for your picture, not necessarily change the picture but just make it faster moving, and whatever else you think off.

Humberto Rivera
 
Here is MY VIEW, in MY OPINION of why the “Epic Dragon Sensor” is a better by than the “Arri 65”. Its kind a condense version of what I said in http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?122152-Dragon-vs-Alexa-65 till that thread turn to other things, just like always. The opinions expressed here are Humberto Rivera-Garcia, AND ONLY HIS, others may choose to AGREE OR DISAGREE. We live in a 4K World, we down rezz to 4K so people can see-it, they have 4K television sets at home (they’re beginning too), 4K Broadcast in more station every day, 4K Theatrical Distribution either a DCI Container of 2.40:1 or 1.85:1, IMAX 2D or S3D in about half the theaters have them and their counting to grow, that’s the way it’s for the long foreseeable moment at the HIGHER END OF THE FOOD CHAIN 4K is here to stay, Jim Jannard said that a long time ago, but just now they’re beginning to listen!

First the size; while we know that “Red Dragon Sensor Camera” is light and even lighter with Carbon Fiber, on the “Arri 65” you’re stuck with a BEGGING WEIGHT of 23.2 pounds in 2D, A REAL BOAT ANCHOR IN S3D, to that you add lenses, batteries, monitors and on and on, and then who doesn’t want the availability of choosing “Slow Motion” once in a while or at least having it ready in case you needed.

You can fly it from one of the http://aerialmediapros.com/store/re...b-8-v2-red-epic-octocopter-rtf-pro-combo.html SKYJIB 8 TITANIUM RED EPIC OCTOCOPTER RTF PRO COMBO, or a real helicopter in S3D for that matter, or a “Steadicam”, choosing whatever you want, because you’re in charge with the “Red Cinema Company”. Now the “Arri 65” IS A 6K CAMERA just like the “Epic Dragon Sensor Camera” and it MIGHT look better, but remember we live in a 4K World, but they are both 6K cameras, and Red has the “Red R3D REDCODE Files” were nothing is cooked into the final product until it’s time, that’s something so big that it can be easily overlooked by one and all. The work flow just took a step back with the “Arri 65” and it’s larger sensor, while the “Red Epic Dragon Sensor Camera’’ continues to move forward, with things such as the Red Rocket – X, and the new Z840 not the Z820 that you might have heard of http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/z840.html it has “36 Cores”, up to “Two Terabytes of Memory”, 10 internals drives, it has “Thunderbolt Technology”, and on and on, HP says; it’s coming soon.

I guess I could go on and on, but why, the “Arri 65” does have “Bigger Pixels”; there is no doubt about that, but wait for the other shoe to drop at NAB 2015. Now I’M NOT SAYING THAT ONE IS BETTER THAN THE OTHER for the moment, what I’m saying is that one is smaller than the other, that one has R3D REDCODE Files, that it has more functions than the other, that is cheaper than the other, that its weight factor makes it impossible to work in the NEW TRADITIONAL WAY we’ve become accustomed too, and many more things. I personally think that Arri made a mistake because the only practical lenses are the Panavision Primo 70 Series with it T2 across the board, don’t get me wrong they are complete set of great lenses, BUT THEY ALSO FIT the “Epic Red Dragon Camera” from Evin Grant http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?122390-Dragon-Primos-Lurve. There is the case of the aspect ratio, according to Arri its 59.87 mm, but they’re still tweaking the camera, and for their large pixels size it doesn’t matter that much because they’re all going to 4K for release, it’s not schedule for to launch till early 2015 and for now its lease only, and whatever you do, REMEMBER you have to down rezz to 4K, that’s the world we live in at the higher end. Just saying!

Humberto Rivera
 
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