Steven Soderberh’s State Of Cinema Talk

[Humberto Rivera]

What is the “Resolution Count” for different kinds of “Displays” and “Image Capture” devices? What is the generally accepted pixel count for various devices that “go-round-around” the “4K Range” for display purposes? Where do we begging to measure? I thought I would try and explain-it to-myself and of courses all the people that take the time to read this thread!

FIRST there is the “4K Television Monitor”, it measured at 3840 X 2160 Pixels or 8,294,400 Pixels (8.3 Megapixels), that appears to be the generally accepted Pixel Count for Monitors and TV Displays at 4K.

SECOND the 4K DCI Container, is measured at the 8.8 Megapixels needed for “True 35mm Frame” at 2.40:1 for a “Theatrical Release” at a 4K DCI Container, and separately with a slightly larger 2:1 Aspect Ratio for Television release, or IMAX Release without compromising the side of the image, it’s being extended UP from 2.40:1 to 2:1 for an IMAX size or Television Image.

THIRD the full “Epic 6K Dragon Sensor” is; 30.7mm (Horizontal) x 15.8 mm (Vertical) or 34.5 Ø mm the Image Circle is actually 34.5272 Ø (Image Circle). The upgrade will be 6144 (Horizontal) x 3160 (Vertical) @ 5 Micron Size 19,415,040 Pixels (19.5 Megapixels) -20% = 15,132,032.00 Pixels (15.1 Megapixels)!

LASTLY the one I like the for my preference; 6000 (Horizontal) X 3000 (Vertical) is 29.98 (Horizontal) x 14.99 (Vertical) or 33.52 Ø (image circle) it’s 18,000,000 Pixels (18 Megapixels) -20% 14,400,000 Pixels (14.4 Megapixels) that’s a solid number for an Aspect Ratio of 2:1! This it lets me use the “Zeiss Master Primes” or “Leica Summilux – C” lenses at their “wider-focal-lengths”.

SIDE NOTE: I SAID BEFORE IN A PREVIOUS POST; “Arri has a New 3.4K Resolution Sensor (not 4K) THAT THEY ARE STILL TESTING! It’s the OPEN GATE on the Alexa; meaning that they are opening their “Current Sensor” all the way to the edges and top! While the “Red Epic 6K Dragon Camera” takes a giant step forward with a New 6K Sensor, it has a Dynamic Range of 16 or 17+ stops; ISO/ASA 250/800/2000 (you choose how much you want to cover above and below the Dynamic Range); Color Depth and many more things! The “Red Digital Cinema Company” has seemed to have outreached the Arri Alexa again! The “6K Dragon Sensor” actually has a New Chip, while Arri seems to be trying to figure out if-they could use an “Open Gate” to achieve 3.4K (the old chip). The Arri you have to “Up-Rezz” to get to 4K the “Epic 6K Dragon Camera” you have to “Down-Rezz” to 4K! And the “Alexa” COST MUCH MORE than the “Red Epic 6K Camera” you have to pay MORE FOR LESS, does that make any sense?” And is not here yet!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I’m going to write about a subject that those not get much exposure for obvious reasons! What happens when the “Director” likes to “Shoot the Camera”, in a major “Feature Motion Picture” not all the time like in the Picture of “Michael Bay” on the Epic 6K Dragon Rig, or in the case of Steven Soderbergh most of the time. Michael Bay should be no problem, there is Director of Photography on the job; however in the case of Steven Soderbergh is a little more complicated, he likes to shoot so give him another name (for the DOP) and he can be the DOP.

The Union has to agree because; The Feature might not be made in the prescribe location; He may choose a right to work state, and not hire anybody from that particular union; he might just be ignored because otherwise the film might not be made and whatever other things might happen. This does not affect the other Unions like SAG, WGA, and many more.

Take the case of Stanley Kubrick for example, he just moved to England, and did all his film over there, the Studio continued to finance him. It’s a subject that they don’t want to talk about (the union), but it certainly goes on! I’m not saying that Stanley moved to England because he liked to Direct, Shoot, Write, Edit, and Produce, but here sure saved a lot of headaches. He-did-it his-way, that simple, and they were glad to have him over there!

What happens with China? That’s a question that is yet to come-up. The Chinese like control over everything, like “Film Distribution” or “Video Game Consoles” throughout the entire country, what will happen with their Unions, if there is such a thing! Better not to talk too much about it! This just an opinion with NO CONCLUSIONS is only meant to ask the question; “what can anyone-do?” Or do we just keep out mouth-shut! For the record, I’m a Director who likes to shoot, but let’s the Director of Photography “do-the-heavy-lifting”!

Humberto Rivera

Transformers on Dragon – Michael Bay on Camera – Photo posted by Filip Orlandic a Red shooter based in Belgrade, Serbia http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?105515-Transformers-on-Dragon

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I reach another writing block; I guess this happens from time to time. There is nothing there, absolutely empty! It’s interesting how that happens. One cannot think of anything to write about in this “Thread”, nothing at all. I do think a lot about my writing on the “story side”, AND DO COME UP WITH NEW CHAPTERS, for my fictional side of the house. Till the next time that something catches my eye!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Les Hillis]

Edit. Was curious about Humberto's opinions on a tangential aspect of Soderberghs' 'State Of Cinema' talk, but my questions were probably already answered in his response to Zakaree's post.

 

[Humberto Rivera]

“Digital De-Aging or Aging”, that’s something that could be use “for-every-thing”! From Orlando Bloom in “The Hobbit” to the “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in both directions and in other films, how “Imaging Technology” continues to advance. I think the next step would be once it’s “revised-and-improve” and it becomes “closer-to--higher-technology-beyond-what-we’re-accustomed-to” on its way is to improving how Actors begin appearing younger that they actually-are as matter of a generally accepted practice (getting more mileage out of them). Think of the possibilities, as Vadim Bobkovsky said; “But there also market for Digital Botox.”

From there we would evolved into an “Digital Actor-that-does-not-exists” that’s a thought, that would represent a “Digital Persona” of our choice built in a “Digital Space” for any Film that they are-in; INTERESTING? It could be a totally build cyberspace a “Digital Actor”, build from scratch; FAR-FETCH, I don’t think so! The “Red Epic 6K Dragon Camera” might have been far-fetch idea in early 2006 not that far back! I think that Geoff Boyle called-it a “scam” way back in 2006.

I mean we have “Digital Objects” that look realistic such as; Cars, Airplanes, Helicopters parts added to them, actually many things, but what we don’t have is credible “Digital Human” being YET, we’ve come very close, but were not there yet. BUT IS COMING, it’s the logical evolution! We’re to the point that we can replace the Head of one Actor with the Body of another, as in the movie “Stars Wars III”. There are many examples, like “The Adventures of Tintin” & “Beorwulf”, maybe you can think of some!

In the end, I think we’re heading for very INTERESTING TIMES (that goes on all the time), I always thought that we have been heading along that path since the “dawn of-time”, it’s just that we think that OUR TIMES ARE THE MOST INTERESTING, and some think that there are no more “things to imagine”! That’s the reason why Geoff Boyle said that the “Red Digital Camera Company” was a “scam” as early as 2006, its was human nature to think that the future did not hold a “Red One 4K Camera”, “Development & Advances” in times and it usually comes from where “you-least-expected”. How could they have thought of that, THEY’RE NOT FAMOUS? It’s just human nature to be comfortable in “The Present”. The Red Digital Camera Company continues to struggle to enter the Main stream Hollywood Press, while making advances in sales, Major Motion Pictures produce, and moving forward to the highly anticipated “Red 6K Dragon Sensor Camera”.

Or maybe that’s why Hollywood often has a really “distorted-view-of-the-future”, catastrophic with disasters and “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley” (Robert Burns, To a Mouse). That’s just the narrowly exploited view of the future from the perspective of the “United State of America”. But what about a place like Costa Rica, or the wilds of Borneo, or Argentina, or any place were Hollywood thought movie ticket we’re not sold. I guess that’s the “North American Way”, it does not cover all the Americas, or the World. Just thinking back to “Stanly Kubrick”, he had two view of the future that seem more realistic; “2001 A space Odyssey” and “AI Artificial Intelligence” which was finished by “Steven Spielberg”!.

So we have moved at-an exponential pace since the mid 1990s. “King Kong” is a film were the Character of “King Kong” is really credible, it looks and an acted like the “Mighty Kong”, “Jurassic Park” is another franchise which was made a long time ago, and another about to be made again, all of this before the “Red One” was made available!

So what does the Future have installed for us, that very difficult to say, it can only be imagined, otherwise it would not be “The Future”! But there are many things based on the future, such as; a thirty-year house mortgaged, how does the Bank know for how long to make-it; a work of science that’s working on a cure for some disease thought the use of DNA, creating human organs, or things we have not imagine yet; a long time prison sentence or life without parole; a Red Camera that goes beyond 6K, Red created a map the future some time back, and it went to 128K, but who know where it would actually stop or not stop; how about a one-way “Mission to the Planet Mars” they are actually collecting volunteers for that as I write this, those people will never see Earth again up-close, just a distant “Blue Planet”, maybe their descendants will; there might be a way of downloading your brain to a computer, for latter worrying about the rest of the body parts, that’s not that farfetched, they are actually working on-it!

How about the “Dollar Cost” of a house or a building or a movie studio, it will always be-more in the future, the explanation takes too much time to explain! I remember in the early 1960s talking about that one-day the “Dow Jones Industrial” will hit “800”, it now hovers around “15,000”, IBM Common Stock sold for around a $1.00, now along with other Companies that did not exists at that time are way up, that’s what the future held for someone in the Early 1960s! How about replacing a Giant Panavision 35 mm Camera with a $29K camera that makes better picture, who would have “thought-of-that”!

I guess we all have different point of reference (or many); for example when I travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico (where I was born) I see the contrast between Costa Rica, it’s like “Night and Day”, Puerto Rico is a totally a totally developed place, Costa Rica is not, or to Miami, or New York, or London, or Tokyo, or Zurich, or Moscow, or dive in the waters of Palau, they are all very totally different point of reference! My last recollection of Shanghai, China, is how it was in 1989; I can only imagine how it’s looks today. These are some of the places I travelled-to, there are many more that I’ve not mentioned! It’s the accumulation of travel for one person during one life-time, there are “Six Billion Plus” more people in the World just like me and you, that have similar stories, and they’re all different! I’ve met many of them along my journey through “Time & Space” on this Earth, it’s been 71 years for me, and everyone is different!

I’ve been shot-at many times with a fire-arms, made love to different women on all parts of the Globe, eaten different kinds foods throughout the World, traveled in every conceivable method of transportation you can think off, so I asked myself how did we begin this voyage, oh yes with the question of “Digital De-Aging or Aging”, and a “Digital Actor”, is that possible, ABSOLUTELY! Don’t know when it will happen, just like we really don’t know how long we’re going to remain on Earth, we just don’t know “when or how long before we depart”, just like traveling through “Time & Space”, in a moving “Space Ship”, called “Spaceship Earth”! So as Earth navigates its self around the Sun, we move through the “Four Corners of Planet”. And the “Solar System” move through “Time and Space as a Complete System.” We’re all part of that System and beyond that, the Cosmos, all of US, down to the smallest “Microbe” to every “Living Plant”, we are Earth! That’s Life!

I leave you with the Scottish poet’s Robert Burns’, one of my favorite Poets who died at an early age (37 years old); “Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon; The flames of Love extinguished, and fully past and gone: Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold, that loving Breast of thine; That thou canst never once reflect On Old long syne. CHORUS: On Old long syne my Jo, On Old long syne, That thou canst never once reflect, On Old long syne.”

So go make a Movie, while there is still time, TIME REALLY FLIES - REALLY FAST!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

How did I get here? At 71 years old in Costa Rica. I guess all began at the age of about Four Years Old in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, around the year 1944 (more or less when I began going to the Movies). There were three Movie Theaters in town, The Paramount, La Luz, and Victoria, they played different kinds of Movies, one played the Hollywood Blockbusters of the time, I remember a film called “Harvey” a Picture with Jimmy Stewart, and a Giant Rabbit (1950) that was at the Paramount. Then across the street was La Luz that played mostly Mexican Films, someone was always getting hung in those films, but they also played “Tarzan” Movies with “Jonny Weissmuller”, I can still hear his distinctive “Yell”, they were right next door to the Telephone Company Building. Around the corner was Victoria, that played all the “Hollywood Serials” of the time, so I went there-a-lot; terrible things happened at the end of each serial only to be fixed in the next installment the following week, only to end in disasters again, I remember “Flash Gordon” in particular, I don’t know why! I guess looking at it from the perspective of a Four Year Old Child it seems appropriate.

On the Radio at home there was the Green Hornet, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger and many more, I’ve forgotten many of them, which was in another life, and another person, I’m talking about the continual flow of information from both the Radio and Motion Pictures. Today it does not seem like much, but in 1944 it was a lot, “everything-that-there-was”. I could not read the Newspapers yet, after all I was only four years old. The Radio itself was one of those Large Wooden Boxes with a curved top, hilly polished wood, with the speakers on the bottom and the dials on top; those were the days of extravagance. My grandfather owned a series of stores that advertised on the Radio, and the Advertisement always said Next to the Paramount Theater, across the street from La Luz, so they let me go in for free, and the custom continue as I grew up, they did not know it but they were involved in making a Filmmaker at an early age.

The Images & Sound kind of get mix-up in the mind of a Child Growing up in Puerto Rico at the time 1944 to 1952, World War II was about to come to an end, I remember VJ-Day and then the end of the World War II in Europe, I saw the Newsreels at the Paramount. Later the returning Veterans with their scars of War, it seems to be consistent with the scars from one War to the other War, missing limbs, PTSD (Post Traumatic Syndrome). One does not see it that way then, but later I saw the same thing from the Vietnam War perspective. But at that time I was five or seven, however from a child’s innocence you begging to take notice of the broken people that the War has left behind, as people begging to apply for jobs at my grandfather’s stores. Men were able to share stories with a child rather than a grown up, why I don’t know, but they did.

I also had an interest in Photography at the time; my grandfather bought me a 35mm still camera, which I continually took photos with. I also had an interest in Stamp Collection (strange but true); they happened simultaneously (why I don’t know), one with the other. As the years past I read about lenses a lot, their properties, how light works it also helped with my bi-lingual abilities that evolved with time. For all this talk about English-Only in the USA, Puerto Rico remains the one State under the United States Flag that Speaks Spanish as its First language, and English as a second language, and I don’t think they’re going to change that anytime soon. During my entire early days, Since December 1941 to the end of the War my country, The United States of America; Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States, and we are all American Citizens. The Country was involved in World War II which included the Asian, European, and North African Theater of Operations. It was thought at the beginning, and the Newsreels were one of the major ways to see images of the News of the day throughout the World.

So by the time I was ten years old, I experienced World War II though the eyes of a baby growing into toddler, into a little boy, that had a mass of media coming at him from just two major sources, Motion Pictures, and the Radio! And the Korean War was looming in the Distance; those are my growing up years. Those are the times that of my introduction into the world of Motion Pictures for the later part of my life, sort of a foundation of experiences without knowing why. We all come from somewhere, and have had different experiences, that mold us into the people we become as adults.

When I found myself in the Infantry in Vietnam, in the US Marine Corps, in Alpha Company, 1 st Battalion, 5 th Marine Regiment, I was in the company of Marines, who fought in the Banana Wars, World War I, World War II, Korea, and now I was in the Vietnam War. We fought in the important Battles of the war, till I got shot in the pelvis, while on a Combat Patrol in Vietnam. That’s when I understood the men who returned from World War II, with their stories, and their sacrifice. It was more than just a story, it became a life experience, and it took it out of the written word, to the Real World. When you spend days on a Combat Patrol, dirty, two cold meals a day from a can, taking turns at night watch, sometimes planning a night ambush, wet when it rains, and on and on, once in a while the monotony is broken by an “Actual Fire Fight” you become a team player in a Platoon of men who depend on each other, and Heavy Mortars, Artillery and Air Support “are-on-call”, that makes that War Real, and all the others Wars Real. That why if you asked a Marine (and now women too) who been in Combat what they “think-of-it” they would say; tray and avoid your country from ever doing it again, but if call you would serve again, but try and avoid-it! Only in the Actual National Defense of the Country!

That’s kind of “round-about-way” of saying how I got into the Motion Picture Business while in the US Marine Corps, I eventually ended up at “USC Cinema School” wearing civilian clothes for over a Year but still an Active Duty member of the US Marine Corps, and back to duty (once the Special Cinematographers Course was conclude) with the Marines at the East Coast Motion Picture Unit, at Quantico, Virginia. While at the East Cost MoPic Unit I Directed many Marine Corps Films, while traveling throughout the Southern part of the country, and Washington, D. C.!

I got my first Civilian US Passport in 1976. Afterwards we formed a Company called “La Luz” (The Light) in Los Angeles, bought a 16 mm Éclair ACL camera, and began making Civilian Films, that 16 mm camera had Hundreds of Thousands of Color Negative Film which were transfer to Video run through-it over a decade. I and my two partners, Heather Howell, and Hwei Chu Men stayed together till 1984, we traveled the Country and the World Together. Eventually Heather and I got married, and we had three children, Jason, Bonnie, and Ryan! I remember that we met Joseph E Levine latter in Life at an AFI (American Film Institute) luncheon, in Los Angeles, he told us (me, Heather & Hwei-Chu) that he use to tell the writers to tell how the show ended, and he would relay that to the person writing the next chapter, so he got the binning and ending and relay it down to the next person. Everybody was doing serials at the time, just like television shows today. I think I went “way-off-page” in my recollections, but that was my life, what’s yours?

Humberto Rivera

 

[Elsie N]

Thanks for sharing your story Humberto. Knowing a person's back story helps the rest of us understand where you are coming from.

I think this is what makes Reduser different (read: better) than twitter or facebook etc. because they convey what a person is feeling or interested in at the moment. There's no story there... just a momentary glimpse of what is usually a sad life.

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Thanks Elsie, I was just jotting down some memories for myself on another file about another subject, when I realized that was one of the ways I subconsciously became interested in Filmmaking, I was too young of even deciding what I would become, a five year old boy has no idea, maybe others might realized-it, must be that's why my grandfather bought me a 35 mm still camera, I shot a lot of non-senesce “rolls-of-film”, but it did get my interest up, as I continue going to the Paramount, La Luz, and Victoria theaters. We also watched movies at home, my grandfather had a 16 mm projector, and he had a way finding Hollywood Releases in 16 mm and we screen them at home. God those were good days!

Yes I do think like you, it’s difficult to use Twitter, because you could not write about whatever comes to mind, in 140 Characters, as long as it’s remotely associated with Filmmaking. It’s not possible! I have a Face book account, but it’s been years since I posted anything on it; https://www.facebook.com/george.englebright#!/humberto.rivera.96155 It was in 2011 that I posted anything, I think, not really sure!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

The “writing block” or staring at the “Blinking Cursor” on the computer screen! It just goes “on-and-off-and-on! You look down deep in your soul (not sure if that’s the right place to look) for something to say! You find nothing, yet all sorts of Ideas are flying-by (more like the brain), it’s that you can’t just “reach-out” and “grab-one” of them. You start to think of different events over the years, all sorts of things are juxtapose to each other! It early in the morning (3:00 am) and you can actually see them flying by (it may be a place where it’s a combination of the brain and the soul). But then there is the Gut, you feel something down there too, so we got the Gut, the Brain, the Soul, but there is something else that you just can’t put your finger on it, what a strange feeling. I couldn’t sleep so I got up and turn the computer on, while I went downstairs to the kitchen to make some coffee, I came upstairs, coffee in hand and open a blank page on the computer, and began with the words; “The “writing block” or staring at the “Blinking Cursor” on the computer screen!”

While making the coffee I was in that Place where you’re “neither-sleep-nor-awake”, it’s a transitory state of mind, you move from the subconscious world to the real world. The subconscious slowly fades away to the conscious, I personally think it’s the most productive, but you got to know how to harness-it, how to harvest-it, how to corral-it, reach out and grab-it, . Then I go up to the computer and I feel more awake than sleep, but jet I remember being sleep about 10 minutes ago (there was a cup of coffee left from yesterday, so I microwave it), while the new coffee is actually been made it right now. I think it must have been about 20 minutes by now. Those dreams whatever they were, because there was at least five of them are gone-forever, you got to grab them while you can!

It time to get the fresh coffee now!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

This morning while reading “The Hollywood Reporter” I saw an article that heated my blood by a few degrees; http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chinese-media-touts-need-de-648911 “Chinese Media Touts Need for 'De-Americanized' World Amid Washington Shutdown” 2:08 AM PDT 10/16/2013 by Clifford Coonan

I’m not saying the United States is Perfect, not by a long shot, However, show me a better system, specially the Chinese System, where even “Film Distribution” is controlled by the Government, remember the; “China Film Group”! In the United States we have different political parties that will vote they way they will, and that’s how the system works, we fought a Costly Civil War over-it, let’s not forget that. China has untold product in its warehouses’, it has an over building of empty spaces and that’s not including what they have in Africa.

The commentary in the Chinese Media said; "Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies," said the commentary. The day for default is November 1, 2013, remember that!

They put their money into the United States because they “wanted-too-do-it”, nobody forced their hand, and had there been a better deal elsewhere they would have taken it, in a New York Minute! Meanwhile they continue to block resolutions in the United Nations, along with Russia that influences the better part of the world, they exploit countries, especially in Africa, and they really do whatever they want.

The 25% of Box Office receipts that goes to American made Motion Pictures is controlled by the “Government” and they wanted to put an extra tax on that! They controlled the amount of Motion Picture Product that enters their country, and it has to pass thought the Censors First. Meanwhile their Film can entered the United States without any restrictions, go figure!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I kept on thinking about China and how it conducts its business on the “World Stage” (the Hell with the WTO)! Wal-Mart is allowed to import whatever it wants into the United States from China (and other parts of World), in whatever quantizes, not limit! Now are the Chinese acting the same way? Hilly doubtful. Many industries have to establish Chinese counterparts, with many restrictions. The obvious one if the “Motion Picture Industry”, it must rely on the graces of the “Government Owned” “China Film Group”! The China Film Group is in essence the Chinese Distributor for American Films! What does that mean? It means a Producer goes to-go to the trouble to do a film to deliver to the Chinese Market (among others markets), the Chinese Theatrical Owner exhibit the film, and collects the revenues, they supposedly give half to a Chinese’s Government Agency (The China Film Group) and the Chinese Government Agency then give Half of that half to the American Producers.

The average Chinese Citizen cannot see any of this on the Internet; it must pass by its sensors, what the alternative, “Pirate Product” for the Producer, and the Chinese, nothing for anyone else. As of this moment there are no defined rules, or at least they are not talking about it, for DVD Distribution in China. Meanwhile the studios continue to cater to the Chinese because of its Audience. The Chinese can come over and buy a “Theatrical Distribution Chains”, but can an America do that in China? No, it cannot!

By the way, the New York Times reports this morning; “SHUTDOWN ENDS; DEBT LIMIT RISES G.O.P. Backs Down After 16-Day Standoff” well so much for that scalding piece in China's official state news agency, XINHUA! Over the years I noticed that the American Political System it a bit hard for other people (non-Americans) to understand, especially with the exploitation of the Twenty-Four Hour News Cycle not helping at all, covering the news on a Global Basis, just like “American Football”, to all the other nations Football means SOCCER.

So till the next time, and there will-be a next-time! Maybe there could be a FICTIONAL FILM about the day that Chinese Legislators give a lot a trouble their President, IT WOULD BE FICTION, but it might be interesting to see how one would write such a film! The Unites States will continue to function, and we’ll pay our depts. to all! Making sausage is definitely an ugly process, but they taste good, especially, Italian Sausage on Pizza.

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

“ARE Dreams really meaningful?” That’s the question asked in The New York times article; “GRAY MATTER Data-Mining Our Dreams” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/opinion/sunday/data-mining-our-dreams.html?_r=0

TO QUOTE FROM THE VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE; “ARE dreams really meaningful? Virtually every culture throughout history has developed methods to interpret dreams — most notably, in the modern era, the psychoanalytic approach. But today many people assume that this quest has failed. Science, they say, HAS PROVED THAT DREAMS ARE JUST RANDOM SIGNALS SENT FROM PRIMITIVE REGIONS OF THE BRAIN, signifying nothing, and that dream interpretation is a kind of superstition.”

“This conclusion is premature. For many years, researchers (including me) have been using quantitative methods of analysis to study the content of dreams. The findings from these studies provide compelling evidence that dreaming is not meaningless “NOISE” but rather a coherent and sophisticated mode of psychological functioning.”

“Furthermore, recent advances in DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY are expanding this approach, potentially boosting by many orders of magnitude our ability to understand the statistically recurring patterns in people’s dreams. You could say that we are learning how to data-mine dreaming.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

I personally know “that-moment” in between “being-sleep-and-awake" many images occur that I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE-OFF, or sometimes “what other people who dreamed of me tell me”. It’s a real Mystery! Sometimes the images that present itself of other marriages; war; exploring new territories in the future, the past, and the present, the list goes on and on. You have to capture it at “that-moment”, or they will be lost forever. IN MY EARLY AGE I HAD NIGHTMARES, I could foresee in my dreams, eventually I learned how to control them, ALL WHILE I SLEPT, sometimes in the early days I screamed. I woke, and went back to sleep. The whole thing is hard to explain, but yet I remember it as if it was yesterday, but it’s very difficult to verbalize. Eventually the Nightmares went away, but I still remember them!

One thing that I notice no matter my age, I never GET TIRED IN MY DRAMS, I can do anything, and move from one world to another, toward the end of the dream something unexpected happens. Over the years I developed different technique for remembering, and moved them from the subconscious to the conscious world, sometimes I remember them by writing them down, or recording it on and audio recorder, what I write down is slightly (or totally) different that what I dreamed and it turns into a wider focus that has nothing to do with the dream, it like CATALYST for something else, for a totally new idea.

BACK TO THE ARTICLE; “Calkins and a colleague kept journals of their dreams, recording each one upon awakening. She collected a total of 375 dream reports, each of which she analyzed and “coded” for several categories of content and then tabulated to determine which elements appeared most often. She found, for example, that the content of these dreams was routinely characterized by realistic settings, lots of familiar characters (“the dream world is well peopled”), mostly negative emotions, a surprisingly high proportion of rational thought and a “very striking” preponderance of visual imagery compared with other sense perceptions.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

At the end of the day, one can say that for the Writer, Director, or Filmmaker (and I do separate the two) they are definitely a good tool to exploit, and I do mean exploit, after-all they came from within OUR dreams, and are being used “by-us”. They can be a catalyst for further expansion into something else that we are not going to know until we sit down to write about it, AND THEN it just FLOWS from SOMEWHERE in the CONSCIOUS MIND through our fingers to the computer, it’s hard to explain but; THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS (at least to me)! After-all a-dream is part of our lives, it part of us, just like a work of fiction written by someone else, we can do with-it what we want, and change it anyway we want-too.

I just wanted to leave you with a few quotes from the book “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” by Henry Miller; “Everyone has his own reality in which, if one is not too cautious, timid or frightened, one swims. This is the only reality there is.” - “Who but the artist has the power to open man up, to set free the imagination? The others - priest, teacher, saint, statesman, warrior - hold us to the path of history. They keep us chained to the rock, that the vultures may eat out our hearts. It is the artist who has the courage to go against the crowd; he is the unrecognized "hero of our time" - and of all time.” - “EITHER YOU TAKE IN BELIEVING IN MIRACLES OR YOU STAND STILL LIKE THE HUMMINGBIRD.” - “The worst is not death but being blind, blind to the fact that everything about life is in the nature of the miraculous. The language of society is conformity; the language of the creative individual is freedom. Life will continue to be a hell as long as people who make up the world shut their eyes to reality.” Quotes’ From Henry Miller (1891 – 1980) from his book, “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird”

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I got to thinking this morning, what happened to Ketch Rossi while he was just about to make his short “The Red Dress” as a TOOL to GET THE MONEY for his real film “The Red Dress” (or whatever he chooses to call it). He did get his “Kickstarter Campaigned” going, Jim Jannard and Jarred Land offered and delivered the Red Studios Hollywood, and the Red Dragon and Epic Monochrome. This project I suspect will be improved, BUT NOT GIVEN-UP! He has had a rather large number of unforeseeable problems, not unlike any other film project, of any stripe. I chose to make my observation on this thread because the other one was getting to be too much, and apparently it was taken down!

I know this; Ketch has learned a great lesson thanks to the many people in this Forum that wish him well, but did not agree with his final outcome, at least at this point in time! I don’t know if many of you have heard the stories to “Francis Ford Coppola” in the Jungles of the Philippines when he tough his “Apocalypse Now” project was dead, and he began a new from the “ashes-of-the-old film”, he triumph. Every case is different and I’m just bring an extreme case to mind only to remind everyone that anything is possible.

TO QUOTE KETCH; “I must admit that this project, while it immediately took off as a great and fantastic project, IT ALMOST TURNED IN TO A COMPLETE FAILURE, due to the fact that half my key players, backed the day before the first day of shooting, because they now wanted large payment, since it was to be shot at RED STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD, they tough I was floating in cash, not believing that Jarred & Jim, not only were they giving me a DRAGON and a Monochrome camera to shoot it, but also would be actually so gracious as to allow me to have their Studios for those days for "FREE", so I lost the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, CO-PRODUCER, LINE PRODUCER, FIRST AD, SECOND AD, CASTING DIRECTOR, AND FEW MORE... Some of which also took-off immediately after receiving the Script.” Ketch Rossi

I don’t know who “Natalie Vital” is, but my “hat-goes-off-to-her”, she step in at the moment when it counted, as did Blair Paulsen and Ron Amborn from MAXX DIGITAL and Vladimir Eugene, as well as Neil W. Smith of Luma Forge, the MōVI hand held stabilizing rig that Corey brought to the shoot, and all the other people that did “show-up” and put in their work-in when it counted.

Now that the FIRST CUT of the short it’s out of the way. Without commenting (too much on the film, which almost seems compulsory) the evolution of a filmmaker goes through various stages, till it gets to the final stage in the form of a completed “Motion Picture Film” witch THIS IS NOT, but one of the most important attribute to any film is “TIME & MONEY” (in my opinion, regardless of what anyone says here about Talent which cost money), without that; “things-don’t-seem-to-go-as-well”. I think this short film was a “wake-up-call” for Ketch Rossi himself; I would say to him go back to the Script, and write more details “into-it”! I would advice ketch that you need to develop; why The Red Dress? Why did the rape occur? Where and how does-it end? And endless number of other things, only in just “back-story”, but put them down on paper before you commit them to the Camera the next time. Remember “Time & Money” are the glue that holds a film together!

I’ll go out “on-a-limp” and say that Ketch is going through something he has to considered right now, “consciously-or-subconsciously”, or maybe a bit of both. I was expecting to see the “Fashion Week” of “Milan” or just wanted to see some symbol “of-it” incorporated into the Film or the dialogue, SOMEHOW, not sure how. I guess what I’m trying to say, when you’re not able to grab an audience by a film’s content, you start to “VACUUM DEDUCT” a very dangerous thing; I can still remember “Margaret Merriam” (I know the last name is not spell correctly, it’s been a long time) at USC Cinema saying that all the time to everyone. I feel like a student back at USC Commenting on other people films at the school (a requirement at USC Cinema School). Look at the “Behind The Scenes” photos, they seemed far more interesting that the film itself! That’s always a dangerous thing. We will always “Vacuumed Deduct”, in the absence of a “Compelling Story”; it’s just “Human Nature” and just takes over the film from a distance through negative comments; putting in what’s missing for the production, from a distance, that’s also the nature of the internet!

Ketch, I wish YOU ALL THE BEST, you’re ONLY STARTING, so there is long road ahead till it becomes a “MOTION PICTURE” it does not matter whether is “good or bad” (of course we all wish for GOOD), just simply that it gets made, AFTER ALL IT’S YOUR MOVIE. There will be lot’s more comments from all parts of the WORLD, at least on this Forum! However in the mixed of comments are some “good-advice”! One final comment; a film is an EXPENSIVE JOURNEY, if you don’t have your own financing; you do have to discuss-it and bring other “people-in”. Glad that you persevere, and I’m sure you will continue on.

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

First I want to restate the full Epic 6K Dragon Sensor is; 30.7mm (Horizontal) x 15.8 mm (Vertical) or 34.5 Ø mm (Image Circle) actually 34.5272 Ø (Image Circle) or 6144 (Horizontal) x 3160 (Vertical) @ 5 Micron. However I think it’s time to revisit the Wide Screen 2.40:1 “Aspect Ratio” conversation while being able to do a SEPARATE IMAX Film frame for Distribution WHILE SHOOTING, and a larger “side-to-side” (out of the 2.40:1) for the Television screen at a 2:1 “Aspect Ratio”. All taken while the 2.40:1 “Aspect Ratio” IS BEING SHOT. You would have to shoot ALL OF IT at 6K (regardless of vignette) and at a SLIGHTLY MODIFIED 6000 X 3000 “Image Size” for the 2:1 “Aspect Ratio”, while the IMAX (6000 X 3160 Vertical full frame). So for the purposes herein we are saying that were using the 2:1 “Aspect ratio” at 6000 X 3000 Frame (2:1), however ALL SHOT at a full 6K frame.

The IMAX Image Size is 1.9:1 “Aspect Ratio”, can be gotten by just extending the Image Size UP to the Maximum of a 6K height or 3160 (Vertical) on the (horizontal adjust inward as necessary). UP is OK, because almost any lens like the “Leica Summilux-C Primes” and “Zeiss Master Primes” would not have any problem with that “Aspect Ratio”, it just to the side that it slightly vignettes depending on the lens. So we must respect the “Aspect Ratio” for both the 2.40:1 (6000 X 3000 @ 2:1) and 1.9:1 IMAX (6000 X 3160) while shooting the “Motion Picture” when it comes to “Framing”, and if we were shooting in S3D then it’s even more complicated. That includes the new Arri Zoom 9.5 mm to 18 mm, T2.9, with an Image Circle of 33.7 Ø mm. The Zeiss 16 mm Master Prime has an “Image Circle” of 34 Ø mm.

China requires that 34 Films imported from the USA MUST HAVE at least 14 OF THOSE FILMS (it could be more, but not less) are of an IMAX/3D Footprint for Chinese Release; so we might as well include all the IMAX (3D and non-3D) Theaters throughout the entire Planet Earth, which includes Russia, as well as new ones being built every week. So we might as well “do-it-all” from the “get-go” to insure distribution in all “Manners and Languages”. So we don’t go through what film like; “Pacific Rim”, “Gravity”, “The Green Hornet” and the older version of “Titanic” had to endure in terms of additional expense, time, and 3D Quality in their conversion from 2D to 3D.

At http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...1-DCI-Container-with-1-9-1-Extension-for-IMAX is the original thread I began about the subject; “2.40 & 1.85:1 DCI Container with 1.9:1 Extension for IMAX” That way back on 11-04-2012, that’s almost a year ago! We’ve been talking about the 6K Dragon Sensor for a while now, but have also “jump-many-generations” of “Digital Camera Development”, it worth the wait, for something as unique as the 6K Dragon Sensor! There is no one in front of the technology, tied to the Red 6K Dragon Sensor, there all behind the “Dragon”, and will probably remain behind for a while. How things have changed since 2006?

I hope I explained myself well, it kind-of complicated to verbalize it, so here is an illustration!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I asked myself; why do I continue to talk so much about China? I guess I see-“it-different” than the Chinese, I see them coming over and buying as much as they can, but on the other side we have to deal with the government, the “China Film Group”! Take for example the story that appeared in today’s Hollywood Reporter; http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-chinas-top-industry-players-652118 “AFM: China's Top Industry Players to Descend on Hollywood” 12:43 AM PDT 10/31/2013 by Clifford Coonan

TO QUOTE FROM THE ARTICLE; “Nearly all of China's top distributors, producers and execs are attending the 2013 American Film Market as the world's second biggest, and fastest rising, movie industry flexes its newfound muscle. THE LINE-UP INCLUDES THE COUNTRY'S BIGGEST STATE-OWNED PLAYER, CHINA FILM GROUP, as well as its increasingly influential private production companies and distributors, such as Enlight Media, Bona, Huayi Brothers and Beijing Galloping Horse Film.”

TO QUOTE FURTHER; “It's not all one-way traffic. CHINA IS LOOKING TO HOLLYWOOD FOR INVESTMENT VEHICLES, and many industry-WATCHERS ARE JUST WAITING FOR THE DAY WHEN A CHINESE FIRM MOVES TO BUY A U.S. STUDIO. "This year we are pushing more films with international casts like “Control”, a suspense-thriller set in the near future, while also developing our native franchises like “Young Detective Dee”, a 3D martial arts mystery set in ancient China," said Huayi Brothers spokesman Charles Hwong. "We hope to broaden the appeal of our films and raise the Chinese film industry to new standards." The annual U.S.-China Film Summit at the Millennium Biltmore, which opens the day before AFM, will also have a higher profile than ever before with a record number of attendees signed up for the event.” The Hollywood Reporter

There is a plan “in-there”, right before our noses!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I was thinking, NO ONE from Angenieux has ever mentioned this yet, BUT; The Thales Angenieux Optimo 28 mm X 340 mm - Zoom Ratio: 12X - Aperture: T3.2 is a revise and updated version of their 24mm X 290mm WITH a 1.16x Extender build onto-it for an IMAGE CIRCLE OF 34.8 Ø mm. The Epic 6K Dragon Sensor on the Camera has an Image Circle of 34.5 Ø mm. So by that logic the Thales Angenieux Optimo 28 mm X 340 mm Zoom Lens SLIGHTLY EXCEEDS the Image Circle at the Full 6K Dragon Sensor with a hair to spare on the good side. Just saying!

Thales Angenieux Optimo 28 mm X 340 mm; http://www.angenieux.com/zoom-lenses/cinema-portfolio/optimo-28-340.htm

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Where has the journey taken the three major “US Networks”, since their inception in the “good-old-radio-days”, through the early “B&W Live Television” days to the PRESENT! It been a long journey, a profitable one since the early days, but recently with the advent of “Cable & International Channels” invading their territory, well their profits have drop, as their audiences become more and more fragmented. Cable now rules the day; the Local stations have lost most of their audience, and production values. Here in Costa Rica we get the Three Major Networks thought the Local Miami Outlets, along with 137 Channels.

Take for example the chart located at; http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-prefer-seven-day-viewership-counts.html?_r=0 it reflects the Networks trying to squeeze more money out of their broadcast decaying broadcast signal, of which they do not control as rigorously as before. The fact remains that their “previous audience” (1980s) has been “dice & slice” so many different ways, that it bears no resemblance to how it looked in the days of the “Three Major Networks”!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/b...t-advertisers-to-pay-for-delayed-viewing.html “Seeking More Pay for Delayed Play” By BILL CARTER! This article starts to reveal what I said above. Just for the sake of argument; let’s say you don’t include the Networks, what would you miss, Special Awards Shows like the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, Super Bowl Games, and such things. So they’re somewhat necessary, but not essential! Every day, someone invests a new way of seeing programs, in way other than the networks, and it will continue to appear.

Take for example the article in deadline.com this morning; http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/nbc...ocative-and-trying-to-bring-the-network-back/ “NBC’s Bob Greenblatt On Being Provocative – And Trying To Bring The Network Back”! They KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM, how to fix-it is the “$64,000 Question” (from the TV Show), that has become part of the lexicon of our language. Eventually one day, the Networks will no longer be profitable, and neither would their affiliates; what will the landscape looked like? The truth is that no one really knows!

One thing is for sure; a “Feature Length Motion Picture” has been and will be the standard by which we measure the interest of the “World Wide Public” in entertainment! That’s a truism that is not bound to change for a while, and long after “Peter O’Toole” passed to next world, “Lawrence of Arabia” will still be plying in all its glory, in whatever kind of technology we have at that time! So if you cannot afford to shoot in “Super Panavision 65 mm” (with multiple cameras of gigantic size), then use the small “Epic 6K Dragon Sensor Camera” in R3D that would be my advice!

Humberto Rivera

 

[David Kuhn]

The ratings/viewer article above dovetails with a presentation I just sat in on earlier this morning... a Warner Bros. Exec in Media Research talked about the changing consumption profile for their products, and he had a LOT of data. As he went through it I wondered about the data collection methods that must have been employed... gone are the days when you could go to Nielson and get complete viewership data - people aren't even sure how to DEFINE viewership. Nielson called my household about a month ago to ask if we could participate in their viewer survey - but when they found out that we didn't receive cable, satellite, or over the air broadcasts at our house (have not subscribed to traditional 'TV' for over a decade) they didn't include us. This even though we go through 275-350GB/Month worth of broadband (nearly all of it Netflix, Hulu, etc...). How do you define the value of a property like "The Walking Dead" or "Breaking Bad" when a significant percentage of its viewers watch it using non-traditional methods? How much is a no-commercial Netflix watcher worth relative to a traditional cable watcher? Complex problem that will have to be solved as more and more people move away from the traditional model.

 

[Humberto Rivera]

David, you have hit the “nail-on-its-head”; how do you measure the real audience which includes the World? Nielson has some turf to protect, after all, if they don’t give a good report to its customers, how they are going to stay in business. For example on this morning deadline.com there was an article about CNN; http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/cnn...more-total-viewers-than-fox-news-has-in-demo/ “CNN Hits Lowest Week Of Jeff Zucker’s Regime; Has Barely More Total Viewers Than Fox News Has In Demo”! A lot of business models have to be rewritten; but how to “do-it”?

The World has to be included in those measurements, because they now watch Television through not only Cable, which includes Channels from the USA, but also Germany, Spain, China, and many more countries. For example, I don’t belief the CNN audience report, I know for example that I switched between CNN & CNN-I continually, that’s mainly how I get my News, I have 13 channels of HBO, so there is always something on, how would they measure that on a World Wide basis, I “use-to-watch” CNN and CNN-I from Russia, because there was not anything else in English that was of interest to-me! And what about CNN.Com, they are huge and World Wide? I get my cable from the same provider that provides the internet, telephone, and some people get other devices through it, they route their digital signal through El Salvador, they are others service providers from International Companies that Work the World, including the USA, how are you going to measure that!

I personally think that Neilson is “aware-of-the-problem”, but what to do about it? That’s the big question! The Truth is not known, and how do you get to it? Devices are going to continue to spread as the world gets more connected!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I keep on hearing that resolution is not important, perhaps not, but there is difference between let’s say between 6K and 2k or 3.7K or whatever, even if some considered it slightly. But the story does not end there, there is the extra stops that Dragon gives you bellow and above the normal range for a perfect “Sweet Spot”. I’m really think (out loud) that it’s the combination of few single (or a lot) small thing, that improves the camera above all else! A little bit here, and some over there, it’s like what a US Senator once said, “one billion here and another billion there”, and pretty soon you’re talking about “Real Money”!

I see an objection behind some people to accept the fact that the “Epic 6K Dragon Camera”, exceeds all others including 35 mm film, for whatever their reasons, and there are many (for them) it does not take away from the fact, based on the test that we’ve seen so far, the camera is the best there is! We’re still waiting for the Official release for Graeme’s final “Magic”! It always better to Down-rezz than Up-rezz, that’s an indisputable fact, no matter how it may appear to some! Just saying!

Look what happened with the Blackberry, they were at the “top-of-the-heap” just a while ago, and now they have change their selling position several times, after each deals fails to materialize, will that happen to Arriflex, or Sony at least in the way “they-now-exists”? What they “are-they-all” selling; the Red Digital Cinema Company, Arriflex, Blackberry, Apple, Google, Nikon, Canon, all of them, is a computer with an operating system. The article has become a metaphor of what “it-was-before”, like in the case of the “Motion Picture Camera”, it’s no longer a camera with film running through it, but the results are the “same-or-better”! Still and Motion Picture Camera no longer use film, they’re computer systems, with two important distinctions; the Hardware &the Software!

It’s hard to hold 4K at the edge of most computer systems (especially in S3D), and 6K is even harder, that’s what Red has done, it holds everyone’s feet to the “technological-fire” it makes them find new ways of improving their “Workflow”, but you can always Down-rez to a comfortable level, or you can just go for it, it’s your choice.

Humberto Rivera