Jon O'Brien

Yeah, I thought of that, but God has full rights to it.

Rather interesting phenomenon that Hydrogen swirling around in the early cosmos eventually organised into DNA. And here we all are, making movies.

Badlands was an artistic creation but a film that took a grim view of life. A study in the banality of evil. The girl was truly evil too because she passively went along with it. Perhaps that is this film's power, its depiction of people who've lost humanity. It's raw depiction of gun violence was probably pretty ground breaking too. Without the use of squibs it wouldn't have had as much of an impact. Unfortunately the depiction of violence was a feature that gave the movie some of its raw power. In my opinion. It's not really a film I'd want to see again. There just doesn't seem to be any redemption in it at all, it's a depiction of hopelessness far worse than James Dean's most negative and narcissistic performances.

I'm looking forward to hearing how you go with it. In further developments, my old cinema friend a few doors up the street has come good with a 16mm projector. It's an old Siemens that was used by the education dept. But no lens! Knowing Jim, he will come up with a lens as well. It will take me a while to get this thing running again as I'm not very mechanically inclined. Next project is finding out if he really can get a 35mm projector or two that are up for grabs. What I need is someone in Australia who is a genius at getting old projectors working again.

Yep, they took a year to shoot Ryan's Daughter, with Lean taking days off waiting for the right weather. The money that must have cost to have all that crew playing cards for days.

In my humble opinion 15/70 isn't really the best medium for narrative feature movie. It just seems like visual overkill, and the aspect ratio isn't right. Surely vertical 5/70 is best for feature movies, Or cinemascope 35mm. 15/70 is more for shorter 'science' documentaries and nature films and things like Cirque de Soleil in 3D. It must be difficult to make a buck out of an expensive 15/70 print for the average feature movie.

That was what David Lean was most remembered for. I heard a few people who worked with him a lot make similar comments, on a series of three documentaries on Lean. David Lean was an artist. As were Freddie Young, cinematographer ( or lighting cameraman, as I think he described himself), and Robert Bolt, writer, with whom Lean collaborated.

If it helps ... there's also an out of focus important close up in David Lynch's beautiful production The Elephant Man - when the morally corrupt night shift guy tells John Merrick he's going to be a very popular attraction.

Not only that but George Lucas rang up Disney and asked that they change the aspect ratio to something more like 4.5-3. Times change.

I didn't know about him either. Now I do. Thanks for telling us about this film. I will try and see this one.

That's actually a screen shot from the Last Jedi. Sorry to break it to you all who haven't seen it. Yep, major spoiler. Luke goes really weird on that Irish island and decorates his cave with silver and white do-dads and has a pixy helper. Sad.

One good thing about 'The Last Jedi', not that I enjoyed the film very much, was that the Jedi order (or religion, or whatever it was) really was in need of reform. If you have any interest in the Star Wars films at all and include in that the 'prequels', what comes through is that the Jedi had become out of touch, proud, vain, and had forgotten their origin. The character Luke was doing what he thought was best. He might have looked weak and crushed but really he was being courageous and doing what needed to be done. The same thing has happened in world history. Powerful movements have been brought low because of going astray and losing touch. In the case of the church you could argue that the original faith has been completely thrown away by the leaders. We have beautiful cathedrals but the average Anglican or Catholic doesn't even believe what's in the Bible anymore. Oh, they believe it as a kind of beautiful myth. In Star Wars, Luke and Yoda realised that the game was up, so not really a "baby film" and it can be taken as a bit of an allegory. If something's real, it's real. If it's not, it's not. But if you no longer have faith in something, if you no longer think something's true, turn away and do something else. Follow a better path, onward and upward to truth. John 8:32. Merry Christmas.

Try and find down to earth people who've suffered hardship of some kind. Who've lived by the sweat of their brow and not by tricks or games. People who lead very simple lives and are very honest. People of faith and hope. You will find wonderful stories there.

I don't think it's because I'm a film fetishist. For me, I'd more put it that I'm an anti-digitalist. Or if you like, I'm anti-video. But not because of some noble principle, or because the process uses electricity or pixels or bits of silicon or little wires or anything (I have nothing against those things). It's because I don't like the look and feel and experience of digitally projected digitally shot movies in the cinema or on the telly or wherever else they might be shown. Specifically because of the look, which I've attempted to explain through the medium of words, on other other threads here. But all for nought. You digital lovers can't be swayed. You clearly have no idea what I'm talking about. Words can't seem to express why I don't find the look of digital movies worth seeing. Or words can express the point, but you don't accept the premise that some people don't like the look at all. Real film inspires good stories and good movies. Also, in some genres of the moving image, such as TV, I don't mind video at all. I remember the first season of Blake's 7, filmed entirely on video. It was great. But for a motion picture at the cinema? And the same thing shown on TV, as a feature movie that was first released as a film at the cinema? For me, it's got to be real film. The only exception I can think of that I enjoyed for the movie alone that wasn't shot on film was Rogue One. I'd have loved it more if it was shot and shown on real film though.

G'day Gareth, great to hear from you. Neglab is all motion picture negative processing, no reversal that I know about. That's fine. So good to have Neglab there!! Good to know about artist film workshop in Melbourne, I will check it out.

And for the last damn time, digital doesn't come out looking green!! You get that?! Just joking.

Which reminds me of an entirely different matter. We live in a world that sometimes lately seems rather keen to push back against the joyful. Just a general comment. It's rather plain to see, if you will but see it. But it won't work, because those who are determined to experience joy will find it, regardless of the ghouls of society who want things grim.

Unless, as Samuel seems to be saying, deception was possibly involved. That's a well-known fact of the world we live in. Lies can be told to push something out, usually or always because of bucks to be made. Might not apply in this case, of course. More research is called for perhaps. By the way, I hope no one calls me a conspiracy theorist for suggesting even the possibility of 'dirty tricks'. I'm just being realistic. Come on, we all know it can sometimes happen. Anyway there are enormous advances being made in mitigating and/or totally avoiding all sorts of environmental problems and perceived environmental problems without having to kill a very fine artistic and technical achievement that gave so many people so much joy (okay trying to get just a little bit Churchill-like there in that last sentence).

I think a lot of people would be very willing to pay extra for Kodachrome. Come on, Kodak, you know you want to do it. Bring it back before the technical capability is lost forever. It's a fact of history that high-level technical competency in any field is quickly lost and not regained when it's allowed to fall away. People try to re-invent creative things and even technical processes that have been lost to history but they usually manage only a rough approximation of what was once enjoyed. Eg. Roman cement was actually an extremely fine concrete in some ways far superior to modern Portland cement type concrete but they don't know how to make it any more. Another example is in music. Musicians try to re-invent ancient lost music styles especially ancient 'classical' music but at best they manage only some kind of quirky, folky personal interpretation of what they *think* was lost - and it never catches on because, well ..... it's gone and it ain't coming back. The magic has been lost and something entirely new has replaced it. In cinematography that would be digital but a lot of beauty and warmth has been traded for convenience. A topic that has been over-discussed, sure.

I know I harp on about this film a lot, but it reminds me of the scene in 'Soylent Green' when Sol, the old guy, is about to die and he and the Charlton Heston character are looking at the projected images of nature in the euthanasia facility and both are just aghast and nearly crying at the beauty. "I had no idea" one of them mumbles.

Just need to pop in a quick explanatory note, here. Neglab doesn't do reversal developing, as of the latest information I have to hand, though with reversal film so hard to come by at the moment it's a moot point.

Anyway, to hell with it. It was so good to see you back, Luke Skywalker!!! Who cares if you leaned in a bit out of the range of the depth of field.

The Kodachrome 16mm I used to see projected at film nights at the old filmmaker's club in Brisbane was so damn spectacular it was hard to put into words. Just beautiful to look at. How can mankind let this sort of beauty slip away, out of reach?

A bit like finding interesting women. Don't wear a beret.

Thanks Glen, yes the V3 50D looks very nice. Kodak, please, we need GOOD color reversal film returned to the market, and developing. Thank you.