Jump to content

Hateful Eight Experience


Recommended Posts

They just updated their website so i think a few kinks have to be worked out, it looks so much cooler now.

 

It totally does! I just want it to look cooler and to work too! ;)

It is great that there is suddenly all this interest in selling movie film at Kodak!

 

Freya

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Actually camera size isn't that big of a deal. The standard mirror reflex camera isn't very big. Also, it's not exorbitantly expensive to shoot 65mm either. The problem and expense of shooting 65 is the lack of quiet sound cameras, scheduling and lack of many places to process. So the 2 panavision and 2 arri 65mm sound cameras are very expensive to rent and hard to schedule rentals of. Plus Fotokem is the only shop that can process and print 70mm on this continent. If there was another lab established and more cameras available, I think it would be more popular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just saw the first half of the 70mm Roadshow print at the Veterans AMC in Tampa.

 

I did make it all the way to the intermission. No way I was going to sit through the second half of this film.

 

Really not my cup of tea.

 

My least favorite work by the great Bob Richardson. 70mm or not. The lighting just was impossible for me to believe.

 

Neal Norton

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure we can use the moving constraint as an excuse since the camera was always on a crane for the whole film (if I'm not mistaken and remember the AC article correctly)

 

I take it you mean for Hateful 8 and not 2001 which surely needs no excuses! ;)

 

However I was kind of implying that the fear of the big heavy 70mm camera and everything people say about shooting in 70mm, may have driven Tarrantino to write the story to a few locations etc. To be honest the fact it was mounted on a crane the whole time would seem to underscore the idea of them being in fear of the weight and may have added to the stage-y feel of it. Crane type shots were often traditionally used a lot on studio bound TV productions for example.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The lighting just was impossible for me to believe.

 

Neal Norton

 

Only place on earth someone announces this is the reason they left a movie early. :)

 

For me it's usually the editing....what a horrible edit that was, Richard can be heard to say, that's it I'm leaving.

 

R,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the Panavision website they only seem to have 2 65mm cameras listed, a sound camera and a mos camera that can shoot higher speeds:

 

http://www.panavision.com/panavision%C2%AE-large-format-system-65

 

Maybe the handheld camera is in storage somewhere still.

I think they are missing a trick by not having it available too.

 

There may only be a few 65mm cameras available out there but if it is a premium experience then that could still work somewhat.

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have my ticket for 11th Jan. but really having second thoughts if I am going to bother travelling into central London to see it now . I have never liked any of his films this one sounds like it's going to even worse then anything he made before , he is so much up his own arse !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they can shoot vertical 65mm sync sound quiet enough on a camera to use the onset dialogue, why can't they make an Imax camera quiet enough for sync sound? I guess it's just the speed of the camera? 5 perfs pulled down vertically per frame on 65mm as opposed to 15 perfs pulled per frame horizontally on Imax? I guess that's the equivilent of running a regular 65mm camera at 72fps?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have my ticket for 11th Jan. but really having second thoughts if I am going to bother travelling into central London to see it now . I have never liked any of his films this one sounds like it's going to even worse then anything he made before , he is so much up his own arse !

 

Why did you get a ticket if you don't like him?

Was it for the 70mm?! I bet it will still look spectacular.

I guess you could always bring earplugs or even some in ear headphones to listen to some nice music while you watch the beautiful visuals?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

My least favorite work by the great Bob Richardson. 70mm or not. The lighting just was impossible for me to believe.

To me it was the unmotivated lighting, none of it made any sense. Had the set been dark, with real black areas, it would have been far more interesting. In fact, I would have pushed everything 2 stops and tried to light with practicals. It would have added a sense of depth that would have made it far more interesting. Even the snow capped mountains were hum ho. Not saying it didn't look good, because it did look good. Just saying I don't feel it was creative enough. The test footage looked WAY better then the final product.

 

I do think they shot for "safety" because they were concerned about how it would come out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

If they can shoot vertical 65mm sync sound quiet enough on a camera to use the onset dialogue, why can't they make an Imax camera quiet enough for sync sound? I guess it's just the speed of the camera? 5 perfs pulled down vertically per frame on 65mm as opposed to 15 perfs pulled per frame horizontally on Imax? I guess that's the equivilent of running a regular 65mm camera at 72fps?

Well, IMAX cameras aren't very efficient on space. They're a very old design and with modern technology they could be updated and made more space saving. This would allow them to add sound damping and make a camera that isn't so damn big. Panavisions 5 Perf 65mm cameras aren't much bigger then Gold II's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

IMAX cameras use a vacuum pump to keep the film flat in the gate -- when they took the IMAX cameras into space to shoot the Hubble, they had to put it in a housing so that they could maintain enough atmosphere inside the body to, ironically, create a vacuum around the gate.

 

You're talking about the largest movie film format ever created, so if you have a problem with large cameras, this isn't the format for you. If someone creates a digital movie camera with a sensor the size of an IMAX frame, someone is going to complain about the size of that camera too relative to other digital cameras.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Ahh interesting, they suck it onto the backplate. It makes sense, there is so little edge to the film compared to the frame size, so they're afraid the film will buckle in the middle and this avoids that from happening.

 

Cool beans and it absolutely explains why the cameras are so damn loud!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd argue that I would have liked something like Django to be shot on Ultra Panavision 70, that would have been insane. I don't really think this is quite the right project for the format, it's just that Bob Richardson saw the lenses by chance at Panavision, was intrigued, knew Quentin would go crazy for them, had a backup plan for 65 mm spherical, it all went well, they just shot Ultra Panavision 70 because they could on this one.

 

Now, what's pretty cool is that Rogue One uses those lenses right now, albeit on the Alexa 65 mostly, but still, and Tarantino did allude in an interview with PT Anderson he gave a few days ago that Nolan is, I quote, "right behind him", which I guess means that the rumored Nolan WWII film in Dunkerque is going to be shot on 65 mm, and that the infrastructure now being there for a more important 70 mm expansion, Nolan will use it.

 

But yeah, shooting what amounts to a stage play on one set with just a few vistas at the beginning sounds like a waste, even though Tarantino addressed that by saying he could play on the foreground and background, but I don't know, it seemed more to me like he was rationalizing his format choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Looks like Nolan is shooting IMAX and 35mm again for his film according to IMDB. I think the Panavision cameras have been rented for Batman vs Superman, a lot of which is being shot on 5/65. In Europe, if Nolan wanted to shoot 5/65mm, he'd be renting from Arri Germany and getting 765's.

 

PT Anderson seems to be pretty far away from shooting anything. His next film, which is a 'Pinocchio' remake, appears to be in limbo. I'm not sure if he's bailed on it for the time being and is working on something secretive, but there isn't much new info to be had.

 

With guys like Zack Snyder trying to get their nonsensical crap shot on 65mm in order to piggyback onto what Quentin started, it's going to be very difficult to gain access to the Panavision 65mm camera inventory. Considering Quentin had rented every single 65mm sound camera this country has for 'Hateful Eight', it wouldn't surprise me if everyone does the same thing, just incase. Panavision needs to make a new camera, smaller, lighter weight, really hone in on this new budding market.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nolan is shooting on 65 mm according to the press release, no 35 mm. IMDB is not to be trusted this early. And not a lot of BvS is shot on 65 mm, just select sequences. I don't see though how it constitutes nonsense, just because it's a superhero film does not mean it's automatically crap. Pinocchio is not happening, it's been reported a while ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched the film yesterday at the Regal Atlantic Station Cinema, here in Atlanta. No problems with the projection. The presentation was face-melting!!! Two images from the film are still burned in to my consciousness. The first is a wideshot vista of monochromatic blue and white mountainside. The stagecoach is passing by from the lower right to the upper left of the screen, in the first 5 mintues of the movie. The depth of the blue tones in that frame were stunning. My, my..so nice.

 

The second is a scene from the last act of the film. A stagecoach is approaching Minnie's Haberdashery, there is a slow motion medium shot of black and white horses. The detail is lovely.

One can see the texture and detail in the animals' flesh. In a way that I have yet seen on a screen of any size.

 

Thank you Bob Richardson. Thank you Quentin Tarantino.

 

 

Money well spent.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Well, I had a very disappointing experience with The Hateful Eight, today.

 

I had a ticket for the 5:30 P.M. show (sold out) at the City Cinemas Village East Theater - known to be a good one for 70mm shows. This showing, however, was being presented in a slightly smaller auditorium...with a screen about the size of one you'd see in a color grading suite. I have a small, independently-run neighborhood theater near me with bigger screens. If that wasn't bad enough, there was absolutely no introduction of the film by any staff member. But all of this I could deal with.

 

When the film began, after the overture, I saw that the top frame-line was totally off. It wasn't only that I could see the frame-line, I was seeing the space between the frames, creating a canted black bar which also revealed the rounded corner of the right side of the frame. The theater couldn't have seated more than a hundred people and one group in front of me left as soon as they saw that. I gave it about 10 minutes to see if they'd correct the problem, then I'd had it.

 

So I found a few young staff members floating around the lobby and put my query to one of them:

 

Me: Hi. There's a problem with the projection of The Hateful Eight in Auditorium 7.

 

Staff member: 70 mil?

 

Me: Yes. The entire frame is off.

 

Staff member: Oh, it's supposed to look like that.

 

Me: No...it's not.

 

Staff member: Did you get your ticket off of Fandango?...

 

Me: No. I bought it off of a site specifically dedicated for this film.

 

Staff member: ...Because some of the auditoriums aren't equipped for 70mm.

 

Me: And why were the customers not told this?

 

Staff member: Well, you gotta' call.

 

Me: And why were we not told to call?

 

Finally, another staff member with a bit more professionalism engaged me and asked how I would like to proceed. I asked for the manager so I could get a refund. As my refund was being processed in the box-office, the manager asked me exactly what I was seeing on the screen. I told him and said to me "That's because that screen is set to project scope, not 70mm." I said, "That's fine, but then why are you attempting to show a 70mm film in there at all?" Then we got into the whole "It's not my decision" and "I was just following orders" defense, etc., etc., etc.

 

So here's my real issue...

 

I think resurrecting Ultra Panavision was a great idea, but it seems Tarantino and the Weinstein Company were a bit too ambitious in their execution of the exhibition process. From what I've read, 70mm projection equipment was brought in to approximately 100 theaters across the nation. Why attempt to install a 70mm projector in a theater that can't handle it? Normally, I wouldn't even ask that question as the answer is usually to get butts in the seats, regardless of any lack of quality. But in this case, that reasoning just doesn't make sense. Roadshows were always about presentation and even pageantry, and everyone who's had plans to see this is going to see it for the experience. Why ruin it by equipping a theater that is going to make people walk out?

 

I don't know if a few old-school projectionists were brought in just for this roadshow, but The Hateful Eight kind of feels like we are returning to the early days of The Dawn of Widescreen in the sense that most projectionists have been used to one - or in this case two systems (35mm & digital) - for so long, that when presented with something like 70mm, there is a plethora of technical issues that come up due to lack of knowledge and an inability to troubleshoot (unless, of course, you really do have an old-school projectionist in the booth.) If Chris Nolan does indeed follow along the path that Tarantino's laid out, the best thing to come out of this - besides the revival of large-format film-making - would be the training of a new generation of projectionists on a format that is almost 100 years old.

 

On a side note, that has to be the first film I ever walked out on. I was amazed to see that I was one of the few who walked out as the crowd seemed to be comprised of rather discerning cinephiles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...