Tuesday 16 April 2019

Real Live Ghosts on the Silver Screen

This is a great little documentary. It very accurately pinpoints what it is about the motion picture industry's business model which holds back creative talent. It is not the egos of Directors and Stars; it is the way in which films are financed, produced and distributed, and the way projection and production technology is developed. The following quote is from a brilliant New Yorker piece on Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey.

“2001” is at its best when it evokes the “somewhere beyond.” For me, the most astounding moment of the film is a coded tribute to filmmaking itself. In “The Dawn of Man,” when a fierce leopard suddenly faces us, its eyes reflect the light from the projection system that Kubrick’s team had invented to create the illusion of a vast primordial desert. Kubrick loved the effect, and left it in. These details linger in the mind partly because they remind us that a brilliant artist, intent on mastering science and conjuring science fiction, nevertheless knew when to leave his poetry alone.

We could change all of this, if only the people who finance movies in Hollywood would stop abusing their wealth to maintain their control on the industry.


Well, don't say that we didn't warn you! Look, and Listen:


To see why lenses are matched with film sizes, see this:


And to see why it is important that projection technology is developed together with production technology and cinematography, see:


That also shows why being a nerd matters. That the average viewer of the film doesn't notice these things, does not necessarily mean that they don't make a difference to that person's experience when the see that film. So now tell me why 4k projectors in cinemas were A Good Thing?

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