Revenge of the Sith Digital Projection

Glipt · May 23rd, 2005, 02:20 AM

The following is a letter I sent to Famous Players regarding the terrible digital projection for ROTS. Perhaps some of you feel the same way.
DIGITAL CINEMA PROJECTION

TO: Famous Players Cinemas, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Hello. I am an avid Star wars fan and viewed 'Revenge of the Sith' as the end of a 28 year journey I started as a kid when I was 7 years old. I am also very concerned with the technology of cinema projection and sound. I personally was shocked and disappointed at a number of things regarding the release of Star Wars 3 in the GTA.

#1: There was no attempt at a premiere quality screening in the GTA. It was not available in IMAX DMR which I understand is no ones fault locally. However a 35mm print was not even shown on an IMAX screen, which if done right is absolutely spectacular. Return of the King was mind blowing on the IMAX screen. Lacking a 35mm IMAX screening I looked for a Digital Cinema screening. After all Lucas shot this movie digitally and wishes all to see it digitally. Once again (as was the case with Attack of the Clones) the digital cinema projected feature was in auditorium #4 at the Colossus Vaughan (a smaller cinema and screen size), NOT in auditorium #11 which is the biggest and best auditorium in that theater. A digital projection feature of this movie should be given the FULL BORE treatment of a 63' foot wide screen and the best sound possible. Sound at all cinema locations in the last few years has really been appalling. Sound for 'Revenge of the Sith' was decent, but should be spectacular. When a giant spaceship explodes and / or tears in half you should FEEL it in a THX certified theater. You should FEEL a lightsaber thrust HIT you in the chest. I have experienced sound like this in years past and there is NO reason why I should not today. This movie was advertised as THX and the THX trailer was shown. The technology is there. Use it. This however is not the worst of it, which leads me to #2.

#2: The projection resolution was APPALLING and TERRIBLE. Pixels were the size of my HEAD. The stars were squares and diagonal lines were stair steps. The exterior shots of Coruscant looked like scattered Lego blocks. My buddy's $2000 single chip LCD front projector gives a better picture than this thing did. The real disturbing thing is that the manager (Jeff) told me that they had received numerous complaints and that 'Technicolor' who leases the digital projectors and supervises the downloading, installing and exhibiting of the movie had been called back twice and said that everything was OK and the movie was SUPPOSED to look like that. NOT SO. 3 years ago 'Attack of the Clones' at least looked decent. Normally no (or very few that only the expert viewer could detect) pixels are visible in a cinema DLP projected feature. This screening looked like a pirated download off the internet. If that's what I wanted to watch, and could have seen in my buddy's basement, then I would be happy. This is not an issue of money. I live 5 minutes from a local Cineplex Odeon but took the time to drive 1/2 hour to Vaughan to see the digital presentation and pay to get the best experience for this ending of a journey.

That ending of a journey has been ruined. I find it hard to believe a corporation the size of Famous Players just says OK to technicolor when they say "Nothing is wrong with our projector". The fault is not with Fox pictures for a lousy download because the company splash for Texas instruments DLP and Technicolor also looked lousy. I am an independent video producer. If I shot a commercial for you guys that looked blocky and terrible once it was broadcast you would have my head on a legal platter. Please FIX the problem soon. This movie should be shown digitally in auditorium #11 at Colossus Vaughan (or another 63' or larger screen at any cinema complex) with fully functioning sound. That means the subwoofer ON and the volume up LOUD and ALL surround channels (3 of them) ON. Please let me know when this problem is fixed so I can Experience this movie the way:

#1: George Lucas expects it to be shown.

#2: THX whom you license from expects it to be shown.

#3: I and all my friends expect it to be shown.

#4: The way it CAN be shown AT NO COST TO YOU because you have already have paid for the equipment, leases and licensing to make a spectacular and mind blowing exhibition of this movie possible.

Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions.

P.S. A copy of this letter has been sent to GTA newspapers, Technicolor, and THX.

depmode101 · May 23rd, 2005, 08:24 AM

you lost me at hello.

good for you for sticking up for what you believe in though.

MacDoc · May 23rd, 2005, 08:59 AM

I've found Famous Players to be failing ( perhaps why they are for sale ).

Their iMax theatre in Mississauga is good BUT even there the best seats in the centre are broken to the point of agony if you sit in them.

They regularly bring the lights up and cleaners in before the credits have ended and the "commercials" get longer and longer and uglier and uglier. No wonder they are losing out to home theatre.

Very often projectors are not focused - I've gotten refunds several times on this and sound levels are wrong. - most often too loud and distorted.

The only movie I can recall in recent years that delighted and entranced me was iMax The Polar Express and even then we had to sit on broken seats for the ideal 3D positioning.
The iMax enhanced Harry Potter was also very good - reminiscent of the awe and delight movies SHOULD provide at a well run well equipped theatre.

I still recall seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind in full Cinemascope and a wonderful sound system and this was before THX came out. It was awe inspiring as that big ship came over the mountain.

That's the kind of "30 years of memories" a good movie well presented in a THEATRE should inspire.
Same impact with the remastered Lawrence of Arabia when it came out. Completely immersive and I felt I coudl reach into the screen a grasp a handful of sand - the detail was so good. This was 70mm prints and David Lean photography at it's very best on a glorious remodelled theatre in Hamilton that is now long gone

Have we progressed much.......yes the sound systems SHOULD be better but rarely are.

In my mind only iMax is carrying the torch for quality and impact visually.

For the rest - look out when OLED hits big - it'll be all over for theatres unless they clean up their act.

I used to go 2-3 a month. Now it's maybe 4-5 times a year and it's rarely satisfactory.

iLabmAn · May 23rd, 2005, 10:10 AM

I just saw AOTC on my TV wit my surround sound system and I must say that I enjoyed it better than in the theatre. Much better sound and clarity than at the theatre.

...which proves my point that theatres are only in it for the food sales.

jicon · May 23rd, 2005, 10:46 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Glipt
	...viewed 'Revenge of the Sith' as the end of a 28 year journey I started as a kid when I was 7 years old.

I'm sorry, but they haven't invented an emoticon that can convey the laughter that I'm experiencing at the moment.

You're either Frank Whaley in disguise [Swimming With Sharks] with an obsessive attraction to films, or you seriously need to get out more.

/alright, I'm going to hell.

That aside, if the talent serving me my popcorn is any indication, Famous Players probably doesn't really care anyway. If a digital picture is blocky in a small theater, that may be an indication that they either don't have a decent copy of the film (not likely), or (more likely) the 'cheap' digital projector can't display a very large resolution.

By the way, that clunky, blocky bit of screen at the end, is just Darth Vader screaming "Nooooooo!!!!!". -Picture is perfectly fine, he just acts that way.

nxnw · May 25th, 2005, 05:55 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by MacDoc
	For the rest - look out when OLED hits big - it'll be all over for theatres unless they clean up their act.

Samsung demoed a prototype 40" OLED set last week. 3 cm deep.

zarquon · May 25th, 2005, 07:10 PM

While I have to agree quite strongly with your general rant - as I have walked out of several cinemas over the quality ( or lack of ), I must take up one point to differ on.
Sound.
I am a professional sound engineer ( yes I work in recording as well as live sound - including rock shows! ) and I find that I always need to talk earplugs to the movies. For the most part it's just insurance, but once the trailers are over ( plugs are a must for the commercials and the trailers ) I will either need to put in the ear plugs or at least hold my fingers in them for a few minutes because of excessively loud portions of the film. I have been in the cinema when the sound was at levels high enough to cause damage almost imediatly if you weren't wearing ear protection. ( The Phantom Menace comes to mind ). Usually, the sound is just badly set up with either the subs way to loud, or off. I would very much like to hear the whole sound track, in a properly balance set up - but please, dear God please don't turn it up any more. Not untill I have bought serious amounts of stocks in hearing aid manufactures!

Z.

MacDoc · May 25th, 2005, 08:24 PM

I've even been to a couple of iMax films with badly set up sound tho that's rare.

Impact and dynamic range WITHOUT pain.
SHOULD be simple.........it actually takes some work. Wonder if the movie staff ever get THEIR hearing tested.

Glipt · May 27th, 2005, 12:20 AM

SO MacDoc... It's you I've been battling with for the broken prime seats in the IMAX. I agree that IMAX seems to be our only hope. Attack of the Clones did eventually come out in IMAX so theres hope for ROTS.

jicon: Yeah, I was hamming it up a bit, but for anyone over 35 who remembers seeing the first one in the cinema, seeing the end of the Star wars saga does bring up a bit more nostalgic feelings than cramming through 'The Matrix' in just a couple of years.

zarquon: I agree, louder is not always better. I have had my ears screeched out a couple of times, especially in early DTS setups, and had to put up with popping subs. My premiere movie going experience so far has to be 'The Fugitive' at the Uptown cinema. That was well balanced heartstopping sound (especially the train crash which evoked a standing ovation from all 700 in attendance). My ears did not hurt or notice any distortion even during the most dynamic passages. My second was 'Titanic' at Colleseum miss. #9.

Things have gotten so bad, I actually hardly pay for movies any more. I think they are starting to put pictures of me up at the cinemas because I ask for refunds so often.

Actually, I know part of the reason why things are so bad. Every section of the cinema "experience" is handled by completely different people. Famous Players hires 100 teenybopers and one adult to make the popcorn and sell tickets. They also hire 1 projectionist to run all 12 or more screens. He too is a teenyboper because the projectors are all computerized and very easy to load / rewind (thats why they fired all the real projectionists 10-15 years ago). Projection installation and maintenance are contracted out. Sound installation and maintenance are contracted out to a completely different company. The result is that there is NO ONE on site who knows anything about the equipment at all. If there is a problem they have to 'call it in' and to heck with whoever has to watch it. I once almost talked my way into the IMAX projection booth when I was subjected to watch 'The Two Towers' with the left channel off, the subwoofer off and the digital tracks disabled (this is the most common problem). I was busted when he asked me for some corporate ID. I was so desparate, I just wanted to try to find the wires and plug them back in or dust off the optical digital pickup. I have gotten responses from my rants. This particular rant evoked a quick response from Technicolor who called on the holiday Monday and who was also quick to blame Famous Players staff, who blamed Tecnicolor in the first place.

Anyway. I'm with MacDoc. IMAX does at least offer some hope for the cinematic future. Then again, there is always bittorrent and my buddys basement.

MacDoc · May 27th, 2005, 02:03 PM

I complained to iMax but they just said FP owns the seats - iMax just collects on them - full or not.

They said they WOULD pass the complaint along.

FP seems not long for this world.

I would pay MORE if I KNEW I was going to get a top notch experience and a decent capuccino at as reasonable price.

The movie theatre biz model is wrong headed right now - they doing "failing restaurant" spiral and the only thing keeping them afloat is their "almost" monopoly.