Dpp1978
Posts: 1009
Joined: 2/4/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: directorscut
Only two discs? Don't tell me they're going to cram the movie onto one disc.
Ben Hur was shot in Ultra Panavision with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1. That means when transferred to the 1.77:1 format of our screens about 35% of the frame will be matted. That means it can be compressed far more efficiently than a film shot in one of the narrower aspect ratios.
How the West Was Won (which I watched again last night in part because of this thread) has a similarly wide aspect ratio, is also very long and fits comfortably on one disc with over 10 gigabytes to spare. It also looks spectacular.
There is no reason to believe that Ben Hur should not be similarly spectacular.
quote:
ORIGINAL: DONOVAN KURTWOOD
That's so cool. I'm just watching the documentary now. I really think that Cinerama is so much better than the current incarnation of 3D and is a much more exciting cinemtatic possibility IMO. The potential with today's visual FX technology could be a fantastic movie experience. I would love to watch the Cinerama documentaries and the other feature you mentioned. I wish they could give it a resurgence, but i realise that the cost factor would be staggering in terms of fitting out cinemas etc
There were other high resolution wide formats which had a similar effect using large format film and wide angle lenses. Some of the shots in How the West Was Won used one of these: Ultra Panavision and were then converted them to the 3 strip Cinerama format.
Later films advertised as Cinerama such as 2001: A Space Odyssey were shot and projected using one film strip, but designed to be compatible with the deeply curved Cinerama screen.
The period between the early '50s to early '70s was a high point in the presentation of film as a spectacle rather than as casual entertainment. The focus was on high quality presentation, both from a production and a distribution standpoint. The slow decline since then to the homogenised multiplexes we go to today has robbed us of almost all our top flight cinemas, which have either been knocked down; converted into bingo halls; or chopped up into multi screen venues. There are very few places even capable of showing these film as they are supposed to be seen: on a giant screen. Bradford's Pictureville is one, and there are a few more up and down the country; usually in the major cities. Imax screens can do it, but perceived contrast suffers from soft matteing the comparatively wide films on the very tall Imax screens. In short, unless you are lucky enough to live near one, you have to go out of your way and pay through the nose to get to one: something relatively few of us are willing to do.
The sad thing is we are in a second period where the technology to facilitate very high quality movie going experiences is practicable and even desirable. Digital projection and Blu-ray has shown us how bad most cinemas actually were/are.
Modern digital image capture and 4k projection is approaching or by some accounts surpassing 70mm film. All that is wasted if we can only watch the fruits of all that labour on your average sized multiplex screen.
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Printable Version
Epics on Blu Ray - 
Mod Candidate 2013
, but the positive reviews are absolutely spot on.
). You want long viewing? Set aside 3 straight nights, back-to-back, and let Jackson's magic work its wonders. 
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