Digital vs 70mm screenings of classic movies

jaykhunter

I worry aka i'm annoyed that it seems that most of the cinemas I go to, they're still using old projectors from the 80s!

I know 3D films have to use a new projector so they'll always use the best projectors available, but do cinemas still use the old projectors for 2D?

Also, what cinema screens in Dublin have the digital projectors? (eg Screen 9 in Cineworld)

Renn

Screen cinema?

Which also reminds me, all these showings of 'classics' in Screen, are people not paying far too much just to see a glorified dvd screening? I've seen Baraka and 2001 in IFI, but they were the old prints, so paying money to see them was justified. But I don't think it's worth it for these Screen showings.

phasers

Seeing 2001 in the IFI was absolutely amazing.

Sorry, just had to say that. :cool:

Miguel_Sanchez

phasers wrote: »

Seeing 2001 in the IFI was absolutely amazing.

Sorry, just had to say that. :cool:

Apart from the appalling sound interference for about 20 minutes during the movie.

I got a refund.

phasers

I saw it for free and everything was perfect. The IFI did this free day a while ago, awesome stuff. I couldn't believe how empty 2001 was, I expected it to fill up straight away.

hate when films screw up, it happened to me once during The Dark Knight and the cinema wouldn't even refund anyone.

NothingMan

phasers wrote: »

hate when films screw up, it happened to me once during The Dark Knight and the cinema wouldn't even refund anyone.

Saw Bill Hicks American in Screen and there was no picture for 15 minutes and when we asked the guy to restart it he said he couldn't. Ended up getting a free ticket for my next movie.


If you don't ask, you shall not receive.

monkeyfudge

Renn wrote: »

Screen cinema?

Which also reminds me, all these showings of 'classics' in Screen, are people not paying far too much just to see a glorified dvd screening? I've seen Baraka and 2001 in IFI, but they were the old prints, so paying money to see them was justified. But I don't think it's worth it for these Screen showings.

In general they are using prints.

The Breakfast Club at the moment is a 35mm print anyway. I've asked them about screening other classics and they've been reluctant to as they can't get a hold of a print.

IFI does plenty of DVD screenings too though.

Renn

What dvd screenings has the IFI done?

As for the Screen, there was an article in the Dubliner last week and they said that it's really easy to get the old films nowadays which suggests to me that they're not using the prints.

Miguel_Sanchez

phasers wrote: »

I saw it for free and everything was perfect. The IFI did this free day a while ago, awesome stuff. I couldn't believe how empty 2001 was, I expected it to fill up straight away.

I saw it when they ran an old 70mm print of it. Keir Dullea introduced one showing but I didn't get to that one.

They said there was mild audio problems for 5 minutes - it ran much longer than that however and during the scenes where there's absolute silence, very annoying.

johnny_ultimate

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

I saw it when they ran an old 70mm print of it. Keir Dullea introduced one showing but I didn't get to that one.

They said there was mild audio problems for 5 minutes - it ran much longer than that however and during the scenes where there's absolute silence, very annoying.

Yeah they did mention it at the start though, didn't they? Fantastic experience none the less.

A lot of the re-releases I've seen there, like Eraserhead or Rashomon, have been digital prints - which is good when the transfer is significantly improved. I can't imagine these are DVDs, as the resolution and quality would take more of a dive. I saw the Goonies in Dun Laoghaire which was clearly a DVD projected. For the most part cinemas will get specific digital copies for theatre viewing though - during one film in the IFI the projection started early and you could see the projectionist navigating through a menu to get to the film file.

NothingMan

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

They said there was mild audio problems for 5 minutes - it ran much longer than that however and during the scenes where there's absolute silence, very annoying.

Reminds me of trying to watch it on my Xbox 360. Woooosssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

monkeyfudge

Remember trying to watch Withnail and I at the IFI about a year or so back.

Took 5 attempts and over half an hour for them to get it running right with the sound. Half the audience had left by that point.

johnny_ultimate

Because sometimes a thread goes so off topic it should probably be another thread

Renn

The sound issue with 2001...was that the clicking sound? If so, I heard that too at the free screening.

Miguel_Sanchez

Renn wrote: »

The sound issue with 2001...was that the clicking sound? If so, I heard that too at the free screening.

Yup. It was quite obvious and very distracting. Went on for about 15-20 minutes I think.

Renn

Yeah, was a bit annoying considering there was no sound to block it out. Ah well, rather that than the dvd

Antar Bolaeisk

jaykhunter wrote: »

I worry aka i'm annoyed that it seems that most of the cinemas I go to, they're still using old projectors from the 80s!

I know 3D films have to use a new projector so they'll always use the best projectors available, but do cinemas still use the old projectors for 2D?

Also, what cinema screens in Dublin have the digital projectors? (eg Screen 9 in Cineworld)

Nothing wrong with old projectors from the 80's

They'll most likely have new audio equipment as a few years ago the way the sound was printed onto the film was changed requiring a new reading head or else the cinema wouldn't be able to play the film with surround sound.

However, the actual projector itself doesn't really need to be very high tech as all it's doing is moving and stopping the film 24 times a second in front of a mahoosive bulb. While the print itself has improved in the last three decades the method by which the film is shown hasn't really changed (though we no longer need to watch out for the "cigarette burns" in the top right hand corner to start showing the next reel where I work but other cinemas still have to do this).

Also, nearly all cinemas since the 80's use 35mm print, not 70mm though Imax cinemas do use 70mm print even if some of those prints would be blown up from the 35mm to fit the 70mm.

The introduction of digital projectors should mean that a cinema is able to show whatever film it wants to show as there will no longer be a need to track down rare prints but no doubt the distributors will still cause issues over it.

Finally, I wouldn't be too worried about the image quality of digital over 35mm print as the digital image is apparently much better than the 35mm projection(to the tune of about 4 or 5 times the number of pixels per inch), or at least that's what I've read.

cine-man

Bringing back old films to the cinemas is harder than you'd think.

If it's an old film the 'rights' may have been lost or sold on to companies other than the original studio; or studios that have gone bust will have their back catalogues auctioned off; and it can be really hard to track down who you should be asking for permission to show the film.

Some cinemas that show the film on DVD, may not even have permission to do so.

There is a good company in Scotland (www.parkcircus.com) who are doing a lot of work to buy up the rights to classic films; they are restoring the prints and converting them to remastered cinema releases. The quality of these releases, far exceed the quality of the playing a DVD in the cinema. I think like most people on here that if the remastered version is not available, I would rather watch an original print with scratches/sound glitches, than watch a DVD.

e_e

After that debacle with The Big Lebowski I vowed never to watch a classic film at Screen again.

Never had any problems with IFI though, and I was at that free 2001 screening (Immense!)

Renn

Well as far as I know Screen just show some dvd...which is a complete waste of money to go to.

Phony Scott

The first digital presentation I remember was for 'Twilight: New Moon' in screen 17 in Cineworld. Looked excellent, shame about the movie. I'm sure there were other films shown in cineworld before which were digital, but that was the first one I remember seeing at that screen.

On the 70mm note, I've seen 'Close Encounters' and '2001' at the IFI and they were pin-sharp, though with the obvious flaws like print damage etc. Still excellent.

To be honest, I like older films, prior to Star Wars: TPM, to be prints rather than digital. I feel cheated when I see a crystal clear version of a film from this period. Why bother going to a film in the cinema with a digital print when I can see that at home with my home projector and PS3 on Blu-ray?

One of the worst prints I've seen was for a Horrorthon screening of 'Friday 13th: Part 2'. It was in very bad shape, with dirt and scratches everywhere...and it was awesome! Of course, it wasn't in 70mm, but who cares, it was the real deal as opposed to a phony digital print, which, if I remember correctly, was what the Horrorthon did the next year for Part 3...

jaykhunter

Phony Scott wrote: »

The first digital presentation I remember was for 'Twilight: New Moon' in screen 17 in Cineworld. Looked excellent, shame about the movie. I'm sure there were other films shown in cineworld before which were digital, but that was the first one I remember seeing at that screen.

On the 70mm note, I've seen 'Close Encounters' and '2001' at the IFI and they were pin-sharp, though with the obvious flaws like print damage etc. Still excellent.

To be honest, I like older films, prior to Star Wars: TPM, to be prints rather than digital. I feel cheated when I see a crystal clear version of a film from this period. Why bother going to a film in the cinema with a digital print when I can see that at home with my home projector and PS3 on Blu-ray?

One of the worst prints I've seen was for a Horrorthon screening of 'Friday 13th: Part 2'. It was in very bad shape, with dirt and scratches everywhere...and it was awesome! Of course, it wasn't in 70mm, but who cares, it was the real deal as opposed to a phony digital print, which, if I remember correctly, was what the Horrorthon did the next year for Part 3...

I couldn't agree more. It really puts me off going to the cinema, knowing how better it'd look on blu-ray at home. lol at the first line about twilight. i must remember to always go to screen 17!

I don't know much about this stuff, can you (or anyone here) go thru what makes the best looking picture? Like what resolution is a digital print? and 35/70mm?