Not just vinyl for hipsters! The return of Ultra Panavision 70! Film is back with a vengeance and Tarantino has a behind the scenes look for us

[Daniel Nuss]

Check out the full cast and crew page on imdb. Specifically the editorial and visual effects sections... Maybe they only digitally printed the shots that had vfx and then made an edit decision list to cut the film together the old way, but since i see a digital colorists in there... And a digital intermediate producer... I'm skeptical...

[fuzzynormal]

A digital projection of film-acquired material is as bad as digital he says.

My recent anecdotal experience of watching Mission Impossible on IMAX confirms his prejudice.  I was actually embarrassed for the studio releasing such visual low quality onto the public.

As for a filmmaker doing a novel homage to the technical craft, nothing wrong with that.  Why not? 

[Rudolf]

So many variables. The difference in digital cameras is the biggest one and takes us into a very old argument. 

However, I do believe we can simply scan all the film information, record them into pixels and show them digitally. Very easy. There shouldn't be a difference to the human eye if both a film projection and a digital show if both done ideally removing image degradation coming from a film projection lens, or a low digital scan, etc, 

Tarantino wants purity to the extreme. 

I think film is not so much a matter of resolution or whatever... I mean it should not be compared with science in mind. I am a collector of super 8  features and movies (which is not exactly the same like 70mm) and projecting a film at home on a big screen in scope is so much more fun and there is so much more magic compared to my hd-beamer. I just cannot explain it. Film is more a matter of passion and there is so much you have to look after and take care of. I have so many different machines, tools, chemicals and cleaning stuff... my attic is a mess and that is so much fun

I wish there would be more cinemas still showing films instead of tv (as Tarantino said I think)

[jgharding]

One of the Leicster Square cinemas in London ran The Master as a 70mm print, so perhaps they'll run this? Also Samsara was run as a similar print in some cinemas I think. 

The main difference is the bouncy feel of film. Digital projection is so clean. Also 2K projectors you can sometimes see the pixels which I hate. Film bobs about and flickers and so on, it's a different feel even when it's subtle. I like it but it's so rare to see it now. Soon it'll be a thing of the past apart from at specialist screenings.

[BrooklynDan]

I love how they effusively they credit Panavision in the video with making it happen for Tarantino and Co. And with good reason. From the time I've spent at PV doing preps, they are definitely a cut above other rental houses in terms of flexibility and creative solutions. They can pretty much alter their lenses at will to suit any project or look a filmmaker is going for. I once got my hands on the flare lenses built for Janusz Kaminski and used on Saving Private Ryan. Beautiful stuff. I'm sure the Ultra 65 lenses will continue to be used, maybe not on film, but definitely with the Alexa 65. There's nothing on Earth that will replicate that look.

[Shield3]

If we have any theaters here in Ohio I am off the week of Christmas - will definitely check this out.

[odie]

i love film (working with it now on a student budget)

 

tarantino is living the dream..nice!

[bertzie]

Title of article says "Not just vinyl for hipsters"

Goes on to be exactly that. Tarantino is just a hipster with deep pockets.

[ebenbolter]

I'm sure you're aware of it, but no mention in the article or the comments so far of the already digital and released Alexa 65, which is already being used on many a feature. The underwater scenes in MIV Rogue Nation were the Alexa 65's first released images. 

Hopefully stunts like Tarantino is pulling for H8 will keep the publics interest in format diversity, so us DPs still have a chance of shooting celluloid when it suits. 

 

Eben
www.ebenbolter.com 

[fuzzynormal]

The underwater scenes in MIV Rogue Nation were the Alexa 65's first released images. 

FWIW, that film looked like absolute crap on IMAX.

Tarantino is just a hipster with deep pockets.

I always considered a hipster to be someone ignorant that professes an unearned expertise.  Basically all looks, no substance.  Superficial.  I'd say that Quentin is a legit cinephile that is also somewhat accomplished at this point, yes?

[odie]

like living in a country with only one political party...i want to have a choice...film or digital...artistically and what's right for the job...I don't want a digital dictatorship where there is no choice..that would be awful

[lesstalk]

In the featurette I noticed some of the panavision anamorphics seemed to end with a 45 degree blank end and what seemed to be a square lens front opening on the side, as if some kind of mirror system was in place, almost like a horizontal periscope. Does anyone know why, I'm intrigued?!

One is being held by guy on right at 6:35. 

Is it for shooting sideways in tight spaces or literally for shooting 'behind' the scenes?

 

[richg101]

In the featurette I noticed some of the panavision anamorphics seemed to end with a 45 degree blank end and what seemed to be a square lens front opening on the side, as if some kind of mirror system was in place, almost like a horizontal periscope. Does anyone know why, I'm intrigued?!

One is being held by guy on right at 6:35. 

Is it for shooting sideways in tight spaces or literally for shooting 'behind' the scenes?

 

I have a feeling that the 1.25x anamorph used on these lenses is infact a prism based optical squeeze.    

Title of article says "Not just vinyl for hipsters"

Goes on to be exactly that. Tarantino is just a hipster with deep pockets.

Tarrantino couldn't be further from a hipster if he tried.  Hipsters are trend followers who think they're setting trends.  Tarrantino authentically goes againtst the trend doing exactly as he wishes.

[lesstalk]

I think you might be right so maybe what we see is only a part of the prism attachment, sort of split because the end definitely seems to open at right angles to the lens mount. So strange, if that's what it is, to 'kink' the lens like that. Almost like one of those ground glass 35mm adaptors we all used to use before dslr's shot video! Thanks richg101 I'll try and find out more.

[BrooklynDan]

The very early Panavision APO-Panatar 1.25x lenses used a prism to squeeze the image. The later ones used cylindrical glass, just like the rest of Panavision's lenses. You use the later series in the featurette. They look just like C-series anamorphics.

[kaylee]

although we certainly dont agree on everything, i respect the hell out of quentin for what hes doing with this roadshow release. he should be commended for unearthing this unique aesthetic, and pushing it out to the people

quentin is not a hipster: a hipster is a poser. quentin is profoundly authentic and exactly what he appears to be: hes one of the preeminent auteur directors of his generation, one who is genuinely obsessed with, and reverent towards, the history and art of cinema

[lesstalk]

Thanks Brooklyn dan, that makes a lot of sense. I love what we can all achieve with modern cameras and image making for relatively low cost these days but I still feel a sort of returning home comfort when I see old, 'physically' graspable technology like this in action; mirrors, prisms and levers - that bit moves that bit which turns that thing. There is something direct and magical in the mechanical that feels somehow more primal and human than the digital for me. Not that I could afford the time, money or patience to ever return to film or mechanical film cameras but I'm grateful some alchemists like Tarantino are still at work turning light into gold.

[Christian Bobak]

For his upcoming snowy western Tarantino unearthed special cameras and 1.25x anamorphic lenses at Panavision which hadn't seen the light of day since 1965.

The film was shot on 65mm film and will get a 'Roadshow' release on Christmas day in amazing 70mm.

Read the full article

In the article, it says:

"Unfortunately the limited number of 70mm film projectors and costs involved means The Hateful Eight will only open in the US on Christmas Day. The rest of the world will have to wait until the crappy digital print is released in January which rather takes the romance down a notch."

That isn't true at all. The film is also being released in Canada, part of the rest of the world, on the same day.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Kaylee well said. Thumbs up. 

Actually, I simply don't understand what a "hipster" is. Although it might have a definition it's simply an insult given by conservative people to non-traditional people. The normal is to cut you hair, if you leave it all, you're a hipster. The normal is to wear pants that cover your legs, if you wear em shorter, you're a hipster, the normal is to shoot on digital, if you go about with a 16mm bolex, you're a hipster. I just find it insulting.

People have the choice to do anything they want within their constitutional rights and we are obligated not to insult or harrass them doing it. People are different, accept it. I say this and I am a Muslim living in the middle east where deviation from normal (hipsterism) even when mild, can result in imprisonmemt, so I find it strange how someone from the US/European lands of freedom would be intolerant to personal expression, while I am. Maybe because I've been missing it for decades so I admire freedom and strive for it. I am not talking about anyone here but all over the interweb and on my travels to the US/Europe, I find more insults to unconventional personal expressiom more than anywhere else, when I expected the opposite. 

Quentin, well, he's not posing to be someome he's not (the definition of hipster), he shot on negative film for decades and participated hugely in carving the history of Cinema. He IS a film guy, not posing to be. 

And yes I don't agree with him, just like I don't wear rolled up skinny jeans, I don't shoot film, and I don't find people who do inferior to me. Their choice. Non of my business. 

Overall I find the words "hipter", ''hippie", ''emo", "poser" insulting amd should be considered within the official swear wording. 

__________________________________________________________________

Onto the project. I am really curious how thenprocess is going to go. 

For example Quentin says digital projection is as bad as shooting digital (he calla it TV in Public), and we know he always shoots film and we know he's shooting 70mm here, 

But what about the process between the those two steps? 

What's going to happen to the negative film after shot? 

Is it going for a scan, onto a digital intermediate, and colour grades edited as digital files then projected onto film like most film shooters do in order to get the capability of modern colouring and editing? 

Or ia he going for the ultimate film route, telecine, keep it all on film and send copies to select theaters with 70mm projectors? 

Andma second question, will he offer a final digital version of the film for us to watch in our non-equipped theatres or is he against it all? If he wants financial revenue he'll NEED internationl digital release, which then goes against his will as public TV. 

I'd GLADLY watch 70mm aquired film in a 4K digital scan and projection! 

[Fritz Pierre]

I think a really interesting experiment would be for people to watch various formats of the film and then to see who can tell them apart....in my day I was a bit of an audiophile and only vinyl , (preferably Deutche Grammophone) would do...now I happily listen to my IPod ...to the first issue I would say just make your film if you have one in you and a budget...to the issue of Tarantino, directors run out of ideas and then revert to jerking their cameras around...shooting narrative as if it's a documentary...etc....this is not innovation , but simply dragging old tech out of the closet...lovely yes, but like Rich 101 I have to say Nolan's Interstellar was absolutely beautiful...IMHO the film is what it's all about...