The Hobbit: 3D, 24fps, HFR...my observations

So tonight I saw THE HOBBIT: An Unexpected Journey... in Real D 3-D ETX 24fps with ATMOS sounds... then I saw 20+ minutes in 2D 24fps...then saw 2/3 of it in HFR 3D IMAX. 

Yes my brain has melted.  But I now feel that I have done ample research to have a solid opinion on all the different formats.  And the results are somewhat suprising.  Read on if you want... (I'll keep plot spoilers to a minimum, but I will comment a bit on the film.)

REAL D: 3D: ETX 24fps with DOLBY ATMOS:  This is the first time I saw it.  The movie is pretty slow going and basically feels like 2 hours of exposition followed by 45 minutes of Rad.   The 3D looked cool.  24fps looks great.  The images felt like a video game, especially the big CGI stuff.  It was like watching Drakes Fortune or God Of War in 3D.  Not that the original LOTR wasn't heavy on the CG, and some of it is spectacular, but sometimes, when closer to the characters, it felt like a video game.  They made good use of 3D (which if done well is cool to me, and here it's done well).  The environments are awesome (as you'd expect in an LOTR film). 

The Dolby Atmos 64 track sound was directional, clear, solid...but not very punchy.  It could have been louder and had more bam, pop, pow!  Which surprised me, I would have figured the sound would have been the best part since it has 64 tracks.  Now, the dwarves voices came from all over, and they really used it to great degree for some Gollum stuff.  But oddly, the Imax sound was more live when it came to atmosfear, wind, bugs and battle.  I like my big action movies to THUNDER, and this was more like a subtle symphony than a kick ass surround sound rock concert.  Both are great, just depends on what you're listening for.


2D 24fps:  Oddly... this looked the most natural.  The CG was blended perfectly (except for Rivendale Long Shots, which only looked non pixelated, non-moire in HFR).  But overall this felt the most natural, was the least distracting.  The lighting felt correct, and there was no video game feel.  It made me focus most on the storytelling and least on the machinery that was telling the story.  (Which for me is the point.  I know it's not for all filmmakers.).  I would not have expected the 2D and the 24fps 3D to have such vastly different feels (natural vs. video game).  Granted, I didn't see the whole movie this way, but I did see numerous all CG characters that felt videogame-y in 3D. 


HFR IMAX 3D.  Honestly, it's laughable, but it's NOT as bad as "smooth motion" on HDTV's (Which is the worst thing that's happened to video/film/tv since...well, ever.)   Still, anytime HFR got to something on a human (or hobbit) scale, it looked really fake if it was moving.  Shots that had minimal movement looked like a window, but as soon as a person moved (or for sure if they moved fast) it felt so strange.  It didn't feel more real to me, as some people have said.  It felt like a...soap opera.  (Big surprise.  This is what happens when you ramp up frame rates above 30fps.)  It's like one of those cheap-o History channel recreations from the early days.  Or a soap opera.  Or anything shot on interlaced video.  It screams video and is pretty distracting.  Because I'd seen the movie earlier I was just amused by how weird it looked, rather than annoyed.  Had this been my first viewing, it likely would have constantly distracted me from the story. 

However ,something unexpected......in the scenery shots, helicopter shots, or big epic battle shots, it's looked pretty cool.  Vivid and energetic.  Sometimes spectacular.   I don't think the distractions anytime people were talking is worth the spectacle, but it was an interesting experience none the less.  Maybe there's a secret frame rate (30 or 36 or something that might give both).

(Does anyone know if parts of LIFE OF PI were shot HFR?  There seemed to be certain times it had a similar feel to the "window" aspect of the wide shots of the Hobbit.  But the motion wasn't nearly as distracting.  Almost like they shot in 30 or 36 fps.  Just guessing here though).

So, that's my technical review of The Hobbit.
Ultimately all of this is just preference and choice.
As long as they give us the choice of 24fps, I don't really care if they shoot movies in HFR. (Even though I don't expect I'll go see any more in HFR.  I love, love LOVE 24fps. )

So make your choice of frame rates, just don't force your choice or opinion on the rest of us.  (James Cameron, I'm talking to you...make sure we got 24fps options on Avatar 2. :)

The Joy of Cinerama

So in the past 6 days I have seen 5 Cinerama movies at the Cinerama Dome at Arclight Hollywood:

HOW THE WEST WAS WON, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, and THIS IS CINERAMA in full, 3 strip Cinerama prints.  CINERAMA HOLIDAY in a digital remaster of a 3 strip print.  And IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD in 70mm...

Yes, the titles are as long as the movies are.  They all have overtures and intermissions.  They all are 2 - 3 hours long.  And they all are AWESOME.

I learned all about the camera (It's 150 pounds with 3 interconnecting lenses, 3 film mags and a single shutter.  It captures 146 degrees of vision.)
I found out why the giant COOPER theater in Denver, where I grew up and watch Ghostbusters, Firefox and Return of the Jedi and other movies, existed.  (The screen was 110 feet across!) 

Or why the RIVER HILLS / RIVIERA in Des Moines (Cadry Nelson, remember that!) had that crazy curved screen.  All these theaters are gone.  Turned into Barnes n Nobles, TGI Fridays or Parking Lots.  In fact, only 3 theaters remain IN THE WORLD that can show 3 strip Cinerama.  How lucky that one of them is 10 minutes from my house?

It has been an absolute joy to journey through this once world famous, box office breaking, mindblowing -- yet now almost forgotten -- period of enormous widescreen cinema.  This is the reason we have widescreen cinema and Surround sound.  It all started here.

And to go back in time, 50-60 years, and see these movies larger than life itself, is a true treat.  It has been so inspiring, and has shown me a pure wonder and joy of cinema that I haven't seen regularly in a long time.  I only wish I could have shared the experience with friends or family.  So they could also have a giant childlike smile on their faces right now. :)

There's a few more movies tomorrow (Thursday) including How The West Was Won.  Treat yourself.  Go back in time.  See, hear and feel the power of movies.  It truly earns the word AWESOME.

And the next time you  watch something on a computer, or iPad or iPhone or iAnything, shot with a shakey, blurry, low res HD camera, you'll know what you're missing.

Bigger is better when it comes to movies.
Big film makes digital look like a toy.
And Cinerama was as big as it's ever been.

1-900-DIAL GOD -- CraigoClassic 20

Oh boy, Intro to Media Production Continues. (As does my ever irregular blogging about these old movies. In theory I was going to have all these posted well over a year ago. Guess I've been busy...)

So in Intro to Media Production we had a Video/Film section, a Radio/Audio section, and this gem, the Live TV section. So we had to do a 30 second live TV piece, complete with graphic (Just 1, please note I tried to pull off 2, somewhat unsuccessfully I might add). As well as a superimposed graphic.

I can tell you, calling live TV, with the "prep camera 1. Go camera 1. Prep Camera 2. Hold on Graphic. Go Camera 2" isn't that easy. Now you can just press buttons on a TriCaster and choose your shots yourself. But back then it was a bit more complicated. Might explain why there are two takes and flub. It was fun that Iowa had this though.

My idea is pretty straight forward. Making fun of 1-900 ads (Remember those!!?? Anyone young enough reading this to have no idea what I'm talking about? :). Anyway, Daniel Kraus was a good sport being the Reverend. (You'll see a lot of him in the upcoming college film). And we had Jesus on a computer rather than a phone because we couldn't find a prop phone, and well, cell phones basically didn't exist. But who knew we were being so prescient in predicting that eventually all things would be online, through the computer, just like this video and blog you're reading now...

wow. We were good.

Please VOTE for Craig Ouellette's short film

Hi Team!

We made a short film, "T is for Truth" for the ABC's of DEATH feature film contest. If we win, our short will be included in a feature film with movies from hot, known horror directors and shown throughout the world! But the only way to do that is to get VOTES.

So if you have a couple minutes, please head to:

http://26th.theabcsofdeath.com/t-is-for-truth/

Please be sure to VOTE by clicking on the button in the upper right:
VOTE FOR THIS AS THE 26TH FILMMAKER,
and respond to the email that they send you. It's easy, fast and prevents cheats.

(Don't just "like" the film, as that won't help us win).

NOTE: There's another film with the same title, but the link above sends you to ours. Also, look for my name "Craig Ouellette", or an image of two lovely ladies in a candle lit room as the still image).

And if you love it, (or even if you don't :), feel free to help us get the votes we need by forwarding this email OR copying the url OR sharing on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr (there are easy buttons to do so at the top of the page), OR all of the above. :)

And thanks again for all the support over the years. I figure we should aim for at least 1000 votes to have a good shot at being in the top 10, which gets us to the final round.

Thank you so much!

CraigO

"T is for Truth"
Starring: Denesa Chan, Sadie Katz, Caitlin Rose Williams
Director / Writer / Producer / DP / Editor: Craig Ouellette
Production Designer / Gaffer / Boom Op / FX Makup: John Elfers

the downward spiral - CraigoClassic 19

Ahhh college kids and their suicide videos. It's sort of a film school joke that everyone has to make a suicide video at some point in their college career. (Not that suicide is a joke. It's actually pretty depressing, and in my opinion not an option).

BUT...

that didn't stop me from making mine!

This was for Intro To Media Production, fall of Sophomore year. It was a class split into radio / tv / and video. This was for the video part. I used a song from NINE INCH NAILS (as I'm sure many of your recognized. I'm sure Trent would be so proud!)

Anyway, watching this made me wish I had a steady cam. Or a dolly. Or a wheelchair. It's funny, I still think I'm moving camera's super steady (and I'm a lot better at it), but it's rarely exactly as I imagined. But it has a certain charm to it's roughness.

Ahhh Molly. My friend Molly Neylan was one of my favorite actresses in college. I thought she was always very real, or pretty, or both. AND, if you think you recognize her, it's because she's in Trespassing On The Lot #4 "Family Ties"! (Tied up in a trunk...thanks Molly!).

As for the other actor, well...I laughed out loud when I rewatched this. Mr. Brian B. isn't the best (and I'm pretty sure he would agree :), but he was my friend, there for the shoot and up for playing the part of the shocked, angry lover.

Perhaps the best part of this is the fact that somehow this college kid who is so depressed about grades, money, being dissed by her friends and dumped by her boyfriend (what other motivation do you need?), was able to get her hands on an UZI to blow her head off! A fricking UZI!!?!?! I couldn't goto wal-mart and get a toy gun that could possibly be something a college kid might get her hands on!?!? Apparently not! And this actually is something I STILL occasionally do, (not use Uzi's), but I'll say "ahhh, this is what I got, it's good enough" rather than going the extra mile on props or production design. Hmmm... maybe I should learn my lesson.

You might have noticed the Hitchcock pull out, zoom in shot after she shoots herself. Yep, I was being clever. Of course it works better if you have a dolly.

The tear looks awesome though.

It was fun to see Hillcrest, my old dorm again. I'm heading back to Iowa in a few weeks for the first time in 10 YEARS, so that was a great blast from the past. Oh, and that crazy steam whistle from the power plant at the beginning.

And finally, the black angel. That grave has so many ghost stories about it, I figured I'd give my own. I can't remember the real story... maybe there isn't one. Or maybe this is the real one...

The Running Man - Craigoclassic 18

Here it is faithful viewers!

After a long absence from posting, due to the efforts to make the feature film "Straight On Till Morning", I am back! Posting my college films to much fanfare (wooo, yeah!). This is in honor of my FINALLY returning to Iowa City this fall after being away for 10 years! (10 YEARS MAN!!!!). It's been far to long, and so going down memory lane with these classics will be fun. Hopefully for you as well.

This first "film" from the college days was for Intro To Media Production. The class had 3 parts. Radio / sound, Live TV, and Film/video. This was a continuity project for the video portion. It has no sound.

That's my buddy Mike Ford running along. And he cruises past Sherry Moore (Now Sherry Eich) at one point. It was great to see those friends again (even if it's on a little VHS shot movie).

On top of continuity, we also proved once and for all that the massive pillars of the old capital building on the University of Iowa campus are hollow.

Enjoy,
craigo

Video To Alex - CraigoClassic 17

NOTE: It's set to private. Read below.

Ahhhh... dearest Alex.

Here is a photo video I made for her when we were dating. As many who know me are aware, Alex was my first "true love". We met at a German Language camp in Bemidji Minnesota. (A place I highly recommend going. They have different villages that teach dozens of languages. You can get a full year's school credit in a month, and you actually learn the language. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and not just because I met Alex... but that is another story).

Back to Alex. I was a Senior in High School. She was a Freshman. And we were a fantastic match. She lived in Minnesota. I lived in Texas. So after camp we wrote love letters for months, talked on the phone, sent gifts, wrote poems. It was pretty much the perfect, super romantic, high school relationship.

I went to visit her in snowy Minnesota over Valentines day. (Her parents were super cool to let me visit. I was a really nice guy. Our whole relationship was very PG). But it was pure, awesome, wonderful love...

... so I made this video of it.

And honestly, it's too personal to show here. Not cause it's some sleazy video, but because it's so sweet. I know it's silly, I've put up videos of me and my fabulously dorky friends from Jr. High, me with my perm, us trying to improv... but this is different somehow.

After many years of losing touch with Alex, going our separate ways and living our separate lives, I decided a week or two ago to see if she was alive, see if she was okay, and see how things have turned out for her all these years later. And after quite a bit of internet detective work I found her! (or at least her Facebook profile). I actually cheered when I did!

She is married, lives on the other side of the country, and seems to be doing well. As of now she hasn't responded to my Facebook message to her... and I didn't really expect her to. Sure, I was hoping to reconnect. Not to restart any love affair or anything. It's about knowing she's still Alex, only all grown up. To know she's happy and doing well.

Even if I don't hear from her, it's still great to know that she's still smiling. And it'll never tarnish any of the fabulous memories of her... some of which are in this video... which are only for me. Sorry faithful viewers (all 3 of you :).