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Kottke.org has an interesting post on possible collateral damage from the ascendence of high-quality Blu-ray and digital filmmaking.
“…Some studios are even going so far as to scrub the grain out of NEW releases that have been shot on film. Case in point: New Line’s Pan’s Labyrinth Blu-ray Disc. When I saw this film in the theaters, it was dark and gritty. The grain was a deliberate stylistic choice — part of the artistic character of the film. New Line’s Blu-ray, on the other hand, is sparkly and glossy — almost entirely grain-free. So much fine detail has been removed that the faces of characters actually look waxy. Everyone looks like a plastic doll.”
I’m curious what FreshDV readers think about this subject. Should studios be making creative decisions that could override the original artistic intent of a filmmaker? Reply with your thoughts in the comments below.
(Thanks to Ajit for the link)
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No doubt in my mind that the artistic intent of the filmmaker must always be defended.
No way.
I as a filmmaker make decisions about the style and how I want the story to be viewed. If they destroy the whole feel (like in the Pans Labyrinth Example up there) they should get sued by the filmmaker. The bigger Problem is that the Filmmakers would bite the Hand that feeds them, and it needs balls to go that way.
In my opinion the filmmaker sells the Right to reproduce the flick, use parts of it for advertising and so on. But that does not mean that the Studio is allowed to do anything to the Image.
Imagine the would colorbalance the Matrix to a neutral color. Or remove the Dirt and Errors out of Planet Terror…
-George
I’d like to know if Guillermo Del Toro was involved in the Blu-ray transfer. Maybe he had something to do with the “changes” in texture. You never know… (look at the “THX 1138″ DVD from a certain Mr. Lucas).
By the way, I think that if they removed the “dirt and errors” from “Planet Terror”, the movie would cease to exist.
;)
Artistic intent always - anything otherwise is unethical. I’m curious to find out what is or has been done with “The Aviator.” I read that Gangs of New York was a transfer mess.
Detail lowers the compression ratio. I haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth. Is it long enough that it would be difficult to fit onto Blue-Ray? Anyway, that’s one possible reason for reducing the details, although this seems unlikely to me. After all, the whole idea behind HD is to increase the detail level, right?
Interesting comment about lowering the detail level to improve compression ratios…but that’s sorta counterintuitive to the whole reason we are being sold higher capacity “have your cake and eat it too” HD disc formats, right? I tend to side with the artist on this issue, I’d be incensed if my film was drastically modified like the example above. I really am curious if Del Toro was involved in the transfer…
-MJ
This post really got me worried about these new formats. The whole point of High Definition Video, Digital Cinema, was to give filmmakers more Fidelity of a shot, material. How can you shoot something, artistically thinking, and when it comes the time to release a DVD, it turns out that your material looks different, washed, or waxed, darker, or lighter, saturated or desaturated etc? it does not make any sense to me. Directors should take this into account when signing contracts with studios, in a way that he (director) should approve all versions. (DVD, Theater, Web etc) before they go on sale/distribution.
How do you guys see that happening, practically, in near future?
Cheers
LF
The grain is part of the picture that was painted onto the canvas. Imagine 300 without the grain too…it wouldn’t look right. Grain adds texture, and most often that is what the film maker (director) intended. IN fact, many people shooting video want to ADD GRAIN so that it looks more like film. People like the look of film…so why are so many people trying to change it?
Like James Cameron wanting to shoot 60fps…to me that is TOO real. Film is a story, and in that the 24fps look of it helps keep it dream like and like you are telling a story. 60fps is so real it would be as if the action is actually occuring…and I don’t like that. Same effect as taking away the grain…too real.
What if the studios don’t like the COLOR CORRECTION too? Can they then change that?
Man, imagine colorists working hard for long periods of time to get a Color ID onto the film and aftewards find out everything looks like a mess.
Interesting view about 60fps and 24fps, right on!
Any company publishing a film in any format should act as though they were museum archivists, preserving the exact vision of the creating artist.
With so many movie productions choosing to use grain and color casting, it’s a wonder any publisher would imagine fans would buy a re-touched copy of the film.
Pan’s Labyrinth would have been on my short list to buy after getting a Blu-ray player, but news like this makes me not even want to bother with the _player_ until they work this out.
@Crosius: Get the European Version, as it should not be touched this way (explain that, Publisher). At least the Link where the Text comes from says so.
I like the view of the publisher being some kind of museum archivists. They really should think this way.
George
the 60fps comment is one i disagree with. I find the fluidity of 60fps beautiful. I feel its hyper-realism breaks a barrier inherent in the cinema style. Its a movie, and you know its non-fiction. The realism of 60fps helps pull you in. I would love to see the bourne movies, cloverfield etc, in 60fps. I’ve shot some documentary footage overcranked 720p60 and I love watching it back at 60fps because of its ability to throw back into that time. Its a truer window, and i believe that is a tool that makes for faster immersion into a story.
as far as removing the grain, and Del Toro’s role in it. I agree with Leo, and that directors should throw that in their contract. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “special director’s compression” BluRay disc at some point to these films that are the first to be released in this fledgling format. Studios are peddling HD, and this is the byproduct.
Great one! “Director’s Compression Edition” :D