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Thanks, johnbijl.
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Posted: |
Apr 9, 2015 - 2:04 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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A lot of people romanticize the notion of film on a big theater screen. I do, too.
But several years ago, I went to see a "classic" I'd never seen ("Rebel Without a Cause," which now that I've seen it I happen to think is a ludicrous movie) at a revival theater near me in Los Angeles. The theater was falling apart. The speakers were tinny. There was an exit sign with a faulty connection that flickered the entire time. The print of the film was washed out and had a blue cast, and was full of scratches. From time to time, a few frames were clearly spliced out, probably because the print had torn or burned. And two people behind me talked through the entire film.
Comparing that to watching the film without anybody talking, without a flickering exit sign, in a pristine digitized print on my home system… well, I don't romanticize the notion of film on a big theater screen quite as much anymore.
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Posted: |
Apr 9, 2015 - 4:22 PM
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By: |
jenkwombat
(Member)
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A lot of people romanticize the notion of film on a big theater screen. I do, too.
But several years ago, I went to see a "classic" I'd never seen ("Rebel Without a Cause," which now that I've seen it I happen to think is a ludicrous movie) at a revival theater near me in Los Angeles. The theater was falling apart. The speakers were tinny. There was an exit sign with a faulty connection that flickered the entire time. The print of the film was washed out and had a blue cast, and was full of scratches. From time to time, a few frames were clearly spliced out, probably because the print had torn or burned. And two people behind me talked through the entire film.
Comparing that to watching the film without anybody talking, without a flickering exit sign, in a pristine digitized print on my home system… well, I don't romanticize the notion of film on a big theater screen quite as much anymore.
When you add to the complaints things like theaters that refuse to adjust the focus and sound levels correctly (even on brand new films), and more and more, I find the "ideal" theatrical viewing experience not-so-ideal.
EDIT: I did, however, attend truly wonderful showings of "Lawrence of Arabia", "Vertigo" and "A Man For All Seasons" back in the 1990s.
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So we may have created a storm in a thimble here focusing on small screens for movies.
Folks may find interesting this recent article about digital consumption. One major point is that the vast majority of video watching on mobile devices is for short videos, not movies. I haven't found any specifics on consumption of digital movies, so don't know how big-screen viewing might compare with computers.
http://digiday.com/publishers/shifting-state-digital-video-consumption-5-charts/
Key point related to this discussion, with a chilling postscript:
Mobile video means shorter video.
Mobile video viewing lends itself to the short and snackable. Over 60 percent of overall ad views are for video less than 20 minutes, according to data from video ad platform FreeWheel.
These trends are affecting even Netflix, which is also learning what its users want while on mobile devices. Netflix design manager Dantley Davis said at a press event last week that nearly 90 percent of the service’s mobile sessions last less then 10 minutes. This stands in spite of the fact that the shortest Netflix content tends to hover around 22 minutes. As a result, the streaming giant plans to slice up its movie and TV content into five-minute clips that mobile viewers would find more digestible.
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I want it all. I want to be able to enjoy a film with the best possible visual and audio experience and I want to be able to enjoy it on my phone when the situation permits. I've had good and bad theatre and home cinema watching experiences. I do not think any single paradigm will work for everyone. Ultimately, I think the debate and the points introduced are related to a format's ability to immerse the watcher/listener into its world. I think the average theatre-going experience will help immerse the watchers more than the average watching experience on a portable device, however that doesn't mean the portable formats or technologies should be abandoned. If immersion is the goal, then a good possible experience could be a person wearing VR goggles (so entire field of view is utilized and, possibly, alterable so the watcher can look around [1]) and good headphones (noise canceling, good acoustics) plugged into their portable device. In this scenario a theatre or home cinema room are unnecessary.
Immersion is impacted by distractions which is why theatre-going is typically a better experience than a portable device since, in a theatre, people are supposed to turn off their devices and behave. Despite this, lately I've had more immersion watching on my phone than at a theatre or within my own home cinema. The latest film I watched in a theatre was Interstellar. I watched this at a very nice theatre in New Orleans while on travel; this theatre had reclining leather seats, waiters, actual food cooked and brought to you, and many other nice things that make it one of the best theatres I've been in. The sound didn't have the issues that many had complained about regarding Interstellar, i.e., the mix was reasonable. The only drawback was the human factor. At some key moment(s) of the film when some character(s) were introduced, there were certain audience members who just started laughing loudly. These were not humorous scenes and, if you've seen the movie, you can guess how that would be off putting and how it could lend itself into spoiling events that are about to unfold. I don't want to say they ruined the entire experience... but they certainly lessened it because it broke the immersion I was in. I have 3 kids so almost every time I watch a film at home I am interrupted by something. Again, the immersion suffers. However, I've been stuck at a car dealership waiting for repairs to finish and pulled out my phone, put on my Bose QuietComfort 15 noise-canceling headphones and was totally immersed in an entire film since I was not interrupted and the headphones mostly eliminated external elements (it was only mostly since I kept the volume lower than normal so I could hear my name being called).
I think all possible mediums for watching films should strive to improve. I also think that filmmakers should strive to enable this with not just cutting-edge and realistic visuals but with a score that reels you in, helps you understand the emotional context of unfolding events, and heightens the exciting peaks. I think there's been too much focus on the visuals lately (e.g., Avatar, Hobbit in 48 fps) from the filmmakers and not enough on the story and audio. When the story is nonsensical and the audio is just plain bad, the immersion suffers and the whole experience is lessened.
Sorry for the rant.
[1] http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-virtual-reality-could-change-the-way-we-watch-movies-20150202
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Great post, AMA, not because you favor all formats, but because you made some central points. Specifically about immersion and how it can work different ways, and the relative merits of visuals, audio and story.
Speaking only for myself, immersion is not the point. I think it's pretty clear from what I've written that what I care about is story - movie, book, opera, TV, what have you. This is why the quality and format isn't as important to me - what I care most about is the writing underlying the movie (and underlying the music too!). This is why I can have just as valuable experiences with varying formats.
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Here's the one I cooked up, using only Disney elements of music. It preserves the drumroll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FexWdiGCPuE
G-E-O, R-G-E, L-U-C-A-S!
Love it, Schiffy. But what's about the verse before?
How about, if you love all the movies:
Who's the maker of Star Wars
Who's movies are the BEST-
G-E-O, R-G-E, L-U-C-A-S!
(ooh, lame!)
And if you hate the prequels and changes:
Who's the maker of Star Wars
that you kick in the ass
G-E-O, R-G-E, L-U-C-A-S!
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