8mm Forum: The Curse of the Film Collector

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Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on December 17, 2007, 09:42 PM:

So,

Sunday we decided we wanted to see "The Polar Express" presented in IMAX as a treat to both the Kindergartner and yours truly: film freak.

We boarded the minivan and steamed westward, crossed the Throgs Neck Bridge and went north and east to the IMAX theater in Norwalk, Connecticut.

So here I am: I have a six story tall screen, I have 12.5 kW of ultra-mega-digital Dolby stereophonic sound coming from half a billion speakers stuffed in every crevasse of the auditorium, I have 70mm turned on its side so they can absolutely maximize the frame area of the film. More film area is passing before my eyes in a minute than I see in an average month at home. I am seated screen dead center (first to arrive). It should be film nirvana!

-and yet!

There was this tiny blemish in frame. Probably not more than 3mm wide on frame, and maybe 5 ft across on that county sized screen.

...and every time a bright area of the image drifted across it I cringed!

Can't we enjoy the movie like everybody else?

PS: other than the speck, it WAS awesome!

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on December 17, 2007, 10:21 PM:

Steve,

I feel your pain (and a good story too.)

The "micro-awareness" as I think of it I have tried to avoid when I go as a 'civilian'; I shoot broadcast video for a living, so TV in general is painful to me, the ugly shots, the bad lighting...

But film-wise, I do relax and just enjoy; in the back of my mind I do 'comment' on scenes, but I do not let it get in the way of just loving the moment.

But your post points to the format of perfection, as it were, IMAX, and there I should and would expect nothing less than a pristine experience, much like when I would attend a 70mm regular screening.
The whole idea is that you are getting something well beyond the ordinary, and at that point projection (and print) standards need to match. So your complaint is quite right here.

But I know well what you mean, about how picky 'we' can be at the cinema... [Big Grin]

Best,
Claus.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on December 18, 2007, 03:51 AM:

The IMAX projectionist didn't clean the field flattner properly.

Here is a video I shot a couple of years back you might enjoy. The field flattner is the piece of glass that you see the projectionist wiping and breathing on (by breathing on it he can see the blemishes and specks).

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on December 18, 2007, 02:23 PM:

Hi Brad,really enjoyed your film,the old style effect is superb Mark

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on December 21, 2007, 03:35 AM:

Hi Steve
I am afraid this is normal practice for most film collectors [Big Grin]

we dont go to actually watch a movie but to pick faults in it [Wink]

I myself have been guilty of focusing my attention on some insignificant thing, say a small scratch, and if its on my projector [Eek!]

I turn into a panic stricken, idiot.

Funny thing though, [Smile]

my wife has a friend who turned up here one day and I started to tell her young son all about films [Roll Eyes]

I happened to mention about the green dots you still see at times for reel changes, well they went to the movies, and his mother told us later, he would say,... there it is the green dots Graham told us about, I dont think his mother was to impressed with me, [Roll Eyes]

instead of watching the movie he was watching for the next reel change,.... and those dots.

Graham. [Smile]

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