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Topic: Do We Want 16mm Quality On Dvd's ?
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Melvin England
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 707
From: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Feb 2016
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posted November 03, 2017 11:43 AM
An unusual subject so I shall explain.....
I have just watched the John Huston version of "Moulin Rouge" on dvd starring Jose Ferrer and Zsa Zsa Gabor. The dvd was released through Wienerworld and was a region 0 disc. The transfer was completely unmastered. Lots of speckled scratches and an audibly crackly mono soundtrack. It appears to have not been colour corrected either, as, if I had been selling this as an 8mm or 16mm film, I would have had to describe it as "colours starting to fade and has a pink hue to it." It also did appear to have come from a 16mm copy as it just has that "feel" to it that "image quality" that told you is wasn't 35mm.
Looking at it in one way, it was kind of uplifting to watch a film with that "celluloid" feel to it, together with the shortcomings we are facing nowadays,as film collectors, with fading colour prints, even though it was dvd.
On the other hand.....Should 16mm images be left only in the celluloid format? Due of the level of technology that video/dvd is at nowadays, should our expectations be to only accept remastered sound and picture quality from 35mm or 70mm prints for dvd to gain the highest possible transfer quality, and accept no less?
Colleagues...... I await your responses.
.
-------------------- "My name is for my friends!"
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 03, 2017 12:10 PM
If the film was originally shot on 16MM than yeah, sure (as in the beatles "Magical Mystery Tour", which looks incredible for a 50 year old film shot on 16MM or, from what I understand, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), otherwise, no, in my opinion.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted November 05, 2017 12:21 AM
I'd say it partly depends on what's available. E.g. last year a community cinema in Croydon that I'm involved presented a rare screening of a 1957 British Rank production 'The Bolshoi Ballet', with a short talk, to mark the 50th anniversary of when half the film was filmed at a former Croydon theatre. We found it's virtually a lost film in the UK, and the only means of showing it was via a German DVD release. Gaining the rights was another saga in itself. It was obvious that the master had been a 16mm print and we gave some thought to whether we should screen it, especially as we would only normally contemplate DVD as a last resort. But we decided that the picture would be acceptable and the evening was a great success. Demand for tickets meant we had to organise a second screening. Ironically, the grain evident from the 16mm print made it look, in a way, more cinematic and less 'digital' than if a pristine transfer from 35mm had existed!
-------------------- Adrian Winchester
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