Reflection's, the later years new release

[Ed Gordon]

I would prefer onlyone clip from each film and more films in it if it had the same running time. That is just my personal opinion.

I agree Brian.

Precious Images features half-second-long splices from approximately 470 American films. Chuck Workman described the film's editing structure as "a sprint. You take a breath and you go."

Workman used 1/2 second clips for each movie, with the exception of Citizen Kane, where he use a Citizen Kane clip to start Precious Images, and one more to end it.

... All of the prints of those releases mentioned in this topic were printed on later film stock, so no problem with fade or anything like that. The quality of the sound though can vary...

It is interesting to see that the Reflections USA title only appears on the box. Let's hope that any additional new retrospectives created will keep the clip lengths at 1/2 second and the runtime under 10 minutes!

[John Taylor]

Why? I think the one ive put the link to is excellent, it will be cropped to 20 minutes by the fellow whos doing it but i think it'll be very good and in scope

[Douglas Meltzer]

John's link takes me to 26:25 as a starting point, which I didn't notice at first. I think it's brilliantly edited, however this pair of older eyes has to stop every so often and then return to it. I have no doubt it would look spectacular on a big screen.

[John Taylor]

So far, I believe it has been recut to around 25 minutes which looks like where it will stay, so seven minutes have been edited out. It isn't going to be any kind of new release, just a one off on 16mm in scope. (or two if I get my way)
Having now viewed the precious images on youtube, (thanks for the pointer), it is excellent but I think some of those half second clips, particularly where the clips get shorter and shorter in the middle is too short to be able to take it in, The UK reflections clips are more similar to this one which incidentally, has only been put together by an enthusiast, it isn't a full on production so bearing that in mind it is very well done and the choices of music and quotes from movies on the soundtrack are excellent.

[Graham Ritchie]

John

You mention its going to be in Scope, but would that not mean using an anamorphic lens in front of the projector as scope prints have been squeezed, but how is he going to place on the same release film, flat films with a 1:85:1 ratio that have were never shot is scope in the first place?.

My guess if its going to be on actual film, then it would be flat, then Scope extracts would have black bars top and bottom or cropped on the sides to sort of fit the 8mm frame along with flat extracts like previous releases on this subject.

Just curious how he is going to mix those different ratios, sounds an interesting project though, look forward to hear how it all goes.

[Ed Gordon]

Why? I think the one ive put the link to is excellent, it will be cropped to 20 minutes by the fellow whos doing it but i think it'll be very good and in scope

John, balancing between getting clips from so many films, and keeping the run time down is a challenge to be sure. You definitely don't want to miss anything significant, but on the same hand, you don't want to have the audience thinking, "...will this every end?".

I am looking forward to seeing the final cut!

Graham has a good question (above). I am assuming that all editing will be done digitally, and the final cut will then be printed on film. Letterboxing would work very well this. Below is an example of a retrospective, Academy Award for Best Cinematography Winners (1927-2022), which includes aspect ratios ranging from 1.33 to Super Panavision 70. I have shot super 8 in scope, and will have to figure out how to stretch the image and letterbox it when I digitize my footage.

PS: This video above was done by Jonathan Muncherian. Check out his Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhtSIsUrYOA

[Graham Ritchie]

Brilliant Ed nice smooth transitions, good music, and most importantly "sub-titles" naming each film and the year it was released. John if you are reading this, there are some good ideas on the above video link your friend might be interested in for his project.

[John Taylor]

Have to say, it is very good, BUT, (IMO) it's a bit lame, it isn't particularly exciting in the clips it has nor does it get you holding on to your seat like much of the other one I've put a link to does.
I think with a bit of editing, (and it is only a project my mate is playing with), I think the 100 years long edition will be a winner on the Scope screen. There are a lot of these sort of short and long videos being put up on the tube but I would definatly go with the link I put up for the vision, music and the spoken words. Bear in mind, it is only a tribute and not an official movie release and with that in mind, I think it does the job very well.
Ed mentioned that precious images has something like 450 movie clips within its 7 minutes, and as good as it is, I just think some of clips in the middle are just too short to be able to take in, again though, it is very good. .

[John Taylor]

Just to update, I have asked about some of the points raised here and hopefully, this may answer some of them.
The youtube item is 4K. This will make for an excellent image so no problem with quality and the sound I am told will raise the roof.

It has now been edited to it's final length of 26 minutes but he isn't letting on to me what has been edited out, from what I gather it is two sections which slowed the pace and were of no interest to him and will help keep his costs down. It will run for 26 minutes.

An important update is regarding the ratio of the image. It will be in full scope for use with a scope lens and with the massive majority of the clips filling the screen, those older clips which are 1:85:1 will also be squeezed for the scope lens although I have no idea how it will be done but those few may have black bars either side which he said wont be a problem to those who are being entertained but may bother those who just what to pick fault.

The firm thats doing it is clearly very good at what they do. It will not be done for many months due to how busy the company is but they confirm it is no problem.
There will only be two prints made as he is not interested in getting involved in re selling etc, but will be happy to do a review elsewhere. Unfortunately, it is many months away but I will work on getting him to join in here.
I cant wait as the second copy is for me .

I mentioned about a subtitle for each film like the clip above but he made a good point, Reflections, precious images and pieces of silver doesn't have a title for each clip, part of the fun is seeing how many one knows.