So you want to be in Huxley's world* where The Feelies ruled! K. * BRAVE NEW WORLD
On May 31, 2011, at 12:45 PM, Alan Adler wrote: > Dear Mopes - > > When you talk 3D - I gotta chime in. > > I always loved 3D - it was a bit of an obsession with me. I collected all the > 3D stuff there was - comics, cards, movie posters - then I fell in with the > wrong crowd and got to write and produce a couple 3D movies - Parasite (bad, > but not so bad) and Metalstorm (bad to the bone!). Charlie Band walked into > the production office a couple weeks before we were scheduled to begin > shooting Parasite and said the film had been picked up by Irwin Yablans and > that we were going to make it in 3D - I took the script home and wrote INTO > CAMERA on ever shot - that was my 3D script revision! You wouldn't believe > how much fun it was and how blurry-eyed I got watching a couple hours of 3D > rushes every night after the day's filming. Those were the good old days. > (Even had Concrete Jungle - my homage to women's prison films that I always > loved - being shot at the same time back in LA while I was in Piru with a > truly stunning 18-year-old Demi Moore and a sweet, but very chewed-up Cherie > Curry). I was also very proud of myself when the first Parasite 3D posters > rolled off the presses with my name on it. I suppose my love of 3D came full > circle to me when I could collect my own 3D posters. It was the ultimate > rush for an eye-candy paperholic like myself. > > A side note of something I learned watching so much 3D footage at one time > was that the eye adjusts to the process - at least it adjusted to the old > crappy 3D process I worked with - and after about 15 minutes you had to make > the stuff jump out at you more and more for the effects to work. Ever wonder > why the beginning of a 3D movie is always so much more visually exciting than > the rest of the film? That's why. > > It was always the gimmick and exploitation of 3D that I loved - the faux > approximation of reality. And total immersion - the loss of self - into the > reality of a fantasy world - is what the movies have always been about. > Audiences grow weary of gimmicks - and 3D will always be a gimmick until it > works without glasses - Cameron (worked with him and Jon Landau on Titanic) > knows that upping frame speed is a key to glasses-less 3D. It creates a > sharper and more defined image. Douglas Trumbull was ahead of the curve in > this respect with his Showscan process with very wide film shot and projected > at very fast speeds - it burned an enormous amount of film but it looked very > real. In the end, we will probably have implants and download from satellite > whatever programs we want to watch and they will put us inside the action - > the viewer will then become the ultimate 3D participant. DON'T SEE A MOVIE - > BE A MOVIE! (Used to write poster copy lines too.) - Until then, we will > still be selling tickets the old way with 3D - you can't see this at home - > ballyhoo - but now the TV guys got smart and are doing the same thing. More > eventual gimmickry burnout - but still great until the next gimmick comes > along. > > At any rate 3D is fun - always loved it - always will - I just hope I live to > see the day when we can plug the input in the side of our head and be in the > movie together! Now that might make a remake of Concrete Jungle worth > attending. > > Alan Adler > Museum of Mom and Pop Culture > > > > > On May 31, 2011, at 10:08 AM, [email protected] wrote: > >> Not a fan of 3D...just don't care. Perhaps an occasional special production >> of some sort would interest me, but other than that I just don't find value >> in it, personally. >> Regards >> >> DBT >> >> Sent via mobile device >> >> From: Kirby McDaniel <[email protected]> >> Sender: MoPo List <[email protected]> >> Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 08:55:30 -0500 >> To: <[email protected]> >> ReplyTo: Kirby McDaniel <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [MOPO] SOMEWHAT OFF TOPIC: 3-D FIZZLE? >> >> James Cameron showed up unannounced at a recent exhibitor's conference to >> demonstrate a new 3D system >> he is working on that ups the visual standards for 3D enormously. Of >> course, he's planning on making a film >> using this standard. But it requires exhibitors to do an upgrade, something >> they generally hate. He has licensed, >> as I understand it, Peter Jackson to film THE HOBBIT in an somewhat modified >> version of this new system. >> The improvements involve the frame rate. I think that Cameron's system >> involved a frame rate at 100 fps. >> >> The problem is that it is more expensive to make pictures in 3D. Audiences >> are showing that they don't want to pay the extra $$ >> to see just any film in 3D. It has to be special. >> >> TV may end up being the 3D medium as programing such as is found on >> DISCOVERY and the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC channel >> is appropriate for the medium. One hour programming is not so long to be >> wearing the glasses also. However, the broadcast system >> does not adjust to things like a frame-rate change readily, so any "upgrade" >> to 3D won't come automatically. >> >> Kirby McDaniel >> www.movieart.net >> >> >> On May 31, 2011, at 8:18 AM, James Gresham wrote: >> >>> Roland, you mentioned 3D tv's. Our TV recently died and I found a nice >>> Samsung to repalce it. One of the options the Samsung came with was 3D. >>> It came with two pair of glasses which oddly needed charging. While I >>> could have cared less about this option, I must say with those glasses, on >>> the Samsung TV we have seen some incredible 3D effects. I think the TV is >>> much better then the theater experience for 3D. It is actually wonderful. >>> It came as a wonderful surprise how good it is. JIm >>> >>> On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 8:10 AM, Roland Lataille >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> If this continues, maybe they will have more screens doing 3-D than flat. >>> Here in Connecticut, the Manchester Rave theatres are showing Pirates of >>> the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in flat, Disney Digital 3D and Imax 3D. >>> >>> I work in retail and we do sell a large number of 3D ready TV sets. So >>> maybe people are staying home to watch the same movie in 3D? >>> >>> From: Kirby McDaniel <[email protected]> >>> To: [email protected] >>> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 10:16 AM >>> Subject: [MOPO] SOMEWHAT OFF TOPIC: 3-D FIZZLE? >>> >>> Will History Repeat Itself? from today's NY Times >>> >>> Kirby McDaniel >>> www.movieart.net >>> >>> May 29, 2011 >>> 3-D Starts to Fizzle, and Hollywood Frets >>> By BROOKS BARNES and MICHAEL CIEPLY >>> LOS ANGELES — Has the 3-D boom already gone bust? It’s starting to look >>> that way — at least for American moviegoers — even as Hollywood prepares to >>> release a glut of the gimmicky pictures. >>> >>> Ripples of fear spread across Hollywood last week after “Pirates of the >>> Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which cost Walt Disney Studios an estimated >>> $400 million to make and market, did poor 3-D business in North America. >>> While event movies have typically done 60 percent of their business in 3-D, >>> “Stranger Tides” sold just 47 percent in 3-D. “The American consumer is >>> rejecting 3-D,” Richard Greenfield, an analyst at the financial services >>> company BTIG, wrote of the “Stranger Tides” results. >>> >>> One movie does not make a trend, but the Memorial Day weekend did not give >>> studio chiefs much comfort in the 3-D department. “Kung Fu Panda 2,” a >>> Paramount Pictures release of a DreamWorks Animation film, sold $53.8 >>> million in tickets from Thursday to Sunday, a soft total, and 3-D was 45 >>> percent of the business, according to Paramount. >>> >>> Consumer rebellion over high 3-D ticket prices plays a role, and the >>> novelty of putting on the funny glasses is wearing off, analysts say. But >>> there is also a deeper problem: 3-D has provided an enormous boost to the >>> strongest films, including “Avatar” and “Alice in Wonderland,” but has >>> actually undercut middling movies that are trying to milk the format for >>> extra dollars. >>> >>> “Audiences are very smart,” said Greg Foster, the president of Imax Filmed >>> Entertainment. “When they smell something aspiring to be more than it is, >>> they catch on very quickly.” >>> >>> Muddying the picture is a contrast between the performance of 3-D movies in >>> North America and overseas. If results are troubling domestically, they are >>> the exact opposite internationally, where the genre is a far newer >>> phenomenon. Indeed, 3-D screenings powered “Stranger Tides” to about $256 >>> million on its first weekend abroad; Disney trumpeted the figure as the >>> biggest international debut of all time. >>> >>> With results like that at a time when movies make 70 percent of their total >>> box office income outside North America, do tastes at home even matter? >>> >>> After a disappointing first half of the year, Hollywood is counting on a >>> parade of 3-D films to dig itself out of a hole. From May to September, the >>> typical summer season, studios will unleash 16 movies in the format, more >>> than double the number last year. Among the most anticipated releases are >>> “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” due from Paramount on July 1, and Part 2 >>> of Part 7 of the “Harry Potter” series, arriving two weeks later from >>> Warner Brothers. >>> >>> The need is urgent. The box-office performance in the first six months of >>> 2011 was soft — revenue fell about 9 percent compared with last year, while >>> attendance was down 10 percent — and that comes amid decay in >>> home-entertainment sales. In all formats, including paid streaming and >>> DVDs, home entertainment revenue fell almost 10 percent, according to the >>> Digital Entertainment Group. >>> >>> The first part of the year held a near collapse in video store rentals, >>> which fell 36 percent to about $440 million, offsetting gains from >>> cut-price rental kiosks and subscriptions. In addition, the sale of >>> packaged discs fell about 20 percent, to about $2.2 billion, while >>> video-on-demand, though growing, delivered total sales of less than a >>> quarter of that amount. >>> >>> At the box office, animated films, which have recently been Hollywood’s >>> most reliable genre, have fallen into a deep trough, as the category’s top >>> three performers combined — “Rio,” from Fox; “Rango,” from Paramount; and >>> “Hop,” from Universal — have had fewer ticket buyers than did “Shrek the >>> Third,” from DreamWorks Animation, after its release in mid-May four years >>> ago. >>> >>> “Kung Fu Panda 2” appears poised to become the biggest animated hit of the >>> year so far; but it would have to stretch well past its own predecessor to >>> beat “Shrek Forever After,” another May release, which took in $238.7 >>> million last year. >>> >>> For the weekend, “The Hangover: Part II” sold $118 million from Thursday to >>> Sunday, easily enough for No. 1. “Kung Fu Panda 2” was second. Disney’s >>> “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” was third with $39.3 million >>> for a new total of $152.9 million. “Bridesmaids” (Universal Pictures) was >>> fourth with $16.4 million for a new total of about $85 million. “Thor” >>> (Marvel Studios) rounded out the top five with $9.4 million for a new total >>> of $160 million. >>> >>> Studio chiefs acknowledge that the industry needs to sort out its 3-D >>> strategy. Despite the soft results for “Kung Fu Panda 2,” animated releases >>> have continued to perform well in the format, overcoming early problems >>> with glasses that didn’t fit little faces. But general-audience movies like >>> “Stranger Tides” may be better off the old-fashioned way. >>> >>> “With a blockbuster-filled holiday weekend skewing heavily toward 2-D, and >>> 3-D ticket sales dramatically underperforming relative to screen >>> allocation, major studios will hopefully begin to rethink their 3-D rollout >>> plans for the rest of the year and 2012,” Mr. Greenfield said on Friday. >>> >>> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >>> ___________________________________________________________________ >>> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >>> >>> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >>> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >>> >>> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >>> >>> >>> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >>> ___________________________________________________________________ >>> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >>> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >>> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >>> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> >>> >>> Jim Gresham >>> 18501 Henry Ct >>> Ray Mi 48096 >>> 586 677-7669 >>> >>> www.theyreherealreadybook.com >>> >>> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >>> ___________________________________________________________________ >>> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >>> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >>> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >>> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >>> >> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >> > > LINK TO AMAZON – JUST PUBLISHED FIRST NOVEL: > > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0595458203 > > > MUSEUM WEBSITE: > > www.museumofmomandpopculture.com > > > > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: [email protected] > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
