When a film festival celebrates a technology, as does The Nitrate Picture Show, and it's located at the George Eastman Museum, you should expect more than just movies. Last weekend's event included two lectures by preservationists, workshops on making nitrate film, and tours of more than the nitrate vaults. I attended a Technology Collection tour, … Continue reading Last Saturday at the Nitrate Picture Show
Category: Technical
Last Friday at the Nitrate Picture Show
You know you're at a geek-oriented film festival when the program provides information About the print before telling you About the film. "The film is in excellent condition, with deep, rich contrast and very little scratching or damage. Shrinkage: 0.63%." The Nitrate Picture Show, which I attended last week, is as much about the prints … Continue reading Last Friday at the Nitrate Picture Show
A New Film Festival Showing Very Old (and Explosive) Prints
When you consider how flammable film stock was in the first half of the 20th century, and how popular smoking was at the same time, it's amazing that any movies survived at all. Or any movie theaters. By the time you read this, I will presumably be in Rochester, NY, where I will be attending … Continue reading A New Film Festival Showing Very Old (and Explosive) Prints
April at the Castro
For almost two weeks of this month, the San Francisco International Film Festival will take over the Castro. But since I'm covering that festival elsewhere, I'll stick here to the other two and a half weeks. San Francisco's grand movie palace will screen 19 feature films from the 20th century; in other words, movies that … Continue reading April at the Castro
All That Heaven Allows at the PFA
I'm not one of those cinephiles who gets excited at every screening of a 35mm print. But when it's a vintage Technicolor 35mm print…well, that's exciting. And it was the print, more than the movie, that drew me to see the 1955 drama, All That Heaven Allows, Sunday afternoon at the Pacific Film Archive. The movie … Continue reading All That Heaven Allows at the PFA
How Many Films are Still Shot on Film: The 2017 Edition
How many theatrical motion pictures are still shot on film? Judging by my annual survey, less and less of them. Out of 23 narrative feature films currently screening in Bay Area theaters, only three were shot entirely on film. 15 were shot digitally - almost all with Ari Alexa cameras. An additional five were shot … Continue reading How Many Films are Still Shot on Film: The 2017 Edition
Wide Screens and Tall Screens
A widescreen movie should be projected onto a wide screen. That only makes sense. But in recent years, most new theaters project big, widescreen movies at the same width as not-so-wide movies. To show you the full image, they shrink the picture vertically - sort of like letterboxing on your TV. This may be a … Continue reading Wide Screens and Tall Screens
Lawrence of Arabia and the Third Coming of 70mm
I've seen two new blockbusters this summer, and both were projected from 70mm film. Fifty years ago, that wouldn't have been surprising. Thirty years ago, that would have been normal. Ten years ago, it was unthinkable. Today, it's back, five years after theatres were supposed to stop projecting physical film of any size. From Edison's … Continue reading Lawrence of Arabia and the Third Coming of 70mm
A Night at the PFA: Booth tour and Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors
Wednesday night, my wife and I attended a Pacific Film Archive screening of Sergei Paradjanov's Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors. But before the movie, I got a special treat: A tour of the projection booth by projectionist Gibbs Chapman. The crowded booth contains five different projectors - three film, two digital - as well as … Continue reading A Night at the PFA: Booth tour and Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors
It’s still real if it’s digital
Last January, I finally saw an early Cinemascope movie the way it was meant to be seen: on a big theater screen, with the original 4-track stereo soundtrack, and the full 2.55x1 aspect ratio (2.35x1 didn't become the official Cinemascope standard until 1957). And there was no physical film involved. The movie was projected digitally … Continue reading It’s still real if it’s digital
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