So you’re wondering what I’m annoyed about?
As it happens, you already know. The current blu-ray model.
In the industry, one of two things would
have happened. Option 1) You filmed your production on film, either 35mm or
16mm. 35mm film, depending on the ASA (Basically a number that represents the
amount of light the film needs to get a clear picture) you can get a 4k scan of
the film, and it would look fine. Now,
to quantify, 4k means a 4096*2160 sized scan (Not the 3820*2160 that 4K tvs
seem to have going, that is below standard 4k.) That is a fantastic sized
image, and you have lots of room to get fine details and brighten colors, and
overall have more options to make it look exactly like you want. On 16mm film,
you can get a 2k scan, approximately half the resolution, but all other factors
apply. And what both of these have in common, is that you can get a high
quality 1080p blu-ray quality version out of it.
Option 2) And this option only applies in
the last decade or so, you filmed digitally. Recently, as in, since 2008, all
digital cameras can shoot blu-ray quality. Whether it looks blu-ray quality is
another matter, but basically, the resolution is there. And earlier than that,
since 2002 at least, every digital cinema camera has been able to shoot blu-ray
quality, and in recent years the capacity of both consumer and professional
cameras in terms of resolution and bit depth and quality, and color
reproduction, and light level maintaining, and fine detail picking-uping has
increased ten-fold.
Option 3) The much less preferred, much
less sensible (in fact, downright insane) option, is shooting your production
on something else. This doesn’t happen much anymore, with affordable, high
quality cinema cameras widely available, but it has annoyed me for some time.
Shooting on formats like betacam (an SD format, either NTSC 480/30, or PAL
576/25) or videotape (same detail, but worse resolution) or 8mm film. You might
think that this would have been phased out by the mid 50s when single strip
color film became widely available, but as recently as 2010 this wasn’t the
case.
So in rare option 3 cases, no, you cannot
make a blu-ray out of the production. Luckily, the vast majority of movies were
shot on one of the first two options, so they can be transferred to blu-ray. A
fair number of tv shows were also shot on option 1, but they are much less
reliable. Since 2008, nearly all movies and tv shows can easily handle a
blu-ray release, that is a fact.
And here’s where my annoyances come in. As
I have explained, getting a blu-ray resolution version of any production is not
difficult, unless option 3 applies. So pretty much every movie ever, and a good
deal of tv shows before 2008, and every show after then can be released on
blu-ray. But they aren’t. I understand that releasing something in HD costs a
lot of money, and takes a lot of time and facilities and processing power, and
patience waiting for things to render, but still. Blu-ray allows you to get the
crispest, sharpest and most accurately colored and most losslessly sound mixed version
of your production possible, why would you not embrace this opportunity? No
matter what production, someone is putting a lot of effort into it, give them
the opportunity to fully realise their creative vision.
Filmmakers are getting this opportunity,
but when it comes to tv shows… That’s a different story. Plenty of shows that
were shot on 35mm film have not been transferred onto blu-ray, even from just a
higher quality scan and upping the colors and contrast to make it look more
modern. It’s pretty annoying, considering the minimal time and effort it would
take to get even a basic blu-ray.
Really the problem is the mindset. Blu-rays
are such a new thing, and producing them a new concept for most studios and places
in the world. Putting things in blu-ray format isn’t the number one priority,
not everyone has an HDTV and a blu-ray player and a surround sound system, but
basically everyone has a SD – capable TV and a dvd player. So which would you
make? Of course, the DVDs would be the way to go. It is short sighted, because
within a decade, the new standard definition will be high-definition, and all
the time they spent today getting their DVDs out will be for nothing.
Sadly, until that day come, I still can’t
watch ‘Arrested Development’ (Filmed in at least 720p which I think is good
enough for a blu-ray) or ‘Scrubs’ (Filmed on 16mm, and then an Arri Alexia,
both perfectly capable of getting blu-ray quality picture out of.)
Favorite song of the moment:
‘Hell
Prominence’ from ‘Super Mario Galaxy.’ Yeah I know, I’ve done this soundtrack
already, but we were on ‘Okami’ forever, so I’m going to keep listening to this
until I get bored. An awesome song, with a rousing beat, awesome orchestra
swells and just an on overall epic sound. The longest song on the soundtrack,
which again shows that I like things that last.
On
a side note, I love Coldplay, and my favorite song of theirs is ‘A Rush of
Blood To The Head’ from their second album, which is, to date, their longest
song. So there’s that point.
Andrew, time for what is annoying you right
now.
Daniel Lyons.
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