THE BACKLOT
By William Kallay
EDITOR'S NOTE: In 2012, directors Peter Jackson
and James Cameron are advocating to shoot films at 48 frames-per-second.
Standard film is shot and projected at 24 frames-per-second. The higher
frame rate results in a lifelike presentation in a movie theater.
Imagery is also sharp. Jackson has filmed "The Hobbit" at 48
frames-per-second.
Back in 2002, I interviewed Robert Weisgerber. He had just unveiled the
stunning Super Dimension-70 projection system. Like a lot of people who
saw his demonstration film, starring the late Walter Cronkite, I was
totally impressed by what I saw. The demonstration was sharp, bright,
dimensional, and breathtaking. Using both a larger film format (65mm)
and a higher frame rate, Weisgerber redefined how movies could look on
the big screen.
Below is my original article about Super Dimension-70.
In the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, right off the bustling Sunset
Strip, a magical movie demonstration is being shown to an audience. A
collection of audience members utter words like “wow,” and “ooh,” only
with silent exclamation points at the end of their delighted sentences.
Some audience members even ask the inventor, Robert C. Weisgerber, and
the producer of the film, Barrie O’Brien, if they can see it again.
Eye candy never looked so good.
The footage and projection system, called Super Dimension-70, developed
by Weisgerber, is perhaps one of the most revolutionary inventions in
the film business in years. And that’s causing some in the movie
industry to take notice.
In an era of teen flicks and cookie-cutter cineplexes, Weisgerber has
re-invented the movie reel. At the same time, he’s brought back a sense
of magic long gone from the movies today; that the experience of how
audiences see a movie can be just as important as the movie itself.
The demonstration begins with a subtle, simple introduction with the
comfortable presence of Walter Cronkite. He talks about the earliest
days of moviemaking by the Father of Invention, Thomas Edison. The image
fills the middle part of a large, widescreen. After Cronkite’s short
introduction, the screen masking widens and the audience is literally
thrust into the picture frame. Footage of a horse and handsome cab
riding through Central Park pops off the screen, causing audience
members to reach out and try to touch the animal. They’ve been fooled by
an optical illusion. Super Dimension-70 isn’t 3-D, only better. There
are no clunky goggles or cheap plastic glasses to wear. A boat ride
through New York Harbor takes on the sense of an amusement park
ride-simulator, causing the audience to grab onto their arm rests.
Watching this scene, one might think of how a film like a "Matrix"
sequel or "Star Wars" sequel might look in this high-impact modus
operandi. To be forward, it’s simply incredible and jaw dropping. And in
an intimate tableside scene with a young couple, the footage looks like
it would be in place in a Julia Roberts movie. Super Dimension-70
handles these types of scenes with aplomb. It hasn’t been uncommon for
audience members to ask, “Why can’t all movies be shown this way?”
Back In Time
Inspired by the general decline in how movies are shown in theatres
today, New York natives Weisgerber and O’Brien took a look at the last
time when movies were high-definition and high-class: the 1950s and
1960s. These were times where technology and PT Barnum hucksterism went
hand-in-hand. The two forces combined to combat a mortal enemy known as
television.
The era began out of desperation, really. Television cut into movie
attendance severely by the early 1950s. There was a scramble by
producers and studios to find a gimmick to lure people back into the
theatre and earn back lost box office revenue. This meant making flat,
two-dimensional film into immersing 3-D.
It meant making the almost square movie theatre screens of the day wider
and bigger. It meant super-sizing the industry standard, 35mm film, by
optically stretching it in more ways than one, or simply, making it
bigger.
The 3-D craze lasted for a short time, but it was Cinerama that
redefined cinema forever. The wide, three-projector, 146-degree,
three-paneled screen, offered audiences an immersing trip on a roller
coaster ride, a flight over the Grand Canyon and a chance to water ski,
all within the confines of a theatre auditorium. The film, "This Is
Cinerama" (1952), was a sensation around the globe. More or less, the
film was nothing more than a simple combination of pretty scenery and
lush orchestral music: a travelogue. But the impact was enormous on
audiences and film industry of the day. So successful was Cinerama, it
spawned imitators, in various forms, including CinemaScope (1953),
VistaVision (1954), Todd-AO (1955) and Super Panavision 70 (1959), to
name a few. The gimmicks worked. The box office was flush with revenue
again.
Producers like Mike Todd and Samuel L. Bronston elevated movies, for a
brief time, to Broadway sophistication. The combination of a strong
literary property, or a major musical, married with the gimmicks of the
day, lent themselves to the era of “roadshow” movies. Going to the
movies was something to cherish. "Oklahoma!" (1955), "South Pacific"
(1958), "Ben-Hur" (1959) "Spartacus" (1960), "El Cid" (1961), "West Side
Story" (1961), and "Lawrence Of Arabia" (1962), provided audiences with
a theatrical movie experience, something beyond seeing a matinee at the
local Bijou.
People bought reserved seat tickets, got dressed up and went to the
major movie palaces downtown. Once inside, they were given a program
about the film. Walking into the auditorium, they saw lush curtains
covering the screen. Ushers escorted them to their seats. The floors
were of the non-stick type. The theatre showing a particular movie held
itself to high standards of presentation. The sense of selling
presentation was just as important as selling popcorn. And just like in
a Broadway musical, there was often an overture before the film began
flickering on the screen. The overture ended, the lights faded away and
the curtains opened to reveal a large, wide screen. The movie began and
the audience was swept away. These were truly movies to be seen on the
big screen.
Many films of this caliber were shot and shown in the 70mm format, a
format Weisgerber has revisited for Super Dimension-70. Twice the size
of industry standard 35mm film, the larger format allowed for a superior
cinematic presentation. A brighter, sharper, steady and defined picture,
combined with dynamic multichannel stereo surround sound, gave audiences
the best possible visual and sound presentation available.
“It was an overall enveloping experience of both audio and picture, with
a virtually grainfree, velvet-like image, and a bright evenly lit
screen,” says Robert A. Harris, film preservationist, who has helped
save large format films like "Lawrence Of Arabia" and "Spartacus" from
fading away from our film history. He’s in the process of raising funds,
with help from MGM, to save John Wayne’s 70mm epic, "The Alamo" (1960).
He adds, “70mm is an extraordinary experience.”
Movies weren’t merely movies; they were an event. The bar of cinema
presentation was at a peak and hasn’t really been seen since.
The era of quality film presentation virtually ceased by the end of the
1960s. Audiences preferred low budget, counter-culture films like "Easy
Rider," as opposed to big budget Hollywood fare like "Hello, Dolly"
Numerous movie palaces closed down or were converted into “twin”
theatres. And the rise of the multi-screen theatre transformed the
movie-going experience into a matter of convenience, rather than
showmanship.
Seeking To Make The Movie Experience Better
These days, the way audiences see the latest blockbusters in local
theatres is usually a far cry from the era of the roadshow. In fact,
it’s a far cry from what modern directors and cinematographers intended
for them to see. The careful choices of lighting, composition, color,
etc., are often tossed aside once a print of a film arrives at the
theatre.
“Exhibition is a major part of our work,” says Laszlo Kovacs, ASC,
cinematographer on numerous films, including "Easy Rider" and "Miss
Congeniality." “By the time a film I’ve worked on gets to the theatre,
it gets destroyed.”
In a world where consumers demand high quality DVDs, digital music and
the fastest computers, it’s ironic that many consumers don’t complain
about the general quality of how they see movies at the theatre.
The recent influx of stadium seating theatres, with their huge 80-foot
screens, perks of the modern movie theatre, have certainly added new
amenities to the movie-going experience, but at a cost. The 35mm format,
the standard way to show movies around the world, can’t handle the extra
load of being pushed beyond its limits. The film image is too small to
cover a huge 80-foot screen. As a result, audiences have seen visually
dim, bloated and lifeless prints of films. Mr. Steven Spielberg might be
shocked to see how his films look in most cinemas around the country.
Weisgerber saw the decline of cinematic presentation and decided, with
some tinkering in the lab, perhaps he could build a better mode of movie
delivery.
“As a media person and as a filmgoer, I found that there was a certain
lack of entertainment value needed in the filmed marketplace, meaning
that content is king,” says Weisgerber, who is the CEO and President of
Super Vista Corporation, the company behind Super Dimension-70, a.k.a.
SDS-70. He, along with Vice President and producer, Barrie O’Brien, set
out to develop a production and theatrical system which substantially
improved the way audiences see and experience movies. If digital sound
improved how audiences hear movies in the theatre, why shouldn’t the
picture be improved, too?
“The important aspect of the process was to raise the bar of
cinematography and exhibition so high, that whether my mother or
grandmother came to the movie theatre or a big name studio-head came,
they would be impressed with what they saw. Not just because it was big,
but because it was sharp, clear and dimensional,” says Weisgerber.
Weisgerber figured that the root of the pictorial problem lay in the
production and projection systems themselves. Why not go with bigger
film, 70mm, and tweak it? Pooling his extensive broadcasting experience
and resources together, Weisgerber first built a projector. The first
plan on his agenda with this new projector was to eliminate problems
normally associated with film: flicker, weaving back and forth and
strobing. The projector, called the SDS-70 Impact Projector, projects
70mm film at 48 frames-per-second. Most movies shown in theatres around
the world are shot and shown on 35mm film, at 24 frames-per second. The
increased size of 70mm film, matched with an increased frame rate,
unveils a rock-steady image that is bright and without flicker and
nearly hyper-realistic. The SDS-70 Impact Projector yields a “display
rate” of 96 images per second, which has never been done before.
O’Brien put together a demonstration film for the format. She, along
with a small crew of experienced filmmakers, went out to various
locations around the United States and shot 70mm footage. The result is
a demonstration film that has audiences wanting to see more. SDS-70
creates a visual widescreen presentation that is superior to past and
present systems like Cinerama, CinemaScope, Todd-AO, and the new kid on
the block, digital projection. It even looks superior to the current
industry flagship in projection quality, IMAX.
What does this mean to the average moviegoer? It’s been proven that
audiences will go out of their way to see movies presented in the latest
gimmickry. Audiences flocked, of course, to see movies in Cinerama and
CinemaScope. The film "Tommy" (1975) amazed teenagers in the mid-1970s
when it was shown in
Quintaphonic Sound. Film fans, in which every summer offered a plethora
of popcorn movies, sought out theatres which had huge screens with 70mm
projection and Lucasfilm THX Sound during the 1980s. In other words,
audiences will seek out better quality if it’s available. The same could
hold true for Super Dimension-70.
“There’s one exhibitor, president of one of the largest chains, who
said, ‘What you just showed me is brighter, sharper and clearer than
IMAX. And best of all, the format fits into any of my theatres.’ To me,
that was an enormous testimonial. And this was nobody to slouch at,”
says Weisgerber.
We Live In A Digital World
But why all the fuss over old-fashioned technology? Isn’t digital
cinema, with its bits and bytes, ones and zeroes, the wave of the
future? Won’t it give audiences crisp, flicker and scratch-free
pictures? And after all, didn’t George Lucas shoot "Star Wars:Episode II
- Attack of the Clones," his next "Star Wars" space opera, on
new-fangled digital camcorders? Weisgerber and O’Brien have their work
cut out for them. Companies like Sony, Panavision, Disney, Texas
Instruments, Boeing and Kodak have been jumping into the digital fray
over the past two years.
Studios claim that the traditional way of film delivery to thousands of
theatres around the country costs them money. They’re correct. On any
given major studio release, up to 3,000 35mm prints may be struck, then
shipped and distributed to theatres by opening day. The reasoning to go
completely digital, from digitally shooting a movie to digitally
projecting it at the theatre, is appealing for studios and companies
with investments in the technology. It’s a cost savings plan, at least
in the long run. Essentially, it would be the studios and manufacturers
of digital theatre equipment who would benefit, not the theatre chains.
To convert theatres to digital projection is expensive and literally
requires a scientist versed in digital technology to monitor the
equipment. And who is going to pay for installing digital cinema in
theatres, many of which have filed for Chapter 11? There have been some
rumblings that Denver billionaire, Phillip Anchutz, may convert many of
his newly purchased theatres to digital technology. But does he want to
invest in a technology which changes nearly as often as computer
technology?
Another factor to consider with digital projection is an issue of
quality. To some in the film industry, it’s just not there, yet. To
others, it’s merely an extension of what consumers can get at home:
high-definition television. And, for the time being, digital projection
is a low-resolution format. Using television as an analogy, and if one
were to apply “pixels” to the various modes of movie delivery, current
digital projection has about 1.3 to 2 million pixels, a 35mm print has
about 4-5 million pixels and Super Dimension-70 has about 22 million
pixels. The more pixels on a movie screen, the better the image quality.
A Simple Plan
Weisgerber and O’Brien’s business plan seems to be beneficial to both
the studios and exhibitors with Super Dimension-70. Studios could shoot
one of their “event” films in Super Dimension-70. The cost to them is
slightly more expensive than shooting on 35mm or digital tape, but it’s
negligible when budgets run at about $100 million. The benefit for them
to shoot in the format is an increase on the value of their film being
an “event” film. Certain movies, like the summer blockbusters, deserve
to be shown in the best light. It’s worked in the past and could work in
the future. Such classics as "Lawrence of Arabia" and "2001: A Space
Odyssey" (1968) continue to pack movie theatres long after their
original releases. Why? Because they were event films made for the large
screen with exceptional storylines. Audiences enjoy spectacle.
Exhibitors would not have to buy a SDS-70 projection system, according
to Weisgerber. They would license it from Super Vista Corporation, who
would then service each theatre that had the equipment. This would
ensure quality presentations at every showing. The system would be
limited to being installed in premiere theatre, such as theaters in
major metropolitan areas (i.e. Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood or
Loews Lincoln Square in New York City). Also, a select few Hollywood
films would be shot in SDS-70, thus making seeing films in the format a
special event. Standard 35mm prints, DVDs and digital tape copies can be
made from a SDS-70 negative. In other words, the system is
multi-compatible from the time a movie is shot in SDS-70, to the time it
shows up on DVD.
A theater with the SDS-70 would charge about $3 more for a ticket,
earning more money at the box office for the exhibitor, distributor and
Super Vista Corporation.
“We believe that this is a value-added entertainment. You can charge
more, just like 'Fantasia 2000' in IMAX,” says O’Brien. That film went
onto earn approximately $65 million in a little over 50 theatres
worldwide. That was an incredible gross, considering that an average
studio feature is released on 2500-3000 screens on opening day and may
not earn that much. Audiences were willing to spend an extra few
dollars, because they perceived the film to be an event, something
special, and unlike anything they saw in their local megaplex or on DVD.
So imagine, if it were possible, seeing the upcoming "Spider-Man" sequel
in Super Dimension-70. The images on the screen are so clear, you duck
in your seat as Spider-Man sprays cobwebs on criminals.* Super
Dimension-70 would literally make the audience participant in that comic
book movie environment. What a thing for film fans to wish upon.
The Movie Industry
In the meantime, some people behind digital cinema and other competing
formats have seen the SDS-70 demonstration film. Admittedly, they’ve
been highly impressed. Some have sat in their seats long after the
demonstration has concluded, mouths agape and eyes wide open--just like
everyone else. As for cinematographers, the folks who shoot films,
they’ve been chomping at the bit to use the system. And, as much as
backers of competing technologies hate to admit it, SDS-70 certainly
gives their formats a run for their money. In a way, it’s David versus
Goliath, with Weisgerber and O’Brien showing the industry that money can
be made with a super film format, at virtually little cost to the
studios and exhibitors.
So why hasn’t the film industry embraced this fantastic way to see
movies? For a few reasons. Mainly, because some studios have already
invested in digital cinema, and to a lessor extent, IMAX/Giant Screen
presentations. These are fields in which they can potentially earn
revenue. There is also a stigma about shooting a movie in 70mm, which
can be traced back to the '60s, where cameras were bulky and making
prints was expensive. Many camera systems prior to the roadshows were
bulky contraptions, including the much lauded 3-strip Technicolor
cameras of the '30s and '40s.
Today, some erroneously claim it’s too cost prohibitive and there aren’t
anymore theatres to show the format in, anyway. The cost is negligible,
prints are cheaper than before and there are many theatres that can be
fitted, quite easily, with a SDS-70 Impact projector. The other factor
may well be that Super Dimension-70 is just too good. And that may have
the proponents of digital cinema looking over their shoulder.
But do audiences really care about how what format a movie is shown in?
“It’s like automobile companies saying, ‘You know what? It’s got four
wheels; it’s got an engine. People just want to get from Point A to
Point B. Why do we have to build this very expensive, high performance
car?’ But people want the more elaborate cars. They don’t want a
commodity item. They want upscale. They want to be able to choose. And
that’s what this is all about. Right now, it’s not by chance that the
audience is going down. I think that if you improve the experience, I
think you’ll tap into age groups that normally don’t go to the movies,”
says Weisgerber.
Has anyone seen Mr. Lucas or Mr. Spielberg driving by the Harmony Gold
Theatre lately?
Special thanks to Robert C. Weisgerber and Barrie O'Brien
Weisgerber and O'Brien have introduced their digital version of SDS-70,
DMX.
*2004's release of "Spiderman 2" had a large format release in IMAX's
Digital Remastering process known as DMR.
This interview was originally posted at
www.widescreenreview.com
in 2002.
Originally posted here on September 24, 2004.