Last night I attended a private industry screening of "Reach For Me", a film directed by Levar Burton (remember "Geordi La Forge" in Star Trek of yore?), held at the great Landmark Theater in West L.A.
This was the first showing ever of a whole feature film shot in 4K with full post production in 4K and projection in 4K.
No, it wasn't the RED, but a Dalsa Origin camera developed with Sony, and projected through a Sony 4K projector.
There wasn't a dry eye in the audience afterwards, really quite a movie, about some real characters in a hospice. Very nice acting, with good chemistry between the actors.
And the 4K?
I thought it was a new aesthetic, unlike both film and "digital cinema."
Very painterly, not "hyper-realistic" like say studio-shot HDTV seen Over-The-Air, and there is nothing in between the scene and the viewer either (like with "film").
It really was like the very best of film, but without the "film" in front of the screen, and without any of the harshness that plagues a lot of digitally shot material (I'm talking about something very subtle, related to lack of gradation and more).
In still photography, this would be prints from a large format camera compared with the output of a 35mm SLR or even a medium format Hasselblad.
The difference in tonal resolution has nothing to do with just "sharpness," and while it may require some experience to be able to point to it, it surely has an emotional impact on even the numbest people.
I have seen single column newspaper photos, perhaps 2 inches across, where it was possible to say immediately that this was shot with a large format camera.
In the discussion with the filmmakers afterwards, they also confirmed that the 4K difference survived downrezzing to lesser formats, even 35mm film that it otherwise surpasses (35mm projection prints can have amazing resolution and tonality, beyond what can be seen with material originated on 35mm camera stock).
Amazingly there already are 200 4K projectors in the U.S., out of 40,000 theater projectors total here. It's just the 4K movies that have been missing.
Piracy at the theater has always been a concern in this industry (it goes back to the beginning of movie theaters), but Sony's 4K system helps with that too.
Each "print" is encrypted and locked to one particular projector for a particular time period (the exhibitionist's rental time). It is theft-resistant from shipping to return, and a lot less expensive to ship too (can even be handled via download).
In shooting, the DP said the camera is set up once, and not tinkered with further, in contrast to HD and 2K where DITs are normally quite busy.
In shooting 4K with the Dalsa camera, adjustments are made with light, like when shooting film...
Really quite a treat, it truly offers a superior experience that is not about getting "more pixels across," but a new aesthetic that can allow really good acting to shine through in a different way compared to 35mm, 70mm, HD, 2K, etc.
It's different, so it won't fit everything, because sometimes you may want a lot of grit say, but this is like a new school of painting.
Even the top Sony guy there was joking that SONY stood for "Soon, Only Not Yet" but he was thrilled with the end result of many years of 4K development.
I think this will spread like wildfire once more filmmakers see what it can do.
I'll also be curious to see RED footage projected in 4K side-by-side with Dalsa Origin footage. RED seems to have some of that painterly quality, without the "film" on the surface, but I haven't seen end results of this caliber yet.
Let's hope for plenty of competition and trickle down!
This was the first showing ever of a whole feature film shot in 4K with full post production in 4K and projection in 4K.
No, it wasn't the RED, but a Dalsa Origin camera developed with Sony, and projected through a Sony 4K projector.
There wasn't a dry eye in the audience afterwards, really quite a movie, about some real characters in a hospice. Very nice acting, with good chemistry between the actors.
And the 4K?
I thought it was a new aesthetic, unlike both film and "digital cinema."
Very painterly, not "hyper-realistic" like say studio-shot HDTV seen Over-The-Air, and there is nothing in between the scene and the viewer either (like with "film").
It really was like the very best of film, but without the "film" in front of the screen, and without any of the harshness that plagues a lot of digitally shot material (I'm talking about something very subtle, related to lack of gradation and more).
In still photography, this would be prints from a large format camera compared with the output of a 35mm SLR or even a medium format Hasselblad.
The difference in tonal resolution has nothing to do with just "sharpness," and while it may require some experience to be able to point to it, it surely has an emotional impact on even the numbest people.
I have seen single column newspaper photos, perhaps 2 inches across, where it was possible to say immediately that this was shot with a large format camera.
In the discussion with the filmmakers afterwards, they also confirmed that the 4K difference survived downrezzing to lesser formats, even 35mm film that it otherwise surpasses (35mm projection prints can have amazing resolution and tonality, beyond what can be seen with material originated on 35mm camera stock).
Amazingly there already are 200 4K projectors in the U.S., out of 40,000 theater projectors total here. It's just the 4K movies that have been missing.
Piracy at the theater has always been a concern in this industry (it goes back to the beginning of movie theaters), but Sony's 4K system helps with that too.
Each "print" is encrypted and locked to one particular projector for a particular time period (the exhibitionist's rental time). It is theft-resistant from shipping to return, and a lot less expensive to ship too (can even be handled via download).
In shooting, the DP said the camera is set up once, and not tinkered with further, in contrast to HD and 2K where DITs are normally quite busy.
In shooting 4K with the Dalsa camera, adjustments are made with light, like when shooting film...
Really quite a treat, it truly offers a superior experience that is not about getting "more pixels across," but a new aesthetic that can allow really good acting to shine through in a different way compared to 35mm, 70mm, HD, 2K, etc.
It's different, so it won't fit everything, because sometimes you may want a lot of grit say, but this is like a new school of painting.
Even the top Sony guy there was joking that SONY stood for "Soon, Only Not Yet" but he was thrilled with the end result of many years of 4K development.
I think this will spread like wildfire once more filmmakers see what it can do.
I'll also be curious to see RED footage projected in 4K side-by-side with Dalsa Origin footage. RED seems to have some of that painterly quality, without the "film" on the surface, but I haven't seen end results of this caliber yet.
Let's hope for plenty of competition and trickle down!