Neil Breen and Burnout

Cheer me up with your questions and chat.

[EthanLindner]

I loved how John’s description of Double Down is by almost point-for-point the same as Rich’s rant in the BotW episode.

[matheus]

I looked into RTINGS page on the Sony A90J TV model. Here's what it says regarding its BFI settings:

"The Sony A90J has an optional Black Frame Insertion (BFI) feature, which can help reduce motion blur by inserting black frames into content at regular intervals, typically matched with the frame rate of the content. For a BFI frequency of 120Hz, you should set Motionflow to 'Custom' and set Clearness to '1' or '2'. For 60Hz, set Clearness to '3' (max)."

[matheus]

I wonder if while many people may be frame rate blind, or not really care or notice such things, it still makes a subtle difference in how many of those people perceive a film, even if only in a subconscious level. I think there are studies in which people were told to compare acting performances, and they generally thought the lower FPS performance was better, without being told that it was lower FPS. I don't how valid that study is in general, or what scenes and people were used for the study, but it is a topic worthy of investigation. The human brain in mysterious.

[MrCREWCRUSHIN]

The late, great Douglas Trumbull developed Showscan in the 1970s- that used 70mm film photographed and projected at 60 frames per second, 2.5 times the standard speed of movie film. He eventually kicked that up to 120 fps later. So, no- HFR is not new.

[childrenconnect]

I’d love to speak with you about what I can do for people near end of life including yourself.

I’m an energy healer and it is one of the most miraculous things available to the world

[NichePlays]

I missed this live but I was pleased to hear your take on White Noise. I thought that the title symbolized the fear of death/the unknown and how every character just tunes it out with TV, music, anything based on consumption really. It kinda snapped into place for me when there was that scene with Adam Driver's son explaining the science behind [redacted for spoilers] to everyone as they crowded around him because they were probably all worried about their health/safety and decided to listen to what a kid had to say about it due to the lack of any other information to (hopefully) quell their fears.

[matheus]

I really recommend you watching the video by youtuber captainmidnight called "HD TVs ruined sitcoms". Clickbaity and over-the-top title aside, it's a really interesting video! His main point is that sitcoms generally don't benefit from the obssession of modern TV with the prestige of looking cinematic, he argues that 16:9 aspect ratio and HD definition detract from sitcoms, and they are really better suited to 4:3 in Standard Definition.

[matheus]

As a kid, I remember being fascinated by this intro of the Pixar film The Incredibles DVD. Director Brad Bird talks about aspect ratio, pan & scan, and so on. He also asks the viewers to watch the film in widescreen as it is meant to be seen. And he finishes by asking you to dim the lights and crank up the sound as well, and then enjoy the movie!

[AvidSonicFan]

Sorry I wasn't able to come up with more words in time to tell you about the 4DX/ScreenX conundrum that has gotten you confused.
First of all, and most importantly, 4DX is NOT ScreenX in 3D. I'm not even sure they could pull off side projections in 3D. Here, you just get a regular movie theater screen (or in your theater's case, a RealD 3D screen).

What makes 4DX stand out from the other formats is not the display technology, but the other in-theater technology that makes this format nearly identical to other motion simulator-like theme park rides, like Shrek 4D. This would probably make it even MORE of a "Theme Park Ride Movie" than ScreenX, and I won't be surprised if you hate that kind of idea too.

More specifically, 4DX uses seats that move around with the action, scent effects, bubble & water spray effects, and other effects that are supposed to enhance the immersion, like fog, rumble, and strobe lights on the sides.

I hope this clears up all the confusion you may have about the differences between the two.

[matheus]

I would like to make a correction to one of my comments in this stream. Sleeping Beauty (1959) is not the only Disney animated film ever to be shot in 70mm.

The Black Cauldron (1985) was shot in 70mm film. But that film is infamous as such a financial flop that it almost killed Disney Animation Studios! And it doesn't look anywhere near as amazing as Sleeping Beauty, it is very uneven.

Random thing: a classic animated film shot on 70mm is japanese anime Akira (1988).

[matheus]

While I wouldn't want HFR in a film for many reasons, I also admire Douglas Trumbull's audacity with Showscan: 60FPS at 70mm film! This is a madman! 70mm film is already expensive as hell, and truly gigantic (gotta love those videos showing how projection works on an IMAX theater, for example). On top of that, you increase the amount of frames from 24 to 60!

Imagine the physical monstrocity of film that would be, for example, Lawrence Of Arabia at 60FPS, a film that was shot at 70mm film and is almost four hours long! I would feel for the projectionist.

[matheus]

Schools have little understanding of what books to best recommend for kids and teenagers, who are often forced to read very dense books with difficult language and themes that shouldn't be anyone's introduction to reading, and are clearly meant for adults and experienced readers!

I hope cinema never becomes an obligatory subject in school, otherwise we are gonna traumatize many people with cinema like we do with books. Nothing sucks the fun out of something more than it being an obligation, and the pressure for good grades and to write essays, not to mention time.

Hell, film school has its problems. I read a guy online saying that he used to enjoy Hitchcock's film Rear Window, but also that he can't enjoy it anymore since he was forced to write an essay about it at film school.

I also really feel sad for anyone whose first contact with any classic beloved film is having to write an essay about it for school. I can't imagine the film students who were forever burned out on ever liking a specific film because they had to watch it and write about it, instead of watching it because they wanted to and had genuine interest. I don't think that any filmmaker, specially one so delighted in entertaining the audience as Hitchcock, would like to see their films taught and treated like this. It corrupts the magic and purpose of the art and its pleasures, what art overall is about!

[matheus]

Some comments are too big for a chat, so I will put together all I meant regarding that guy I was talking about.

He told me he has a coworker who watches over 100 films every years and says "old movies are so slow, the acting is overdone". But instead of some Old Hollywood films, she was talking about the 90s. That's what I meant with "I wonder what 90s films she watched", because it's baffling.

I said to him that of course newer stuff is gonna be more in the spotlight. Think about the amount of Nolan fans giving 10/10 to every movie he makes in IMDB and Letterboxd (I'm not criticizing the ratings to Nolan films, I just say that newer shiny stuff is always gonna be more in the spotlight and peak of acclaim and love).

I believe in the timelessness of cinema, and that a lot of films from the past will endure. I don't share his concerns about all of cinema made up to now being seen in the future as just "early cinema" and only important historically.

He is a nice guy. I might send the link to my conversation with him in reddit if you want to. I would love your thoughts.

One more thing about him: it seems that the reason why he believes that HFR is more accessible and popular now (even though TV historically is HFR), and that younger people may prefer it over 24FPS, is because, according to his words, there seems to be more people in the AVS Forums who like motion smoothing than people who don't. And that these people who like motion smoothing in that forum say that 24FPS is an outdated standard that should be abandoned. Of course, this is a myth for many reasons, and 24FPS is more ubiquitous than ever.

Some people say "whenever an artist releases something to the world, anyone can do with it whatever they please. If I want to watch everything with motion smoothing because I like it, the artist shouldn't want to stop me, I should not be forced to obey artistic intent in my individual watching experience, as art is subjective, let me use my motion smoothing and vivid mode, stop being purists". Which is fair enough, if most of those people didn't also say that 60FPS is objectively better and everyone should do it: that's not about individual viewing experience anymore.

[childrenconnect]

I’m looking to see how you hire your therapists for movie sets?

[suryadnb]

I don't like horror or zombies, but The Last of Us is not what you think it is. It's a really good series that doesn't run on genre tropes at all.

[sickle]

You don't look 40, you look 30. Watched Avatar: The Way Of Sea Sickness. I got the framerate madness version that kept switching back and forth. It was making me dizzy, but the girlfriend didn't notice it. I couldn't believe how tiny those 3D glasses they sell you are. 25% of the screen was obscured by the rims of the glasses. I knew the story would be predictable and boring, but I was hoping for at least a spectacle. The CGI realism was pretty incredible, but the part that impressed me the most was the 3D floating flakes and rain. I must be simple. The hissing didn't bother me until about 75% of the runtime in, it started to get pretty cringe. The native American yodeling was even more cringe for me. We get it James, they're like the "Indians". I also like how the tube of goo that gives you everlasting life is only worth $18 million (not to mention 100 of years of inflation and unlikelihood of USD still being in use). I wonder how much it's worth in the Chinese version. I don't think I'll be watching Avatar 3 unless there's better glasses you can get that work in all theatres.

[matheus]

Thanks for all your answers in this stream!