Originally Posted by Libretio:
“Not only did THE FEAR turn out to be terrific drama (cue Bafta's and Emmy's for Mr. Mullan!), it also demonstrated some of the most dynamic and creative uses of the scope frame I've seen in some time. Symmetry and composition were clearly a factor, wobble-cam was largely avoided, and most of the closeups had a very real dramatic purpose. Good stuff, shot digitally with Arri Alexa cameras, so I'm told.
Oh, and kudos to C4 for screening this over 4 nights rather than 4 weeks. Much better that way, I think.”
Yes, there were so many great shots here, and it was also better to see it over 4 nights. Wish they'd done that with Secret State, but then I felt that lost its power early on simply due to the ad breaks as they killed the tension. As it went on, it got a bit tedious anyway, even with the presence of Gabriel Byrne, but Peter Mullan was on top form as ever.
Someone wrote into Radio Times moaning, "Why did C4 stick black bars over Secret State in a pretence to be arty!!?"
When I first saw a drama shot that way, I thought it slightly odd, but then in reality it's done to give it a certain look, just as a film would do, and if you can make a great fist of it then go with it.
Originally Posted by Libretio:
“I've seen some IMAX 3-D documentaries on Blu-ray which crop the 1.44:1 image to 1.78:1, which wasn't too ruinous, though I'd still prefer the full image as seen in IMAX cinemas.”
Yes, it'd be nice to see the full thing, although I can understand why they go with 16:9. Seeing the opening of TDKR again, I don't think its lost anything by being cropped to 16:9 from 1.44:1.
On another IMAX thought, while I can't find Life of Pi as having any IMAX connection, I'm sure I saw something that said it'd be shown in IMAX unless I just presumed it, given how it'll rely on sumptuous visuals. Anyone know if it is?
Alas, even if it is, it'll get knocked off the screen with IMAX films Hobbit and Les Miserables being around during its cinema lifespan.