Star Wars In Digital
Dean
The Ace of Spades, in his generally negative review of the film, says, "I still find the digital video fairly low-res and blurry and I miss the crispness of actual film." I may be wrong, but my guess is that he saw the film in its 70mm-transfer version, and that if he saw it in an actual DLP theater this particular complaint would vanish. (His other complaints would still stand of course.)
I haven't seen the film yet. I don't really need to to comment on it; like being born Catholic, the whole Star Wars phenomenon is sort of steeped in my character. All my friends have seen it and told me all about it, why they loved it or hated it, given me the plot summary, etc. "Spoilers" do not bother me, and I expect no surprises. I expect to enjoy the movie even while already expecting its many flaws.
One of the reasons I held out on going right away is that I wanted to be sure to catch it in a Digital Light Processing (DLP) theater. These theaters--and there are only about 250 of them nationwide the last I looked--download the movie via satellite to a local file server, then project it digitally straight onto the screen. And since these last three Star Wars films have been shot entirely in digital, you lose absolutely nothing in the transition.
You might wonder how much difference DLP can make. I certainly did; 70mm film is wonderful stuff. Still, I recall that when Episode II came out, I first saw it on 70mm. Then I read complaints (complaints I shared) that the film seemed muddy and dark in parts. I read some reviews which mentioned that this was because of the transfer from digital to 70mm, and that if you saw it in a digital theater it was almost like watching a different movie. So, even though I didn't love the second film, I went out of my way to find a digital theater and see it a second time there.
The critics were right: it was a different movie in digital.
While there are some detractors to the technology, I have to say that Star Wars Episode II in a DLP cinema was easily one of the most visually beautiful things I have ever seen on a movie screen. So crisp it was almost three dimensional, and so different in how it worked that it seemed almost as startling as the transition from black & white to color film. I suspect that cinematographers in coming years will have to reinvent the way they do things as this technology becomes more common, much as the move from black & white to color did. (For old-time computer geeks: remember how startling the transition from EGA to Super-VGA was? Yeah, it's about like that. No kidding.)
Anyway, now that the shows aren't all sold out solid, I finally got our tickets (online of course--how space age!) and I'm going to be taking my son to see Episode III this afternoon. It'll be something of a rite of passage, at least for me if not him, since one of my most vivid memories of childhood will be when my Uncle Eddie took me to see the first film, when I was all of 11 years old.
There's no way it'll have the impact on my son that that first film had on me: the world has changed too much, and special effects wonders are now an everyday experience (thanks in no small part to George Lucas himself). But I know he'll like it--he already digs Star wars--and it'll probably make me a little misty-eyed to share this experience with him.
Afterward, I'll probably want to watch the Star Wars: Revelations fan film that's available online. Paul Burgess says it's very good, quite professional quality.
I'll probably also finally sit down and watch the Clone Wars cartoons. Those who've seen them tell me they're exceptionally good, and dramatically even better than the movies. I guess I'll decide for myself.
Memorial Day weekend will be starting with a bang in the Esmay household. :-)
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Jay is right, watching Revelations feels very much like watching one of the old originals.