Star Wars Episode III's documentary "Video Village" on shooting experience in HD:
 

beware of Episode III spoilers. If you do not want to be spoiled at all don't watch it... but for those of us who don't care but luv technology, this is AWESOME!

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/me3/6.html

You know what I found interesting... the plasma screens were showing a 16:9 image with a white crop rectangle inside them. This implied that they acheive the 2.35:1 aspect ratio through cropping 16:9. Do you think that's possible? I thought they used anamorphic lenses on the cameras so as not to waste any resolution. Or was the video they were watching coming from some secondary camera, like a viewfinder, instead of the actual high resolution image?

I was thinking 2.35:1 as well, Boyd -- this is a pretty cool behind-the-scenes look at the "new" video village! Thanks!

Are there anamorphic lenses for the CineAlta?

The previous STAR WARS movie was cropped from 16:9.

It was funny watching that after having steadily absorbed American Cinematographer for the past year.. after hearing the strong cases for film dailies and working with the actors, Lucas & co.'s comments were quite jarring. But I have to admit, those plasma screens looked mighty fine!

Lucas is in his own world. Not many productions could afford to do what he does.

Though they make a case about the plasma monitors and belittle the videotaps on film cameras (small and b&w), they don't have to be small or b&w and can also be fed into plasmas if your willing to pay the price.

But the ASC case for film dailies still holds because you can't judge focus, color rendition, etc. adequately using video monitors.

what i found the most funny about the docu was the implication that lucas was actually PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO THE ACTING?!?!?!!? HAHHAHAHAH! that after all these years the film dailies were to be blamed for the bad acting cause he couldn't see them clearly in the small displays. and now he's got a big plasma TV he can actually SEE the damn performance. HAHAHAHAH!!! that's sooo funny. so now he's directing more!!! i luv the bit where Rob Cohen is there, whoa man this is so kewl! hahhaha =^). i bet he has all sorts of directors there 'apprenticing' for digital-hood. of course he is the one that benefits most from the extra profts those guys will pay back into his ILM, skywalker sound, etc.


regarding the 2.35, that's what i was thinking i could do with the XL2's higher resolution. crop 16:9 even further (2 bad there ain't guides) to 2.35.

The new STAR WARS films are such a dissapointment. I was 7 when I saw the first one can barely watch them now. Just not good at all. No Han! :)

Ill see the third one for closure but dont own any of them on DVD. Although I will be owning the originals in SEPT.

Sigh. George has lost the edge.

Without Lucas Films movies wouldn’t look/sound/feel the way they do today. (THX, ILM, NLE's, Standardized Sound, digital mastering, etc, etc, etc.) I am no fan of the 2 most recent star wars movies but to downplay the important role of cutting edge digital technology in regards to the future of motion picture as "just an excuse to get more money" is just plain silly. Last time I checked, in America, people who provided a service usually got paid for it.

Perhaps he should give it all away for free? Then advancing digital technology would be wholesome, no doubt.

having said that... all lucas's circle of companies (except lucasarts cause of jedi knights series) are kind of a bit hokey. skywalker sound+ILM are bloated companies charging an arm+leg for things that other companies are competing against them for at a fraction of a cost. i suppose you can argue experience and expertise but with someone like weta-digital and his team of talents... that argument is kind of moot. though we credit them for being the first they are certainly not the 'best' these days.

as for THX and its certifications (60% of it has been sold to creative) it has become moot in these days and age where a great a many NON-THX components far surpass that of THX select, ultra, ultra2 without having to pay license fees. again... being the first doesn't mean the best nowadays.

so all and all while we can give him a lot of credit, heck, i suspect we wouldn't be here on this board with our new-fangled low-cost mini-DV toys without lucas's indirect innovation, being first no longer means they are th best anymore =).