MovieChat Forums > Italiensk for begyndere (2002) Discussion > Transfer

Transfer

posted 21 years ago by sgtslut
7 replies | jump to latest

There is this trend that is rearing its head into DVD distibution where a movie shot on video will be transferred to the DVD/Home video market from the original digital video source instead of being telecined from a theatrical print....this is the case with the Italian for Beginners DVD....I have a problem with this for a couple of reasons....

....blown up to film, video has a radically different style and aesthetic than just mastering from th edigital source
....many of us who saw the film on the big screen will no longer be able to enjoy the same look at home
....with the Dogme films, one of the stipulations is that the final product must be mastered to 35mm....hence, the Italian for Beginners DVD is not even giving us the proper viewing experience....

I found a similar problem with the Buena Vista Social Club DVD...in that film, the great tracking shot just don't work as well in the digital transfer as they did in the film transfer.....what does everyone think?
You will suffer a fate worse than death...you will become a legend - Alphaville

[–] theymbg 21 years ago

sgt. you mean to tell me they released Italian this way too? DAMNIT!

this goes against everything dogme film is about...

[–] sgtslut 21 years ago

Ya theymbg....I just won this giveaway and they promised to give me a "collection" of Dogme DVD's....I was hoping for about four or so of the Dogme films.....well, when I picked up the prizes, apparently the definition for "collection" extends to just two items: Italian for Beginners and Breaking the Waves, and as we all know, Breaking the Waves is not even a Dogme film....but who am I to complain?...I GOT FREE DVDs!...but this is when I noticed the transfer discrepancy....it gives the film a completely different aesthetic, kinda like a Mexican soap opera look....

You will suffer a fate worse than death...you will become a legend - Alphaville

[–] theymbg 21 years ago

thats retarded...but you got breakin' tho! that film rules!

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] theymbg 21 years ago

misternuvistor,

your knowledge of digital video technology is impressive, however i can't help but feel that in your techno-analysis of the DV format you have missed a very important key to the point of this thread.

italian for beginners falls under a film movement that is commonly referred to as "dogme," and although the use of digital video is an important factor to the dogme movement, the form calls that the film be transferred to 35mm for exhibition and viewing in order to be considered a dogme film.

this particular dogme film was transferred to 35mm and screened as such in its theatrical release, yet the dvd release returns to the original digital video source, and inherantly denies the home viewer from a crucial aspect of dogmatic film, the feel of a 35mm transfer.

i can respect your desire for the "pure digital source" but in this case it is detrimental that the film be screened in a format that better resembles the 35mm transfer.

thanks for the info anyways...

"I've applied for early admission to Oxford and the Sorbonne. Harvard is my safety." - Max Fischer

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] Spleen 21 years ago

If it's a question of respecting Dogme rules, they don't deserve respect. We know the're silly and that it's bad enough that the film-makers adhere to them; why should we bend over backwards to do so or to make it easy for them to do so? Another rule is that the director not be credited, but thankfully the IMDb ignores this rule.

One reason is that the rule doesn't apply to them anyway: it only applies to the credits of the movie itself. Similarly, the rule that the film must be mastered in 35mm, one of the few Dogme rules that actually makes any kind of sense, only applies and only can apply to the theatrical release. If you're watching a DVD then you're not watching a 35mm master. The question (given that you're being unfaithful to the aesthetic of the film simply by making the DVD in the first place, which would be obvious enough were it a decent film to begin with) of whether to master from the original digital source or from a celluloid print should be settled entirely by which looks better. Don't pretend the answer depends hinges on a question of fidelity. If you're worried about that then sell your DVD player and spend the money on cinema tickets.

An added irony is that if the Dogme people were really committed to 35mm then they'd shoot in it (and they have no excuse, apart from their own comfort, not to, since they don't even have a rule against it!), and there wouldn't be a digital source in the first place. The must-master-in-35mm condition is just a way of gaining membership to the "real film" club, a way of convincing everyone that they're not just adding to the world's glut of cheap television programs, something they'd otherwise find difficult to do.