Genesis, Yay or Nay?
I haven't seen the new Superman, one of the first movies shot with the new Genesis digital camera system. But two filmmakers I know have, and are split on the Genesis' output.Joel thinks the images look great:
The image quality was so incredible that I'm starting to believe our next project may very well be shot on digital video if we can get access to cameras of that caliber (when Superman Returns was in pre-production, there was only one Genesis prototype in existence). It's exciting to see video which is so close to the look, feel, and quality of film.
Zak thinks the blacks are too crushed:
Whats with the absolute lack (meaning ZERO DETAIL =[ ) in the BLACKS? I hope to god it was an artistic decision, somehow I think it’s the jank dynamic range of the panavision genesis (which was the main reason I went to see the film tonight, because most of my film is going to be shot digitally on the RED camera, I wanted to see what a digital film was like, and maybe think about what if that’s what my film turns out looking like) I hope to god the redcam has better detail in the blacks. Even in fight club when you cant see any detail at all in their hair its better than this, this was really bad, it reminded me of when I compress something with sorenson video 3 and I cant see anything afterwards in the shadows, and I have to go back and brighten everything in the master copy before I compress it and upload it to the internet, only higher resolution. It was really depressing. After a while I didn’t notice it unless I thought about it, and I doubt anyone really cares or is affected by it in any serious way. Because its STUPIDMAN for christs sakes. But MY FILM is ALL ABOUT THE BLACKS so that’s why im so concerned by this issue with the panavision genesis. My film is entirely underexposed, my film LIVES in the blacks. And the genesis DOESN’T HAVE ANY BLACKS.
This difference of opinion could well not be the fault of the Genesis, of course, but of the projector in the theaters they saw it in.
I'll probably see Superman Returns sometime this week. Then, like John McLauglin, I will declare unequivocally whether Zak or Joel is correct.
UPDATE: My verdict is in.
posted by J. Ott @ 7/02/2006 11:41:00 AM
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8 Comments:
well, at the END what what i said there that you quoted, ended saying that it is most likely NOT the genesis, but some kind of artistic decision to crush the blacks in post by NEWTONTHOMASSIGEL or whatever.. that is, i PRAY that is the case... it PROBABLY is.. either way, the digi super blacks didnt do it for me, they probably liked the super surreal super black "high contrast" look for a movie like stupidman returns, but i didnt like it. i think they crushed them, the genesis proabbly has pretty sweet shadow detail. either way, the final product, orignated on the genesis, did NOT blow my hair back.. so stick that in your pipe and smoke it...
been searching the net for a while to find out more about the raw footage from the genesis, nobody seems to know (that i could find) even people that went to PANAVISION JUNKETS said all the footage they were screened was all color graded with the blacks crushed, why is this?? maybe the blacks are awful, maybe not, who knows. i hope its artistic choices, it would be sweet if it had good shadow detail. really sweet. but it dont matta because i will never get to use this camera EVER, and i hope red has better range than the genesis... we shall see though... we shall see.
you should really fix your quote from me to NOT OMIT my final few sentences where i wrap it up mentioning the fact that it is probably an artistic decision, otherwise i look kind of ignorant...
It is interesting that in the American Cinematographer magazine article about the film, the cinematographer actually commended the system on how much detail it left in the blacks. His only concern when filming was losing detail in the highlights, but since the latitude tests he performed showed only about a 1 stop range difference between 35mm and the Genesis, he lit everything basically as if it was film.
I saw it in one of the theaters projecting it on film, but there were screens in the same complex that were screening digital projections of it. It would be interesting to see it in both kinds of theaters to see the difference.
JOEL where is this theater with both versions at?
Union Square Regal, Manhattan. One of the theaters uses DLP (Texas Instruments) projectors. The TI website allows you to search for theaters which use digital projection: http://www.dlp.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1
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I've seen a demo of the Genesis camera's footage (in a theater) and seen/messed with the actual camera. The blacks were NOT crushed. In fact, the footage looked great. The only two reasons I can think of concerning Superman's black levels (I haven't seen the film to comment) are either it is an artistic choice or the projection wasn't very good. The camera itself appears solid.
Did you see "Click" or "Scary Movie 4"? They both were shot on the Genesis as well.
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