Before the Devil Knows You're Dead/Genesis

moe_snodgrass

moe_snodgrass

Well-known member
Great films. Great writing, acting, direction.

Looked pretty bad.

Shot in HD with Panavision's Genesis camera system.

Looks like video in a lot of scenes, with artifacts, aliasing, a little rainbow fringing, a shimmering effect on neck ties, fences, etc.

Worth seeing anyway but theres gotta be better HD cameras than Genesis.
 
Superman Returns was Genesis and looked great, so perhaps this is a DP issue?
 
They still haven't seem to figure out the motion smear inherent in DV even at the big boy level.

Surprisingly, Planet Terror is one of the few digitally shot films where you can't see a difference.
 
I was amazed when I found out that Superbad was shot completely with the Genesis. I'd seen it two times, and the thought didnt even come to mind. It looked completely like film. The Genesis is a camera that is designed for an output to film at some point so if the production suits the camera, the end product will come out great.
 
I just saw this film on Blu-Ray and I don't think it looked bad at all.

Some shots had real deep DOF and it felt very much intentional and fit the content well. I thought the color was great. Very accurate skin tones while still being nice and saturated.

Some shots were really blown out, but I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

Pretty good film, all in all. Some acting was great and some was terrible. Good direction. There was some nice subtle use of moving camera that would set up new compositions.

There were also a few sex scenes that seemed thrown in just for the sake of having nudity. I don't mind nudity or sex scenes in films but these just felt out of place.
 
Just watched this. I am a huge lumet fan and I think this film showed a lot of mastery. Very subtle and confident.

The biggest thing was that the film was so slowly paced throughout - something he's done a lot in the past, but what struck me was by the time we were approaching the end, I suddenly noticed my entire body was full of tension, which had built up so subtly over the course of the film, I didn't even see it coming.

Remarkable performances by Hoffman and Hawke. But the women were all dreadfully under-written.

I agree with Drew that Marisa Tomei's nudity seemed excessive. I mean there were points where it felt right because like when she rolled over you would see a breast and she didn't have the sheets clamped up to her chin like so many movies. But other times, the choices seemed off, and out of place.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
They still haven't seem to figure out the motion smear inherent in DV even at the big boy level.

Surprisingly, Planet Terror is one of the few digitally shot films where you can't see a difference.
Click to expand...

The only "motion smear" you might see with the Genesis is because you can shoot with a 360 degree shutter, basically a 1/24th shutter speed, which is impossible with a film camera which does 1/48. Some DP's can't resist using it because you get an extra stop, but you get that smeary video type look on fast action. An example is some of the running shots in Apocalypto.
 
Well it looks like video because it is video. The Genesis was the first of the big boys to go with a 35mm sensor. The F35 corrected many of the errors with the genesis and added to it. Since the Genesis is a CineAlta just without the cinealta title.

The Genesis is one of the best out there. I think the F35 will be amazing. Granted I haven't shot with the Genesis and I have yet to get down to the city to test out the F35. But I do love the F23.

Thing with cameras is, it can still look bad no matter what shot it. I've seen embarrassingly bad stuff done on the Aaton XTR Prod - which is a 100,000 dollar film camera. 16mm. I've seen terrible work on it. I've seen amazing stuff done with a Bolex. I've seen terrible footage from a RED. I've seen great stuff from a RED.

The Genesis isn't something you want to just play around with. You need a camera tech there. Panavision won't let one go without a tech. There are so many menus on these things you need someone who knows it in and out. 21 originated on the Genesis as well.

It's hit or miss.

But in regards to the film. I wasn't impressed with Before the Devil Knows Your Dead. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't good. It just was.
 
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