F65: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

4K trailer :

But it wasn’t easy: Cinematographer John Toll shot with two massive and cumbersome Sony F65 4K cameras at 120 fps in native 3D, allowing a great deal of flexibility to create multiple formats from the same source material; it was like going to film school again for the production design and lighting teams and they built a special screening room to show dailies. All the old rules were thrown out with such hyper-real clarity.

Despite the nagging video stigma, this might turn out to be the dawning of an exciting new “Hypercinema,” according to pioneer Doug Trumbull (“2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Blade Runner”). Indeed, we’ve come full circle to Trumbull’s revolutionary Showscan large format process (60 fps 70mm) from the mid-’80s, which had the clarity of peering through a window.
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http://www.indiewire.com/2016/04/ho...l-high-frame-rate-could-change-cinema-289590/
 
I haven't seen it yet, nor will I probably be able to see it in a format that will do it justice. It'll most likely be single projector, 2k, 30fps per eye.

The trailers have been heavy on the stadium shots, which are the shots where we have that unflattering stadium lighting. But the shots with his sister and the more intimate scenes seem very appealing to me. Of course, only based on YouTube trailers.

But what I do like is that Ang Lee did not utilize make up on actors. Only actors that wore make up were characters that would be wearing make up in real life. Cheerleaders, and such. This is a very interesting decision. Ang Lee says he wants this to be an immersive experience, as opposed to a dream-like memory of a story. So while that may not look as cinematic, it is not always about creating pretty pictures. He is creating a platform for the story that feels immersive, immediate and intimate...proximity comes to mind. I believe clarity is also an approach to aid in these conceptual framework.

From what I hear, people say it's not the most softly lit, motion blur pretty cinematic piece, but you get sucked into the story in a way that is very engaging. And remember, as cinematographers, sometimes we have to sacrifice traditional notions of beauty in order to let the story be told that way it wants to.
 
Superlatives seem entirely inadequate in light of what I saw—it was astounding. At 120 fps, all movement—including moving objects and camera pans—was crystal clear with absolutely no visible strobing or motion blur. Of course, some will complain that it isn’t “film-like,” and a few people reported that it looked like video, but those same people were so impressed that it didn’t matter to them, and they soon forgot about it. Instead, they were blown away by images never before seen in a commercial-cinema presentation—and so was I.
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http://www.avsforum.com/billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-demo-at-nab-2016/
 
MikalZ said:
The avsforum guy must have been over the moon when motion smoothing on TVs was introduced too?

Here's the non-technical-critic counterpoint: http://www.showbiz411.com/2016/10/1...s-a-50-mil-mistake-in-4d-which-is-2d-too-many
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Ha! That's funny.

Well, I'm curious to see it, even though I have hated 3-D shows in the past. If Ang Lee has failed on this attempt, at least he dared to try. Failure is the mark of a true artist. If you are not failing from time to time, then you are not pushing yourself. And if indeed this is a failure, he had the guts to do it publicly, in grand fashion. I applaud him. How many of us would risk a career like his, in order to push ourselves as artists and crafts people?
 
The movie will do well based on the trailer alone and the 4D will be 2D for most.

And an F65 owner will have something more to brag about.
 
abreu-canedo said:
Ha! That's funny.

Well, I'm curious to see it, even though I have hated 3-D shows in the past. If Ang Lee has failed on this attempt, at least he dared to try. Failure is the mark of a true artist. If you are not failing from time to time, then you are not pushing yourself. And if indeed this is a failure, he had the guts to do it publicly, in grand fashion. I applaud him. How many of us would risk a career like his, in order to push ourselves as artists and crafts people?
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Fair enough, Rafael. You consistently make even tempered cases on here. I'll try and keep an open mind.
That said....I have a camera that shoots 120fps and I don't care for playback at that speed one bit. It looks like porn.
 
The critic could be corrected and educated on that minor and in his world, almost a completely irrelevant point-- it's also a perfect example of someone so confounded with new tech he simply wanted to see the story unfold in good ol' 2D. Perhaps a case of giving people what they didn't ask for. I can applaud the ambition all day long but we should listen and remain neutral to all reactions of new display tech and adapt instead of shoving it down closed throats.
 
abreu-canedo said:
But what I do like is that Ang Lee did not utilize make up on actors. Only actors that wore make up were characters that would be wearing make up in real life. Cheerleaders, and such.
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For a simple reason : when you shoot @ 120fps 3D 4K and you reach that "Hyper Realism (tm)" you can also see what a movie really is : "Hyper Fake (tm)". And that's the main problem of that format : absolutely gorgeous for live events (concerts, sports, stage plays) but terrible for movies...It doesn't make movies more realistic, it just makes them more fake.
 
Jaspion said:
For a simple reason : when you shoot @ 120fps 3D 4K and you reach that "Hyper Realism (tm)" you can also see what a movie really is : "Hyper Fake (tm)". And that's the main problem of that format : absolutely gorgeous for live events (concerts, sports, stage plays) but terrible for movies...It doesn't make movies more realistic, it just makes them more fake.
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Yeah, I get why. Just saying that I appreciated that decision.

In any case, yours is a fair statement. Like I said, I haven't seen it. I have only heard him talk about his intentions and concepts behind the project. And like I also said, if it is a failure, then so be it. I'm a person who can appreciate that sort of attempt. It takes guts to experiment and be th first.

I also try to keep history in mind, as it relates to "firsts". The first cubist paintings were shunned. Same thing with expressionism, abstract expressionism, etc. Is this Ang Lee's Rite of Spring? I don't know. Only time will tell.
All I'm saying, as a personal opinion, is that I'm excited to see it. But certainly not trying to force it down anyone's throat or anything.

My excitement is not because I'm an Ang Lee fanboy...because I'm not in love with every movie he's made. Nor is it because I want to brag about owning an F65. Not sure why I'm even addressing that. But instead, I'm curious about the story, and some parts of the trailer speak to me.

Has as anyone seen it yet? If so, did you like it? Why or why not? Curious, but please no spoilers ;)
 
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