Old Vs New Films

sfoster

sfoster

Staff Member
Moderator
I watch a lot of old films.. probably with my writer hat on.
Recently I was watching a newer film called Takers by John Leussenhop.

Terribly boring film, but that camera never stopped moving!
I also really loved the camerawork in Contact which I watched the directors commentary on this week as well...

After this week looking at all the fancy camerawork, I feel spoiled and I don't want to go back to my old movies. It's a lot more to study and pay attention to with modern camerawork
 
sfoster said:
Terribly boring film, but that camera never stopped moving!
(...) After this week looking at all the fancy camerawork, I feel spoiled and I don't want to go back to my old movies.
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Fancy camerawork can compensate for a shoddy screenplay? :huh:

.
 
Zensteve said:
Fancy camerawork can compensate for a shoddy screenplay? :huh:

.
Click to expand...

Certainly not, but it gives my technical half something to pay attention to.
It's like that time I went back and tried to replay the video game final fantasy 7... i loved the story at the time, but the graphics are so old it ruined it for me.

Never had that problem with old movies until recently, maybe it will pass and I'm just in a shakey-cam phase
 
sfoster said:
video game (...) i loved the story at the time, but the graphics are so old it ruined it for me.
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Man, you're just killing my retro-gaming alter-ego. Pacman fever forever!
smiley_grandpa.gif


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-MONIvP6kI
 
sfoster said:
I also really loved the camerawork in Contact which I watched the directors commentary on this week as well...
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One of my favorite films and film teams - Robert Zemeckis (director), Don Burgess (Cinematography), Randy Thom (Sound Design, Supervising Sound Editor, Rerecording Mixer), Alan Silvestri (Score). That same team also did "Flight," "Monster House," "Castaway" and "Forrest Gump." Minus Don Burgess they did "Polar Express."
 
Zensteve said:
Man, you're just killing my retro-gaming alter-ego. Pacman fever forever!
smiley_grandpa.gif


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-MONIvP6kI
Click to expand...

haha some games don't age!! the 2-d ones are lot better as oldies than the games that tried to be 3D too soon. I can get down with some pac man.

Alcove Audio said:
One of my favorite films and film teams - Robert Zemeckis (director), Don Burgess (Cinematography), Randy Thom (Sound Design, Supervising Sound Editor, Rerecording Mixer), Alan Silvestri (Score). That same team also did "Flight," "Monster House," "Castaway" and "Forrest Gump." Minus Don Burgess they did "Polar Express."
Click to expand...

I haven't seen flight yet but it's one I'll have to check out.

Alcove how do you feel about sound on those older films? Does it make it boring to you because they are stereo instead of 6 channel ?
 
Nope, they're not boring because the stories and acting are great. BTW, up until the 60's films were almost exclusively mono. Stereo became more accepted in the 60's, although a few stereo films came out in the 50's. The first commercially released true surround film was "Apocalypse Now;" it was 5.0 - no LFE channel. 5.1 surround came out in '87.

It's surprising how much films are still "mono" to this day. Almost all of the dialog and most of the Foley is in the center speaker. The left/right and rear surrounds are reserved for the score and sound effects.





Just for fun... About 10 years ago I was privileged to hear a prototype 9.1 surround system - there are four speakers up high matching the left/right front and left/right rear speakers so sounds go up and down as well as front to back. It was rather startling - and very cool.
 
FF7 still rocks (though not my favorite). The graphics are definitely dated (and the writing, for that matter), but not as bad as some (try playing Brave Fencer Musashi from around the same time. That was awesome once!) Admitedly, I'm less hung up on graphics than most gamers, though current games are definitely impressive.

Anyway, films don't have to be modern for me to enjoy them. I grew up watching old movies, so I gained an appreciation for what was done at the time, in each era. I can appreciate fancy modern camerawork just as well as a well-framed shot in a classic film. I like a good modern film score as much as a good classic film score.

All that said: disliking old stuff is not uncommon. Most teenagers, for example, don't really like to watch old movies, so they'll love all those remakes that keep coming out (I like to think that as they grow older, they'll maybe appreciate the originals as well).
 
Alcove Audio said:
Nope, they're not boring because the stories and acting are great. BTW, up until the 60's films were almost exclusively mono. Stereo became more accepted in the 60's, although a few stereo films came out in the 50's. The first commercially released true surround film was "Apocalypse Now;" it was 5.0 - no LFE channel. 5.1 surround came out in '87.

It's surprising how much films are still "mono" to this day. Almost all of the dialog and most of the Foley is in the center speaker. The left/right and rear surrounds are reserved for the score and sound effects.





Just for fun... About 10 years ago I was privileged to hear a prototype 9.1 surround system - there are four speakers up high matching the left/right front and left/right rear speakers so sounds go up and down as well as front to back. It was rather startling - and very cool.
Click to expand...

That was all really interesting to read, thanks!

JoshL said:
FF7 still rocks (though not my favorite). The graphics are definitely dated (and the writing, for that matter), but not as bad as some (try playing Brave Fencer Musashi from around the same time. That was awesome once!) Admitedly, I'm less hung up on graphics than most gamers, though current games are definitely impressive.
Click to expand...

They need to re-release FF7!! They would make so much money.
Probably not enough to recoupe from the spirits within though :lol:
 
I'm mixed on this subject. There's some films I love whose directing is horrible but tells a story well and then there's films that are directed to skillfully whose script sucks so bad, I'd be embarrassed to tell its title.

If you have just the right combination, no matter how bad one certain physical part of the filmmaking process could be, it could still be a masterpiece.
 
sfoster said:
It's like that time I went back and tried to replay the video game final fantasy 7... i loved the story at the time, but the graphics are so old it ruined it for me.
Click to expand...

Playing video-games for the graphics is kinda like watching Porn for the story...

Or going to a 5-star restaurant because the chairs are comfy.

Or watching football because the Ref is really good at his job.


And so on and so on
 
mussonman said:
Or going to a 5-star restaurant because the chairs are comfy.
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I think a more apt analogy would be going to a 5-star restaurant and the table is wobbly. Sure the food might be great, but I'm going to be ocd and hate the stupid wobbly table.

anyway.. i am not a teenager or a snob to older films. I've seen every charlie chaplin film.. dozens of silents, hundreds of b&w, every audrey hepburn film.. a ton of barbara stanwyck but good god she has a lot of movies :D
 
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