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Rodriguez uses Linux to Edge out ILM
An anonymous reader writes "A Linux device helped legendary independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Desperado, Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and others) win the race with ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) to create the first movie ever to use a digital format supporting full-bandwidth RGB. Rodriguez's Sin City, which opens April 1, was shot in Dual Link, or "4:4:4" format, and transferred between tapes and hard drives using SpectSoft's Linux-based RaveHD DDR (digital disk recorder)."
"It's really the same as 1:1:1," explains Howard. "It just means 'take RGB, break it up, send part of it down one wire, and part down the other wire.'"
The compromises in traditional Y'CbCr formats were designed to minimize perceptual loss, keying on the human eye's varying sensitivity to luminescence at various color frequencies. We are most sensitive to brightness in green light, less so in reds, and least with blue. This explains why studios often shoot against a "greenscreen" -- Y'CbCr has most information about green, so it's the easiest color for a software program to identify and replace.
An effective signature identifies a particular user amongst a base of thousands.
I've had unreasonably high hopes for "Sin City" ever since I watched that fabulous trailer. But it's not like graphic novels-turned-movies have impeccable track records on the big screen, so imagine my concern going into this.
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For lack of a more eloquent explanation, "Sin City" freaking rules.
Remember the first time you saw "Pulp Fiction"? You were unnerved and at times downright repelled, but you admitted that it was the freshest, most original thing to be put into a theater since... ever, and you couldn't wait to talk about how amazing it was with everyone you knew? "Sin City" is kind of like that.
http://sarahlane.typepad.com/sarahword/2005/03/ce
1. Is "Sin City" a family movie?
- Heavens no. It's incredibly graphic and gruesome. I know YOU'RE into that, but don't bring the kids.
6. Does the all-star cast detract from the story at all?
- Refreshingly, no. No one character is the main star, it's more like a bunch of supporting roles. Great supporting roles. These actors are stoked.
8. Are we talking CG animation or live action?
- Almost all the live action was done with green screens and props, then the magic was painted in later. It's amazing.
10. I was pleased to see lots of hot chicks in the trailer. Can I expect more of that?
- You sure can, my friend! But they'll also chop your head off. Literally.
have you read the article?
"But what about "4:4:4 Y'CbCr"?!
Y'CbCr, also known as YUV, is the color space used by film editing equipment. Y represents luminance, while Cb and Cr are color difference signals.
Consumer DV (digital video) cameras typically use a 4:1:1 Y'CbCr format, in which luminance is sampled for each pixel, while Cb and Cr are sampled at every fourth pixel. SD (standard definition) cameras use a 4:2:2 format. HD cameras can use 4:2:2, or a 4:2:0 format based on "spatial" samples of 2x2-pixel squares. Dual Link, however, uses a 4:4:4 technique."
Deliriant isti Americani.
Also true considering he is co-directing it as well.
Incidentally, another distinction earned by Rodriguez during the making of Sin City, is that he joined George Lucas and others who have been kicked out of the Director's Guild. Rodriguez's offense, Howard says, was working with a co-director -- Sin City comic book creator Frank Miller -- who doesn't belong to the Guild.
I know it's slightly offtopic, but Robert Rodriguez wasn't kicked out of the DGA. He quit because they wouldn't allow him to credit Frank Miller as a co-director.
Kudos to him, I say.
Quentin Tarantino is listed as "special guest director" whatever that means.
If the guy who wrote the comic books also wrote the screenplay AND is co-directing, then anyone whining about canon should be put to sleep.
-mkb
Although Rodriguez is technically the director, he quit the Directors Guild so that 'Sin City' creator Frank Miller could be credited as director (The Directors Guild only allows for 1 director per movie).
.... This months Wired has a good article on the subject.
As a result of leaving the Guild (or being forced out) Rodriguez lost his contract with Paramount to direct the big budget John Carter of Mars (Princess of Mars). Thats got ot hurt.
Lucas had a dispute with the Guild back in the day and dropped out as well
If you are worried about this movie being good, check out the reviews collected at Rotten Tomatoes; all 9 have been positive so far (for a 100% rating).
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
Here's what IMDB says about Tarantino and Sin City:
"Robert Rodriguez scored Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) for $1. Quentin Tarantino said he would repay him by directing a segment of this movie for $1. Tarantino, a vocal proponent of film-over-digital, has said that he was curious to get hands-on experience with the HD cameras which Rodriguez lauds. When asked about his experience, Tarantino merely replied, "Mission Accomplished.""
It doesn't mean you get better color, but it does mean you get a better movie. The guys who digitally drop the characters into the backgrounds have more freedom to create what they want, since they can more easily make distinctions between foreground and background based on color.
Which means that they spend less time chroma-keying (picking out the background colors) and more time making movies. As with any big project, the finished product is filled with flaws that only the actual creator can put his finger on, but the overall sense of polish makes a big difference to the feeling you get when you watch the movie.
You get the same effect writing software: all those little hacks you had to do to get it out the door aren't immediately visible to the user, but they'll piss you off every time you look at them.
The changes aren't even necessarily subtle: they may have to substantially alter a shot if they can't get the background to drop out properly. You wouldn't notice without being in the editing booth, but you'll probably like the movie that much more for getting more of the director's vision onto the screen.
I'm a director [for the stage] myself, and though it's very different from film, we're constantly asking "how much can I get away with?" rather than "what can I create?" You tell yourself that the audience won't notice that you couldn't find the right prop, or that you didn't have time to get rid of the dim spot in the lights, but it pisses you the hell off and looks unprofessional even if the audience couldn't elucidate the difference.
It would be interesting to have a director go into detail on a commentary track to say, "Well, we would have done X, Y, and Z, but we couldn't because the technology was too limited." The closest you get is the re-released Star Wars movies. Well, maybe it's not such a good idea after all.
See: chroma subsampling. It's even got diagrams. Though it could use a bit of cleanup.
Wikipedia to the rescue again!
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
JPG uses the YCrCb color space as well, by default at 4:2:2, which is also the resolution you get out of a bayer pattern in a digicam.
(or was it 4:2:0 you get out of a camera?)
...The Orphanage who are a...dare I say it...Windows house.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
We went w/ JFS as we found it to be fairly transparent from the raw disk I/O. Previously, we were using XFS - but JFS beat it out w/ these datarates.
Jason
(The Directors Guild only allows for 1 director per movie).
Are you sure about that? So what do they do in movies that are anthologies, say like the Twilight Zone movie or the upcoming Eros? There are also many movies that have two directors, like He Said, She Said or movies by the Farrelly brothers? No I think it's because the DGA may demand that directors be members of a Guild but I couldbe wrong.