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So let’s talk about “projection masking” and VFX in the film era.
At the theater, the projectionist is supposed to place a hard mask in front of the lens to crop the image of garbage, and enforce an aspect ratio.
At BOSS film 1996, we worked full-app, edge to edge. (P1) https://twitter.com/tvaziri/status/1333321247430635520
At the theater, the projectionist is supposed to place a hard mask in front of the lens to crop the image of garbage, and enforce an aspect ratio.
At BOSS film 1996, we worked full-app, edge to edge. (P1) https://twitter.com/tvaziri/status/1333321247430635520
(P2) But because of projection masking, ILM would only do VFX work to the mask edge measurements (and likely a buffer).
During projection, sometimes the operator forgot the mask and you would see VFX shot aspect ratio “pop” next to regular shots.
During projection, sometimes the operator forgot the mask and you would see VFX shot aspect ratio “pop” next to regular shots.
(P3) since all color timing was photochemical at the time, the image aspect ratio was not modified at that step.
I saw Men in Black and the Fifth Element at a drive-in that forgot the projection mask. You could identify all VFX shots as it flipped.
I saw Men in Black and the Fifth Element at a drive-in that forgot the projection mask. You could identify all VFX shots as it flipped.
(P4) MIB as projected without the hard mask had a lot of aspect ratio changes, but I do not recall that as an issue for The Fifth Element. That makes me assume Digital Domain also worked their VFX full-app, like BOSS.
(P5) With the SOP at BOSS film being full-app despite the projection mask, we were working on images 2048x1556 pixels. When I did work for the Phantom Menace DVD menus - ILM was at a resolution ( from memory) of 1756x1100 (will seek more accurate number)
(P6) The smaller frame size easily gave ILM half of the machine calculation time that BOSS was cranking out.
But consider that many academy award winning films, being restored to 4K from that period, are actually at a much lower resolution initially.
But consider that many academy award winning films, being restored to 4K from that period, are actually at a much lower resolution initially.
(P7) And because the projection mask was now gone, as George Lucas introduced the world to digital projection, ILM had to INCREASE their work to 1920x1080 resolution.
(I was working 4K IMAX edge-to-edge, and even harder to calculate at that time).
(I was working 4K IMAX edge-to-edge, and even harder to calculate at that time).
