An Exceptional Movie Experience

[ladynox25]

...which, I just got back from. Having gone to the movies to see (what else?) The Return of the King (for the third time), I was rather shaken out of my WSOD by the fact that just before Frodo gets stabbed by Shelob, the movie jumped...to Frodo and Sam heading across Gorgoroth. A little while later, just as Sam and Gollum were battling it out on the slopes of Mt. Doom, it skipped again...and there was Eowyn handing Merry the reins as she hamstrung a mumak at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Then, just before Aragorn decided to march on the Black Gate, it skipped once more...and there was Sam looking for Frodo in the Tower of Cirith Ungol.

Having worked in a movie theater, I knew when the movie skipped the first time exactly what had happened. Theaters these days usually use a platter system, in which the film winds off of one platter, through the projector, and onto another platter. When the movie is over, the film is run through from the second platter back to the first and so on. The amount of film on any one platter, even for a two hour movie, is phenomenal. Therefore, movies don't get sent to the movie theater in one piece, but rather in several reels, which the theater then splices together, along with the preview trailers and any ads that they run. What happened in this case is simple; the movie was mis-spliced and no one caught it before it ran.

Needless to say, we got free tickets for another showing, but still...how many people out there can say they've seen any movie out of order, much less TROTK? Funny, even though it was mis-spliced, it still had enough oomph in it to keep me spellbound. Well done, Peter Jackson. Flaws TROTK may have, but it's still edge-of-your-seat-gripping the third time around--and even out of order! *grin*

Comments

[thette.livejournal.com]

Wow. Interesting.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

And if you watch Fight Club, you get to see how to recognise where the real changes are, too!

In case you don't want to go through that: Erryf ynfg nobhg gjragl zvahgrf (juvpu vf jul zbivrf unir n cersrerapr sbe orvat nobhg a gvzrf gjragl zvahgrf, ohg zbfg rfcrpvnyyl abg a gvzrf gjragl zvahgrf cyhf n yvggyr ovg), naq n pbhcyr bs frpbaqf orsber gur raq bs gur erry, gurer'f n oynpx pvephyne fcbg (ba 2.35:1 cnanfpbcr zbivrf, guvf jvyy or n fgergpurq bhg biny qhr gb gur nanzbecuvp cebwrpgvba yraf) jvgu na benatl-lryybj obeqre va gur gbc evtug pbeare juvpu jneaf gur cebwrpgvbavfg gb fjvgpu bire gb gur bgure cebwrpgbe juvpu nyernql unf gur arkg erry ybnqrq. Gura, ng gur erny raq bs gur erry, gurer'f nabgure fhpu fcbg juvpu phrf vg. Vs qbar jryy, erry punatrf jvyy or orgjrra fprarf, naq nyzbfg nyjnlf orgjrra fubgf, gb znxr vg eryngviryl frnzyrff (yvxr QIQ ynlre punatrf fubhyq or, ohg gung tbrf jebat zber bsgra).

Lbh pna nyfb fbzrgvzrf fcbg erry punatrf ol gur nzbhag bs fpengpurf naq fcbgf gur svyz unf. Gur raqf anghenyyl jrne zhpu zber guna gur erfg.

Rot-13ed just in case you don't want to see this, as I think the movie I mentioned is better when you didn't know that yet.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

Yes. I remember something being said about that when Attack of The Clones came out, and I did actually manage to catch one of those points when watching AOTC near the end. I mean, I could see one of those dots for a half second on screen, because it was on a very light background at that point.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

I notice them in every movie I go to, now. And I think I learned of them in a discussion in the froup. I could even tell you where some of them are in Fellowship, Towers and King---not that I saw them too many times in the theaters, not at all, precious.

If the movie carried you even that way, the editing must have been... either better or worse than I thought; I can't decide.

[thette.livejournal.com]

You have got to tell me what that has to do with the movie. I have seen it, and enjoyed the gjvfgrq raqvat, but I can't recall anything like that. Spoil away for me, though.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

how many people out there can say they've seen any movie out of order, much less TROTK?

I've seen 'Memento' in chronological order. After seeing it the normal way around, that was a very weird experience.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

Memento is kind of an odd case anyway, since it's supposed to be out of order.

[turnberryknkn.livejournal.com]

Cool! Learn something new every few minutes. :-)

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

What's really strange is that my local favourite theater, while not using tables (on room 2 and 3 where I usually am, anyway, dunno about 1), but the Huge Ass (4-5 feet or so) reels on a single projector, which fit at least 5 reels (I think), but not, I believe, an entire movie, which is probably why they still do intermissions. Anyway. Even on opening night, you sometimes see massive scarring around the reel change point, even though, at least in this theatre, those ends have never actually *been* real change points.

Do you know if it's possible to take, say, an American print and then somehow get subtitles under there in some way that does not involve just doing a whole new print?

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

That I don't know, since I'm not sure if subtitles are implemented on the studio level or the theater level. I'm thinking studio level and therefore is probably part of the printing process.

'Course, you get someone who knows what they're doing and they might be able to generate subtitles. I think that this is done for anime on a amateur basis, but that's videotapes (and possibly DVDs now, though I would suspect some copy protection issues there).

Wish I could help more.

[thette.livejournal.com]

Subtitles are done once in every release for each film (because of rights, it's cheaper that way; you should see some of the horrible translations out there), as subtitlers are paid, not much, mind, but still more than each theater could afford.

I tried to nudge KJ into the subtitling industry, but they seem to have all the people they need right now.