2001 format

David Lesher said:
In January we [ssh] discussed if 2001 had been seen in Cinerama.

As a followup, I just saw it here in DC outdoors on the Mall. It
was the first time in a LONG time that I saw a cut with both the
dark opening music and the intermission.

The 2nd thing on the screen after the opening music [dark] was the
...CINERAMA... logo.

Now, we know it was not shot in Cinerama, but this might explains some
of the confusion.

Oh dear, your are correct, but this is going to generate a
discussion...

In 2001, I saw 2001 as it was meant to be seen. (70mm print, 6-channel
sound, big screen.) When I mentioned this on ssh, no less than Mary
told me I was wrong.

(For the ramt folks: Mary Shafer was, before she retired, an aerospace
engineer. She and her husband (also an aerospace engineer) literally
wrote the book on the aerodynamics of flying the Space Shuttle to a
successful landing.)

(For the ssh folks, Mary claimed to have seen 2001 in Cinerama. She
didn't. She couldn't, since the negative was Super Panavison, not
Cinerama. Cinerama was a "virtual reality" system long before that
phrase was invented. The 2001 negative was 65mm wide, and shot with
spherical lenses incapable of creating the "you are there" sensation of
(true) Cinerama.)
--
Kevin Willoughby oSpam

Imagine that, a FROG ON-OFF switch, hardly the work
for test pilots. -- Mike Collins

In January we [ssh] discussed if 2001 had been seen in Cinerama.

Now, we know it was not shot in Cinerama, but this might explains some
of the confusion.


I have a picture of Kubrick on the set of 2001 and he is squatting in
front of a huge camera. It has a 65 or 70 mm very wide film magazine
on top and written on the side at the top is "Super" and below that is
something embossed on the film magazine that I can't quite make out
and below it across the bottom is the word "Cinerama."

Variety reviewed it in its second run when it was released as a flat
screen 35 mm release. Here's what they said:

Variety
January 15, 1969
2001: In 35mm version
Even it enemies concede the not since the travelogs which
introduced the process 15 years ago has there been a pic which so
utilized the advantages of Cinerama projection as does Stanley
Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." But the M-G-M pic's fans
-- who tend to be youthful, fervent and legion -- have over-
reacted to the current episode in its playoff history, which sees
the scifi epic moving into grind engagements in 35mm Panavision.
One thinks here especially of the Gotham radio commentator
who practically held a wake last month during the pic's final
day at the Cinerama Theater.

2001 premiered at the Loew's Capitol theater on April 3, 1968.
There were only two curved-screen Cinerama theaters in
New York City then. The Loew's Capitol was torn down
in September 1968 and 2001 moved to Brant's Selwyn where
it ran until it was displaced by "Ice Station Zebra" as mentioned
above in Variety.

2001 was not shot in the three camera Cinerama but a newer
version which Kubrick helped develop that distorted the film
image progressively more the further away from the center
of the film you got. When it was projected onto a curved
Cinerama screen with one projector at the center the edges
of the image were stretched out again as the image was being
projected more obliquely. It was filmed in Cinerama, but it
was filmed in a single camera version of Cinerama. The film
was meant to be projected onto a curved Cinerama screen.

More from the Variety review:
2001 does prove somewhat different in 35mm form -- but,
surprisingly, not necessarily worse. For what the 'flatter"
screen reveals is a whole new film ...

and
... robbed of the Cinerama proportion for which they were
designed, the special effects do look more "fake." ...

and
Cinerama emphasized the pic's mind-bending complexity,
35mm its fable-like simplicity. 2001 is a big enough film to
accommodate both.


RT

2001 was not shot in the three camera Cinerama but a newer
version which Kubrick helped develop that distorted the film
image progressively more the further away from the center
of the film you got.

No, it was shot with conventional spherical lenses in 5-perf 65mm (Todd-AO /
Super Panavision). You might be confused with the D-150 format, which
developed a super wide-angle camera lens for moderately curved screen
projection with minimal distortion (or at least, with less distortion than
previous super wide-angle lenses made for Todd-AO). Kubrick did not develop
or help develop any new version of the Cinerama process. The movie was shot
with a wide variety of lenses, some very wide-angle, some normal, some
telephoto. If it had been shot with any special camera lenses distorted for
curved screen projection, then this distortion would appear on the 35mm
reduction prints and the letterboxed TV transfers.

When it was projected onto a curved
Cinerama screen with one projector at the center the edges
of the image were stretched out again as the image was being
projected more obliquely.

You're talking about a "rectified" 70mm print. It's not clear that any were
made for "2001". Since being 2.20 : 1 in spherical 70mm, it was not as
widescreen as true 3-camera Cinerama (2.66 : 1 or so) nor anamorphic Ultra
Panavision (2.70 : 1 or so), it did not have to extend to the farthest edges
of the Cinerama curved screen, so I'm not sure that a rectified print was
even necessary. Anyway, as far as I know, no rectified 70mm prints of this
film have shown up over the years. I've seen some original 70mm prints of
"2001" (USC owned one) and they are not rectified in any way for curved
screen projection. If they were, they would look oddly distorted in flat
screen projection.

David Mullen

In article et, "David
Mullen" wrote:


I have some rectified 70mm frames of MAD MAD WORLD




You're talking about a "rectified" 70mm print. It's not clear that any were
made for "2001". Since being 2.20 : 1 in spherical 70mm, it was not as
widescreen as true 3-camera Cinerama (2.66 : 1 or so) nor anamorphic Ultra
Panavision (2.70 : 1 or so), it did not have to extend to the farthest edges
of the Cinerama curved screen, so I'm not sure that a rectified print was
even necessary. Anyway, as far as I know, no rectified 70mm prints of this
film have shown up over the years. I've seen some original 70mm prints of
"2001" (USC owned one) and they are not rectified in any way for curved
screen projection. If they were, they would look oddly distorted in flat
screen projection.

David Mullen

"Rocky Top" wrote in message
2001 premiered at the Loew's Capitol theater on April 3, 1968.
There were only two curved-screen Cinerama theaters in
New York City then. The Loew's Capitol was torn down
in September 1968 and 2001 moved to Brant's Selwyn where
it ran until it was displaced by "Ice Station Zebra" as mentioned
above in Variety.


That's incorrect. You'll find in several Kubrick, Clarke, and 2001
sources that the world premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey was at the
Uptown Theater in Washington, DC. I believe it was on April 1, and all
the major players were in attendance. The Uptown theater is still very
much in existence, and opened Seabiscuit some weeks ago.

If this doesn't show up in your sources, may I ask what sources they
are?

--
Jeff Cook

http://www.cookstudios.com

"Martin Hart" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

I have a picture of Kubrick on the set of 2001 and he is squatting in
front of a huge camera. It has a 65 or 70 mm very wide film magazine
on top and written on the side at the top is "Super" and below that is
something embossed on the film magazine that I can't quite make out
and below it across the bottom is the word "Cinerama."

The camera is a Panavision 65mm silenced studio camera. There are two
removable plaques. The upper one, in this case said "Super" and could be
replaced with another plaque saying "Ultra". The lower plaque was red
plastic with while letters engraved in it saying "for CINERAMA" Between
the two plaques are the very large letters spelling out "Panavision" in
red with a white drop shadow.

This is a picture of the same camera with "Super" replaced by "Ultra":
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/wide...sioncamera.jpg


That is the one! The picture I have is identical except that the top
plaque says "Super." The middle part does indeed say "Panavision"
now that look at it again.

~RT

"Jeff Cook" wrote in message
...
"Rocky Top" wrote in message
2001 premiered at the Loew's Capitol theater on April 3, 1968.
There were only two curved-screen Cinerama theaters in
New York City then. The Loew's Capitol was torn down
in September 1968 and 2001 moved to Brant's Selwyn where
it ran until it was displaced by "Ice Station Zebra" as mentioned
above in Variety.


That's incorrect. You'll find in several Kubrick, Clarke, and 2001
sources that the world premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey was at the
Uptown Theater in Washington, DC. I believe it was on April 1, and all
the major players were in attendance. The Uptown theater is still very
much in existence, and opened Seabiscuit some weeks ago.

If this doesn't show up in your sources, may I ask what sources they
are?

I said nothing about a "world" premiere. It's New York premiere was
indeed at Loew's. The world premiere was on April 2nd in
Washington. But it was not the film we know. The shortened
version we know was first shown in New York.

Here's the timetable for it's opening:

LIFE Magazine screening: March 29th, 1968
Preview for the Washington press: March 31st and April 1st, 1968
Washington world premie April 2nd, 1968
Preview for the New York press: April 1st and April 2nd, 1968
New York premie April 3rd, 1968
Los Angeles premie April 4th, 1968
Kubrick cuts 19 minutes from the film: April 4-5th, 1968
Final cut shown in New York: April 6th, 1968.

My source is "The Making of Kubrick's 2001, edited
by Jerome Agel, published by Signet, 1970.

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 05:32:17 +0000 (UTC), David Lesher
wrote:

No curtains
No house lights
No stage
No stage lights.

....And be advised that only about 10-12% of the theaters have curtains
of any sort these days that actually *work*. The rest of them either
have no curtains, or simply have them hanging to the sides of the
screen and are not movable.


OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

OM om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org writes:


No curtains
No house lights
No stage
No stage lights.

...And be advised that only about 10-12% of the theaters have curtains
of any sort these days that actually *work*. The rest of them either
have no curtains, or simply have them hanging to the sides of the
screen and are not movable.


Oh...forgot

No theater


--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

Thanks for that run-down of the theaters it played in!
I am continually amazed by the storehouse of knowledge
that Usenet is.

RT