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souvenir wrote:New blog post by Jonathan Turrell up, about Telluride. He mentions People on Sunday as forthcoming from Criterion next year.

I just watched the BFI edition a few days ago. Riveting stuff. No professional actors or studio sets. Real people doing real things but there is a story. None of the characters come off as over the top. Very naturalistic. Throughout there are fantastic docu scenes of everyday street life in Berlin. Very highly recommended. I'm writing like I'm dictating a telegraph. Sorry. Stop.

Tribe wrote:I was just reading the comments on this on IMDB. It sounds like a Weimar neo-realist pseudo-documentary? I've never heard of this...any more in depth commentary anyone who has seen it can offer?

Coincidentally Filmbrain recently posted his thoughts about the film on his blog

Oh wow. I didn't realize they were the same film!!!

Jonathan Turell wrote:The rest of the Criterion crew saw more and were focused more on our nuts

I've heard of navel-gazing, but that's just disturbing....

Anyone care to guess what "rwp" means?

"Rainer Werner Passpinter"?

eez28 wrote:Anyone care to guess what "rwp" means?

Robin Wright Penn

obv a nod to Sri Lanka's rich military history

New Blog Entry: Reality at 25/24 Frames per Second

Of course, they didn't bring up one thing they could do, which is produce the disc in a PAL format and suggest everyone buy a multi-format DVD player to go along with it. Not too realistic, but still. I think they should go without compression. It may *feel* wrong to have it be 35 minutes longer, but its a far sight better than screwing with the actual frames. It seems silly to alter their usual way of business for this film just because its *relatively* longer. Actually, silly is the wrong word, maybe "illogical" is better.

I definitely prefer a slow down than the normal PAL speed-up (I just like lower frequencies and slower motion)

Steven H wrote:Of course, they didn't bring up one thing they could do, which is produce the disc in a PAL format and suggest everyone buy a multi-format DVD player to go along with it. Not too realistic, but still. I think they should go without compression. It may *feel* wrong to have it be 35 minutes longer, but its a far sight better than screwing with the actual frames. It seems silly to alter their usual way of business for this film just because its *relatively* longer. Actually, silly is the wrong word, maybe "illogical" is better.

would a region 0 PAL DVD play on most Americans' region 1 DVD players?

mikeohhh wrote:would a region 0 PAL DVD play on most Americans' region 1 DVD players?

I haven't checked the market for buying a DVD player in a while, but I know at least a couple years ago you would definitely have to specify that you wanted both formats playable to get it. It doesn't go without saying by a long shot (whereas, I believe most of the PAL players sold have NTSC.)

mikeohhh wrote:would a region 0 PAL DVD play on most Americans' region 1 DVD players?

No.

I get the whole "integrity" issue, but let's not be disingenuous. Criterion remove "thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches," digitally color correct, and use "audio restoration tools... to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle" using "ugly math," so what's the different between that and digitally bringing the pitch of the audio up to the level of the original broadcast? I'm okay with the longer running time.

I thought Region 0 can play on any DVD player. According to Wikipedia:

Region 0: Informal term meaning "playable in all regions", "region free" or simply "all regions". There is no region 0 code as such; instead, every region code flag is set, making the disc playable worldwide.

The term "Region 0" also describes the DVD players that were designed or modified to incorporate Regions 1–6 simultaneously, thereby providing compatibility with virtually any disc, irrespective of region[s]. This apparent solution was popular in the early days of the DVD format, but studios quickly responded by adjusting discs to refuse to play in such machines. This system is known as "Regional Coding Enhancement".

Alonzo the Armless wrote:I thought Region 0 can play on any DVD player.

It can, it's the PAL encoding that's the problem.

Matt wrote:

Alonzo the Armless wrote:I thought Region 0 can play on any DVD player.

It can, it's the PAL encoding that's the problem.

It isn't the Region Code that is the problem. Many DVD players are able to play PAL system discs, but it usually isn't something advertised.

they probably aren't legally allowed to release the film in region 0 PAL (not only because it could cause some problems) but because it would be interfering with the licensing agreement held by another company for rights in England.

Let's not perpetuate confusion. Region coding and television standards (PAL vs. NTSC) are two completely different things. Criterion would never release a PAL disc because it would not play in a majority of US DVD players. Criterion has released many Region 0 discs (in the NTSC format), but probably will not be releasing BA as Region 0 disc because that might piss off other licensees in English speaking countries. Restricting it to Region 1 (North America) protects them from that.

I don't understand this: I and many other Europeans and Australians import many American DVDs in the NTSC format including the Criterion Collection and play them all on our PAL hardware. No problem at all. But what's the problem with the American DVD players? I'm sure most of the DVD players are manufactured by the same Japanese companies like Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic.

Frank M wrote:I don't understand this: I and many other Europeans and Australians import many American DVDs in the NTSC format including the Criterion Collection and play them all on our PAL hardware. No problem at all. But what's the problem with the American DVD players ? I'm sure most of the DVD players are manufactured by the same japanese companies like Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic.

The difference is that PAL players can dump 4.9 frames per second to convert the NTSC signal to play on a PAL monitor, but an NTSC player can't just invent the extra frames. Some players are made to handle both, and usually convert a PAL signal to output as NTSC by combining some of the frames together.
Watching a PAL DVD on an NTSC monitor with a region free player is still going to give you the same problems this blog post talks about trying to avoid. The issue isn't the NTSC players, its the NTSC monitors. PAL on an NTSC TV is never going to look as good as native NTSC, even though the BEST resolution in standard def comes from watching a PAL signal on a PAL monitor.
If anyone has any questions about this, feel free to ask.

Steven H wrote:Wow, People on Sunday, what a fantastic surprise. Its one of those "desert island" films for me. I could watch it a million times. I'm ecstatic that Criterion are putting it out, but what do I do with the BFI edition?

Keep it, for the sublime and infinitely charming (and graced with a superior, and progressive, transfer, vs. the interlaced MENSCHEN) THIS YEAR LONDON. Even if the Kino BRITISH TRANSPORT FILMS set include this humble little jewel, I doubt the transfer will be as nice. Someone mentioned how P&P's CANTERBURY TALE operates as sort of cinematic psychotherapy to lift you outa the dumps... LONDON does the very same for me. O those daffy Englishmen!

Blinkin daft!

davidhare wrote:It's only the USA that operates as though there's nothing other than the NTSC standard.

Doesn't Japan also operate under the NTSC standard?

And as an aside, the Aussies have the best system of all: enforcement of region encoding on DVD players is illegal in Australia (is that right, mates?)

Tribe

Australian DVD players have to be region free for legal reasons. However I noticed that the PS3 is region coded for Blu-ray so I'm not sure if the law covers high definition DVD players.

Tribe wrote:

davidhare wrote:It's only the USA that operates as though there's nothing other than the NTSC standard.

Doesn't Japan also operate under the NTSC standard?

I'd heard, though I don't know how true it is, that Japan being lumped in with Europe in Region 2 was the reason that the players had to be able to play both NTSC and PAL discs, so people wouldn't be upset that their Region 2 player wouldn't play all Region 2 discs (was this the same situation with TVs?). The US never had to deal with that problem as that whole region was NTSC and only importers would have faced that situation (and who cares about them, right?)