'Gosford Park' DVD Debuts New Technology

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

Hollywood, CA (July 3, 2002)--The first application of a new technological process that sharpens images with detail is the new DVD-Video of the Academy Award-winning film Gosford Park, released June 25 by Universal Studios Home Video.

At a press conference in New York, Gosford Park director Robert Altman and the principals of Los Angeles-based Darbee Labs demonstrated with side-by-side monitors how the process, dubbed DarbeeVision, improves DVD pictures with an unprecedented sense of clarity.

"DVD is the debut of this technology," said Darbee Labs president and COO Michael Altman, who is the director's son. Among the applications for the process the company is also pursuing are theatrical film prints, still photography, television broadcast, advertising and videogames, so Darbee Labs is in the process of upgrading its infrastructure to support realtime rendering in high volume.

"The significant enhancement of detail, subtle 3D effect and sense of depth translates on any consumer equipment," said Michael Altman, noting that there have been other attempts at improving DVD-Video, such as processing at a different bit rate.

He added that his company has been in touch with the other major studios about "getting into their libraries" so the process could be applied to "these national treasures."

Each frame of a film is "Darbinized" using a proprietary algorithm created by Paul Darbee, the company's founder and CEO.

A 28-year veteran of post-production for the movie industry working for most of the major studios and numerous renowned filmmakers, Michael Altman in 2001 left a position at 20th Century Fox to join Darbee.

"The effect is a significantly upgraded image," said Altman, whose father watched Darbee's progress as he was making Gosford Park, and concluded, "we have to do to this to my movies." The director confirmed during the press conference how impressed he was "when I first saw it." When asked by Medialine whether DarbeeVision is a precursor to high-definition DVD, Darbee acknowledged that it could be viewed as an intermediate step. "HD images are awesome," he said, adding that DarbeeVision could also be applied to HD for an even better picture that's "super-def."

Robert Altman said he was attracted to the DarbeeVision concept "since most eyes [are going to see his films] on video." Weighing in on the video vs. film debate, the renowned director said, "When you shoot digital, you don't get the same feeling as you get shooting on film. There's something flat about it." He admitted that "most audiences aren't going to notice the difference." Still, from his perspective, it makes sense to take advantage of anything that improves picture clarity. "The problem [associated with] shooting directly on tape has been taken away," the director said of DarbeeVision.

Noting that Universal Michael Altman declined to say how much it would cost a studio to "Darbinize" a feature-length film master. But his father said it makes sense to assume that the cost would diminish as volume and demand for the process pick up.

Robert Altman also provided a glimpse about how he views DVD in the filmmaking process.

Asked by Medialine whether he thought at all about the DVD during the making of Gosford Park, Altman said he generally didn't, other than in six to eight scenes where he had different duo sets of characters discussing the same information. The director said he figured to himself that during the editing process he would decide which to use in the final cut and then offer the others in a deleted scene section of the DVD. After the press conference, Altman also expressed reticence to a reporter asking about his participation in DVD commentaries. He said he felt like a real estate agent, pointing out the obvious: "this is the staircase." He added that he didn't listen to commentaries of other directors to hear what they think about the making of their movies.

While he is not overly enthusiastic about DVD, there's a sense that Altman realizes participating in disc extras is a way to preserve his artistic vision for posterity, and also, as he previously acknowledged, an awareness that far more people are going to see a film like Gosford Park on DVD or VHS than in a movie theater. The release did a modest domestic box office take of $40 million (along the way winning an Oscar for best screenplay by Julian Fellowes), which still was a better-than-usual theatrical showing for the acclaimed auteur, who's known for small movies with large casts (i.e., Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, et. al.)

Universal apparently was more than willing to fully load the "Collector's Edition" Gosford Park DVD with extra material.

The extra materials include: Altman's commentary; additional commentaries by the production designer, producer and screenwriter; three featurettes--"The Making of Gosford Park," "The Authenticity of Gosford Park" and "Cast and Filmmakers Q&A Session"; deleted scenes and commentaries about them by Altman, the production designer and producer; and cast and filmmaker filmographies.

The latter extra is particularly helpful in an ensemble film like Gosford Park, which had a cast of 40, most of whom are British. Altman noted this during the press conference, for which he was joined by actor Alan Bates, who plays a butler in the film and who recently won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in Fortune's Fool.

Bates attested to Altman's reputation as "an actor's director." Altman noted that he felt bad for the first month or so of shooting that an actor of Bates' stature had little to do; with no close-ups, he was virtually "an extra in the background." That changed the last few weeks of principal shooting when Bates' character became more prominent in the story. Bates said one of the cast, Michael Gambon, wanted to know "who is the star of the film?" He was quickly told there is none.

Both Bates and Altman agreed that the production was completely devoid of ego--atypical of Hollywood movie sets, where agents typically argue about the size of their clients' trailers.

"This film could not have been made in America," Altman said, noting British actors often working in the theater. "Most American actors are not [theater trained] and subsequently play to the camera." In contrast, British actors generally realize that audience members have different perspectives on the proceedings depending on where they're sitting, and therefore they just play the scene. "The camera, like the theater audience, has to observe that," Altman said.

[garmtz]

Aha, EE opnieuw uitgevonden...?  

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

Ben er ook bang voor.
Iemand de film al gezien op DVD ?

MvrGr.
Frank

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

http://www.darbeevision.com/gallery.html#

Hier een voorbeeld.
Lijkt inderdaad wel op een soort EE of sharpening in combinatie met een flinke dosis contrast verhoging.

Wat is jullie mening ?

MvrGr.
Frank

[RuudG]

Jakkes, dit is weer een mooi voorbeeld van een nepverbetering. Het enige positieve dat ik kan zeggen is dat er in ieder geval geen EE randjes toegevoegd worden.

En met Gosford Park is in het AVS forum nogal de vloer aangeveegd mbt de beeldkwaliteit. Gelet op de commentaren verwacht ik niet dat dit veroorzaakt is door Darbeevision, maar het is geen lekkere binnenkomer op deze manier.

Groeten,

Ruud