Now that high definition televisions dominate most of America’s living room spaces and have become the preferred medium for television watching and video game playing, I’d like to posit this question: Has the new HD era really enhanced our collective movie-going experience? Has it made our films more enjoyable or memorable? The simple, quick answer would be a resounding “yes”, but let’s consider a few things.
I’m not alone whenever I stroll through an electronic store, glance over at the 60-inch LEDs models and salivate with desire. It’s sometimes painful to walk outside empty-handed, returning to the humble living room where the 39-incher sits idle, waiting to be brushed aside for something bigger, more modern.
Let’s assume you have already upgraded. The newest technology displays a dazzling blacks and glistening whites. Yet, none of these benefits make Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen go down any easier. Instead, the larger screen only inflates Shia LeBouf’s vacant, open mouth stares and permits us to more easily count the number of nose hairs as we begin to feel the harsh pinch of “buyer’s regret”.
Before I begin to decry modern technology, let me plainly declare that I truly love my high definition set! It is a gift delivered by the media gods. It allows the lower classes (99% of America) to replicate the theater experience without the need to dress, drive our cars, purchase a movie ticket, and suffer an amalgamation of sounds that includes baby cries and Mazda ad narrations. Until I finally am able to procure a television large enough to touch the frames of an open doorway, I remain a contented soul. Some day I’ll have the ultimate set-up to reproduce a screening room at Skywalker ranch. Until then, I continue to make do and relish the wonders that blu rays and HD provide. Us poor Americans and our little problems. (I only got two creams for my frapachino!!)
I recently purchased two new blu ray additions, Total Recall (1990) and Jaws. Both are truly wonders that reinvigorate childhood memories of movie experiences that lingered deep in my soul. These films represent a sampling of movies that first caught my attention initially during television presentations from a small (comparatively speaking) standard definition screen. The blu ray upgrades have allowed me to reconnect to my nostalgic love. These new editions didn’t necessarily make the films better–they just reacquainted me an old love a little faster.
Part of the reason both of these blu rays surpassed my expectations was because they were “restored” (a term used too liberally) under the supervision of their respected directors This usually means the films were returned to the way they were originally conceived. This is not always the case as some films are butchered or modified to match the expectations of modern video. A film like Jaws will never look like a film from 2012. It should look as good as it did when it first caused beach-dwellers to shit their bathing suits back in 1975.
Speaking of “new”, it struck me that there are many films that I solely experienced in a high-quality digital format and will probably never see on the earlier format. I first saw The Dark Knight in glorious IMAX and have yet to experience in a resolution lower than high definition. There’s a part of me that wants to experiment and plug in a DVD player into the back of an old television–whose weight and mass equal my car–to determine if the demoted presentation would depreciate my overall pleasure. This downgrade would prohibit me from clearly seeing the fresh wrinkles underneath Christian Bale’s eyes or the speckles of paint on The Joker’s vest. But would I find the overall product any less pleasurable?
On the flipside of the coin, let’s consider I film I hated: the original The Expendables. (And yet I want to see the sequel. Figure that one out.) Seriously, I loathed every second of it in all of its uncompressed, surround-sound, theatrical-quality glory. I doubt watching it on a smaller, standard definition set could increase my hatred further. In fact, watching it on an older TV may help it. The film attempts to hearken back to 1980s action lore after all. I certainly couldn’t make Sly’s face look any worse.
This leads me to the hindrances of high defintion. Not everything looks better in high definition. Once beautiful faces are now directing my eyes on the imperfections that 1080P brings to light. Nobody looks better in high definition. Nobody! Ultimately, some faces aren’t supposed to be pretty. For example, Ingrid Bergman was one of the most beautiful Hollywood actresses of all-time. Part of her appeal was the way film-makers captured her on film. Like many, the cinematographer resorted to soft lenses which ultimately removes the flaws and accentuates everything else.
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| Ingrid Bergman was one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the silver screen. Utilizing soft lenses only magnified it. Even on blu-ray, these shots remain soft as the director intended. |
Now, let’s consider director Sergio Leone, who loved to capture faces when most directors tried to fill their widescreen compositions with everything but the kitchen sink. Yet, Leone loved faces. He loved to push the camera so far in that you could spot each pore. It was like he wanted us to penetrate into the souls of the characters. He used non-pretty people who had interesting faces that the glory of high definition certainly highlights that!
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| The limitations of the photo still show the harsh features that are fully fleshed out in high definition. In this case, this is a benefit to the film-making and is properly maintained in the blu-ray. |
Many consumers seem married to the idea of high definition being a superior format and who could argue. My reservations come from the precise definition of the benefits that multi-faceted methods in which high definition can benefit our viewing experiences. The most common advantage is the level of realism it provides. It’s almost like you can reach out and catch the football. I feel like the news anchor is sitting in front me! I didn’t realize the women’s volleyball team had hair on their arms!
The idea of replicating reality is one of the ideal selling points of high definition. As it stands, those dozens of store models are purposely fine-tuned to sell the realism element. When blu ray and HD-DVD (Do you even remember that?) were introduced, they would constantly show split-screen examples (with the DVD side being purposely over-blurred) that presented the stark contrast between the level of detail and authenticity offered on the newer formats. This explains why nature documentaries seem to be the most replayed feature on display models. You could almost touch the deadly eels!
There’s no denying that a strong high definition presentation highlights footage that nearly replicates the real world. But does this add a benefit to film? Do you really care if Jack Sparrow appears to be sitting in your living room? (This is where I lose half of the female reading audience.)
Inevitably every movie-watcher just wants to experience the story. I don’t care how old you are–the story is key element that measures our level of enjoyment. For example, The Wizard of Oz became an instant classic not on a large screen (it underperformed in theaters back in 1939). It was decades later when television introduced viewers to the land of OZ on a black-and-white 13-inch set. Babyboomers still recall the first time they fell in love with Dorothy, Toto, and the TinMan when they weren’t even aware of the obvious visual contrasts between Kansas and Oz. However, they were still enchanted–with commercials and the works. The Wicked Witch, underneath her green make-up (or grey) and all, was real enough to frighten the poor children out of the room.
The fact is that most everyone would prefer seeing films like Oz on a high definition set over the formats that preceded it. But no alternative methods will change our ultimate verdicts. I didn’t fall for Star Wars during its ABC broadcast because I was dubious of the network’s failings to reproduce the film the way the director intended. Yoda wasn’t a puppet, he was real. No aggrandized number of pixels per square inch could dissuade me that he wasn’t. It remains one of the best movie experiences I ever had–because the film was the selling point.
It’s obvious that both the high definition and it’s successor, 3D, have started to wane. Television sales have plummeted. Blu-rays sales are not matching DVD losses. People seem content to procure their entertainment through lesser methods like Netflix or ITune or (Gasp!) illegal downloadable services; all of which offer inferior formats. There’s still a market for folks content with watching new releases provided by a guy who sat in the back of a theater with a crappy video camera taking it all in.
This may sound like blasphemy. (Hell, I even posted a Youtube video in which David Lynch curses and berates watching films on an IPhone.) There is obviously something lost from watching a film on a screen that isn’t 80-feet wide or stocked-piled with 34 speakers. But the overall effect remains. I may not think much of Cloverfield without the benefit of a kick-ass surround-sound system, but I still have the capacity to guage its quality whether its presented in high definition or on a television from 1982.
All of this leads me to an ignorance that permeates within today’s teenaged generation. This is the first age bracket that didn’t grow up with black-and-white films finding time-slots on the cable channels. In the 1980s, color films had three decades of dominance, but older films from the 1960s and 1950s weren’t quite the dinosaurs they’ve been branded today. Even ABC Family (called The Family Channel) would show a black-and-white family film about a leprechaun. That would never fly with the newer generations.
As it stands, we become immersed first by the quality of modern visuals. If something entices our eye-sockets, we’ll be more inclined to sit and judge the film on its merits. It’s like sitting next to a pretty person versus a non-pretty person; the latter simply has to imbue more charm to garner any attention. Personally, I always found some of the greatest cinematography from black-and-white. But like anything that isn’t commonplace, it is an acquired taste. Sometimes, people have to lower their shields and tolerate something before their defenses lower.
There’s something magical about older films where not every frame looks like it can reach out and touch you. Afterall, we all experience dreams. We only dream in black-and-white. There’s something to be said of the power of film that tickle your heartstrings when everything carries a fantasy element.
Last year, I had the privilege to see a silent (Gasp!), black-and-white (Egads!) film at the NC Museum of Art. The presentation was beautiful, preserving the film’s original look and quality. The film was Our Hospitality. During a nail-biting sequence, Buster Keaton swung from a rope and caught his girlfriend from falling to her death. I heard the collective sound of sighs and relief. The audience was really enjoying it. Would a film like Our Hospitality benefit from a color and sound and a high-definition presentation? Not enough to change hearts and minds, one way or another.
My one regret is that I didn’t have the courage to speak to many of the audience members. I wondered if any of them had seen a film like this before and if they would become more inclined to watch another. Did the fact that the film did not look as realistic as, say, The Discovery Channel hinder their overall pleasure? I suspect if anyone did express reservations about the lack of color, those inhibitions dimmed within the first five minutes. At that stage, their experience was no longer measured by the number of pixels or speakers. It was just a story man who loves a girl and gets chased by bullies for 90 minutes with the kind of comic precision and brilliance that doesn’t occur too often in cinema.
Nothing like this sells TVs, but its the real reason why folks buy them.
Thank you for reading. This was fun for me. I decided to break this one up. On part two, I’ll discuss the future of TVs. Maybe you can tell me if you dream in 4,000K! 🙂
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