AFI Silver Theatre
8633 Colesville Road,
Silver Spring,
MD
20910
8633 Colesville Road,
Silver Spring,
MD
20910
24 people
favorited this theater
Showing 151 - 175 of 374 comments
As nice as 70mm and DP is, unless the audio is heard with surrounds when they are supposed to be there, then I’m not so enthused. I could care less if its 4K and up front sound :P
I suppose I should have said something when ‘Lifeforce’ was played but I assumed it was just the print and maybe hoped it would get better, but it didn’t. And if the projector hit the wrong sound format, as Steve points out, then shame on him.
Don’t these films come with instructions on what format it is so that the film is properly set up and played the right away? This irks me. Maybe I should apply to be a projectionist..do they train on the job? Heck, I’d do it for free..almost ;–) . I would make sure the curtain would be used and make my own entrance music before the show and write my own introductions. Also, every film would have the THX sound trailer blasting before, right before the main film is played whether there are 500 people in the audience or just 1.
Maybe I’m assuming wrong, but do all the auditoriums share the same projection booth? If so, is it possible to wheel the 70mm projector to #2? Plug in the necessary sound jacks or whatever. Just curious. To be honest, I think the sight lines in 2 are better than #1. Yeah..I know..the Historic Auditorium is what it is and the architecture is nice to look at but if you sit way in the back and watch a movie its almost like tunnel vision with the way the walls close in to the screen.
Its funny but the old KB Fine Arts reminds me a little of the Silver, although the descending seats to the screen was different. Perhaps they were the same size.. 40' but heck, when they had 70mm..i.e. ‘Aliens,’ ‘Star Trek III’ ..those were decent films to experience.
Of the upcoming classic films, only ‘Cleopatra’ looks interesting even though its in DP. Since I wasn’t even alive when it first came out, the ‘roadshow’ version supposedly being shown should be good despite its long running time with intermission.
I saw ‘Hello Dolly’ the last time around.
Theatres 2 and 3 are upgraded now.1 is not. With each upgrade comes the 7.1 sound. Note, they are all surround EX already, since day-1.
so wait, I’m confused – are not the other two auditoriums STILL not upgraded? Was that why ‘Samsara’ was not on auditorium #1’s screen?
@ sguttag: is the audio upgraded to playback 7.1 audio on all three screens?
Understandable. Personally,I don’t feel that anything is a good sub to 70mm.
Yes, I’ve seen movies there, included all screen sizes in my Intro above, and am not ruling it out BUT if a Blu ray was subbed for one Samsara screening, I don’t know they won’t do that to keep Hello Dolly! in aud 1 (if digital isn’t to be ready as expected in aud 1). And, I’m not interested in a Blu ray.
The truth is, theatre 2 has about the same size screen as 1. Theatre 2 has much better acoustics than 1. It is my preferred theatre.
I didn’t notice the missing words on the masking but I wasn’t looking there. I probably would’ve seen if that was the issue, but I’m not 100% sure I would have. The other customer that I spoke with after the film was also upset. I am concerned as to whether Hello Dolly! is going to be in auditorium 1 next Saturday, and if so what format (35? 70? blu ray?) or if a DCP is going to be shown in auditorium 2. Auditorium 2 is a very nice auditorium & I am not sure, but probably not willing to travel from Philly for aud 2. Aud 1 in 35, yes & I’d jump at the chance for 70mm.
The projectionists at the AFI/Silver are pretty darn good at getting things like formats correct and they can run most all of them. Since the width of all of the formats (except scope) in 35mm is the same (.825")…even if they had the wrong lens/plate, the width would not have been cropped…unless the masking was closed in too far. Did you see the missing parts of the words projected on the masking?
Since all three theatres can project 4K and since Samsara was shot in 65mm but intended for 4K release (there are numerous discussions about its release format)…any of the theatres would have presented it in 4K. I did look at it briefly while setting up the projectors…it looks pretty stunning. Not 70mm stunning but clearly better than 35mm.
Peter, that makes sense. I spoke with a fellow customer who told me the projectionist insisted the print arrived that way, but perhaps that wasn’t correct. Giles, I noticed Samsara was being shown in aud 3. I haven’t seen Samsara but thought the whole point was its 70mm quality so I don’t know why it is being shown in any other format.
Did anyone catch the debut of the new DLP system with ‘Samsara’ this weekend? I wasn’t able to make it to the Saturday or today’s screening. Thursday’s screening was off of a bluray since the completion wasn’t in time for that presentation. How’d it look? How’d it sound ??
Sounds like they ran The Dirty Dozen with the wrong aperture plate and/or lens. A print would not have things cropped off of it.
Yesterday, I enjoyed 35mm print of The Dirty Dozen (1967) in the historic auditorium, great sound from behind screen, and the curtain was used before & after the movie. Top of the MGM thing seemed cut off. 1.66 ratio print was sent to the theater. Movie was filmed in 1.75 aspect ratio, and I think originally shown 1.85 (flat). Especially on left, but also on right, people & subtitles (from German late in film) cut off. It wasn’t the theater’s fault, but the print. Was still enjoyable but I’d like to see a print that doesn’t appear to have anything cut off.
I returned to the historic auditorium to see Hitchcock’s restored silent in 35mm The Farmer’s Wife (1928). Great print, again curtain used. 1st time I heard an organ connected to speakers rather than pipes. I believe the sound was behind the screen & from speakers in rear of auditorium, which I didn’t expect. Great organ playing by Andrew Simpson. Nice attendance, maybe close to 200 people total.
As for DTS transfers of older titles…If it was there in the original mix, it will be there in the DTS version. Now, with DTS, they have often tried to preserve the original 6-track mix and that may require re patching the tracks at the theater to get everything to come out of the right channels. Typically,Ls/Rs channels become LC/RC the SW becomes the Surround channel. The AFI can do this by patching or by format selection on the CP200.
On magnetic 70mm, if format 43 was selected for a format 42 movie, one would loose all of the HF of the surrounds.
That said, surrounds were used MUCH more sparingly, back in the day.
^ oh now wait Jodar, let’s not be dissing the validity and worthiness of Lifeforce to not have a new 70mm print w/ DTS sound – ;)
I’m not fully understanding why you’re bemoaning the lack of surround sound on 70mm prints – if and when there wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. Comparing them to newer soundmixing doesn’t seem very fair. Which begs the question: what were the pre-1977 movies that had aggressive surround sound? My first theatrical experiences in the retrospect were ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘Star Wars’. And gathering from the quad mix on the bluray: ‘Tommy’ (1975)
the echo chamber sound flaw shouldn’t be there, since all auditoriums are supposedly THX approved.
As stated, Patton in DTS had some though little surround sound. Cleopatra, I said had no surround sound in its DCP screening at UA King of Prussia, but you remind me JodarMovieFan, it was DTS & a movie theater operator friend of mine suggests that was the problem because perhaps DTS is a dying sound format so the equipment perhaps was at fault.
I haven’t noticed the echo chambers but I’m grateful to the AFI Silver & Balt Senator for showing such wonderful classics.
Steve..what you said may explain why all the sound was on the front screen. In the ‘Lifeforce’ movie synopsis on the AFI website, it specifically mentions magnetic sountrack, so I’m assuming the print shown was probably an older, seldom shown original print? The movie came out in ‘85, as there was no DTS then. I only saw the movie once at AFI so maybe whomever ran the projection booth, maybe hit the wrong button on the sound processor? I would doubt whomever owns the movie would’ve spent the $50K or so to strike a new 70mm print with DTS encoding for a film like that. Maybe I’m wrong.
I gather by everyone’s comments about 70mm sound that the DTS encoding of older soundtracks inhibit surround sound playback provided it wasn’t in the original sound mix? If so, that sucks for those movies that are to be heard with surround. It shouldn’t be that way. I vividly remember my DTS/THX experience of ‘Jurassic Park’ at Universal Studios in ‘93, when DTS was intro’d..that was surround, crisp, pop-free, immersive AND loud! If I’m missing something, the transfer of the sound should improve by eliminating any scratching, pops and other imperfections while at least maintaining, if not improving on the sound integrity by digitizing the sound for playback perfection.
Part of the enjoyment of the 70mm/6 track mag format was the soundtrack. Not only loud, but it drew you in and helped immerse you into the moviegoing experience we all hope for after paying our admission ticket…even if the movie wasn’t so great.
One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post, but do you all notice that in the Historic Theater, there is an odd echo chamber? When a character speaks in an accent, like British, its sometimes hard to hear that they are saying because of it. The Senator in Balto, has this same echo-y sound. To describe it more succinctly, its like a gargling sound when someone talks. Maybe this is something inherent in the older theaters.
as far as I am concerned, Fox is one of the prime studios that SHOULD be encoding it’s DCP’s with the original 5 screen channel mixes.
^ damn it
I really REALLY don’t understand why the five screen channel configurement isn’t being archived/encoded as such on the DCP’s when some theaters like the AFI Silver could replicate the original 70mm mix – since five speakers are already there in the first place. Secondly, the left center, right center channels are there for the taking on DCP … [well? – this isn’t rocket science folks, considering 7.1 is achievable as well as object based sound placement in Dolby Atmos – adding two additional channels to the immediate left and right of the center channel shouldn’t be THAT difficult – ???].
The only recent soundmixers that best implement panned/directional dialogue to excellent effect is the sound folk over at Pixar – listen to say ‘Toy Story 2’ on bluray and character voices are placed in the phantom space between the left-center, right-center speakers
Sound of Music will be 35mm this go around. The new DCinema systems will not be in in time. As for the mix, the only proper one is the 70mm mix.You really can’t do panned dialog on the big screen without 5 screen channels. The space between the speakers is too great with just 3. The Sound of Music was very much mixed for 5.
that’s odd regarding ‘Lifeforce’ – with the lack of surround sound, since I distinctly remember it, when I saw it last year. There seems to be some differing information if the film in 70mm was five front + mono surrounds or three front/split stereo surround (or three front, mono surround + two bass channels: ‘baby boom’). The DVD and bluray have the surrounds in stereo.
In terms of 70mm 6-track sound, most of the pre-1979 films, was five front speaker/mono surrounds, hence why a lot of 70mm films sound front heavy and light on the surrounds.
I don’t know if you’re joking Jodar, but the upcoming presentation of ‘The Sound of Music’ is DCP, not 35mm (or 70mm for that matter). curious to know how this sounds since it’s 5 front/mono surrounds (70mm), but the DVD is 5.0 (three front/stereo surround) AND the bluray is 7.1 (three front/four channel surround + bass).
I set up both the Ambler and the AFI/Silver and both are set to the same level balance…which is to say they are calibrated as precisely as I can do using THX certified equipment (the AFI remains THX certified). If there are not enough surrounds, it wasn’t in the mix or the wrong format was chosen on the sound processor. If it is a DTS-70mm, the odds are much less likely though.
The AFI’s Historic theatre does have some odd acoustics that can affect one’s interpretation of the sound. In fact, some mono movies have been accused of having surrounds!
I meant DCP of Cleopatra.
JodarMovieFan, Patton (70mm) had a little surround sound, and I do mean a little. I asked & was told DTS version was shown. As I commented earlier, this year I saw the DCP version of Lawrence of Arabia at Ambler Theatre outside Philly & there was nice surround, and CDCP of Cleopatra at UA King of Prussia but it lacked surround sound. 70mm films that were 6 track had surround sound. I, too, would like more surround sound.
I wanted to see ‘Star’ but missed it due to work :P
I am glad AFI put together a short video on 70mm movies to educate those who don’t know or were alive when these releases were the BIG events and weren’t the IMAX-lite, XD, Xtreme..etc presentation we have today. Come to think of it, they should have shot it in 65mm with some kind of six track sound mix to show off what the EXPERIENCE could be. They could even employ the older THX sound trailer..the GRAND one with the light show. I think James Horner scored that one. I remember seeing the Grand THX sound trailer, as it was ‘new’ when they released the first ‘Die Hard’ movie in ‘88 and seeing it at the now closed Cineplex Oden Wisconsin Ave 6 (either theater 5 or 6).
I did see ‘Lifeforce’ again, in 70mm, after 28 years, on the big screen. Its amazing that this print looked as good as it does. Hardly any fading or washouts and the soundtrack, itself, was intact..BUT, as with my previous experiences with 70mm presentations at the Silver, where is the surround sound?? I can understand with the older movies that perhaps there weren’t rear/side channel sounds. Just about every sound effect was in front.
For example, the scene where Carlton and the British Colonel fly in the helicopter to the base..there should have been the helicopter flying sound from the rear of the theater to the front. Nothing.
Also, the various visual effects of the ‘lifeforce’ swirling about should have had theater surround effects as it went off screen. sigh
Not to be entirely negative, Henry Mancinci’s score, with the London Symphony was effective, loud and calming, again heard all from the front screen. Observing some of the people in front jump and react to some of the shocking parts was fun given the age and overall campiness of the movie.
I was thinking about seeing ‘The Sound of Music’ but the end of the caption says 35mm. I wonder whose holding up the 70mm print of that movie :P It seems they are giving ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ a rest this time around.
I guess ‘Lifeforce’ was the sci-fi choice this time..but next time..maybe the fall, guys, please book ‘Brainstorm.’ That was shot in 65mm and would be great to see again. If they play it right, you’ll experience regular 35mm mono and 70mm surround, during the point of view scenes, and decent 65mm filmed visual effects. And great performances by Louise Fletcher (she deserved a Oscar nom imho), Chris Walken and Natalie Wood’s last movie.
aside from two instances of misaligned reel changes and one scene where Noel Coward and Gertrude are swimming (the image looked tinged slightly yellow) “Star!” (in 70mm) looked and sounded amazing!! what a rare treat.