Brainstorm (the movie)

The Natalie Wood thread got me to thinking about Brainstorm. With Trumbull's effects and 60FPS cinematography, this one cries out for HD... To bad they screwed up the DVD, but at least I've also got the LD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film)

 

Geez I haven't seen this in years. the scene where the kid accidentally puts on the psychotic tape freaked me out(great acting from the kid..those eyes after Dad pulls the headset off brrrr). Natalie impressed me with her last picture.

 

Yeah, I would have loved to see the Showscan version back in tha day. HDTV could replicate the experience somewhat.

 

I'd buy a HD version. One of my favorite films.

 

Same here with the laserdisc that I transferred to DVD-RW for in home personal use only, let me make that perfectly clear! I still have the laserdisc because I heard that the DVD was screwed up it had no six-track Dolby stereo mix just a conventional Dolby stereo 4:2:4.

I’m either waiting for the day that I can buy a third laserdisc player with Dolby AC-3 fitted so I can run it with the Dolby digital sound system.

I liked the use of POV shots filmed in 2.35:1 scope and the regular shots in 1.85:1 W/S, thou the way it expands on the height doesn’t look correct. I’m sure this is supposed to expand on the horizontal and not on the vertical because one will say, the film is screwed up!

I have rare Cinefex magazine that goes in-depth behind the filming of the visual effects headed at the time by Douglas Trumbull co founder of E.G.G. (Entertainment Effects Group) that was later sold to Richard Edlund the company was closed during the early 2000 years?

I’d like to see a version on region 2 or maybe a newer version showcasing the film as seen in the cinema, not sure how this would work with video, keeping a very small image centred to the screen and then widening outwards, I would like it if they can deliver it that way.

I don’t recall seeing on the end credits anything crediting Showscan except Panavision, unless it’s been unofficially unannounced.

Also wasn’t 60fps used for showscan filmed at the same high rate then projected back in special cinemas with a high quality sound system?

Showscan enters liquidation process
http://www.in70mm.com/news/2002/showscan/index.htm

NBC on Douglas Trumbull's Showscan - 1984!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_Duv2XCPU

 

Yes, Showscan was shot on 65mm film at 60fps and projected on 70mm film at 60fps. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the initial plan for Brainstorm was to film the movie at 24fps, except for the actual moments when the device is being used, which would be shot and projected at 60fps (the 24fps stuff would have to be printed to film in a process similar to 2:3 pulldown, where certain frames were repeated, since the entire film would be projected at 60fps). I believe that financial restrictions prevented this from happening as planned. I'm fairly certain that none of the "brainstorm" sequences was actually shot at 60fps, and I'm more certain that it was never exhibited in Showscan. These sequences were, however, shot in 65mm, while the "regular" portions were shot on 35mm. If I'm wrong about the actual filming part, then they could make a blu-ray in 720P 60fps to preserve the Showscan look of those bits. I just don't think it ever happened. Shame.

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-SBCqSDYjdKijOiMd1hROXw--?cq=1&p=112


The wiki entry below states that the whole thing was shot in 65, with the special sequences done in Showscan, thus lending to the overall confusion of the matter. I think the blog entry above is actually correct. Anyone here know Doug Trumbull?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film)

 

I believe it was visual effects shot at 65mm the none POV shots filmed with 35mm and stuck together as the film presented in Dolby stereo six-track to take full benefit of the discrete sound over 35mm optical Dolby stereo.

I’d have to get the Cinefex magazine out of the storage cupboard. Anyway I’m getting some kip now because I’m shattered my eyes are like saucers! I’ll get the Cinefex out later in the day and have read though it.

 

That wiki link has a couple of _'s in it, so the underline seems to mess it up somehow.

Here 'tis for cuttin' and pastin':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film)

 

Yeah, that's the impression I've had over the years, and that the first link I added supports.

 

As I stated before Natalie Had a Fear of Water since she was a teenager,so her death by drowning is still an Unsolved mystery..the production of "Brainstorm" was halted indefinitly..M-G-M was sold after,probably because of "Brainstorm"s failure to complete the film. Michael Boyce

 

Well I’m back after having a bit of Brainstorm bit of kip refreshed and ready to rock n’ roll.

I pulled out the storage cupboard sorted though boxes found it, then had to remember what the front cover looked like. It’s the one with the Freedom 7 on the front cover pictured here, The Right Stuff from the same year (1983).

The article is called “Brainstorm getting the cookie at the end” by (Brad Munson) editor and publisher name of Cinefex is (Don Shay).

Article covers 24 pages with production photos mostly in B&W and few colour ones and visual effect shots of POV shots mostly in widescreen form and in colour.

 

A neat film with some innovative POV effects and a terrific James Horner score re-recorded with the London Symphony for Varese Sarabande.

 

Agree James Horner score is haunting and mystically spiritually moving as it moves and swells around.


Quote from Cinefex (number 14) first page a brief quote, I’m not doing the whole magazine that would take me hours. LOL

For Brainstorm, Trumbull’s idea was to use his widescreen Showscan process only for the images perceived though the “reality recorder.” The bulk of the film would be shot with a narrower aspect ratio at 24 frames per second, then optically converted to 60 frames per second by double- and triple-printing alternate frames. Thus, even though the entire film would then be projected at 60 frames per second, only those portions featuring the Showscan technique would be dramatically enhanced. But as with all new technologies, there where problems. “We would have been facing anywhere from fifty to a hundred thousand dollars to get each theatre properly equipped o show the film. And when it came down to the crunch, Paramount had to make a decision.”

Their decision was to pass on the project. And since Trumbull had insisted Brainstorm and Showscan be locked together- that Brainstorm-and Trumbull-had only begun to fight.

You can get more feedback from the Cinefex site and who knows they may even have a few rare issues in colour for sale, thou most often they turn out to be reprints in B&W.

http://www.cinefex.com/

 

Quote from Cinefex (number 14) (page 28)
“Now the basic narrative would be photographed in flat 35mm, using a non-standard 1.66:1 aspect ratio. POV images for the recorder, however would be generated in 70mm and photographed and projected at full aperture-thus widening the screen, changing the aspect ratio to 2.21:1, and sharpening the clarity. In addition, most of recorder images would be shot with a massive fisheye lens to make the difference even more pronounced.”

 

If you ask me, that was a lot to expect of the film exhibitor business of the '80s. Making a movie just to entice theater owners to make capital improvements doesn't sound like much of a bargain if you're the franchiser of Cinemas 1&2 at the PressedWood Mall: what's in it for me once I've run Brainstorm for its' three weeks, and now all I need is a regular projector in that auditorium for the next Molly Ringwald movie?

 

Kinder like Earthquake with its Sensurround sound system that was installed into cinemas the billing was titled “An Event!” my home town had the Sensurround installed it’s capable of running 70mm and I can’t remember if it was 35mm version that will trigger and pulse sound generator or the six-track magnetic 70mm version that had the same trigging process to add ridiculous amounts of low frequency!!!

Saw it three times and I’m not sure if it’s the result of my early years with “tinnitus” because I was only 8 at the time and “I liked it!”

I would have paid many times to see Brainstorm in the cinema via the Showscan process but even if it did manage to before reality it would have been wow, wow! I never saw it in the cinema when it was released and I would like to see the 70mm Dolby stereo version on a huge screen with THX sound

 

I enjoy it and I have the movie too in both LD and DVD. And the DVD is screwed up. One can only hope that it gets the proper treatment when or if it goes to Blu-Ray. With the cinema revival of 3D and digital projection, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a limited run release for it in the future. Or someone has pitched it for a remake.

 

I think if there any future plans I think Douglas Trumbull and crew and few cast members should be on the show and with close attention paid towards the presentation to bring into the home as it was seen heard and felt in the cinema right down to extras, extras, extras!

 

Unfortunately, I never saw Brainstorm in the theater. Watching the LD is the closest I've gotten to the way Douglas Trumbull intended it to be seen. Even though the DVD is further from his vision, it's still a great story with a great cast. And Horner did a remarkable job on the soundtrack! I got the his LSO disc shortly after I first saw the LD. The track which runs during Lillian's heart attack scene is probably the most profoundly disturbing piece of music I've ever heard.

To hijack a thread which I started, a couple other great movies of that era were:

War Games - The NORAD set was, at the time, the most expensive movie set ever built. Many RPs synchronized to the cameras, not to mention the multitude of video monitors. It must have taken a small army of technicians to get all those films/videotapes rewound and ready for the next take... Great use of terminology (BMEWS, Cobra Dane, skybird, dropkick, brass hat, etc) and technology of the day (from the IMSAI to the Printronix to the ground-start pay phone).

China Syndrome - Interesting in that there was no real soundtrack music. The title music was heard "on the radio" and the few other songs were part of the story and heard by the characters. I didn't ever live in LA, but if I had, I'd probably recognize the name Val Clenard. (I grew up in Cincinnati, where the name everyone knew was Al Schottelkotte.)

Both of these films, in their own way, departed from the Hollywood norm much as Brainstorm did. While these types of movies fascinate me, unfortunately these technical details are generally wasted for most viewers.

 

^^^^I think the large video screen walls was rear projection I’d have to listen to the audio commentary track on Wargames, but I’m sure it was rear projection.

 

Yes RP = rear projection. The video I'm talking about is what was showing on the small console monitors, some more complex of which may have been rendered onto video tape, some may have been simple displays driven "live" by the comparitively primative computer technology of that age. It was, like Trumbull's ShowScan, a technological feat.

And I forgot to mention in the Wargames technology: the radio controlled pterodactyl. Wasn't this glider the creation of some people from MIT?

 

^^^Well maybe a screen capture shot I’ve read I’ve got the film seen many times over.

 

Brainstorm theatrical trailer (1983) in scope and W/S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5noq8iuH54g

 

I don't think this clip shows quite what Trumbull was after. The width is constant, the letterbox bars just get larger when it switches to scope and narrow when it switches back to W/S. This seems to be the almost the reverse of what he was after. I think Trumbull's intention was that the HEIGHT would remain constant, but the width would expand dramatically when it switched to scope. On a normal widescreen video monitor it should be windowboxed during much of the movie then would expand to full width (letterbox) during the scope scenes (or so I think). It would be fun to see, but I'm sure there would be a lot of complaints from the "fill my screen" viewers.

 

I saw the film at the Cinerama Dome (which I always call the "Ceramic Dome") the week it opened. The "Brainstorm" sequences definitely were not at 60fps, just 24fps like the rest of the film.

My memory is that most of the film was shown at 1.85, and it widened out to 2.40 when you'd see a P.O.V. from somebody wearing the Brainstorm helmet. Top and bottom didn't change. If they did that in the home video transfer, it's a compromise that I'm sure Trumbull isn't happy about.

Maybe if and when they reissue it for HD, they'll get it right.