Woodstock Directors Cut for Blu-Ray

From:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...nces_Woodstock_Directors_Cut_for_Blu-ray/1975

In an unusually early announcement, Warner says it is planning to bring painstakingly-restored director's cut version of the documentary 'Woodstock' to Blu-ray in July 2009.

One of the definitive documentaries of its time, 'Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music' was previously released on standard DVD in 1997, but has since been placed on moratorium for several years. Warner will lift the embargo on July 28, 2009, when it debuts the Blu-ray day-and-date with a new standard DVD re-issue.

Culled from newly-found elements under the supervision of director Michael Wadleigh, the Blu-ray will feature a nearly four-hour version of the film which has been remastered and scanned in at 2K resolution and will be presented in 1080p video. A new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio mix has also been created with the participation of original chief engineer Eddie Kramer.

Supplements announced for the release include an audio commentary with the filmmakers, the 40-minute documentary "The '60s and the Woodstock Generation," and rare archival documents featuring handwritten notes from festival attendees, studio archive letters, and souvenir collectibles.

Suggested retail price for the Blu-ray has not yet been set, but we'll keep you posted.

 

What was that thread name? "If you get high one more time..?

 

I wish they would do the original 8-hour version that was planned, later scrapped when Warner Bros. didn't think anyone would be willing to watch music for that long.

 

Ditto. I would be more than happy if it were longer than that.

 

Maybe someone can get the CCR footage released for this. Never seen the light of day--someone talk to JC and make this happen--I mean JC even talks about still playin his orig amp he used at Woodstock. He aint gettin any younger and it be a nice gift to see his brother playin with him in their heyday. Their is no "official" CCR footage available currently that im aware of as most of us know which is very very sad indeed--getter done. Julie talk to him.

 

I'll be anxiously awaiting this one.

I was at Woodstock this June a week after the museum opened. They played parts of the movie in various exhibits and I was not overly impressed with the quality. For the most part it was grainer than I had expected.

Hard to say what kind of media they actually used and how it was sourced.

Hopefully the 2k scans will look better than what I saw.

 

Na... na, na, na, na... (place sounds of improvised percussion such as empty cans and bottles here)

 

Yes, I wonder how they plan to get more out of footage that is clearly of limited quality. I mean, visually, Woodstock id quite grainy on DVD...

 

JC???

you mean JF?

or is there something i don't know?

 

John Cameron Fogerty

 

i see!

 

one thing about woodstock, it may have ended up a free concert, but they sure have done pretty well by it over the years haven' they?

 

8 Hours??? Damn Dude score the brown acid for me.

 

great! regular DVD!!!!!

 

I'll definitely buy this on Blu-Ray when it comes out. I'm excited about getting a little extra footage, some new extras, and (probably) somewhat upgraded sound and video. Having said that...this release sounds like it is going to be a disappointment compared to what I had hoped it would be when it was first released. There is a TON of extra footage (in varying quality) that I was hoping would make this release. I don't think this will be tremendously longer than the director's cut dvd and some extra footage was already released beyond that. It sounds like we won't be getting very much new material when you combine the releases that have already come out.

This is the type of release that is just screaming for two different versions. A standard anniversary edition for the general public that this seems to be and than a "everything but the kitchen sink" type of release for the really dedicated fan. Obviously, there is a market for a release with maybe twice as much footage and it seemed like if ever it was going to happen (blu-ray capacity, 40th anniversary edition, etc.) this was going to be the time. It is truly a shame that we continue to not see some of the major acts (CCR, Grateful Dead, etc. plus many minor acts) that were at the festival. Surely, something could be legally worked out to make this finally happen.

Now, you probably won't see another release of this until 2019. I'm young enough that I would still enjoy that release but much of the audience that was originally at the festival or of that era will be in their 70's or close to it by then. I'm sure there will always be an audience for Woodstock reissues but it's going to start to diminish dramatically before too long. I was really hoping for more this time. Maybe on the 50th anniv edition...Well, at least we won't have to flip the disc anymore!

 

Anyone else nervous that Kramer is doing the sound?

 

I agree that Kramer may not do wonders with the sound on this reissue but I've never been that impressed with the sound on the previous Woodstock dvd so I'm not sure that he'll make it much worse.

 

According to the great book by Dale Bell, director Michael Wadleigh had the idea of making the film feel like a festival, where fans could walk in and out of the theater as if it was an actual concert event. At this point, Warner Bros. had already owned the rights to the film footage and said absolutely no. The book gets into how the fight for the movie was about "us vs. the suits", with Warner Bros. wanting the film to be like a highlight reel with nothing but brief excerpts of songs, as if it was more of a news piece and less of a concert film. Bell went on to say that Wadleigh and Warner Bros. fought over the length of the film almost to the last minute, with Warner Bros. wanting and demanding 90 minutes while Wadleigh trimming things to a little over three hours. Wadleigh won, and in time so did Warner Bros.

One reason why a lot of footage existed in split screen form was due to how much had been done during post-production and how much had been scrapped. There's a segment in the book which talks about various "suits" and musicians were able to walk into the editing process and see how the footage was created and tested.

It has often been said that Wadleigh had "miles" of unseen footage in his warehouse, most of which had never been seen or used since the late 1969/early 1970 post-production phase of the film, so depending on how well they've been preserved, one can expect for the quality to be incredible.

 

A little, only because I liked the dry sound from the festival, and over the years I've heard various people try to make those live recordings sound more modern with reverb that makes things sound "different". A good example is Santana's performance from the 2CD Legacy Edition of the first album.

Then again, maybe it's just my preferences over another. I want it to sound good but not without taking away the feel of the performances.

 

I'm down for a Blu-ray. I've never had a DVD of it. I have the LD and also the LD of Woodstock The Lost Pperformances. They only managed to find 68 minutes of it for the disc.

I hope there's a good amount of new footage. I've seen the original film well over a 100 times. In my youth, a nearby drive-in theatre owned prints of a few films that they'd show when they didn't have a new one leased. Woodstock was one of 'em and saw it over and over all through the 70's. Suprisingly few of my replays were the LD, later. Is the stuff from Lost Performances on the DVD's? ...which I've never had....

 

The Woodsock Diaries" was released on DVD in the UK, but still MIA in the US? it was 3 1 hour TV specials aired in the 90's with all unseen performances and included unseen acts.

The commentary track could be interesting, let's see how many SH members can pass THAT endurance test.

 

I liked the sound on the complete Jimi at Woodstock DVD. Much better, at least, than the old Woodstock DVD. I'd kinda like to have the theatrical cut somewhere in good quality. Additional footage is nice, but this project is surely moving away from whatever vision it was first enjoyed in.

 

I agree that we need the threatrical cut also. With the storage capacity of Blu-Ray there is no excuse to not have the movie as it was originally seen also included in this package. Director's cuts are great but I don't want to see the original versions of films fade away.

 

I really like the idea of the original movie and then a bunch of extra footage. However, it seems certain the director will change the film. I think that extends the copyright, a new version....right...?

 

As far as I know, the original film has never been available on dvd right? I think that a "director's cut" with more footage than the original film is all we've ever had on dvd. This new one will just have a little more footage.