Woodstock Directors Cut for Blu-Ray

Eddie has done some remixes for the Hendrix catalogue (especially for the 4CD Jimi Hendrix Experience box set) and apart from being maximized, they sound great. Even the maximization has been reduced in later CDs (such as Berkeley and Monterey), so unless his talents and hearing have taken a dive over the past couple of years, Eddie at the wheel is a good thing IMHO. His remix of Jimi at Woodstock sounds great. Anyone else notice the very prevalent tape faults in the Santana at Woodstock on Sony CD? Lots of little "plops" throughout the performance.

 

So any more news/rumors on this project? The 40th anniversary is almost upon us.

 

28 July is the scheduled release date. That's all I know.

 

Sure is lame they make us wait until an "anniversary". Nobody cares about the "anniversary".

 

Why would you say that nobody cares about the anniversary? Yes - it is weird they can't just release the Blu-ray disc now (assuming it is ready to release), but our society is built upon Anniversaries of all types. People celebrate wedding anniversaries - with certain year anniversaries being more special in terms of longevity than others; 5, 10, 15, 20, etc year anniversaries working for the same company; other "special" releases of music and movies always seem to come out around a time of an anniversary (again could be 5, 10, 15, 20, 40 or 50 years). It is just the way the human animal has decided to celebrate milestones.

You don't think that on 9/11/11 - there will be a special remembrance that trumps all other remembrances to date to mark the 10 year anniversary of that terrible day?

Sorry, but I don't understand your off-hand dismissal of the 40 year anniversary of Woodstock.

 

I agree with MikeT - of the people who want to see this, you may be in the minority.

 

Well, in that case you can all wait, but I'd like to buy mine now. Guess I'm just weird that way.

So let's see, if Warners put this out early, would you wait until the "anniversary" to buy it?

 

The lead time for Woodstock is the longest I've ever seen for BD and it is rather a tease. I'd like to see it soon, like now, also but I can always go watch my LD till July comes.

 

The Beatles don't care about anniversaries, it would seem. Whenever they release this, I look forward to it. Having recently seen some 16mm on blu-ray recently (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, so low budget early 70's 16mm, at that), I really look forward to how good this set can look and sound.

 

sorry if this is a bit off topic...

What's the story with the B&W videotape from Woodstock that I've seen brief clips of over the years? Is any of it available legitimately?

 

On the Hendrix DVD there is an edit of his performance that uses a good deal of the black and white video footage. Provides an interesting alternate view. I haven't seen video footage of other performers there, but it makes sense that there could be.

 

also B&W video footage of the who's set, uhm, amazing journey, Sparks (more than the footage from the TKAA dvd), cant explain, i'm free, etc...

 

B&W Footage

From what I can tell there were 3 different sets of people shooting B&W Video at Woodstock. There was a crew of 2 guys that got the Who and a bit of the Saturday acts, I've seen a complete Janis Joplin performane but it seems to be shot by a different crew, maybe from the Fillmore?, and the guy who shot the Hendrix performance. Eddie Kramer said that the 8-track Tape Machine were the ones from the Fillmore, that he recorded Band of Gypsies, Ten Years After, ect. on.
We've been working on the 40th Anniversary DVD for the past 3 years. We've had a lot of problems with getting music clearances, some of the acts that you'd think would be easy to clear haven't been, others that should be difficult have been easy. I think everyone should be pleased, we found a lot of songs that have never been released. Right now there are about 3 hours of unreleased performances, plus interviews, footage of the fest. It looks and sounds amazing. Still a little grainy, but it's 16mm reversal film made for the evening news, not 2009 HD. I can't really talk about whats on it yet, but look for the release in June.

 

Compared to the Gastwirt remix you have got to be joking!
I've meet people with hearing aid's that can hear better than him.

 

Thanks for the info; this sounds fantastic! I hope there's a DVD in addition to the Blu-Ray.

 

I will be buying a player and getting into Blu Ray simply because of this release. Hope it is worth the hype

 

BRush, thanks for the update! That's exactly the sort of teaser I was hoping for. Fingers crossed for a summer release.

 

Remember chaps if the 'added' footage is multi-framed like the rest of the film you'll get more then an extra hour.

 

Just what the wife wants to hear.

 

I doubt the 2K scans will help. It was shot on 16mm and there's not too much quality there. Shot on high speed neg film for the evening shows that is very grainy when blown up large. Even the normal speed stock is fairly grainy when compared to what 'regular' movies are shot with - 35mm.

When I went to RIT in fall '69 one of the cinematographers came by to give a chat about the shooting of Woodstock. They used mainly Bolex cameras and various lenses, especially high speed lenses for the low light situations and high speed lenses rarely have great resolution or contrast, especially those used in the 60s when the art of lens coating and computer designed lenses were not yet available.

I have the directors cut on DVD and it looks fine and the sound is also quite good considering. I think the BR edition, unless more footage is included, will be a waste of money.

You can't make a silk purse from a cow's ear.

 

The best part about BR is the sound upgrade for a release with this type of film negatives.

One way of sidestepping grain is doing the split screen effect. Can you zoom in with BR machines?(I haven't taken the plunge yet)

 

Mea culpa. They may have used Arriflexes. Very long time ago.

"The best part about BR is the sound upgrade for a release with this type of film negatives."

I don't really know how much better sound they can pull from the tapes - certainly not enough to make a dramatic difference. Remember this wasn't a studio recording and the recording is what it is. I found a lot of poorly mic'd performances in Woodstock.

 

Well, the LD sounds way, way better with it's PCM sound than the DVD does with it's Dolby Digital lossless sound. I sold my LD (big mistake), then bought the DVD and had to dump it due to the sound. Picture was nice though. I currently don't have the movie at all.

 

The "Woodstock" feature will look a lot better in HD. The Panels in the Original Film are 2,3,4 generations down from the 16mm Neg. With all of the new ways to color correct, it's pretty amazing what has been pulled out of the panels.
The outtakes will be single panels, I can't go into details but there are over 20 songs, most never released before. And those that have been previously released, are now in full length versions and/or have never before seen footage in them. We've gone through every piece of film, found some amazing footage. The Cameramen at Woodstock were the best. To be honest some of the acts weren't very good: Sweetwater, Quill, Tim Hardin was out of it, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Bert Sommers, Melanie. But then again, some of the others were amazing. The biggest surprise for me was Canned Heat, Al Wilson and Larry Taylor were still in the band. I think it was Harvey Mandel's first gig. I think it was also John Till's first gig with Janis Joplin.