In a fitting annex to my earlier post on the joys of HD video, it's just been announced that Steven Spielberg's splendid "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is to be released on DVD on November 13. It's hard to believe, but that's just four days short of the 30th anniversary of the movie's debut in cinemas. Why they couldn't wait the four days and gain extra PR is a good question.
The movie will be released in two formats: Regular DVD, and Blu-Ray. There's no mention of a VHS version, or any plans for one...which is a notable sign of the times, and a story all by itself.
The huge new opportunities offered by the HD version will be well used – the Blue-Ray, or 'BD' disk, will include an interview with Steven, a specially made documentary, exclusive storyboard comparisons and the "Watch the Skies" featurette from the 1977 cinema release.
The real news, however, is a BD exclusive feature called, 'seamless branching.' A Blu-Ray disk has five times the capacity of a standard DVD, so that release will contain all three versions of the film on a single disk. But most of the scenes are identical, so to avoid wasting space the viewer will be presented with a menu and choose which one to watch. The disk will then blend that version's unique scenes with the standard scenes which are stored only once. The result is a perfect rendition, with all the scenes flowing together as if it were a single recording. You'd have to be a hopeless movie addict and a card-carrying geek to find any interest in such technological minutiae, but trust me - that's genius!
The original 1977 version has never been released on video. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Director, and won one for the luxuriant cinematography. The Academy also gave Frank Warner a 'Special Achievement Award' for sound editing. And now we'll be able to enjoy the results to a degree that has never been possible before. Personally, I'm counting the days.
Blu-Ray is a exponential advance in video and offers film-makers and studios a range of possibilities that would have been beyond comprehension only a decade ago. For a movie of this caliber to be available in the radiant new medium so soon after its debut is enough to render any true film buff almost incoherent from drooling. And the prospect of what other cinematic milestones could join 'Encounters' in the catalog merely worsens the malady. I don't possess an anorak and I have no plans to explore the joys of sleeping outside Blockbuster to snag the very first copy, but you can bet I'll have this disk on pre-order. If you want to see Mr. Spielberg at his creative and escapist zenith, I suggest you do likewise.
The movie will be released in two formats: Regular DVD, and Blu-Ray. There's no mention of a VHS version, or any plans for one...which is a notable sign of the times, and a story all by itself.
The huge new opportunities offered by the HD version will be well used – the Blue-Ray, or 'BD' disk, will include an interview with Steven, a specially made documentary, exclusive storyboard comparisons and the "Watch the Skies" featurette from the 1977 cinema release.
The real news, however, is a BD exclusive feature called, 'seamless branching.' A Blu-Ray disk has five times the capacity of a standard DVD, so that release will contain all three versions of the film on a single disk. But most of the scenes are identical, so to avoid wasting space the viewer will be presented with a menu and choose which one to watch. The disk will then blend that version's unique scenes with the standard scenes which are stored only once. The result is a perfect rendition, with all the scenes flowing together as if it were a single recording. You'd have to be a hopeless movie addict and a card-carrying geek to find any interest in such technological minutiae, but trust me - that's genius!
The original 1977 version has never been released on video. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Director, and won one for the luxuriant cinematography. The Academy also gave Frank Warner a 'Special Achievement Award' for sound editing. And now we'll be able to enjoy the results to a degree that has never been possible before. Personally, I'm counting the days.
Blu-Ray is a exponential advance in video and offers film-makers and studios a range of possibilities that would have been beyond comprehension only a decade ago. For a movie of this caliber to be available in the radiant new medium so soon after its debut is enough to render any true film buff almost incoherent from drooling. And the prospect of what other cinematic milestones could join 'Encounters' in the catalog merely worsens the malady. I don't possess an anorak and I have no plans to explore the joys of sleeping outside Blockbuster to snag the very first copy, but you can bet I'll have this disk on pre-order. If you want to see Mr. Spielberg at his creative and escapist zenith, I suggest you do likewise.
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