Marvin

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Marvin
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  • 'F1' could be the last Apple TV+ theatrical release

    MarvinMarvin
    sflagel said:
    I don't know why but movies produced by streaming companies just don’t have “it”. And that is especially visible in movies that were produced by studios after the studio became part of a streaming service. 
    Streaming content comes across as very formulaic, possibly a result of trying to avoid too much risk in the face of increasing budgets and competition. The end result is like a clipart version of a movie. Movies like Heart of Stone and Red Notice from Netflix are examples:


    It's like they have a list of scenes that have looked cool in old movies and they stitch them together. They have very generic titles and plotlines and are instantly forgettable.

    It's not the streaming medium to blame entirely. Game of Thrones on HBO set a high bar for streaming content. There's just too high a volume of low quality productions.

    It used to be that straight-to-DVD movies got very little marketing and now they make up the bulk of movies being promoted.

    Making good, original content is difficult and there's often a long timeline. The Game of Thrones books were started in 1991, 20 years before the TV show.

    As time goes on, new writers have an ever-growing 'Simpsons-did-it' problem, where they have to find scenarios and dialog that haven't already been done to exhaustion. Action comedy, wild west, space sci-fi, espionage, romantic comedy, war, animation, mafia/gangs, etc have all been saturated.

    There is something that has been lost in recent years, this is clear to see from movie lists:


    2010 onwards is missing iconic movies:

    Back to the Future, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Lord of the Rings, Aliens, Star Wars, James Bond, Indiana Jones are iconic franchises and this kind of content is getting rarer.

    Those old movies had very clear, unique and interesting storylines and they have impactful events throughout the movies. These days, it's long drawn-out storylines, sequels/reboots, generic themes and even the best content each year is poor quality compared to the older iconic movies.


    I hope this will correct itself but it looks like a downward trend.

    Another trend seems to be fewer consistently good directors. Where are this generation's Spielberg, Cameron, George Lucas, Scorsese, Peter Jackson, Tarantino, Abrams, Kubrick, Nolan:


    There are some lists online with suggestions but nobody in them stands out:


    Good writers, directors and actors are what make good movies, these skills need to be passed down from one generation to the next. It's been a while since there was a must-see movie, people don't share or talk about trailers for new movies like they used to.
    watto_cobra

  • If you're having problems with USB on macOS Sequoia, you're not alone

    MarvinMarvin
    I have had an issue for quite some time, possibly since Ventura, where the dialog asking me to allow the USB device to connect disappearing within a fraction of a second. I miss the dialog altogether. My workaround has been to unplug the device and plug it in again, repeatedly in necessary, until I can okay it. From then on I don’t have a problem with the device.
    The confirm dialog disappearing so fast is really badly designed, I don't know how that got past testing. There's a preference in System Settings to avoid manual approval of new devices:

    https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/allow-accessories-to-connect-mchlf779ae93/mac

    Another fix that can sometimes work for drives not mounting is force quitting the diskarbitrationd process and plugging the drive in again.
    Alex1Ndope_ahminemuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra

  • Apple focusing on lower resolution screens to make a more affordable Apple Vision Pro

    MarvinMarvin
    Apple’s screens are already lower res than the Quest 3 (but have better darker blacks).
    Quest 3 is ~2K, Vision Pro is nearer 4K:

    https://vr-compare.com/compare?h1=0q3goALzg&h2=8aL1JxO3T

    Apple used the best that was available but it comes with higher manufacturing cost and lower production capacity.

    I expect that whatever they put into production will offer good enough quality and it would be nice if they made similar compromises in other areas. A 27-32" 4K laminated glossy OLED display would be good enough for a lot of people, even if it wasn't strictly retina quality. It would still be better quality than what everyone else is offering.
    watto_cobrabyronl

  • Meta's Orion preview shines a light on Apple's spatial computing future

    MarvinMarvin
    y2an said:
    ‘Holographic’ here might refer to the glass having an embedded hologram of a mirror which with the right geometry provides high levels of reflection for a rear projected off-axis display, something which can’t be done with half-silvered glass. Although I’ve only seen this monochromatically, I would guess the technology has advanced to colour. 
    The description here says they use small projectors in the legs that point into the waveguide lenses:

    https://mashable.com/article/meta-ar-glasses-reveal

    The videos below describe the technology, they mention they are working with some of the big companies like Meta:





    The main issue with these is image quality because it's semi-transparent. It would be good if they could put a blocking lens on the outer layer like some kind of OLED or e-ink display that physically blocks light behind the virtual content so that it doesn't need to be so bright to counter the light coming into the lens. When it projects a movie, it can block just the rectangle behind the movie but leave the rest of the view clear.

    Fully opaque content is the main advantage of VR and passthrough AR. That was one of Apple's marketing lines for Vision Pro - it seamlessy blends the real world and the digital world. If this technology can get fully opaque then it would be a good way to go but semi-transparent is no good, it's too hard to read text, too distracting, no good for movies or photos, no good for immersion (no immersive environments).
    williamlondonjas99watto_cobrabyronl

  • Zombie film '28 Years Later' was shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max

    MarvinMarvin
    m4m40 said:
    I’d expect new movies to be shot in a format that’s compatible with 8k or better. iPhone.. really ??? 
    While movie cameras are still way better for filming big budget movies, the iPhone 15 is a big step up in quality over the original 28 Days Later. That footage was terrible:



    Canon XL-1 is 480p, standard definition.

    iPhone 15 Pro Max can produce some very nice looking results with ProRes Log format:





    Here there's a comparison to an expensive movie camera, 5:30:



    The softer footage of the expensive camera can come from the lenses used, that's just a bare iPhone. The iPhone has a big advantage with stabilization as it has an accelerometer. It's much lighter for holding when filming close shots like right in an actor's face without bumping into the actor. The iPhone can also film stereo/spatial video, can be attached to a drone for aerial shots and is water resistant.

    Apple's own TV shows and movies use Arri Alexa cameras:
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13287846/technical/
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804484/technical/

    There's no question expensive movie cameras offer better overall image quality, bigger sensors, better resolution, colors, light levels but footage from modern iPhones rivals lower-end film cameras. All that matters is the final result.
    lolliverwatto_cobra