Glad to see you guys are still interested in what we're up to! Here's a quick rundown of what's been going on with this project.
Back in October, about a week after I posted that we were back in business blog-wise, I went to log in and I got an error message saying that my account had been temporarily suspended, again. I sent Google a cease-and-desist email which was followed by a canned response on their end to the effect of "we're reviewing your blog as it has been cited repeatedly for copyright infringement." So I followed up with the info regarding their previous block and the legal threats that they faced. Nothing.
I checked up again on New Year's Day to see if I could get back in, but I was still blocked. So I said "screw it" and went back to work on our latest endeavor (more on that soon). Today I try to log in and boom- here I am. I'm thinking about moving the content of this blog to a personal site or something to keep this from happening again.
If any of you Godfather fans were lucky enough to experience the Columbus Ohio screenings of Godfather II in 70mm last year- you're welcome! I was actually expecting more of a turnout for such an unprecedented experience, but what the hell, we were up against Age of Ultron and other summer fare. I was contacted by an affiliate of the Gateway Cinema who had a 90% complete 70mm copy of Part II and was looking to complete the reels. I was able to provide about 3% more footage from my own 70mm clips. The remaining 7% of footage was from my existing 35mm print reels which were blown up to 70mm by the awesome crew at the Wexner Center for Performing Arts at OSU.
The first showing attracted all of 12 patrons. The second was a little better at 38. I had to fly back home but I'm told throughout the rest of the week the attendance picked up a bit. I know the tickets were a bit high at 18.00, but how much does the typical IMAX ticket cost? And you're getting to see possibly the greatest film of all time in an aspect ratio that you'll never see replicated again at home or in any other theatrical screening, in giant 70mm FILM on a Cinemascope screen? Geez, and I thought I was jaded.
Anyway....
Yes, we're aware of the HBO screening. I have a copy of it and am in the process of reviewing it. Any scenes or trims that aren't in our present cut will of course end up in the final project. Aside from the 70mm project that ate up most of my time last year, I've also been helping out on the Star Wars restoration which you can read about here.
The main bugs that have been slowing down the Godfather project have been in the audio department. I'm not a soundman so I don't have much input in that area, and the team member that was remixing everything into Headphone X leads a pretty busy life and isn't hitting any deadlines, so for that I apologize.
More updates to come...
