I just looked at the screen captures by the Beaver and to me it looks correct I haven't seen the film, at the cinema I missed it. Also having only read about it in-70mm http://www.in70mm.com/news/2008/brainst ... /index.htm

The image looks like how it should be W/S centred to the middle of the frame and keeping the height of the frame while those wild wide POV brainstorm shots expand outwards unlike the Laserdisc AC-3 pressing I have where its all done on the vertical and crushes the impact of the film, slightly.

I read that there was another Laserdisc pressing that kept the W/S centred so is it the same style as the Bluray ether way its down for a buy it now as soon as I can find one.

I wonder if the surrounds are original monaural as doubt it was mixed with split-surrounds only few handful 70mm Dolby titles were mixed with the split-surround process and discrete surround is still miles better over matrix.

Also the Beaver confirms its Region Free.


http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

http://www.in70mm.com/news/2008/brainstorm/index.htm


Edit:

Just brought it off eBay free postal.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLU-RAY-BRAIN ... _975wt_698

Full page to other sales international sales in the USA.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... Categories

Brainstorm, just arrived I’ll run a Dolby test tones to make sure all is well then see if this, bluray to see if its worthy?

I liked it with keeping W/S centred and Brainstorm POV shots expanding outwards why can't all bluray be like this.

The surrounds sound like mono using centre rear back switched ON as not much happening on the sidewall surrounds expect a few scenes like chapter 7, with mild panning shifting side to side only the score is locked to the centre back on the surrounds hence the music for the surrounds is mono or centred phantom on the surrounds. I kept it switched on EX mode ON to keep the occasional mono dialouge panning at the opening of the film, located behind.

LFE.1 seems fairly active on parts of James Horner score.

I've known for a few years the projector crops off tiny bit of sides (over-scanned) by a couple of %I can see on some wider fish eye lens shots the slight curve of the lens.

Dropped in the Laserdisc version that I transferred to DVD-RW, yes I still have the Dolby AC-3 version.



Got get a better camera the Fujifilm A160 is hopeless under dark conditions with too high contrast it goes all mucky.

Switched the projector OFF now for the day and looking at the film, again now that is small picture and I very rarely use the projector for myself.





The main menu has a James Horner score playing with slight distortion playing the end credits for a brief couple of seconds then loops over again.

The trailer is in the not framed in the same way as I've seen a rare one on youtube, still the trailer has more of the same colour look looks richer with hint of soft grain. Trailer sound is mono best used with Dolby pro-logic to centre it. Its got some nice mild low towards the end. Not sure if the film had any DNR applied? I saw no signs of EE on it. WOW I can play the trailer all day.

Leo the lion starts off very quiet so don't be tempted to play it loud as the soundtrack will gradually increase as the music starts of faint and gets louder and louder then goes softer with dialouge panned Lillian to stage left and Michael to stage right dialouge soon goes to centre on the W/S shot.

Opening has deep LFE.1 rumble track that covers down to 25Hz mildly with peaks around 40 and 50Hz on the Spectrum Lab.

Chapter 15 where Brace hooks into the tape at 01:01:04 reaches down to 20Hz which is mild higher peaks around 30 to 50Hz.

Same scene looking at one the stage channels left shows a range down to 35Hz and up though the rest of the spectrum during the heart-beating effect.

Brainstorm was originally planned to have all the Brainstorm sequences shot in the 70mm, 60 frames per second Showscan process. MGM wouldn't give Trumbull the money needed for that since theaters would need their 70mm projectors massively modified or replaced to run the Showscan footage. It would have been an amazing experience as a film if Showscan had been used - I saw a Chevy commercial shot and projected in Showscan and a short film and they were the most realistic films I have ever experienced, even beating out 3D. The Showscan process was also used in one sequence of Secrets Of Luxor at the Luxor casino - a live actor interacted with actors on the Showscan screen and you could not tell the the person on screen was not really there. It didn't even use 3D - the screen and live actor were placed far enough away that our 3D vision breaks down - but it didn't matter because it was totally realistic.

Movies would have been completely transformed had the Showscan process been adopted. The 48 frame per second IMAX system and the 48 FPS speed for standard movies is a step towards greater realism - the current 24 Frame per second standard is just too slow for realistic detail and motion portrayal.

I know of this I've had Cinefex magazine since early 80's collecting back issues from comic stores and have the issue "getting the cookie at the end"

I like the voice-over "the west end now!" look it up it played at Empire Leicester Square screen1
http://www.in70mm.com/library/70mm_in/e ... /index.htm

Brainstorm (1983) UK TV Spot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fJrtlU6FQk

This trailer featured with W/S centred, scope shots expanding outwards
Brainstorm trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCc69jg9 ... re=related

I can't believe I missed that issue of Cinefex as I always sought it out for interesting films like Brainstorm. Does it have a lot of info about Shaowscan? Sadly, the Showscan process was killed by Trumbull's selling the system to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Tyme Theaters - only a few were installed in Chuckies and when they went belly up, so did the process. It also made the industry look at it as a gimmick system since it was owned and installed in kids pizza joints.

Back in 1998 when I was a projection manager at the Century Rio 24 in Albuquerque, we received press kits for the Todd-AO/UA Theaters 3-perf, 24/48 Fps system - one projector was to be converted to run the format as a test run and, for films at 24fps, they would only come on one large reel - the 1.85 image would be the same size on the print, there just wouldn't be any wasted black or non-projected area like current 1.85. New Scope lenses would be needed for Scope films though since the compression ratio would be different. Nothing ever came of it, however, and we never heard about it again.

Well your in luck today eBay has one for (buy it now) £9.99 Postage:Free - Standard Delivery
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CINEFEX-NUMBE ... _500wt_949

Is there an article in there about the Showscan process itself? How much does it talk about Showscan, and does it discuss how the film was altered to deal with Natalie Woods death?

Just think, if RCA had been successful, SelectaVision Holotape would have become a consumer product and we'd have a home video format that used clear plastic tape that read embossed holograms with laserbeams, much like the Brainstorm system! RCA DID demo Holotape, although the sound had to be simulated. I have an issue of an internal RCA magazine that details Holotape and shows a picture of a prerecorded tape - its amazing looking, almost like a standard play LaserDisc's patterns on a strip of Saran Wrap tape.

It’s been years since I read it, but it does mention about Showscan in brief and some nice production pictures and still pictures from the film itself. I keep all my CineFex in plastic clear sleeves.

That sounds like an incredible cinematic experience! It's a shame MGM didn't support Trumbull's vision for Brainstorm with the Showscan process, but your description of the Chevy commercial and Secrets of Luxor sequence highlights the immense potential of that technology. Thanks for sharing your insights!

The London "ABBA Voyage" show has a similar effect:

"The lifelike look and feel of the avatars is also in part thanks to the concert’s vast LED screen, made by ROE Visual, which utilises 65.3million 2mm pixels in total, and runs at 50 frames a second – thus using 3.2 billion pixels per second."

Certainly seen head-on I found it utterly 'convincing'.