yah, probably the dumbest one yet! But, I gotta know:

What the heck is a Criterion?

My guess:

Costas collection of mutant winkies and smilies. A bunch of mutant criterions

Originally posted by Ivy yah, probably the dumbest one yet! But, I gotta know: What the heck is a Criterion?

Criterion is an independent company that licenses films, often more obscure titles, from movie studios and then releases the films, generally with quite a luxurious treatment. Back in the laserdisc days it was Criterion who gave birth to the Special Edition type discs we all know and love. Many of the SE discs being released by regular movie studios today rival, and sometimes exceed, what Criterion releases. Like I said, though, since Criterion mainly specialises in somewhat obscure titles their presence in the DVD market is still appreciated by many of us film lovers. Criterion does have a few titles that are more mainstream, Armageddon, The Rock, and Chasing Amy comes to mind. Generally it's hard for Criterion to get these types of licences though, as the studios themselves want to cash in on such big profile titles.

Anyhow, you can find out more about Criterion at these sites:


http://www.criteriondvd.com/
http://www.criterionco.com

The second site, criterionco.com, is the official site and is actually not very good. , the first site, criteriondvd.com, is much better and more informative.

If you have any other questions, just ask.

Ken Molen

Originally posted by Astrakan Criterion is an independent company that licenses films, often more obscure titles, from movie studios and then releases the films, generally with quite a luxurious treatment. Back in the laserdisc days it was Criterion who gave birth to the Special Edition type discs we all know and love. Many of the SE discs being released by regular movie studios today rival, and sometimes exceed, what Criterion releases. Like I said, though, since Criterion mainly specialises in somewhat obscure titles their presence in the DVD market is still appreciated by many of us film lovers. Criterion does have a few titles that are more mainstream, Armageddon, The Rock, and Chasing Amy comes to mind. Generally it's hard for Criterion to get these types of licences though, as the studios themselves want to cash in on such big profile titles. Anyhow, you can find out more about Criterion at these sites: http://www.criteriondvd.com/ http://www.criterionco.com The second site, criterionco.com, is the official site and is actually not very good. , the first site, criteriondvd.com, is much better and more informative. If you have any other questions, just ask. Ken Molen

Just to add to Ken's comments.

Criterion is also important for the exceptional restoration work they do for a number of classic films. The big studios will deliver their Special/Ultimate/Collector Editions of big films and recent releases, but it is companies like Criterion that are doing the real work of preserving our film heritage. Films like the Third Man would never get the treatment they deserve without Criterion.

Now that the DVD format is firmly established the directors and studios are often planning supplements for the DVD even before the theatrical release of a film. Criterion on the other hand has to go to extensive lengths to obtain many of the supplements they provide for older films, especially when individuals involved in the original production have passed away.

Criterion also produces the best commentary tracks. For many DVDs the commentary is produced by recording the participants live, while watching the film. Criterion will produce their commentaries by recording many individuals separately and then editing them together. This produces tight, interesting commentaries which don't get stale and lapse into silence. Silence of the Lambs with Jonathan Demme, Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Screenwriter Ted Tally, and FBI Agent John Douglas is one example.

Brian

Are the movies done in Criterion any better quality in picture and sound than the ones the studios produce?

Thank you, you both summed it up very nicely.

I'm under the impression that they are more high sought after by consumers and have an added resale value than most releases from the studios. And so it sounds, the Criterion releases would compare to what the industry calls a Special Edition but with evidently more effort and value escalating them into a class of their own.

This is cool ~ I love learning stuff

If you have any other questions, just ask

Ok and then. AFI: Is this the name of a company or an acronym?

Ok and then. AFI: Is this the name of a company or an acronym?

AFI = American Film Institute. I'm not too sure what they really do, but they've put up some top 100 movies ever made. This is different from the Accademy of Motion Pictures, which does the Oscar deal.

Originally posted by Wall Man AFI = American Film Institute. I'm not too sure what they really do, but they've put up some top 100 movies ever made. This is different from the Accademy of Motion Pictures, which does the Oscar deal.

Just to clarify, those lists are comprised of what AFI considers the top 100 American movies of all time (in various genres), they don't include any foreign (including Canadian) movies, and there's quite a few stellar examples of movie making that aren't American. So while the lists are interesting, they should be taken for what they are.

AFI began compiling these lists in 1998, when American film turned 100 years old. The first list (100 years, 100 movies) was what they considered the top films, period, from no particular genres. (A majority of the 100 great films are classifed as dramas. There are 11 comedies, eight musicals, nine war films, eight westerns, four science fiction films, four horror films, two animated films and four silent films on the list.)

Since then they've compiled some other lists as well; Top 100 Comedies (100 years, 100 laughs), top 100 thrillers (100 years, 100 thrills) , and top 100 movie stars (100 years, 100 stars).

As for what AFI does, besides compiling lists, they are an organization dedicated to "advancing and preserving the art of the moving image." They have training programs for emerging talent, preservation centers that help preserving film negatives and cataloguing information regarding American film, as well as award programs where they recognize various achievements (the top 100 lists are part of this).

You can read more about the institute at:

http://www.afionline.org/ (main page)
http://www.afionline.org/100movies/ (top 100 lists)

Ken Molen

Originally posted by scoobysnack Are the movies done in Criterion any better quality in picture and sound than the ones the studios produce?

Well, generally the titles Criterion releases are not released by any other major studio. There are exceptions, though, and The Rock is a good example. The version released by Buena Vista is non-anamorphic and the transfer's only so-so, while the version released by Criterion is anamorphic with a top-notch transfer and also with a whole slew of extras (the Buena Vista version is bare bones). As far as sound's concerned, the Buena Vista disc only has Dolby Digital 5.1, while the Criterion release has both DD and DTS.

Speaking of anamorphic, while it's very unfortunate that Criterion didn't get into anamorphic transfers right from the start with their DVD releases, all new releases will have anamorphic transfers. For a list of all anamorphic Criterion releases, refer to this site:

http://www.criteriondvd.com/anamorphic.asp

Ken Molen

my gawd! You're an over-flowing fountain of knowledge!
Thank you, it sounds like you know your movies

Okay, now that I know what Criterion is, what's Anamorphic?

Originally posted by MikeNet Okay, now that I know what Criterion is, what's Anamorphic?

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/artic...phic/index.html

Originally posted by CigarsAndPars http://www.thedigitalbits.com/artic...phic/index.html

Yes, that's an excellent article. Also, you can refer to the GFL thread titled Non-anamorphic on a 16x9 set? , for further discussion on anamorphic DVDs.

Quick and dirty explanation:

Non-anamorphic DVDs have the black bars* encoded into the actual picture signal. Anamorphic DVDs do not, and the DVD player inserts these black bars before displaying the DVD on your television. Because of this, when you view a non-anamorphic DVD on a widescreen set, grey bars are inserted on the sides to keep the aspect ratio correct, while anamorphic DVDs can be displayed with the least amount of black bars, and no grey side bars.

*black bars = the black bars you see when you view widescreen movies on a standard 4x3 TV

For an example of what non-anamorphic and anamorphic DVDs look like on widescreen and 4x3 televisions, you can visit the below links:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/anamorphic185demo.html
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/anamorphic235demo.html

Disclaimer: The above is a quick and dirty explanation of what anamorphic/enhanced for 16x9 TVs/enhanced for widescreen will mean to a casual viewer. I did not attempt to explain the subject in full, as I would probably botch it up and the article in the link above does a much better job.

Ken Molen

Originally posted by Astrakan Yes, that's an excellent article.

I have nothing to do with it, of course, but I will take the credit for it, anyway