Disney's Vault

Does anyone know the reasoning behind it or it's history? Does it boost sales when things are re-released or released only for a limited time? Or is it just a lame gimmick? Personally I just don't get it.

I'm not business mogul, but if demand for a product is out there, why keep it from the people?

I very much appreciate Disney's attention to preservation. Sure they make A LOT of money because of it but that's not the only reason (at least for everybody besides Micheal Eisner). It would be a crying shame to have seen classics like Bambi, Snow White, Fantasia and Pinnochio suffer the same fate as some other great movies like Taxi Driver and The Deer Hunter.

Granted I imagine it's much easier to preserve animated classics than it was to do the same with real filmstock, but it's still a testimate to Disney's attention to detail. You can see it in their theme parks and in every square inch of their films and products.

John,

Only the Shadow knows.

Eddie

Hey, you asked.

And does Eddie ever go to school, go to work, or go to sleep? I think he lives on the Message Board.

John

Nice Eddie:). I was about to write something similar..JOhn just sounds like Disney's Marketing manager:)

John,

Disney appreciates the shilling. :D

Eddie

Disney inaugurated the tradition of putting a product into limited release, and it has been one of the most successful marketing strategies ever devised. They began by re-releasing their animated features every few years, thereby enchanting a whole new generation of youngsters as time went by. I first saw "Snow White" in the fifties, in re-release. Most other studios just shelved their product; some even threw it away!

In the video age, Disney applied the same strategy to tapes and discs. Creating a demand is the first sure way of selling a product. Consumers may balk and think it's unfair, but companies are in business to make money. Disney has made a lot of money this way.

Incidentally, Disney was also one of the first studios to keep all of its back product in sealed, airtight vaults (literal vaults) to preserve their color and film stock. And today they use the best restoration techniques to keep the old prints up-to-par. I sound like a Disney rep, but I appreciate all they've done to keep "Snow White" and "Pinocchio" and the rest of their classics pristine and in demand.

John

I have always despised Disney's marketing strategies. They will unecessary create demand by saying - "only for limited time". How come all most of their DVD movies are only for limited time?
--Ranjan

The same thing applies, S_Coaster--an animated movie drawn on film has 5K resolution, so a 5K transfer to video would reveal more of the movie than a 1K or SD transfer. The problem is that the drawings themselves won't look good because the quality just isn't there. Therefore, 1K and higher transfers of animated movies might actually look worse than SD DVDs because you see more faults! This happened with the movies released in IMAX, with the animators having to add detail to "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", and "Aladdin" because the huge format revealed a lack of fine detail in many places. In other words, a lot of the drawings looked too simple.

By the way, digital-to-digital isn't necessarily the best. It depends on the source. "A Bug's Life" was not rendered at more than 3K, so in the future, "A Bug's Life" will actually look worse than a lot of movies originallly shot on film.

A Bug's life was the first time all-digital transfer right?

What about cartoons like lionking and aladdin, how much of a difference one will be able to observe in HD? Mostly ALL Cartoons in DVD SD Are looking great with vibrant colors etc etc.

John,

You're right--an animated movie shot on film suffers from the same dangers as any other movie shot on film.

Eddie

"Granted I imagine it's much easier to preserve animated classics than it was to do the same with real filmstock..." --lucboone

I dunno. I think animated work on film suffers the same degeneration as live-action on film. The old film stock deteriorates, colors fade, dirt and dust accumulate, and the image suffers.

John

Well, if the animated movie was drawn on 5k film, then it was fine in the theater, how much worse can it be @ 1080?

Which Format was decided for HD-DVD Encoding after all? VC-9 (Microsoft) or any other?

S_Coaster,

Because video is a sharper format than film, it tends to be hard and unforgiving on film-based elements. You see "flaws" that might go unnoticed on film. For example, on video, you can often see stunt wires in old Charlie Chaplin/Buster Keaton/Harold Lloyd movies. However, on film, grain and softness hide the wires.

Eddie

Both formats support the new MPEG-4 codec (H.264) and the Windows Media 9 format.

It is up to the content providers to decide what they prefer.

so studios will choose one format right?
we wont have players supporting both because discs will contain both?

Euh, wouldn't it be easier to have hardware rather than software supporting both formats? If you included both forms of encoding, then you'd run out of disc space pretty quickly since you'll have to record the same movie twice!!!