BFI Flipside (Blu-ray)

[Alan]

1) Is it just the BD that is affected? Was the BFI Southbank event Snootiest Snooze attended a proper hard-drive and server digital projection, as I presumed it was, or did they just stick on the BD? If the former, then it suggests the master copy is at fault.

That wouldn't explain this 1:1 ratio problem which was evident at the BFI screening, as unless I'm going completely barmy, there was no evidence of that issue on the BD.

2) Why didn't Beaver notice this fault? Was Alan sent a dodgy copy and Beaver an ok one, or did the Beaver reviewer just watch happily unaware

I wondered this too. I can't see that there would be different copies at this stage, however.

[Andrew F]

This review mentions the sound-synch fault, but plays it down.

Can't decide what to do now. Do I order, or hold out to see if there's a corrected version? Hmm...

[Alan]

I'd hold out, to be honest, or certainly would have if I'd known up front.

[Ross Gowland]

A guy on another forum I visit wrote:

Some scenes look very slightly out of sync (ie. a frame) but then some scenes look absolutely bang-on - so it's almost certainly how the original film played. In my experience, I'd say this represents the vagaries of post-dubbing and isn't anything that could be easily fixed (nor should it be, if this is how it played originally!)

This guy is in charge of the Masters of Cinema range of DVDs, but whether that gives him an additional insight into this BFI release is open to debate. A guy who actually works for the BFI and who wrote the essay for the booklet accompanying The Bed-Sitting Room often posts on the same message board but has remained silent on this issue thus far. If that changes, I'll repost his comments, or the gist of them, here.

From the DVD Times review Andrew linked to:

...but I did notice around the 36-minute mark that mouths and voices weren't properly matched up for a few minutes.

If you're reading this, Snootiest Snooze, is this around the same moment when the synch played up at the BFI Southbank screening?

And if anyone has the DVD version, does the same thing happen?

[Alan]

Masters of Cinema chap on another forum:
In my experience, I'd say this represents the vagaries of post-dubbing and isn't anything that could be easily fixed (nor should it be, if this is how it played originally!)

It's the whole soundtrack that's out of sync including spot effects, not just post-synced dialogue. Whether it was like it originally is immaterial. It should be fixed - and would certainly not have been intentional. I doubt it would be difficult to fix, either. The RT do it for Doctor Who DVDs - I'd expect the same level of effort from the BFI, particularly for HD, where these issues are all the more obvious.

[Ross Gowland]

So in answer to my own question, no, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I agree that just because something was faulty on the release prints doesn't make it canon and something that shouldn't be corrected. Sod purism, I want it right.

I'll pass on this release, which is a shame as I was looking forward to it. If they don't correct it, and it doesn't look likely, I'd return it for a refund if I were you.

Can't believe Beaver never spotted this. I shall certainly be more wary of their appraisals in future.

[Alan]

To clarify my most recent post, I mean "the whole soundtrack" in terms of all the elements of the soundtrack at the points at which the sync has drifted - not that the soundtrack of the whole film is out. Just that when it's out of sync, it's not just the dialogue.

It certainly makes me wary of the BFI's quality control.

[John Hodson]

Blimey; this is odd. I received my BD copy today, just watched it through and thoroughly enjoyed it...not least because there were no lip-synch problems whatsoever. None.

[Alan]

Now, that is strange. Pleased to hear it in a way, but a little perplexed. Player related? Mine's a Panasonic BD55. As I said earlier, normally rock solid in-sync.

[John Hodson]

Samsung BD-P1500 connected (and I think this may be fundamental, but I'm still guessing) via optical to my Yamaha DSP-A1 amp.

[John Hodson]

Hm, I assumed that the digital print would be the same one used for the DVD/BD. Apologies.

The Flipside men are pretty poor interviewers (what do they actually do, anyway?), but luckily Lester is witty and has amazing recall, so was able to interview himself. Poor old Rita Tushingham - they had no idea what to ask her.

Why didn't Lester record a commentary? "I wasn't asked", he said after the event...

Over at the DVD Times review page, Michael Brooke has commented:

"Just to answer Clydefro's point about it being nice if Richard Lester had contributed a more recent interview - well, he was approached, but he opted not to be involved in the production of the DVD and Blu-ray. In fact, it's a pleasant surprise that he's doing so much to help promote it - and a relief for me, as the anecdotes in the booklet that I sourced from 40-year-old interviews seem to match what he's been saying!"

[Ross Gowland]

Curioser and curioser...

Re: Sound. Lester often had actors revoice new lines and had a very Italian attitude to lipsynch ie. he wasn't that bothered with it. In Ronnie Barker's autobiography he relates a tale of storming out of a Robin and Marian looping session as Lester wanted him to add an extra line when the Barker on-screen was clearly not speaking. Barker thought it would look amateurish and refused to comply. Maybe the out of synch sound on most people's set-up is explained by this. I know Alan's pretty knowledgeable about the technical side of DVDs/BDs and would know the difference between crap looping and an encoding error. For one thing he said the sound effects were also affected, so could it be that a player-related glitch caused a permanant fault throughout that is peculiar to his make of player?

But of course that doesn't explain why John had perfect synch thoughout. My. Brain. Hurts.

Re: Lester's participation/non-participation. He refused to get involved with the BFI DVD/BD but gave a radio interview on the film and attending a BFI screening where he said he wasn't asked to get involved with the BD/DVD?

Sounds like the lines of communication between the two parties got crossed somewhere along the line.

[John Hodson]

I'm going to give it another watch very soon, just to make sure I'm not seeing / hearing things. Well, not not seeing / hearing things...

[John Williams]

Just to say that I've worked with Michael Brooke when he was standing in for my commissioning editor and he was always a very reliable and sound chap in my experience. So something has clearly gone a bit weird here.

[Alan]

Samsung BD-P1500 connected (and I think this may be fundamental, but I'm still guessing) via optical to my Yamaha DSP-A1 amp.

Mine's via a Pioneer VSX-LX70 amp, HDMI to the amp, then to the plasma. So sound and vision should be together all the way (in other words, the vision isn't going direct to the TV).