Picture quality etc


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Johan Melle
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Picture quality etc

Post by Johan Melle » 02/07/2021, 19:26

FatmanDan wrote:
01/07/2021, 22:53
Didn't want to post anymore...
I want to address this, but I don't think the error reporting topic in which this was originally posted is the place for it, so I'm opening this topic in our Blue Bar.

Look... I don't anyone to not feel welcome, or to feel that they cannot post. That has never been my intention. I want everyone to feel welcome, and I'm sorry if my earlier statement in the chatbox about picture quality came across as unfriendly. I'm sure I could have found a better way to express it. In fairness, I have tried to raise this issue multiple times, but it has largely felt like talking to a rock.

As Nick has expressed much better than me, we aim to try to make the topics aesthetically pleasing to look at, and try to use the best-looking versions available for pics, and my honest opinion is that topics filled with page after page of soft, grubby-looking low-resolution pictures are frankly not very appealing to look at. Same goes for Youtube timers covering much of the pics, huge blacks bars, hand-drawn darts to point out actors etc. I say this as a general observation, and it is most definitely not aimed at any one single person (as I said, I've tried to raise this issue several times in the past). I know that many films are not available in good versions. No problem with that. What I do find somewhat problematic is that very often when a topic is started, it seems to set off a race to find and post the remaining roles as quickly as possible, and typically from sources that leave quite a bit to be desired as far as quality is concerned. I just don't understand this rush. I mean, the topics are there and not going anywhere. If one can only find poor prints that may not even include the credits, then why not just leave it for now? Maybe someone else has a better print, or maybe one will turn up soon? I find some of the recent stuntman topics such a mess that I simply don't feel much, if any, motivation to post in them.

I should point out that this isn't official site policy. It's just my very personal opinion, and it's not intended to hurt or upset anyone. I just care about this place and want it to look the best it can. That's all.

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carlos
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Re: Picture quality etc

Post by carlos » 02/07/2021, 21:16

;)
Johan Melle wrote:
02/07/2021, 19:26
I know that many films are not available in good versions. No problem with that. What I do find somewhat problematic is that very often when a topic is started, it seems to set off a race to find and post the remaining roles as quickly as possible, and typically from sources that leave quite a bit to be desired as far as quality is concerned. I just don't understand this rush. I mean, the topics are there and not going anywhere. If one can only find poor prints that may not even include the credits, then why not just leave it for now? Maybe someone else has a better print, or maybe one will turn up soon?
I think especially with known actors with known roles there should be no rush. If the role is on some site on the internet then it is probably known ;)
Of course unknown roles for generici or little-known actors that are found should be posted when they are discovered so those will not be forgotten.
Johan Melle wrote:
02/07/2021, 19:26
I find some of the recent stuntman topics such a mess that I simply don't feel much, if any, motivation to post in them.
I feel your pain :)

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Re: Picture quality etc

Post by PeplumParadise » 02/07/2021, 21:59

Some suggestions on what people can do to improve image quality.

1. Look for the availability of good quality copies of films. You Tube should be a last resort rather than the first place to look as copies posted there are invariably inferior. Any title that has had a blu-ray release somewhere in the world should be fairly easy to find good quality copies of. There are a number of websites where blu-ray rips, HD TV rips and good quality DVD rips can be downloaded from (see our old "Free Movies Online" topic for some links viewtopic.php?f=3&t=314). Some are free, others you do have to pay a small fee for high speed downloads, but then for a months subscription you can download thousands of titles, so build up a list beforehand.

2. If you don't find a good quality copy of a film do a search to see if others have previously posted images from that film. If they have and the images were good quality then ask the person who posted the images if they would mind searching the film on your behalf or else direct you to where a good quality copy can be found. They may not drop what they are doing and search that very minute, but most of us here are happy to do this and will usually get back to you within a day or two.

3. Familiarise yourself with the photo editing app on your computer, or if it does not have one built in there are plenty that can be downloaded for free (check which ones are recommended for your specific computer). Spend a few days practicing editing images.
Basic functions of photo editing apps include:-
Cropping (to remove black borders)
Adjusting contrast and tone (many images are darker or lighter than the film makers intended, even those taken from blu-rays, and using auto balance or manual correction can correct this)
Re-sizing (very small images can be enlarged, but not by too much or you lose picture quality)
Adjusting aspect ratio (if the people in your images look squashed up or stretched you can adjust this by stretching or tightening the images) - remember to adjust the aspect ratio when watching the films if necessary as this problem can usually be avoided at the outset.

Finally if there is anything you are unsure about then ask others here if they can help. If we can we will.

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Johan Melle
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Re: Picture quality etc

Post by Johan Melle » 03/07/2021, 22:10

carlos wrote:
02/07/2021, 21:16
I think especially with known actors with known roles there should be no rush. If the role is on some site on the internet then it is probably known ;)
Of course unknown roles for generici or little-known actors that are found should be posted when they are discovered so those will not be forgotten.
That's a good point! I completely agree.

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van den bremt rudy
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Update reminder

Post by van den bremt rudy » 09/11/2022, 12:53

Question fo Emiliano

I asked NIck first, for an opinion about the topic "Leading Ladies'.
Is it better to wait for the whole movie to put pictures of the actress in the topic ? or is it also useful to put a poster credit and if a credit without a picture from a clip/trailer of that movie ?
Nick tought it is maybe good to put poster credit or credit if the movie is obscure or difficult to find (see filmo to check) and if necessary to ask forum users if they have the movie.
I will wait for your reply, thanks.

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Update reminder

Post by PeplumParadise » 09/11/2022, 12:59

van den bremt rudy wrote:
09/11/2022, 12:53
Question fo Emiliano

I asked NIck first, for an opinion about the topic "Leading Ladies'.
Is it better to wait for the whole movie to put pictures of the actress in the topic ? or is it also useful to put a poster credit and if a credit without a picture from a clip/trailer of that movie ?
Nick tought it is maybe good to put poster credit or credit if the movie is obscure or difficult to find (see filmo to check) and if necessary to ask forum users if they have the movie.
I will wait for your reply, thanks.
It's worth remembering that a film being in the list to check does not necessarily mean that film is hard to find, it just means that no-one has checked it yet

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Johan Melle
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Update reminder

Post by Johan Melle » 09/11/2022, 19:15

van den bremt rudy wrote:
09/11/2022, 12:53
Question fo Emiliano

I asked NIck first, for an opinion about the topic "Leading Ladies'.
Is it better to wait for the whole movie to put pictures of the actress in the topic ? or is it also useful to put a poster credit and if a credit without a picture from a clip/trailer of that movie ?
Nick tought it is maybe good to put poster credit or credit if the movie is obscure or difficult to find (see filmo to check) and if necessary to ask forum users if they have the movie.
I will wait for your reply, thanks.

The question is addressed to Emiliano, but I hope it's OK for him that I weigh in here as well.

My question to you, Rudy, is why exactly are you so eager to post all these poster credits, or pics from clips but without credits, or just credits without clips? I think it can be useful to take a moment here to consider what the point of the leading lady topics are. If you look at the banner on the front page, you can read the description "actors cinematic memory preserve & film research", which implies two purposes for the forum. One is the film research part where we try to identify and compile filmographies for generici or little-known actors with lots of undocumented and uncredited roles, whereas the other is to honor both the famous and the somewhat lesser known or forgotten stars of Italian cinema. The leading lady topics fall under this latter category. It's about honoring and remembering works of these performers by posting screenshots from their films, and if available, publicity material like lobbycards, movie stills etc when available. Personally, I like to also write a bit about what kind of role the actress in question is playing. With generici, this usually isn't necessary because the roles tend to self-explanatory ("audience member at the cinema", "journalist at press conference", "party guest" etc), but for the real actors, I think it's much more informative if you describe their part in the film instead of putting only the character name, but that's just me.

Originally, the leading lady topics were made for some of the main stars of the giallo (the original focus of the forum when first conceived) and they were started with only a few roles posted. I believe the idea was that the topics could be added to at leisure whenever someone had more good pics to post, but this has since changed - primarily because some members, such as yourself, Rudy, were extremely eager to find and post all the remaining films as quickly as possible and without much regard for the quality of the screenshots being posted. Now, it's more the norm to compile all the pics that can be found up front and then post in chronological order. For the films that cannot be found anywhere, pics of posters, stills etc have then been posted instead (and then hopefully being able to add actual screenshots at a later date if those become available). There's a difference between that and posting page up and page down with nothing but poster credits or a single pic found in a short clip, however. I think doing the latter is excessive, and frankly, it doesn't look all that nice. Please think of the presentation and remember that we want to try our best to make the topics aesthetically pleasing! That becomes difficult when you have posts made up of pictures that are not only poor, but also come in several different aspect ratios for no apparent reason. Or posts with just one single bad frame (plus the credit) posted. We can see some examples of this in Agostina Belli's topic, and also in the recent Settimio Scacco topic, just to name two examples.

I am sorry to once again raise the topic of quality of pictures and overall presentation. Really, I am! I feel like the bad guy that's always ruining everyone's fun, and this has made it less and less fun for me to participate here. But if I keep bringing this point up, then it is because it's being ignored again and again and again by multiple members. So seriously: you need to start to listen to and follow the instructions given by the administrator and moderators! If that doesn't start happening soon, then my recommendation to Emiliano would be to impose a stricter moderation policy where posts that blatantly disregard the forum regulations will be deleted. Maybe then we can avoid having the same tiresome discussions over and over again, but hopefully, that won't be necessary.

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Picture quality etc

Post by Emiliano » 09/11/2022, 22:54

Since that Rudy pursues the usual mistakes, without any big improvement, from now each of his posts in the actors / films section will need to be approved by a moderator before being published. This will be done automatically to the moderators via an alert with a red icon near the bell in the top-right Notifications bar.

The same thing will happen to Bill Carson too, cause instead of improving his topic to be revisited, it makes new ones even worse.

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