JPEG2000 compression used on digital cinema (or, what bandwidth should I use when exporting a DCP?)

There is an obscure matter in regard to digital projection and DCP creation, that -one way or another- I came across quite a few times. That being, either when needed to create a DCP for screenings, or when needed to store, send, receive, upload, download, archive such a package. Improbable as it might seem, there are past movie titles of which the best quality surviving material is their digital cinema package. Best overall, or best for cinema screening purposes.

The obscurity of it, is not because the matter wasn't brought up in numerous occasions, it's because not much of concrete, well backed info is provided by reliable sources. We have some established facts, that apply for 2K, 24fps DCPs, regardless of aspect ratio, but keeping in mind that between the two standards (Flat, 1,85:1 and Scope 2,39:1) that are used as containers for the horde of the aspect ratios around, Flat would be the more demanding of the two. So, within those boundaries, we have the following two facts:

- The original bandwidth limit of the media blocks, the one we still apply for anything else than high frame rate, is 250 megabits per second. That was planned to be the maximum to work with 3D movies of the 2K kind, that would be twice the bandwidth of a two-dimension 24 fps, since there is need for two times the images for our eyes to conceive stereoscopy. Also, the 250 Mbits/sec limit is not safe for all media blocks, some were reported to not handle that much, and many avoid that and prefer to go for ~235 Mbits/sec as peak. It's worth mentioning here that after the second generation of DCI approved equipment, media blocks came that support much more bandwidth. Namely, twice that. Yet, good practice forbids content creators to go above for non-HFR, 2D content, even if it is 4K, which is four times the number of the pixels of 2K.
- The JPEG2000 compression that is used for digital cinema purposes is the so called Visually Lossless, which means that even a trained eye wouldn't distinguish the compressed version of a frame. Though, that compression is not mathematically Lossless, where there is not any image information lost and the compressed version is the exact same with the original. The Visually Lossless compression ratio is referred as 10:1 to 20:1

I should direct the reader's attention to the fact that there is a small detail in the phrasing here, that springs questions to the mind. What does it mean, "the trained eye"? Well, it describes a person that knows what to look for and how, in order to recognize compression artifacts. A nice piece of info that -unfortunately- hasn't found its way to the inquisitive audience widely, was that a group of "trained eyes", when looking for degradation on DCPs connected to bandwidth, they didn't find any in the equivalent of 75 Mb/s for 2K 24fps. And -most interesting- they just didn't try to go lower, in order to establish where the turning point was.

And that brings us to a natural question, according to all the above: If that 75 Mb/s is a fair bit rate for a 2K 24fps video, and 125 Mb/s is more like the limit set, to what would those numbers translate, if we were to think 25fps, or 4K.

The answer, concerning 25fps is a rather simple one. Staying in the "fare" bitrate for the sake of being brief (you may do the math for 125Mb/s), we would say that, if for 24fps the bitrate is 75 Mb/s, for 25, it would be one and a 24th times more. That would be 75x25/24 = 78 and 1/8 Mb/s. Let's round it up to 80 Mb/s, making easy to remember.

Yet, what about 4K? There is no simple analogy or formula that will give us a fixed ratio between the JPEG2000 bandwidth of 2K and 4K.

Why isn't there such a fixed ratio?

Because we are talking about a compression, and a very efficient one as well. So, quadrupling the number of pixels does not by any reasonable means translate into increasing fourfold the data. As a matter of fact, it doesn't even mean increasing those twofold, as many would intuitively choose to do (based on the image having twice the width or/and twice the height).

Why doesn't quadrupling the pixels reasonably translates into quadrupling the data necessary for the equivalent image quality of a digital cinema package?

Because of the nature of the compression used. JPEG2000 is compressing the image by creating "layers" of the image, where the next layer is half the width and half the height of the previous (just like 4K and 2K). Additionally to that downscaled image, it holds the data difference that is necessary to recompose the "upper" layer. It holds the differences in each of horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions, creating a so called "decomposition level". And keeps that extra info necessary to recompose the original, compressed and (depending on the compression scheme) quantized. (Quantization is the process of reducing precision of a digital signal. In this case, an image.) Then, the first decomposition level is undergoing the same procedure, in order for the second decomposition level to be created, with half the width and half the height resolution of the first decomposition level. If you wonder how many decomposition levels are created on JPEG2000 compression for making a DCP frame, the answer is five for 2K and six for 4K images. In other words, in each DCP frame, there are six resolution layers, if the image is 2K, and seven, if the image is 4K. With each layer/resolution (but the first), having the so-called high frequency subbands (extra info) compressed (and quantized) accordingly.

Finally, we reached the question about which this text is all about:

So, what is the ratio between a 4K and a 2K DCP?

I won't bore you any more with my fruitless efforts to find that answer online or offline. I will just describe how I went about to figure that out by myself an what the findings were, of the specific search I made. At the end, I will explain why those results are indicative and may serve as a guideline where there wasn't any, but can not fit perfectly every usecase.

The file size ratio between two different DCPs of the same movie in the equivalent quality of 4K and 2K can be given by figuring what the difference of their image files are, if one would discard from the 4K DCP the so-called high frequency subbands. That procedure is common, discarding the higher resolution of a 4K DCP on every screening of such a DCP taking place on a 2K system. The cinema screen server and media block are not decoding the whole 4K image, they just decode the 2K and feed that to the projector, sparing the extra processing and bandwidth. A JPEG2000 characteristic that makes it so useful when one wants to focus on a part of an image or take advantage of its scalability.

Here are the numbers, followed by the method used and reasoning behind the choice of the DCP sample used:

Findings:

The 8.000 4K frames used out of the DCP of choice were exported as .j2c files.

Then, the higher resolution was discarded, without re-encoding the image, downscaling it to 2K.

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Original folder (4K):

6,76 GB (7.268.132.125 bytes)

Average frame size: 908.517 bytes

Largest frame size: 910.425 bytes (Frame0200.j2c which is 413.590 bytes when reduced to 2K by 54,572%)

(Images are provided for showing purposes and are not the exact frames taken out of the DCP. The .j2c files are not supported from blogger and would look off due to different color space. These are screenshots of the frames in question, as seen on DCP-o-matic while re-packaging.)

 

Smallest frame size: 651.496 bytes (Frame4353.j2c which is 645.696 bytes when reduced to 2K by 0,89%)

Reduced JPEG2000 folder (2K):

4,90 GB (5.263.438.590 bytes)

Average frame size: 657.930 bytes

Largest frame size: 876.438 bytes (ReducedFrame1923.j2c which was 910.291 bytes in original 4K before reduced by 3,719%)

Smallest frame size: 407.213 bytes (ReducedFrame0198.j2c which was 910.332 bytes in original 4K before reduced by 55,268%)

2K is 72,418 % of 4K, put otherwise,

2K is 27,582 % smaller than 4K, or,

4K is 38,087 % bigger than 2K

maximum reduction: 55,268 % (Frame0198.j2c 910332 bytes ReducedFrame0198.j2c 407213 bytes)

minimum reduction:  0,775 % (Frame4354.j2c 652422 bytes ReducedFrame4354.j2c 647364 bytes)

average reduction: 27,547 % (between individual files, not in total - differences on filesystem, spreadsheet rounding, or my rounding to the one thousandth of the percentage may account for that total difference of 0,035%)

Resulting DCP video mxf files

4K of 8000 frames 24fps repackaged:

6,76 GB (7.268.397.129 bytes)

different from .j2c files by 265.004 bytes

Overall bit rate (media info): 174 Mb/s

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) (media info): 1.034

Reduced 2K of 8000 frames 24fps packaged:

4,90 GB (5.263.703.594 bytes)

different from .j2c files by 265.004 bytes

Bit rate (media info) : 126 Mb/s

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) (media info) : 2.995

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Where did those numbers came from?

a) An excerpt of eight thousand frames were extracted out of a test DCP that was almost three times that length, skipping the first ten thousand. The asdcplib library was used for that purpose.

b) Those frames were stripped of the higher resolution, using the transcode command of the kakadu software and the '-reduce' operation. (Thanks to their support, providing an evaluation license.) I initially tried a number of open source and/or freeware JPEG2000 codecs, the problem I came upon was that none of those I found could encode .j2c files out of .j2c files. Some implementations had the ability to reduce a resolution layer (or more), or, otherwise, retain a chosen number of resolution layers. Yet, only in order to transcode into another image format. Retaining the original file's compression was not possible with any other tested software but Kakadu.

c) Creating a .csv list of the files and file sizes for each version, 4K original and 2K. Importing into a spreadsheet document, in order to document and define maximum, minimum and average values easily.

d) (Re-)packaging the frames into a 24fps DCP MXF file and calculating bitrate of the resulting files. (That could have been done without the repackaging.)

Why not using the whole test DCP?

The DCP included a title and credits. Those were images of low complexity, that resulted in smaller files to start with. To begin with, I wanted to focus on what is the concern of most people in terms of bitrate allocation, higher complexity images that result in bigger image file sizes. Afterwards, I followed the same procedure for the entirety of the file and I want to share those findings in another post. When I do, I will share a link in the comments. The smallest 4K frame file size was 861 bytes and the largest was just 35 bytes bigger.

I do intent to examine other cases and check the results. But I don't expect significant deviations in the results, given that the original DCPs are live action videos.

Why started with this DCP?

This DCP is a short film created by the American Society of Cinematographers Motion Imaging Technology Council designed to be used as both reference material and stress testing for color pipelines, image processing, monitors and projection systems.

I found it would be a generally good start, if I was to take advantage of a video that has a variety of characteristics that may appear in different cases.

On top of that, on the site that is the source of this (48 nits, EOTF 2.6, P3) DCP, it states that it is permitted to use it for educational purposes (I copy the entire notice at the end of this text).

In short and without too much detail, what may someone keep from this post and test?

That between a 2K and a 4K version of the same video encoding, the difference in file size (and therefore bandwidth) is:

In average of the video excerpt:

4K is 38% larger than the 2K version

The least and most of file size difference between 4K and 2K frames:

4K is 1,008 up to 2,236 times the 2K version

I will leave whomever had the patience to read this text with the given numbers, I will promise to share the link to the numbers for the entirety of the test DCP that was used and I will avoid to write here my conclusions about what would I consider a fair bandwidth used for a 4K feature DCP. As a more personal estimation, I will leave that for the comments section.

Feel free to share comments on what would have made the estimations reflect better how the JPEG2000 compression used in digital cinema would be more effectively put into use. The motive behind this effort is and was to figure out what would be the most effective way to balance quality and compression/storage.

I do understand that there is no correct answer, particularities in image complexity will always appear, that would call for weighting up a situation. Yet, I also understand that people tend to think that "one can't go wrong when going for more", and that turns out to be problematic at one or another point of a DCP's lifetime. It is true that a DCP is not made for archiving. On the other hand, it is also true that archives often enough (to take under consideration) find that (4K or 2K) DCPs are the most handy or early-generation export found in digital form.

I would also ask you to let me know in comments if there is any open source, non proprietary software that would do that reduction-without-re-encoding for cinema .j2c files, or (even better), if there are DCP authoring programs that do that. I would sincerely like very much to find that feature available.

I hope you will find this as insightful as I did, and I wish everyone the best for these festive days.

(This post is not primarily intended to be here. This blog is kept for different reasons.
Therefore, it will move, once it find its proper home.)

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Terms of the DCP license (December 24, 2024, https://dpel.aswf.io/asc-stem2/):

ASWF Digital Assets License v1.1

StEM2 -- Copyright 2022 -- American Society of Cinematographers -- All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use of these digital assets, with or without modification, solely for education, training, research, software and hardware development, performance benchmarking (including publication of benchmark results and permitting reproducibility of the benchmark results by third parties), or software and hardware product demonstrations, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of these digital assets or any part of them must include the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the disclaimer below, and if applicable, a description of how the redistributed versions of the digital assets differ from the originals.

2. Publications showing images derived from these digital assets must include the above copyright notice.

3. The names of copyright holder or the names of its contributors may NOT be used to promote or to imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation with products developed or tested utilizing these digital assets or benchmarking results obtained from these digital assets, without prior written permission from copyright holder.

4. The assets and their output may only be referred to as the Asset Name listed above, and your use of the Asset Name shall be solely to identify the digital assets. Other than as expressly permitted by this License, you may NOT use any trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the copyright holder for any purpose.

Αυτή την εποχή τού χρόνου / This time of year

(English following.)

 Αυτή η εποχή του χρόνου, μετά τα πρωτοβρόχια και την επαναφορά στην καθημερινότητα τού σχολείου, έρχεται να γεμίσει την εικόνα με το πουλόβερ πάνω από το πουκάμισο και τα κοτλέ παντελόνια, τα χαλιά, τις φλοκάτες, και τους "διαδρόμους" να γεμίζουν την κάθε γωνιά τού πατώματος, κάνοντας το περπάτημα με τις κάλτσες εύκολο. Έτσι, που να είναι πιο άνετα να καθίσω κάτω και να απλώσω το βιβλίο, τα τετράδια, το επιτραπέζιο, την παρέα μου. Άλλες φορές, το ίδιο πάνω στα κρεββάτια. Συχνά μόνος, πάνω στο κρεββάτι, με το κεφάλι και το ένα χέρι να εξέχουν, να γράφουν ή να σχεδιάζουν στο τετράδιο που βρίσκεται στο πάτωμα. Το κασσετόφωνο πάνω στο γραφείο/βιβλιοθήκη.

Τα σκεπάσματα, τα χαλιά, τα κοτλέ και οι φλοκάτες, πράσινα, κόκκινα, καφέ της ώχρας, ή γκρίζα, κίτρινα και άσπρα, πιο σπάνια. Το κόκκινο των σκεπασμάτων και το καστανό τού ξύλου γεμίζουν το σπίτι, με το μέταλλο τού διάκοσμου πότε να περιγράφει και πότε να στιγματίζει τις μορφές.

Το τεχνητό φως, απλωμένο στους τοίχους και το ταβάνι, μέσα από τις δυο χιλιάδες διαθλάσεις τού φωτιστικού σώματος. Σχήματα, που πάνω τους αφήνω την φαντασία να πάρει τα ηνία, και να με παρασύρει για ώρες και ώρες. Το φως ενός κεριού, σαν συνωμότης στα μεγαλεπίβολα σχέδια της μετατροπής του κόσμου όλου σε έναν οικουμενικό παράδεισο.

Πόσες φορές δε λύσαμε όλα τα προβλήματα της γης, αυτή την εποχή του χρόνου;

This time of the year, after the first rains and the return to the school reality, the picture completes with the sweater over the shirt and the corduroy pants, the rugs, the shaggy woolen rugs and the long covers to fill every patch of visible floor, making socks-only walking self evident. In such a way, that it's more comfortable to sit down and spread around the book, the note books, the board game, my companion. The same, for that matter, on the beds. Often enough - alone, over the bed covers, the head and the sole hand on the side, writing or drawing in the note book that lies on the floor. The cassette-player on the library/office.

The covers, the rugs, the corduroys and the woolen rugs being green, red, ochre, or -less often- grey, yellow or white. The red of the covers and the nut-brown fill the whole house, with the metallic ornaments to either circumscribe or juxtapose the forms.

The artificial light, spread on the walls and the ceiling, through two thousand refractions of the lighting apparati. Shapes, on which I leave imagination to take the reins, and drift for hours and hours. The candle light, like a conspirator to the big plans of turning the whole world to a paradise for all.

How many times was it, that we solved all the problems of the earth, this time of the year!

Κυριακή, ι' Νοέμβρίου ,βκδ'

Την ανάλογη εποχή του χρόνου.

I am not Athenian

 Με διάφορες αφορμές, βρέθηκε ξανά εμπρός μου ένα εντυπωσιακό κείμενο, το οποίο πρωτάκουσα σε παράσταση έργου. Μια ανάγνωση μπορεί κανείς να ακούσει στο "Δεν είμαι Αθηναίος" από το δίσκο "το αμάρτημα της μητρός μου" του Νίκου Ξυδάκη.

Ερχόμενος ξανά εμπρός στο κείμενο τούτο, θέλησα να το μεταφράσω, για όσους δεν έχουν ευχέρεια με τα ελληνικά. Αποτελεί το προοίμιο και την αρχή της απολογίας του Γεωργίου Τερτσέτη την εικοστή τετάρτη (κδ΄) Σεπτεμβρίου ,αωλδ΄ (1834), σχεδόν εκατόν ενενήντα χρόνια πριν, όπως μπορεί κανείς να την διαβάσει, είτε εδώ, είτε εδώ. Δικαστής, όπως και ο Πολυζωΐδης, αρνήθηκαν να υπογράψουν την κατά πλειοψηφία καταδικαστική απόφαση για τον Κωλοκοτρώνη και τον Πλαπούτα, η οποία θα τους οδηγούσε στο θάνατο.

Due to different circumstances, I revisited an impressive text, which I first encountered as a play. The first paragraph is recorded in a disc/CD by the title "my mother's sin" ("το αμάρτημα της μητρός μου") by Nikos Xydakis (Νίκος Ξυδάκης) and goes by the title "I am not Athenian" ("Δεν είμαι Αθηναίος").

It's the preamble and a small first part of Georges Tertsetis' (Γεωργίος Τερτσέτης) apology, defense in court, as given almost one hundred and ninety years before, the 24th of September 1834. They were charged as not obeying to the laws when, as judges, he and Anastasios Polyzoides (Αναστάσιος Πολυζωΐδης), who was the Chair of the Court, refused to sign the condemn in decapitation of two high ranking officers in the war for the independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire. The court ruled in favor of the two judges.

I am not from Sparta, I am not Athenian, my fatherland is entire the Hellas. In that way expresses himself the gentle Plutarch, it is almost two thousand years since, in one of his documents. Us, being born in a most happy era, that is when religion and philosophy enlightened, heralded, sealed the doctrine of love and equality, we are able to express ourselves with an even stronger conviction than the one of the ancient man. We are able to say that we are neither from Hellas, nor from Italy, nor from Germany, nor from England. Our fatherland is the entire human kind. As much earth is engulfed in the beautiful ether, that much of it is called our beloved fatherland.

If the Commissioner does not care for those reflections a little, it's enough for me that are favored by those Judges here, this Hellenic Audience. This preamble, though, remarkably fits our apology, because, if we are called by the Commissioner to account, if he threatens us with incarceration, the reason is our vehement worship to justice, in times in which you are best aware, even justice is a privilege, is property of the human kind and it is fitting that we name today, as our supporter the human kind, for in favor of it we struggled.

κβ΄ Ιουλίου ,βκδ΄

Νύχτες ανάστερες, με ουρανό ημισκότεινο.

22nd of July 2024

Nights without stars, with a semi-dark sky.

Ακόμη και στη μοναξιά

 Το γέλιο είναι κοινωνική πράξη.

Laughing is a socially engaging action.

Að hlæja er samfélagsleg aðgerð.

Απόδοση, αντί ανταπόδοσης

(English description following)

Η ΧΕΙΡΟΝΟΜΙΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΥΤΗ ΠΟΥ ΜΟΥ ΜΕΝΕΙ

Είμαι ένας δημιουργός μηχανών.
Ένας παραγωγός εργαλείων.
Συνθέτω αντικείμενα,
που σχεδιάζω, που με καθορίζουν.
Μηχανές που αναταράσσουν τον αέρα.

Εργάζομαι επί της ύλης,
της σιγής, του χρόνου.

Για να δημιουργήσω ένα αντικείμενο
που μέσα στους αιώνες
θα χρησιμοποιείται για να παράξει
ένα εφήμερο άυλο:
τον ήχο.

Είναι στο σώμα μου που συγκαταλέγονται όργανα μέτρησης
των οργάνων που δημιουργώ.

Στα μάτια μου, στα αυτιά μου,
σε κάθε μυ πονεμένο.
Στα χέρια μου, στην πνοή μου.

Κάνοντας το φιλμ, ανακαλύπτω την αυτόνομη ζωή των χεριών μου.
Γνώριζα την πρόθεσή τους, ανακαλύπτω την λειτουργία τους:

Η δημιουργία των αντικειμένων που με ξεπερνά.
Που συγκαταλέγεται σε έναν χρόνο που δεν είναι ανθρώπινος.

Κι όταν το αντικείμενο τελειώνει, στην νομαδική ζωή,
δε μένει παρά μια φευγαλέα εντύπωση ενός ήχου
και αυτή, η μόνιμη, που χαράχτηκε στα χέρια μου.

Εν τέλει, η χειρονομία είναι αυτή που μου απομένει.

Το ποίημα αυτό αποτελεί το κείμενο του βίντεο στο οποίο οδηγεί ο σύνδεσμος. (Του Sébastien Seixas)
Προτίμησα την εγγύτητα από το ρυθμό.
Αγαπητέ Σεμπ, ζητώ συγνώμη για τη (κατά-)χρήση και μετάφραση, αλλά δικαιολογώ τον εαυτό μου λόγω του ότι το έργο ήταν τόσο καλό που στην ουσία πήγαινε γυρεύοντας...

This poem is the text of the video towards which the link is leading. (After Sébastien Seixas)
I preferred being close, rather than being rhythmical.
Dear Seb, I am sorry for using it and translating, but I find an excuse for myself to the fact that it was so nice that it was practically asking for it...

The Gesture is what stays with me from Sébastien Seixas on Vimeo.

ιε' Μαΐου ,βκδ'
Μακρύ απόγευμα του Μάη.

Εξωτικά και Οικεία / Exotic and Familiar

(English following)

Πέρασα την παιδική και πρώιμη εφηβική μου ηλικία ως μέλος μιας μέσης οικογένειας. "Μέση" υπό την έννοια της κοινότυπης μάλλον, παρά ως προς την κοινωνική ή οικονομική της επιφάνεια.
Το περιβάλλον στο οποίο έζησα, δε θα μπορούσε να είναι το περιβάλλον κανενός παραμυθιού, όπως αυτών που μου αρέσει να διαβάζω ή να σκαρφίζομαι. Αυτό, γιατί δεν περιείχε κανένα εξαιρετικό στοιχείο. Δεν είχε κανένα μαγικό χαρακτηριστικό, που θα έκανε το παραμύθι να ξετυλιχτεί από μέσα του. Ιδίως με εμένα τον ίδιο ως ήρωα. Δεν ήμουν ιδιαίτερα όμορφος ή έξυπνος. Δεν τραγουδούσα ή χόρευα, ούτε ήμουν καλός σε κάποια τέχνη. Του ράφτη, του τσαγκάρη, του ζωγράφου, του μουσικού. Υπήρξε μια κιθάρα στο σπίτι, στην οποία ο αδελφός μου μάθαινε τραγούδια. Και η δασκάλα του, εξαδέλφη που -επειδή ήταν δασκάλα, και δίδασκε κάτι μουσικό- είχε μίαν ιδιαίτερη σημασία και απέπνεε αυθεντία. Βρισκόταν σε απευθείας σύνδεση με κάτι πέρα από την πραγματικότητα. Κάτι που βρίσκει κανείς στα καταστήματα δίσκων, στο ραδιόφωνο και -φαντάσου- στην τηλεόραση! Αν μόνο φανταζόταν κάποιος πως η κιθάρα στα χέρια της δεν ήταν κιθάρα, αλλά η βακτηρία ενός μάγιστρου ή ο τρίποδας της Πυθίας, σε "απευθείας σύνδεση" με τις μούσες και τον θεό του φωτός...

Είχα, πράγματι, δει θέατρο. Θυμάμαι, πολύ μικρός, στο δημοτικό, να έχει φιλοξενηθεί μια θεατρική παράσταση στο σχολείο. Ήταν το σχολείο εκεί που τώρα είναι το 3ο Λύκειο Αιγάλεω. Ακόμα θυμάμαι τα δύο επίπεδα στην αυλή και το πως η περιοχή ονομαζόταν από κάποιους "τα ρώσικα", λόγω των Ποντίων προσφύγων από την τότε "Ένωση Σοβιετικών Σοσιαλιστικών Δημοκρατιών". Τι μου έμεινε από την παράσταση αυτή; Σε κάποια στιγμή, ένας ηθοποιός σταμάτησε και παραπονέθηκε πως τέτοια φασαρία δεν είχε ξανασυναντήσει σε άλλο σχολείο. Θυμάμαι χαρακτηριστικά πως είχε κρατήσει τη στάση του, με τα χέρια του όπως ήταν στο ρόλο του, στα τριάντα εκατοστά από το πρόσωπό του και το ένα πόδι του μπροστά από το άλλο. Κράτησε τη στάση του, αλλά το μόνο που έσπασε τον ρόλο ήταν το κεφάλι του, που γύρισε να απευθυνθεί στα ατίθασα παιδιά. Τα κατάφερε να απαλύνει λίγο την αναμπουμπούλα και ξαναγύρισε στον ρόλο του. Το ξαναφτιάχνω με το νου μου, σα να ξεπρόβαλλε το κεφάλι του από το πανί του κινηματογράφου και κατόπιν να γύρισε. Ποια ήταν η ταινία τού Γούντι Άλεν; Το Πορφυρό Ρόδο του Καΐρου. Δεν ήταν όμως αυτή η περίσταση που συνειδητοποίησα πόσο απόκοσμος είναι ο αυτός ο κόσμος της τέχνης. Πόσο με ξεπερνούσε.

Στην πρώιμη εφηβεία μου (και πιο πριν, υπό άλλες συνθήκες), πήγαινα τα καλοκαίρια με τον πατέρα μου στο χωριό του. Στην κεντρική πλατεία του, όπου βρισκόντουσαν δυο(!) μπακάλικα, το μανάβικο, το πρακτορείο τύπου, το κρεοπωλείο και το κατάστημα του Ο.Τ.Ε., τα καφενεία, ο κόμβος στον οποίο συναντιόντουσαν τέσσερις διαφορετικές στράτες (και μπορείς να μετρήσεις και πέντε) ήταν "ελεύθερος" από νησίδες, ή από οτιδήποτε παραπάνω από τα πεζοδρόμια των κτηρίων. Ένα καλοκαιρινό βράδυ, λοιπόν, τότε και εκεί μαγεύτηκα. Πέρασε από το χωριό μια οικογένεια ακροβατών. Ο πατέρας και δυο αδέλφια. Ένα αγόρι και ένα κορίτσι. Ήρθανε στην "πλατεία", τοποθετήσανε τα όργανά τους, τους κρίκους, τα στεφάνια, τα παραφερνάλιά τους, και υπό την περιγραφή του πατέρα, επιδόθηκαν σε ακροβατικά απίστευτα.

Ήτανε, άραγε, απίστευτα; Δεν είχα ήδη δει στην τηλεόραση το κινέζικο τσίρκο; Τους καταπληκτικούς ακροβάτες που έφτιαχναν πυραμίδες ψηλές σαν τα ψηλά τα σπίτια; Τους ελέφαντες και τα άλογα; Τις πανέμορφες γυναίκες, στολισμένες σαν παγώνια φτιαγμένα από ασήμι και φτερά; Ναι. Τα είχα δει όλα αυτά. Αλλά όχι αληθινά! Όχι μπροστά στα μάτια μου! Δε μπορούσα να απλώσω το χέρι και να τους πιάσω όλους αυτούς, ούτε αυτός που περιέγραφε τα θαυμάσια ήταν πίσω μου, σα να ήμουν κομμάτι τού κύκλου. Να, τώρα! Όλα έγιναν κομμάτι της πραγματικότητάς μου. Τα θαυμάσια αυτά παιδιά, γοητευτικά σαν τα αηδόνια των παραμυθιών που μου αρέσει να διαβάζω ή να σκαρφίζομαι, ήρθαν "στην αυλή μου" να "κελαηδήσουν".

Πάντοτε με διακατείχε μια τρισκατάρατη συστολή. Έτσι και τότε, δε σηκώθηκα από την καρέκλα δίπλα στον πατέρα μου. Ακόμα κι αν δεν ήθελα τίποτα άλλο από το να κοιτάζω τα δυο παιδιά, θα γύριζα να κοιτάξω το πώς συμπεριφέρονται οι τριγύρω. Όχι πολύ, αλλά ντρεπόμουν να χαθώ στη μαγεία. Η παράσταση δεν κράτησε πολύ. Τελείωσε και οι μαγικοί ακροβάτες αποδύθηκαν ξανά το ρόλο τους, σαν παραδείσια πουλιά που αποδύθηκαν το φτέρωμά τους και γίνανε άνθρωποι, μάζεψαν τα πράγματά τους και εξαφανίστηκαν. Άφησαν πίσω τους, όμως, την ιδέα του εξωτικού. Αυτής της ζωής που βρίσκονταν στους αντίποδες της δικής μου.

Αυτό ήταν το σημείο της ζωής μου, από το οποίο και μετά αναλογίστηκα όλους αυτούς τους ρόλους και τα επαγγέλματα που θα τους ταίριαζε ο όρος "εξωτικά". Ο πωλητής του "μαλλιού της γριάς" θα ήταν κάτι τέτοιο. Ο μουσικός, ο ηθοποιός, ο "προβολατζής", κάθε επάγγελμα που άπτεται της ψυχαγωγίας ή είναι περιοδεύον! Αυτό που μου φαντάζει αξιοπερίεργο, είναι το πώς μέσα στα χρόνια βρέθηκα στην αντίπερα όχθη, ή στους "αντίποδες", όπως τους χαρακτήρισα. Πώς, δηλαδή, βρέθηκα να περιοδεύω ως μουσικός, να συνεργάζομαι με περιοδεύουσες θεατρικές παραστάσεις, να εργάζομαι ως τεχνικός σε κινηματογράφους, να λαμβάνω μέρος σε αυτό το απόκοσμο περιβάλλον και να συχνοτίζομαι με αυτά τα εξωτικά όντα. Πώς ανακάλυψα στην πράξη πως οι άνθρωποι μοιράζονται το κοινότυπο και το εξωτικό "εν οίκω" και "εν δήμω" και πώς -βαθιά στον πυρήνα τους- είναι ίδιοι με τον εαυτό που γνώριζα νέο παιδί και έναν χαρακτήρα βγαλμένο από ένα βιβλίο, τον κινηματογράφο ή το δελτίο των ειδήσεων.

θ΄ Μαΐου ,βκδ΄
Ηλιόλουστη μέρα.

(English version)

I went through my child and first-adolescent years as a part of a mediocre family. "Mediocre", signifying "ordinary", rather than characterizing its social or financial status.
The environment in which I lived couldn't be one of a fairy tale, like the ones I enjoy reading or making up. Because it didn't include any outstanding element. It was lacking any magical characteristics around which the fairy tale would play out. Especially with me being the hero. I wasn't particularly beautiful or intelligent. I didn't sing or dance, nor was I good on a craft. That of the tailor, the painter, the musician. There was a guitar at home, on which my brother was learning songs. And his teacher, a cousin that -due to the fact that she was a teacher, teaching something musical- was of a unique significance and had an air of authority. She was directly attached to something surreal. Something that one finds in disc stores, on the radio and -imagine that- the television! If only one could imagine that the guitar within her hands were not a guitar per se, but the staff of a magister, or the tripod of Pythia, in "direct correspondence" with the muses and Apollo...

I have, indeed, been to theater. I remember, very young, on the elementary school, that a play has been hosted at the premises. The building was where now resides the 3rd Lycée of Egaleo. I still remember the two levels of the schoolyard and how the area was called by some "the Russians'", "ta rossika", due to the refugee Pondic Greeks that arrived there from the (then) U.S.S.R. some years before. What I still remember from that show? On some moment, an actor stopped and complained that he never before was met with such a fracas in a school. I distinctively remember that he had held his posture. His hands were still acting in-role, about thirty centimeters from his face and one leg in front of the other. Held his position, and the only body part that went off-role was his head, that turned to address the untamed kids. He succeeded to ease the uproar a bit and dive back to his role. I reconstruct the scene in my mind like his head went out of the cinema screen and then it went back. What's that movie of Woody Alen? The Purple Rose of Cairo. Yet, that was not the circumstances where I realized how out-worldly that art world was. How it was beyond me.

In my early adolescence (and before, but under different circumstances), I was going to my father's home-village during the summers. In its main square, were there were two(!) convenience stores, the press outlet, the grocery store, the butchers, the phone company's department with the public phone and the caffées, the junction of four (or five, depending on counting) roads was free of anything else but the sidewalks of the buildings. So, on a warm summer night, is when I was enchanted. A family of acrobats passed by the village. The father and two siblings. A boy and a girl. They came to the "square", put out their equipment, the rings, the hoops, their stuff -and under the descriptive narration of the father, they did incredible acrobatics.

Were those really "incredible"? Hadn't I already seen the Chinese Circus on TV? The amazing acrobats building pyramids as high as tall houses? The elephants and the horses, the beautiful women, dressed like peacocks made of silver and feathers? Yes. I have seen all that. But not really! Not in front of my eyes! I couldn't reach my hand and grasp them, neither the presenter was behind me, like I was part of the circle. Look now! All that became part of my reality. Those wonderful children, enchanting like the nightingales of the fairy tales I enjoy reading or making up, came to my "court" to "sing".

I was always shy, damn it. Same then, I didn't get up from the chair from my father. Even if I wanted nothing but watch those kids, I would look around to see how people would comport themselves. Not long, but I was ashamed to be lost in magic. The show didn't last long. It finished and the magic acrobats undressed their roles, like birds-of-paradise that took their feathers off and became humans, gathered their equipment and vanished. Though, they left behind the idea of exotic. Of that life that was in the antipode to mine.

Exactly that was the point of my life after which I reflected on all those roles and trades that would correspond to the term "exotic". The seller of the cotton candy would have been something like that. The musician, the actor, the projectionist, any job that relates to entertainment or is travelling! What seems to me odd is how through the years I found myself on the other side, in the "antipode", as I called it. Meaning, how I found myself traveling as a musician, working with touring plays, work as a cinema technician, taking part on that out-worldly environment and share the life of those exotic beings. How I discovered in practice that people share the ordinary and the exotic privately and in public and how -deep in their core- they are the same with that "self" I knew as a child and a character taken out of a book, the cinema or the newscast.

May 9. 2024
Bright day

Αναπόληση της τεκμηρίωσης, ως τεκμηρίωση. (Μετατεκμηρίωση;)

 Απόψε, μου δόθηκε η ευκαιρία να δω το ντοκυμανταίρ "οι Ελευσίνιοι", του Φιλίππου Κουσταφτή. Μια ταινία που παράχθηκε στα πλαίσια της Ελευσίνας ως "πολιτιστικής πρωτεύουσας της Ευρώπης". Και, επί της ευκαιρίας αυτής, είχα κι εγώ -ανάμεσα σε όλους- την ευκαιρία να ανακαλέσουμε την Ελευσίνα αυτή που συναντήσαμε μέσα από το έργο τού Κουτσαφτή δυόμισι δεκαετίες πριν.

Ενδεχομένως να λειτούργησε εν μέρει αυτή η καταγραφή και ως εξιλέωση τού δημιουργού, που έκλεισε την "Αγέλαστο Πέτρα" με μια πλειάδα από "συγνώμη" προς όλους αυτούς που δεν είχε χρόνο να συμπεριλάβει στο σημαντικό του έργο.

Η σχέση των δύο έργων φαντάζει προϋπόθεση, σαν ένας συνδετικός κρίκος μεταξύ του "πριν" και του "κατόπιν". Μία σχέση δε, που διαποτίζει, υποστηρίζει, όλα τα έργα του. Η παράδοση τού έργου της γέφυρας στον Κεραμεικό, η σχολική εκδρομή στο παλάτι του Μίνωα, η ιστορία της ανασκαφής τού θώρακα και ούτω καθ' εξής. "Η Αγέλαστος Πέτρα" ξεκινά με την αναφορά στον μύθο της Περσεφόνης και σε κάποιο επίπεδο, όλη εκείνη η ταινία, ομοίως και όλη ετούτη, είναι μια επαναλαμβανόμενη κάθοδος και ανάβαση της Περσεφόνης. Είναι απλά και μόνο μια ανόητη ιδέα μου; Είναι απλά και μόνο ιδέα του δημιουργού; Είναι κάποιο κοινό μυστικό που κανείς δε θέλει να ομολογήσει;

Ολόκληρη η ταινία έχει να κάνει με τη ζωή, ή με άλλα λόγια, ολόκληρη η ταινία έχει να κάνει με το θάνατο. Με αυτή τη ζωή που εμφανίζεται εμπρός μας με το που ανοίγουμε τα βλέφαρα και εκείνη που (αρπαγμένη από τον Πλούτωνα) δε μας έχει αφήσει παρά μόνο τα ίχνη της, για να πάρει μορφή όταν τα κλείνουμε.

Ο δημιουργός, ως άλλος ιχνηλάτης, έρχεται και καταγράφει τα ίχνη εν τη γενέσει, νωπά, την ζωή - ζώσα. Άλλοτε, μας δείχνει τα ίχνη της, όπως διατηρήθηκαν στον αιώνα. Ενίοτε -τι ποίηση, αλήθεια- μας δείχνει τα ίχνη που άφησε η ζωή πάνω στα "ίχνη". Όπως αυτό το μάρμαρο της λουτροφόρου, το χιλιοφαγωμένο από το υνί του αρότρου, το οποίο αναστήθηκε αιώνες μετά την ταφή του. Συχνά, στρέφει την προσοχή μας προς άλλους ιχνηλάτες σαν κι αυτόν και μας μιλάει χρησιμοποιώντας τις δικές τους λέξεις και εκφράσεις. Όποιες θεωρήσεις δεν αποτυπώνονται στην ποιητική αφήγηση, αναφορά και εξιστόρησή του, αντανακλώνται στα λόγια των "συνεργατών", των "συνενόχων".

Η ήπια αφήγηση και η αδιαμφισβήτητη τεκμηρίωση δε σου αφήνει περιθώρια να αντισταθείς. Όλα τα μέρη που αντανακλούν το ενδιαφέρον και την πρόθεση του δημιουργού, είναι συναρπαστικά.

Tonight, I was given the chance to watch the documentary "The Eleusinians", by Philippos Koutsaftis. A movie that was produced in the frame of "2023 Eleusis, European Capital of Culture". And, given that chance, I -between all the others- had the chance to recall the Eleusis that we encountered from within Koutsaftis' work two and a half decades ago.

It could be that that record worked as atonement of the creator, that finished "Mourning Rock" asking for forgiveness from all them that he couldn't include on that significant work.

The connection of the two works seems like a precondition, like a link between "before" and "after". A connection that soaks, supports all his works. The release to the public of the junction of Keramikos, the school trip to the Minoan Palace, the story of the excavation of the thorax and so on. The "Mourning Rock" begins by referring to the myth of Persephone and on some level, all that movie and this one as well, is a continuous descent and ascent of Persephone. Is that just a foolish idea of mine? Is it just an idea of the creator? Is it a common secret that no one wants to admit?

The whole movie has to do with live, or, in other words, the whole movie has to do with death. With the life that we see before us when we open our eyes and the one that (abducted by god Pluto) has left nothing but its traces, so it (that life) will form itself once we close them.

The creator, as another tracer, comes to document the traces at their onsets, fresh, the living life. Elsewhere, he points us to the life's traces, as remained through the centuries. From time to time -a really great poetry- he points us to the traces that life left on "traces". For instance, that water carrier stone beaten (or bitten) a thousand times from the share of the plough and was resurrected centuries after its interment. Often, he draws our attention to other tracers like him and talks to us using their own words and expressions.

Whatever views are not shown in the poetic narration, reference and recount, reflect on the words of his "collaborators" the "accomplices".

The mild narration and undoubtful documentation leaves no ways to resist. All parts that reflect the interests and intention of the creator are fascinating.

θ΄ Μαρτίου ,βκδ΄

Ζεστή βραδιά με λίγο αέρα.