Scroll to the bottom for the latest news: ------ From: unearthedfilms To: rockrule@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 3:03 PM Subject: [Rock & Rule] Rock & Rule | DVD Newsletter #1 A quick tidbit on Rock and Rule. We apologize for the wait guys, we're working on the rights to release a CD soundtrack of all the music at the same time and as you know, music rights are a little bit of a hassle. But if everything goes as planned, a separate CD release and the double disc set could have a 3rd disc in it with the music as well. Hope this helps you understand the hold up on Rock and Rule. Thanks for your support, Mod, Unearthed Films ------ From: unearthedfilms To: rockrule@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 9:18 AM Subject: [Rock & Rule] Rock & Rule | DVD Newsletter #2 Hey Guys, Stephen here from Unearthed Films. I took a little time out to send you guys an update on the happenings of our dvd release of Rock and Rule. As you guys know, we've been working hard on setting up the music rights for a separate CD release of the songs for Rock and Rule. We were told we can get it BUT, it would take a very long time. Now, we could either wait which could take a year or two or a couple of months and work on the release for the dvd. Now, without the music rights, we cannot include the music video's since they have the songs in their entirety. This was rather upsetting to hear but the dvd will still be jammed pack with extra's and the whole nine yards. Below is everything we have and can use for the collector's set and the single release. Don't be too upset about the music videos cause we can still clear the rights and get them in time for the release. As for the release we're looking at summer 2004. The collector's set will be a double disc set with these wonderful features... New Anamorphic Transfer 5.1 Remastered Surround Sound Alternate Canadian Version (Quality depends on master and source materials. I doubt it will be anamorphic.) Devil and Daniel Mouse (28 minute animated cartoon. The inspiration for Rock and Rule) Commentary by Clive Smith and anyone else we can get our hands on. Making of Rock and Rule Interviews and more... The single disc will have the Making of and 5.1 anamorphic transfer. We haven't figured out the price on the special edition or the single edition. So that's it. I do thank all of you for joining the R&R Group. When we set it up we didn't know or guess that you can take this group over. It's great! At 1st we thought we could just send you updates on R&R but uploading screenshots and posters and giving the animators and fans a place has worked out for everyone. So I hope you enjoy the group and I hope this answers some of your questions. Best, Stephen Biro Unearthed Films ------ March 11, 2004 [Unearthed Films] - News We finally started work on Rock and Rule and the anamorphic master is being struck as I write this. Extras are finally showing up from Nelvana so a lot of work is being put into this animated masterpiece that I hope all of you will really appreciate. ------ May 18, 2004 The following information is from Peter Roe, the author of a book (in the works) on Rock & Rule: I've been anxious to pass on the news, in light of the recent calls for updates from Unearthed Films. I recently had a conversation with them, and was told first-hand what's going on. Out of respect for the moderators I have asked if I could let everyone on the board know, and thankfully have been given UF's blessing, so here goes: The Good News: Unearthed will be including How We Made The Devil and Daniel Mouse on disc 2 of the two-disc edition. This is the first documentary that Nelvana ever did, illustrating the long process of classically-drawn animation. And now for... The Bad News: It seems the print of R&R that Nelvana supplied Unearthed was badly deteriorated in a few places, which basically rendered the whole thing unusable, as far as remastering it goes. Unearthed is currently undergoing a quest for an alternate print - hopefully from the vaults of MGM - but as of today (May 14, 2004), they still have not received it. In other words, if you've got something else to look forward to this summer, I suggest you go to Plan B. I'm told the best-case scenario will be a release by year's end. In Stephen Biro's words, 'We will send an official notice after we hear back from the lab and figure out a time schedule of when it will be finished as the lab works with us.' ------ From: unearthedfilms Date: Monday - June 28, 2004 9:33 PM To: rockrule@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Rock & Rule] Stephen from Unearthed... Howdy everybody... Long time no hear. It's Stephen Biro from Unearthed. A lot has been going on and we are going over the LAST of all of the materials from Nelvana for Rock and Rule. It's been taking a lot longer then expected as you can tell to get everything going for the dvd release. I do apologize for this. I'll have a rather long and updated newsletter coming in the next week or two that goes over everything the dvd's will have, the release date of the dvd's and the questions that have been posed on this group that has been a concern for some of our members. Also, I dissolved some of the spammers that have joined this group. I'll be checking in the group every now and then and if you like, get a list of questions together to ask us and I'll answer them in the newsletter in two weeks. Just post them in the news group and I'll get to them. I do thank you for all joining this group and for the interest in staying in touch with us as you have been waiting a very long time for this release. We hope to make this release one of our best since it is one of the finest films we have ever come across and have the pleasure of releasing. I also hope you don't mind this email. I know I hate spam myself so we try not to send out a lot of emails like this. LOL Best, Stephen Biro Unearthed Films ------ From: unearthedfilms Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 06:41:39 -0000 Subject: [Rock & Rule] Rock and Rule Newsletter #4 Biggest Update Ever! Hey Rock and Rule Fans! Stephen Biro here from Unearthed Films. Lots on news on the ole R&R front going on so I figured I would give you the mother load of all newsletters. This should answer every question I've seen posted in the group and then some. Nelvana has found a better print of Rock and Rule called Ring of Power. It's the title MGM decided to release the film when it hit theaters back in 1984 but from what I hear, it never made it to theaters in that incarnation. It's a much better print then the 1st copy they sent us so we will be using this one. Depending on what the lab says and if the title sequence from the 1st print called Rock and Rule can be exchanged for The Ring of Power title sequence, then The Ring of Power title sequence can be an extra on the double disc set. I have set up a poll on the group to get your feedback so please let us know what you want us to do. Poll ends on Aug 15th so please visit it and give us your feedback since this is an important aspect of the film and the fans should have a say so in what we do. Please remember, the film was Rock and Rule and MGM cut the R&R title sequence and added the Ring of Power title sequence so if we do that, we would just be restoring the film to it's original format. Also, I have created another poll asking for your feedback on The Making of R&R and The Devil And Daniel Mouse extra's. We have room on the single disc for only one of these. Which should it be? Please have your votes in by Aug 15th so we can get cracking. The Ring of Power print is at the lab now getting a cleaning. This is great news since the original print they sent us had extensive damage to it that would have cost a lot of money for a very intensive restoration process. We are thrilled that Nelvana has found us a way better print then what was 1st supplied to us. We will be transferring Rock and Rule onto a High Definition Anamorphic Digital Beta Cam Master for supreme video quality. We will also have a lab going over the audio elements to juice em up so to speak for superior sound. We are looking at a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound with restoration for those with high fidelity systems and a 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Mix for the rest of us. LOL I'm included so don't laugh. LOL Talking to our distributors, we are looking at a February 2005 release date. We have to pre-sell the dvd 3 months before we can release it through the mainstream video retailers. The release date might move up to January or back to March but that is the solid area of the calendar we are looking at. Since we now have all of the major materials for the DVD's it won't be a problem to hit the 1st quarter of 2005. Nelvana also sent us all the extra's for the DVD's so I figure I should announce them to you. 1 35 MM print called Ring of Power: Same film as Rock and Rule, just a different title sequence. MGM decided to change the name so it has a broader appeal. Since this version of Rock and Rule really wasn't shown to often it's the best print possible. 1 Pan and Scan version of R&R on Digital Beta Cam: This is what they sent HBO and Showtime back in the early 80's for show on Cable. I don't think we will use this but it's nice to have for color correction and other technical aspects wile doing the telecine work. 1 The Making of Rock and Rule: 30 minute special with interviews with Iggy, Blondie, Lou Reed, Cheap Trick, Earth Wind and Fire, Clive Smith and a lot of the crew and animators who made R&R possible. Filled with the good stuff. It was shown on Leonard Nimoy's: Lights, Camera, Action on Nickelodeon back in the 80's. 1 The Devil and Daniel Mouse on Digital Betacam: The short animated 27 minute film that was the inspiration for Rock and Rule. 1 The Making of Devil and Daniel Mouse: This was a surprise. This 27 minute special was sitting in their vaults and it's never been aired or shown from what I understand so we are very happy to stick this in the double disc set. 1 CD The script for the movie. This will be a very nice extra. We will have it so you can take the dvd and put it on your computer and read the script. It also has one high resolution pic of the film poster MISSING the logo on the top. We think this was because they called it Drats, Ring of Power and of coarse Rock and Rule. 1 Digi Beta version of Rock and Rule: The CBC release aka Canadian version, alternate version of R&R with Omar voice by Greg Salata. This definitely came from a composite source; i think they said 3/4". it's got lots of dropout, so-so color rendition, some color bleed, and it's generally pretty soft. We have contacted everyone who might have had or even saw this version. This is the ONLY copy left in existence. The master print was destroyed in a fire. I forget the exact name of the company but it was destroyed around 1986. We will be correcting the color, fixing the drop out and generally fixing this the best we can but since it came from a ¾" tape that was the norm back in the 70's and early 80's this is the best we can do. It will be an extra on the double disc set. We also received a box of artwork and pencil sketches and character design on loan from Charles Bonifacio, one of the wonderful animators for Rock and Rule. This has tons of unseen sketches of characters through out the whole creation process. We are sorting through them to figure out what to put on the dvd. We are sort of waiting a bit to do this since we might get more artwork. Thanks Charlie! Things we are waiting on: The final date for the commentary track with Clive Smith and maybe others. Don't worry, this doesn't take long at all. So this is what we have so far. It looks like this will be the layout for the 2 dvd releases of Rock and Rule. Rock and Rule Single Disc release Restored High Definition Anamorphic Transfer of the film in it's original aspect ratio in 5.1 Dolby, 2.0 Dolby and maybe in DTS or THX. The Devil and Daniel Mouse Feature (Depends on the Poll in the newsgroup. Deadline Aug 15th) Intensive sketch gallery Commentary with Director Clive Smith and to be announced. Single Disc Liner Note Booklet Written by Peter Roe Rock and Rule Double Deluxe Collectors Set Disc 1 Restored High Definition Anamorphic Transfer of the film in it's original aspect ratio in 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 Dolby Digital. The Devil and Daniel Mouse (Depends on the Poll in the newsgroup. Deadline Aug 15th) Commentary with Director Clive Smith and to be announced. Still and production gallery Double Disc Liner Note Booklet Written by Peter Roe Disc 2 Alternate Version of Rock and Rule The Making of Rock and Rule Feature (Depends on the Poll in the newsgroup. Deadline Aug 15th) The Making of The Devil and Daniel Mouse PDF File of the script for Rock and Rule Another sketch gallery And anything else we can find or live video interviews we can scrounge up. Below I have the timetable it takes to make the dvd from the original materials. Figured I would throw this in so you can see what has to be done to make the dvd. That way, you can understand the whole process. Most of this time has been scrounging up the above materials, which has taken forever. The Ring of Power print is on loan from one of the producers of R&R and it took awhile to find him and to pry it out of his hands. LOL Day 1: Begin telecine and restoration Day 30: finish restoration, output to High Definition Master Day 35: Encode MPEG, Encode audio from original Digibeta to see if it's better quality than what's on the film [and to see if it lines up]. Send proof Day 40: Send whichever soundtrack we're using to mastering/5.1 unwrap Day 45: audio mastering done Day 50: Assemble rough DVD for Commentary track recording Day 55: Commentary track recording. This doesn't have to happen Immediately, but should happen as soon as a master tape or screener DVD is available so that I can properly bit-budget everything on the disc. Day 56: Editing of commentary track begins Day 60: Commentary track editing complete, ready for DVD Day 70: Menus complete, DVD Authoring begins Day 75: First complete DVD Proof sent out to Unearthed Now, I've been trolling the group here and there, whenever I get the time to see what everyone wants or have concerns with. This is the part of the newsletter I will answer some of your questions. Trailers from Unearthed Films: We will not be adding some of our highly unusual trailers from some of our more disgusting films on the R&R DVD. We understand that this film will be shown to families and young ones so we won't be adding any of the Guinea Pig trailers to the dvd. We will have the Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts trailer on the dvd and maybe one of our upcoming animated films we haven't announced yet but nothing horror in the trailer section. Pre Orders: We should be able to take pre-orders 30 days before the release of R&R. We will announce this on the website and thru this R&R newsgroup. The only way we won't be able to do this is if our distributor has a hissy fit and forces us not to but we will do everything in our power to not let this happen. Pencil Sketches: We have tons so a sketch gallery will be on the DVD's. Nickelodeon's Lights Camera Action: Hosted by Leonard Nimoy. We have the 30 minute Making of Rock and Rule which was shown on Light's Camera Action. Nickelodeon took the making of, spliced it a little, and had Mr. Nimoy do a voice over at the beginning of the special. Retail Price: This depends on how much we advertise and how we manufacture the dvd as well as the amount of buying the film and the whole process of creating the dvd. It also depends on what mainstream retailers carry it since they demand a certain retail price. The double disc could cost $29.95 to $34.95at the highest which would mean a retail price of $19.95 to $29.95 and the single disc could be $19.95 to $24.95 which would mean the retail cost would be $14.95 to $19.95 maybe even lower. If we can get it into a major chain like Wal- Mart, Target and so forth, the prices can go even cheaper. It really depends on where we can get it in since you can guess this film cost us a bundle. Why isn't Unearthed answering our questions?: Yikes! When we started this group we thought we could only send out newsletters once in awhile but as the weeks passed we found out you can post, upload and generally hang out in the group and we honestly didn't know that. LOL We are also working on about 10 other films at the same time as R&R so we never have enough time to hang out and go over everything. Over the last two months I have made it a priority to come and hang out, read the polls and kill spammers. I mean delete spammers. LOL and read the threads to see how everything is going. I've been dying to send out this email but until everything is checked out. I don't want to flood you with unnecessary email newsletters. I will be checking back here on August 15th to see the poll results then back every 30 days to see how everything is going on. I will only send an email newsletter if it very important. If anyone joins and asks any of the questions I have answered here, please send them to this newsletter. I would greatly appreciate it. I thank you for joining this group and I hope this answers many of your questions. If there is ever a problem in this group, please feel free to email me personally at Heneverdies@aol.com Best, Stephen Biro Unearthed Films www.Unearthedfilms.com www.cyberpunkfilms.com ------ August 27, 2004 [Unearthed Films] - News Rock and Rule and Rock and Rule Double Disc Collectors Set – February or March 2005. It really depends on what the mainstream DVD companies are releasing in those months. It will be one of those two months, just figuring out when would be the best. ------ From: unearthedfilms Date: Wednesday - December 8, 2004 11:07 AM Subject: [Rock & Rule] Almost there.... Hey Guys and Gals, Stephen here from Unearthed. Had to let you know we are almost there. Clive Smith has finished the directors commentary and we are synching it up to the movie as we speak, menu design is finished, extra's are completed, audio is on it's way to the studio for clean up and 5.1 editing which will take 2 weeks to finish and the final film clean up and restoration will be finished in about 30 to 45 days. Then it's putting it all together; it takes about a week, and the 1st check disc is on the way to me for proofing and any minor problems will be fixed and then it's time to work on setting up the final release date, then promotion and advertising and then R&R will finally be available. Emru from FPS Magazine is working on the inside booklet with the interviews from the animators and Peter Roe is finished with the liner notes which will be a part of the inside booklet. The double disc collectors edition looks like it's going to be an awesome dvd, I hope all of you enjoy it when it finally comes out. I'd like to thank you all for being so patient with us. It means a lot to us since Rock and Rule is our biggest project to date and we hope that the time and effort we have committed to this rare and highly historical animated film brings you as much fun as it is making the dvd. I'll send you another update in about 30 days. Best, Stephen Biro Unearthed Films ------ From: unearthedfilms Date: Wednesday - January 5, 2005 6:18 PM Subject: [Rock & Rule] Rock and Rule Newsletter #7 Howdy do everyone! Stephen here from Unearthed. Busy busy busy... Running around like a chicken without a head. We are so close to finishing the dvd it isn't funny. Audio work is in it's final stages and will be finished in 7 days! Yehaaaw! Restoration of the film, cleaning up scratches and hairs and such off of the print is almost done as well. About 2 weeks and BLAM! It's done! Extra's have been finalized, we found 15 minutes of the ending of the film that wasn't complete so we added it to the double disc collectors set as another extra. I'll give you guys the whole disc layout in about 2 to 3 weeks. This is going to be the best looking DVD we have ever done. I was wondering if you guys can do me a huge favor. We just put together a small dvd of the Pan and Scan version to send out to retailers so they can check out the film and pre-order it. I'll be sending them to the IMDB, Internet Movie Database for info and the history of R&R. What I was hoping, was that can you guys go to www.imdb.com and look up R&R and vote on the Star Rating so we can get more then 300 votes on it? It would really help us since major retailers usually judge a film just by that rating and it would help us immensly in getting it out there more into the mainstream. I would really appreciate this and owe all of you big time for this. Here's the links... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086203/ Or go to www.imdb.com and type in the search Rock & Rule and it will take you there. I thank you so very much. Been reading a lot of your messages in the group, "I rarely get time to do anything fun." LOL And I am very happy that you guys have been very patient with us in this release. I can't wait to see this dvd when it's finished. I've seen everything, the film, the extra's, the menu design and I am waiting anxiously for the final audio and restoration and when it is put together... Oh baby! To finally see two years of work finally finished should be an amazing thing. I'm sure this is what it feels like to have been one of the animators. Working hard for years and then finally seeing the finished product. Anyway, I'm just blabbering. Sorry about that. I hope all of you had a great Christmas and a wonderful Holiday Season and I pray that this New Year brings you much joy and festivities. Stephen Biro Unearthed Films ------ From: unearthedfilms Date: Tuesday - February 1, 2005 12:58 AM Subject: [Rock & Rule] Rock and Rule Newsletter #8 Howdy do everyone! Stephen here from Unearthed, yet again with another breakdown of our progress. Guess what? The frame by frame clean up and restoration of the film is FINISHED! Hurray and a couple of huzzaas! The audio studio who cleaned up, enhanced and split the audio into 5.1 was astounded by the way the whole sound track split into 5.1 surround. These guys work on huge soundtracks by Paramount and 20th Century Fox and they were shocked at how perfect it split into the 5.1 They said the way it was mixed was way ahead of it's time and that it sounds so much better then the 2.0 Dolby Track they cleaned up. They said that usually, to make a 5.1 surround it usually sounds fake and sort of forced but not with R&R which totally amazed them. The technicians even said that the 5.1 brought out a lot of surround sounds and audio that you couldn't hear in the original release. As you can tell the music is finished as well. The design for the 2 disc collectors set looks freaking awesome! Our graphic designer Dave has outdone himself and I don't think anyone will want the single disc after they see the double disc version. I'm serious about that. It's one of those slip sleeve, unfolding dvd case where you pull the outer layer off and then your left with the 3 sectional unfolding box with 2 clear plastic dvd holding trays and one flap to hold the booklet. This way we can showcase some of the intense artwork from the film. Since we did the telecine work in Hi Def, we can snag any picture from the film for use in printing and this gives us so much more to work with with graphics and such for the dvd. The single disc version will be a clear amaray case with Peter Roe's liner notes on the back of the slip sleeve cover with a graphic of the whole city of Ohmtown in the background. The cover for both dvd's will be the R&R movie poster. Major thanks to Emru for finishing the inside booklet on time with the liner notes from Peter Roe. The cover to the booklet works perfect with the design of the 2 disc Nex Pac. I mean wait until u see it. I'm shocked at how everything just came together with the presentation of the DVD. I'll see if we can give you guys a sneak peek at the finished product before hand. It might be hard since it's a corporate secret but I'll see what I can do. Our distributor Ventura Distribution will be talking to Blockbuster and Hollywood Video this month about R&R and will be showcasing the film at a huge distribution convention for all of the major retailers. Lets hope they take lots and give Rock and Rule the release it deserves! Lets see... what else... Oh, we are working on the advertisements and catalog ads right now. Working on some banner ads for internet advertising this coming up week. So lets recap, R&R restoration and audio enhancement is done, ads are working, dvd design is done and just getting a little more spit and polish. The dvd's of R&R are getting put together this week. Oh I forget to tell u that. LOL We are so close to be finished completely that it's just a week to two weeks away. I should have the dvd check discs in my greedy little hands by around Monday or a little sooner and then it's just going over the discs with a fine tooth comb to make sure everything works right and then it's done. It will be a pleasure to go over the dvd with everyone here at Unearthed Films. We are probably going to have to have a party while we go over it due to the fact the double disc set has about 6 hours worth of extra's. LOL Didn't realize we had that much until I did the math. Now I would like to apologize, personally. I've read some of the messages here and I wanted to say sorry if I didn't answer all of your emails that you have sent me. I've been getting a little bogged down lately due to work load and sometimes, emails get past me. Hope you understand. We are a very small company, mighty in heart, very small in number. LOL Also, I have read several more messages about pre-orders. You will be allowed to pre-order Rock and Rule directly from us. We couldn't let anyone pre-order from us yet until a date is set in stone, which is very close. The Incredibles is being released in March 15th and we couldn't compete with Disney or Pixar much less both of them. As soon as we have a street date set, I'll give you guys a date for pre- orders. Don't worry, everyone here will be able to get their hands on Rock and Rule. Our distributors think R&R will be one of their biggest selling titles and they feel that it will be available in most of the immense retail giants who normally wouldn't look at anything we release. LOL Actually, our last 3 releases are available in Best Buy. Rubber's Lover, Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre and believe it or not, the Guinea Pig Box Set. I suggest none of you pick these films up. LOL I'm kidding but not really. LOL So everything is cooking, everything is almost done. I'll send out another newsletter after I watch the R&R check discs with everyone over here at Unearthed and hopefully, with the final release date and the pre-order date. Best, Stephen Biro Unearthed Films