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Question: How many Blond Ambition shows were filmed?


material_boy

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Well I don't know about y'all but my favourite shows to watch are always the unadulterated proper start to finish concerts, whether it's Tokyo WTG or Fukuoka Girlie or Nice BAT or Barcelona BAT or whatever. I don't mind a little bit of splicing here and there but MDNA was just far too much.

I wouldn't be surprised if she goes the opposite route this time for the RH tour and we just get one proper start to finish concert as the DVD. No frills.

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I haven't sat through MDNA once, it's just ridiculous.

CT I can stomach...S&S I love...It's done well, fakery

and all..at least it feels alive.

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I haven't sat through MDNA once, it's just ridiculous.

CT I can stomach...S&S I love...It's done well, fakery

and all..at least it feels alive.

Would love for the S&S show to leak with the live audio, she sounded terrible in some parts but i take that over the mess they did for the dvd without a doubt.

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Didn't they also record the show on a soundstage for some close ups for truth or dare??

I don't think so, the three different Paris curly hairdos are pretty consistent from long shot and close-up. Plus some of the tricky stuff like that amazing steadicam shot during Live to Tell were done live, You also see cameras and cranes coming in pretty close in bootleg videos of those dates.

Tokyo was confirmed though wasn't it?

I find it hard to fathom that Alek was super proud of the Paris footage yet never kept a copy himself. Maybe the bitch never let him have a copy then went and dumped it in the trash or taped over it when filming 'I Am Because We Are' :lol:

Madonna: We need more tape! What's this? *watches BAT Paris footage* Oh, footage from that doco I made in 1990. Let's just record over this!

Until Madonna or Fincher confirm that Tokyo footage, then no. I'm still waiting for someone to explain how this could have happened when Fincher had already dropped out and Alek brought in just before they even left for Japan.

As for the Paris BA footage. I doubt there's an actual edited copy of the full concert anyway. Like any other movie, and due to budgetary concerns of the time, they would have picked the songs they wanted to edit, post-produce etc. I think it was the line producer that spoke of the months spent colour timing the footage that they needed. You can even tell by the LAP and HP performances that were tacked onto the special edition VHS that the same care and attention wasn't put into the editing or colour timing of those songs compared to the movie clips. So yeah, I imagine the cans of unedited 35mm concert footage is stored somewhere but someone would need to edit it, locate the soundtracks etc and while the unused (concert) footage may belong to Madonna/the financiers, the USED footage that's part of the film belongs to, well...whoever owns the rights at this point. So to get a whole concert together would be a logistical nightmare.

Oh and I did not know that about Re-invention. I guess we can see why it was never released. It's not the greatest footage. The sound doesn't sound top notch to me either.

That re-invention concert that leaked is very different from the final (?) Burning Up and Die Another Day clips that leaked online earlier though. They both looked like they were from the final edit (and both nights going by the changing hair from shot to shot) And the sound is likely just a direct port of the soundboard with no post production and that's why it sounds a bit flat...a bit like BA Nice...but don't get me started on THAT.

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Found this Paris clip, the lightning is so much better!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7iIB_7Q2g

Sorry i dont know how you embed from my cell!

I was looking for a news report from Paris, where they show bits of Express, it's the first show, right in the middle of the third chorus someone throws lots of cards right and she looks pissed and kicks them off stage.

Edit: found it

00:56

http://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL8FB3171E1DCA4F51&v=ABym3X1rCIw

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Until Madonna or Fincher confirm that Tokyo footage, then no. I'm still waiting for someone to explain how this could have happened when Fincher had already dropped out and Alek brought in just before they even left for Japan.

I agree on this.

It also never made much sense to me.

Doing a full multi angle 35mm movie recording of a concert properly, is a very expensive business - and no artist ever wants the opening nights of a world tour to be the movie of the show. I'm not saying I know it didn't happen - it just makes little sense to me on any level.

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Yeah I've said the same in other threads on the subject. We're not talking a few (non-existent at the time) digital video cameras here, but hiring and filming at a cost of $$$ in 35mm (in the wind and rain no less) just makes no sense whatsoever. It reeks of one of those "let's create an urban myth" type scenarios. Not that the person didn't say it during that interview, but Fincher was out the picture before the tour even started, that's what everyone else involved has always said.

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Yeah I've said the same in other threads on the subject. We're not talking a few (non-existent at the time) digital video cameras here, but hiring and filming at a cost of $$$ in 35mm (in the wind and rain no less) just makes no sense whatsoever. It reeks of one of those "let's create an urban myth" type scenarios. Not that the person didn't say it during that interview, but Fincher was out the picture before the tour even started, that's what everyone else involved has always said.

It's an awfully detailed interview, mainly on technical issues...I don't c why the person would make it up.

And David Fincher was part of Propaganda Films and it was reported at the time that he was 'replaced' by Alec...

and the original idea was to do a concert movie with the show as the focal point.

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People create urban myths all the time. What better holy grail than a Fincher filmed BA? (even if it is in the pishing rain and too early in the tour and before they secured Miramax funding and...)

It just makes no sense. Alek said himself he was called in during rehearsals and one week later he was on the plane to Japan. Even in the recent Q&A's he's talking about having to go to Madonna and ask for more money for this crane and that camera to film the show...yet apparently David Fincher was out there filming a million dollar (at least) muti-camera 35mm show in Japan? I wish someone would ask him about it.

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^ I was literally just watching that clip. You can see the ToD camera cranes during the intro to EY in this one. Love it.

Wow that's an amazing find!!!

It's the version of Express Yourself from TOD without all the editing and bells and whistles.

Love it 😊

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Oh and I did not know that about Re-invention. I guess we can see why it was never released. It's not the greatest footage. The sound doesn't sound top notch to me either.

The sound would have been heavily altered in post-production though if it was a proper final edit for release.

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Guest bluejean

That re-invention concert that leaked is very different from the final (?) Burning Up and Die Another Day clips that leaked online earlier though.

I always thought they were outtakes from IGTTYAS?

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People create urban myths all the time. What better holy grail than a Fincher filmed BA? (even if it is in the pishing rain and too early in the tour and before they secured Miramax funding and...)

It just makes no sense. Alek said himself he was called in during rehearsals and one week later he was on the plane to Japan. Even in the recent Q&A's he's talking about having to go to Madonna and ask for more money for this crane and that camera to film the show...yet apparently David Fincher was out there filming a million dollar (at least) muti-camera 35mm show in Japan? I wish someone would ask him about it.

That all makes sense to me. But who knows, Alec's account is probably romanticized too. But It keeps mentioning that HBO

special...so I have another question, if the BAT dates 4 Europe were originally not part of the tour, what show was gonna b broadcast on HBO?

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That all makes sense to me. But who knows, Alec's account is probably romanticized too. But It keeps mentioning that HBO

special...so I have another question, if the BAT dates 4 Europe were originally not part of the tour, what show was gonna b broadcast on HBO?

Apparently one of the US shows (Boston or another one, I forget). Check the previous page. I think it's Jamesy that said it there.

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The Boston and New Jersey B-roll tapes were given to HBO to help them with pre-production. That was always my take on it anyway. They were never meant for broadcast.

AFAIK, Europe was always part of the BA itinerary. The London dates were announced by Madge during the Jacki Brambles interview from the LA rehearsals I remember.

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The Boston and New Jersey B-roll tapes were given to HBO to help them with pre-production. That was always my take on it anyway. They were never meant for broadcast.

AFAIK, Europe was always part of the BA itinerary. The London dates were announced by Madge during the Jacki Brambles interview from the LA rehearsals I remember.

Yep. NJ and Boston never intended for broadcast.

Europe indeed always announced as part of tour even before it opened in Japan in April. HBO contract not signed until much later!

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That re-invention concert that leaked is very different from the final (?) Burning Up and Die Another Day clips that leaked online earlier though. They both looked like they were from the final edit (and both nights going by the changing hair from shot to shot) And the sound is likely just a direct port of the soundboard with no post production and that's why it sounds a bit flat...a bit like BA Nice...but don't get me started on THAT.

Just wanted to confirm that the leaked Lisbon Re-Invention concert isn't just the screen footage from the night.

Nocturne Productions did the screen footage each night on the RIT using 4:3 SD NTSC footage - but as we know, Lisbon was shot that night using PAL HDTV cameras filming 16:9 widescreen.

It was reported the night of the first Lisbon show by fans at the venue that the screens were showing footage in the wrong format. The 4:3 screens were actually being fed live (of course!) footage from the HDTV 16:9 cameras - squashed into a 4:3 format.

The next morning, Portugese TV were given footage of Vogue and Frozen (as was normal for every stop on the tour) and the first thing I noticed when I recorded their reports off Breakfast News TV - was that the footage was 16:9!

So I just now dug out that lengthy clip of Vogue they broadcast that morning - and placed it alongside the leaked Lisbon DVD.

As you can see - the DVD is another edit of the footage. A few wide shots and lots of other angle edits. But definitely a later edit. Something someone had worked on for that eventual (but still unreleased) DVD for sure!

It's interesting! And you can see also that a lot of the footage on the DVD edit is from the first Lisbon night (the news footage is entirely Lisbon 1st night of course).

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Jamesy: Since you're so plugged into this stuff, do you know why we never got BA or RIT on DVD? They've seen fit to release ever other show she's done, and we they clearly even started editing RIT for such a release. Why haven't they released them?

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Jamesy: Since you're so plugged into this stuff, do you know why we never got BA or RIT on DVD? They've seen fit to release ever other show she's done, and we they clearly even started editing RIT for such a release. Why haven't they released them?

:-) I don't think I'm really clued into it but I'll take that as a compliment. :-)

Sadly I have no idea at all about why they never got released. Loads of speculation over the years but I don't know anything personally!

Obviously back at the time there were definite reasons why BA didn't get released on home video by Warner - there was the whole exclusivity deal with Pioneer for a Laserdisc-only BA release - and then by the time that deal expired there was ToD and then she was onto her next tour.

And with Re-Invention, the CBS TV broadcast fell through and the fall-out with original director Hamish Hamilton. Then IGTTYAS was probably considered priority. Next thing we knew she was onto Confessions and RiT was old hat.

So if you look at it historically like that and accept that there were maybe valid reasons why the tours weren't released at the time as happened with all her other tours - then the question after that is, how come they never considered releasing them in later years (for BA - in the last 10 or 15 years).

And you're left with the answer that NOTHING seems to ever get released by Madonna's record companies that doesn't relate to what she's doing currently. It's not that we don't specifically get BA or Re-Invention - it's that we don't ever get ANYTHING from Warner Bros! :-) So if it "misses the boat" at the time - then history tells us we can kiss goodbye to getting it later.

Once perhaps WB or whoever is in control of all her back catalogue, decides there should indeed be releases of her former work - hopefully we will get everything and anything re-released, repackaged, deluxed-to-the-hilt. But I am fed up holding my breath for that!

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I agree on this.

It also never made much sense to me.

Doing a full multi angle 35mm movie recording of a concert properly, is a very expensive business - and no artist ever wants the opening nights of a world tour to be the movie of the show. I'm not saying I know it didn't happen - it just makes little sense to me on any level.

After finding out that the docu was at first thought to be just an HBO special, I know agree with you guys, it just seems silly and unreasonable to do such a recording. Who was it that bestswithin spoke to that said this? I can't picture someone making up this lie. Maybe it's possible that they planned to film it, but cancelled it after Fincher dropped out?

How the heck do we get In contact with Fincher? Lol. I want a proper answer!!!

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Guest bluejean

I don't understand why they don't just release the Nice show and be done with it? It's sitting there on laserdisc waiting. Same goes for The Virgin Tour.

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Guest bluejean

:lol:

There's actually leaks of Nice and The Virgin Tour DVD's, supposedly they are not laserdisc rips but the actual versions planned for release on DVD.

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:lol:

There's actually leaks of Nice and The Virgin Tour DVD's, supposedly they are not laserdisc rips but the actual versions planned for release on DVD.

Where?

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