Paramount to re-do "Godfather" DVDs - Page 10

mike kaminski · 06-03-2008, 12:20 PM

It's strange but I find myself much preferring the palette of Godfather II that was used for the original DVD. Its not just that it looks different, theres an entirely different pyschological color scheme to the film now; will take a bit of adjustment.
On the other hand, Godfather III looks amazing! Sharp and detailed, with rich color and a more interesting look.

I have to say, I didn't think these restorations would be that big of a deal but I'm becoming very excited about this.

Cees Alons · 06-03-2008, 02:26 PM

Damned mouse! Has a life of its own.

I was going to wait for the BD release, honestly, but when I only looked at the new version on Amazon/UK, it suddenly got ordered.

I can't help it, but I felt they made me an offer... well you know.
May have it before the end of the week.

Cees

Ray H · 06-03-2008, 02:59 PM

Looks pretty good overall. On the Godfather Part III comparisons, however, I find the second to last shot on page 3 to be a bit disconcerting though. The two men's suits have gone from gray to nearly black and they're standing in broad daylight.

TonyD · 06-03-2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Czyz

Godfather Part II comparison pics up:
El Padrino 2 DVD vs. El Padrino 2 - Remasterización de Coppola DVD DVD Comparativa - ZONADVD.com
Quite a bit of difference on some of these.

that "Vito New York City 1917" shot with the hall way light on the wall
looks way to bright.
the actual light is too right making it hard to see that there is actaully
a wall lamp hanging there.
it looks like just a light hanging in the air.

someone else look at it and explain it better then me.

mike kaminski · 06-03-2008, 08:41 PM

It looks fine to me--you can still see its a lamp hanging, pretty much in the same detail as the original disk. The brightness between the two is almost the same, actually.

Geoff_D · 06-05-2008, 07:36 PM

I've just got done with Part III and those caps don't do it justice. It's very detailed and clean, with a small amount of grain visible. And I'm amazed at how consistent the colour timing is across all three movies, as Part III now dovetails beautifully with its predecessors.

Even though Willis' photography doesn't quite capture the same timeless look of Parts I & II there is still some achingly gorgeous stuff here; the shot (near the end) of the opera performer being lost in a pool of black as the lights go down had me slack-jawed.

RickardL · 06-06-2008, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyD

that "Vito New York City 1917" shot with the hall way light on the wall
looks way to bright.
the actual light is too right making it hard to see that there is actaully
a wall lamp hanging there.
it looks like just a light hanging in the air.

someone else look at it and explain it better then me.

IMHO, it looks like the contrast is boosted too much.
Detail is clearly lost in the screencaps.
Look at the "white crush" on the guy's shirt sleeve and the loss of
colour on his forehead where the light is reflected:
El Padrino DVD vs. El Padrino - Remasterización de Coppola DVD DVD Comparativa pág. 2 - ZONADVD.com
(scroll down to the third pair of comparisons)

Edit: direct urls to pics stopped working.

mike kaminski · 06-06-2008, 01:29 PM

One thing to keep in mind is that the contrast levels and the overall image may actually be "correct" but video does not have the dynamic range of film, so where on 35mm those whites would still have detail visible as on the original disk, on video they get turned into hotspots when you bring the contrast up to its proper aesthetic levels. I guess thats the dillema of video: you can't 100% recreate the film original so you have to allow some inaccuracy somewhere--do you bring the white levels down so detail is visible as in the original telecine or do you match the contrast levels as they were intended to be and let the whites blow out in a few places? The contrast level is more important to maintaining the aesthetic of the original photography so the compromise is that you lose detail in the whites.

At least that is how I would explain this difference.

RickardL · 06-06-2008, 04:04 PM

I hope those screencaps are misleading.
If those screencaps had represented the same DVD on two different
TV's, most of us would have said that the "restored" TV was inproperly calibrated.
But if the whites are truly crushed on the DVD, calibration (of your dsplay) will not bring back those
details.

TonyD · 06-06-2008, 07:50 PM

Rick, that is exactly what i was trying to say, "white crush" if you will.
details in the brighter section of the image, lost.

hopefully those caps are not accurate to the way it will look.

Jrf2 · 06-06-2008, 09:13 PM

I think we should all wait until we have more first hand reports from those who have the DVD's before we starting sound the alarm about crushed detail. Geoff D, who actually owns the discs, seems quite pleased. Those screencaps are good for showing us the new color timing, but in the end they are just screencaps.