Gone with the Wind: 65th Anniversary Special 4-Disc Edition (1 Viewer)

[George See]

Does anyone know anything about this "ultra restoration" process. Has it been used before or is this something new?

 

[PaulP]

"Ultra Resolution" restoration was done on Singin' in the Rain for example. Awe-inspiring.

 

[DeeF]

Ultra-Resolution, of course, has nothing to do with resolution.

It's just a way to describe scanning in the b&w matricies separately, doing corrective work, and then compositing them together in the computer, before transferring to disk.

Usually, a film's print is transferred digitally.

 

[George See]

Enough said this disc should be amazing.

 

[Peter Kline]

If it looks like "Singin' In The Rain", I'll pass. However, if it compares favorably with "Meet Me In St. Louis" - another Ultra-resolution release, I'll buy. The first is garish and over the top while the latter is subtle and rich in its color palette.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Well, it sort of does have to do with resolution. You're getting 3x the normal resolution as opposed to scanning monopack Eastmancolor or B&W.

 

[DeeF]

How so, Patrick? It seems to me (from working in Photoshop), that if you scan the 3 matricies, but then composite them together, you're still only getting 2K, or whatever you scanned them at.

I suppose there's a chance that fixing their alignment in the digital domain will give you better edges, etc., and this could be called "resolution," although I still think the term is a little misleading.

 

[DeeF]

Peter,

I sortof agree with you about the colors of those two movies, but you could be reacting to the differences in their original art direction/cinematography, rather than something that happened at the digital stage.

I think both are quite amazingly beautiful.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Well, you're starting with 3 x 2K. That's combined into one 2K file.

I do think the name is silly... it would be neat to call it something like "D-Tech" or "Digital Technicolor"

 

[Peter Kline]

DeeF

I like the look of Singin'. It fits the film. I just don't think it would fit GWTW, hence my preference for Meet Me In St. Louis as the way I believe it should look.

Peter

 

[Robert Harris]

Three 2k files, composited to a single unit equal a 2k file.

RAH

 

[PaulP]

I did not mean with my Singin' in the Rain comment how Gone with the Wind will look. I have no way of knowing. I was just replying to a question regarding Ultra Resolution, and whether it's been used before. It has; on Singin' in the Rain for the first time.

 

[Peter Kline]

PaulP,

I think Ultra Resolution was used before on Citizen Kane and Casablanca among other films. I'm sure someone will chime in with a list.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

Warner has previously released three films using their Ultra-Resolution process:

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

GONE WITH THE WIND will be the fourth.

 

[Peter Kline]

Right. The above mentioned black and white films were done by another company in a similar process.

 

[Robert Harris]

The "Ultra-resolution" process is a moniker used by Warner in reference to software which digitally shapes shrunken or other ill-fitting Technicolor negatives, masters or Eastman derived separation masters by slightly molding the image to force the three images to fit together.

It is used without a tradename by several other entities, and was used by Kodak's CineSite to fit alien records of Patriot together.

There would be nothing to fit together in black and white.

 

[TonyDale]

DeeF, i do stand corrected regarding the musicalization of GONE WITH THE WIND; I whipped out my handy, dandy NOT SINCE CARRIE, to read up on it.

 

[Vincent Matis]

Mr. Harris, do you know if that Ultra-Resolution process restauration was used for the 3 DVD SE released in R2 (France) in november 2003?

Thanks in advance,

Vincent

 

[Roger Rollins]

Last year's R2 GWTW 3 disc set in France was the same old transfer that had been issued there before. There was a GWTW stage piece in France last year at the same time the DVD came out. I think WB France was trying to milk the connection.

It was most definitely not the new WB Ultra-Resolution transfer that we know is in the works even though (despite this very long thread) it hasn't even formally been announced by the studio yet!

 

[Peter Kline]

Don't you have to fit the black elements and the white elements together? (not to mention the grey)