Interview Lucasfilm on Star Wars the Complete Saga Blu-ray: Part II Matthew Wood (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Monce]

They should be, its the actual quality that is concerning me, using old masters, edge enhancement, degraining of a film which had already been totally degrained by Lowry and had fake grain added back in, etc etc, thats what bothers me and early reports on the original trilogy suggest this will be a problem.

If I understand what was done correctly, they went back to the original 2004 scan, before Lowry did any work to it. Doug

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce



If I understand what was done correctly, they went back to the original 2004 scan, before Lowry did any work to it.

Doug

Still an old scan, they didn't have better technology than the other studio's were using and old masters have been the biggest problem when creating a quality blu ray, the screenshots i have seen show edge enhancement, a digital look and some degraining, yeah there is a little grain left in but it looks compromised to me, now there are some on these boards, the owner for one, who say screencaps tell you nothing, well that depends if you have trained your eyes and know what to look for, they can certainly show edge enhancement and degraining.


I have a program on my computer, its pretty expensive, it allows me to add film grain to digitally shot footage, you know what, EE isn't needed, the fake film grain actually makes the footage appear sharper, appear more detailed, it really does, i was skeptical when i saw this in the program but it works great, it also aids me in understanding how the film grain should look on certain films.


I can choose from and change the density of the following film grain patterns when adding to my HD camcorder footage, creating a depth of field effect and adding some film grain looks fantastic on a big projection screen, its fun to experiment and you learn a little too.


Eastman Color Neg II 100T ( 5247 )

Eastman EXR 100T ( 5248 )

Eastman Color Neg 100T ( 5254 )

Kodak Vision 200T ( 5274 )

Kodak Vision 250D ( 5246 )

Kodak Vision 320T ( 5277 )

Eastman Color high speed negative 400T ( 5294 )

Kodak Vision 500T ( 5279 )

Kodak Expression 500T ( 5284 )

Eastman EXR 500T ( 5296 )

Eastman EXR 50D ( 5245 )

Kodak Vision 800T ( 5289 )

Kodak SFX 200T


I guess my point in printing the above is that i love it, the film grain added in small amounts to HD camcorder footage really seems to add detail, no edge enhancement sharpening needed, yes in this case its an illusion, it works though, now i just need to figure out how to make a lightsaber and i'm good to go, i'm trying to get the right size of stick for that.

 

[Dave H]

From reading a 2004 interview with Lowry, Lucas evidently wanted some EE an DNR on selected scenes. No matter how you slice it, we are getting what Lucas wants - for better or worse (much of it worse).

 

[montrealfilmguy]

Foxy,i got your lightsaber right here ! Oops that sounded .......well....not good. Its never been easier to do lightsabers now with a few programs that are quite affordable now. number 1. A program called Hitfilm from a company called Fxhome,they have several packages for special fx,compositing etc... Of course the page here shows how to add lightsabers,which i think is the push for all geeks nerds and soon-to-be-promoted Jedis. http://hitfilm.com/standard/overview Number 2. this little program,its free,but if you look at the videos it seems to get the job done,the visual part of it at least.He looks to have another one to add sounds also. http://lsmaker.uw.hu/page.php And of course,After effects which is quite expensive but you can of course download the demo and follow the best film blog tutorial guys,a crew called Film riot.Funny,informative and very entertaining. http://revision3.com/filmriot/lightsaber Hope that helps.

 

[MielR]

*laugh* So we can talk about the current changes being bad, but the very FIRST change is somehow "ok", and can be called a "1977 print". No, it's a "1981 print", even if it's a 1977 print with the "modification" tacked on.

Can you quote me where I said it was "ok"? There were NO Technicolor IB prints of Star Wars made in 1981. There is no film restorationist in the world who would treat a print such as the one in question as a "1981 print" because a TRUE 1981 print would be on 100% Eastmancolor stock. It's a 1977 print with a 1981 scroll spliced on and that's the most accurate way to describe it. The fact that someone could someday find the original scroll, attach it to this print and make it a TRUE 1977 print, kind of makes any discussion about the whole of this print being "from 1981" kind of ridiculous. I'm sorry - we've already hijacked enough of this thread with this issue, and I won't contribute to that any more than I already have.

 

The print was created in 1977...it's a 1977 print.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

Look,were still in the Star wars realm here and were still waiting for the date of release and the reviews so i dont think it will make a dent in the force... I'd still like to know what the gentleman says in the video of the Senator about Lucasfilm not wanting to lend this print and how valuable it is. Anybody reads lips here ? Paging Dr. Hal 9000 ? Dr.Hal 9000 to the screening room please. I did find another page with some more info on that Senator theater's last night and exhaustive info on that print. Just read more of it as im typing this and what he says is also in here so Dr.Hal can just go back to singing Daisy Bell again. http://savestarwars.com/technicoloribscreening.html

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by montrealfilmguy

And of course,After effects which is quite expensive but you can of course download the demo and follow the best film blog tutorial guys,a crew called Film riot.Funny,informative
and very entertaining.

I'm using Adobe After Effects, i love the film grain options in that program and some of the effects are top class, i am reading up on it all in some of the tutorials, if i ever do it and it looks right i will maybe come back and let people see me holding my lightsaber. ( yah that sounds dodgy )

 

[montrealfilmguy]

again night shift at IBM so type type type.... So people are talking about Jedi rocks.but i cant put my finger on it... I type it in Youtube and look....and listen..... Freakin' Cripes !!! It was like Jason Bourne time.My head started spinning and everything was flooding back into my mind... Holy Max Rebo Batman,that sucks bone marrow. You know how when you walk from outside from the blinding white snow to a completely dark room,you still see an afterimage of the snow,that's how it is with this. I should be okay in two days. I say our only course of action now is a bit draconian but will serve its purpose. I get my perfectly healthy nephew to ask Make-a-wish foundation to have George Lucas get the Library of congress ' National film registry copy from the vault and make a Blu for basically every one who asks for it. Even Uncle George cant say no to that And if he does hesitate with a err and a hem,we show him that Youtube clip of the Barefoot contessa saying no TWICE to that poor leukemia kid.Clockwork orange style. That should do the trick. Deep down inside,im really a swell guy. But im still appalled about that lady saying no to a cancer kid with the reasoning that "you can't say yes to everybody ".

 

[Edwin-S]

Was that Jedi rocks thing in the original version? I only saw "Return of The Jedi" once during its intial theatrical run. That was enough for me. I've never seen it since.

 

[MielR]

Was that Jedi rocks thing in the original version? I only saw "Return of The Jedi" once during its intial theatrical run. That was enough for me. I've never seen it since.

No, the original song was "Lapti Nek," & puppets were used in the original.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

side-by-side comparisons.. or top to bottom.... the original.It is what it is. then the replacement.It isnt what it says it is anymore. It really does look cheaply pasted on top of the 1983 image.

 

[Edwin-S]

Thanks. I watched and listened to the original clip on YouTube. It may be a bit dated with the disco-style music, but the music and what is going on in the scene works much better than Lucas's replacement. That "Jedi Rocks" number and the editing of the scene looks and feels completely disjointed, compared to the original scene. The original scene flows really well.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Still an old scan, they didn't have better technology than the other studio's were using and old masters have been the biggest problem when creating a quality blu ray, the screenshots i have seen show edge enhancement, a digital look and some degraining, yeah there is a little grain left in but it looks compromised to me, now there are some on these boards, the owner for one, who say screencaps tell you nothing, well that depends if you have trained your eyes and know what to look for, they can certainly show edge enhancement and degraining.

 

I have a program on my computer, its pretty expensive, it allows me to add film grain to digitally shot footage, you know what, EE isn't needed, the fake film grain actually makes the footage appear sharper, appear more detailed, it really does, i was skeptical when i saw this in the program but it works great, it also aids me in understanding how the film grain should look on certain films.

 

I can choose from and change the density of the following film grain patterns when adding to my HD camcorder footage, creating a depth of field effect and adding some film grain looks fantastic on a big projection screen, its fun to experiment and you learn a little too.

 

Eastman Color Neg II 100T ( 5247 )

Eastman EXR 100T ( 5248 )

Eastman Color Neg 100T ( 5254 )

Kodak Vision 200T ( 5274 )

Kodak Vision 250D ( 5246 )

Kodak Vision 320T ( 5277 )

Eastman Color high speed negative 400T ( 5294 )

Kodak Vision 500T ( 5279 )

Kodak Expression 500T ( 5284 )

Eastman EXR 500T ( 5296 )

Eastman EXR 50D ( 5245 )

Kodak Vision 800T ( 5289 )

Kodak SFX 200T

 

I guess my point in printing the above is that i love it, the film grain added in small amounts to HD camcorder footage really seems to add detail, no edge enhancement sharpening needed, yes in this case its an illusion, it works though, now i just need to figure out how to make a lightsaber and i'm good to go, i'm trying to get the right size of stick for that.

 

Of course....I was just pointing out that any problems that the Lowry clean up may have brought to the 2004 release would not be a part of this release. Doug

 

[Coressel]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S

Thanks. I watched and listened to the original clip on YouTube. It may be a bit dated with the disco-style music, but the music and what is going on in the scene works much better than Lucas's replacement. That "Jedi Rocks" number and the editing of the scene looks and feels completely disjointed, compared to the original scene. The original scene flows really well.

Interesting. I much prefer the newer song and the characters. But that's just me. I hated Return of the Jedi when it first came out in '83. The dumb blue rubber elephant is still there, but the whole musical number is an improvement, imo. An even bigger improvement would be to just ditch the whole stupid scene all together and cut straight to Leia bringing in Chewie.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

This i have to hear. You hated the entire film Coressel ? You weren't thrilled with any of it ? Speeder bike chase ? The whole Jabba barge sequence ? Carrie Fisher ? I agree that some parts are meh,and that compared to the one just before,it's a little less Shakespearian,but i find it hard to believe that anyone who was there in 83 walked out onto the street and spit on the sidewalk. Perhaps you went and joined the wrong crowd,the ones i was usually with for the 10 times i saw it were always clapping,cheering loudly throughout Luke and Han 's heroics and generally feeling a great satisfaction with the final chapter of this trilogy. I personally like Lando's narrow escape from the exploding Death star reactor.One of the very best examples of the synergy between editing,spfx,John Williams's epic score and Billy Dee Williams scream of joy as he pushes through the flames and shockwave. At that time,what was expected of that film was indeed delivered.Even if stormtroopers are being clubbed left and right by oversized tribbles. But its not so easy when youre in an AT-ST being pulverized by 2 giant logs.

 

[TravisR]

Thanks. I watched and listened to the original clip on YouTube. It may be a bit dated with the disco-style music, but the music and what is going on in the scene works much better than Lucas's replacement. That "Jedi Rocks" number and the editing of the scene looks and feels completely disjointed, compared to the original scene. The original scene flows really well.

I think they're both fairly terrible. Both songs are awful. One has phony looking CG and one has phony looking puppets. All that adds up to a draw in my mind. I've seen George Lucas say that he thought that a musical number in the middle of a Star Wars movie was a funny idea and while I agree that it is a funny idea, it doesn't work in the movie. Like Coressel, I think an improvement would be just drop it all together.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I saw this on another forum, found it amusing so thought i'd post it here for all those Han shoots firsts fans, i bet its a lot funnier than the so called spoofs advertised on the new blu ray set, who knows maybe the blu ray actually cobbles some of this together, good idea if they did.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDkKtAjEbj4&feature=related

 

[montrealfilmguy]

pretty funny,the pause makes it even better and i love how nobody reacts to all this. As i said in relation to the Lapti nek thing,it is what it is.i Dont recall my 15-year old mind going deep into analysis about puppets at the time,i was just enjoying Star wars.Maybe now in retrospect,but certainly not then. And im looking at Yarna dancing and all i can think is she's doing an homage to La Saraghina,the beach prostitute from Fellini's 8 1/2.

 

[Coressel]

I remember leaving the movie theater after seeing Jedi the weekend it opened, and my friends and I looked at each other somewhat dumbfounded, and we remarked "how the hell did they manage to ruin Star Wars? Since when is it muppets and teddy bears in space?" Keep in mind, I was a smartass know-it-all 17 year old at the time. It just didn't work for me at first. I saw it again years later in 1997 and finally appreciated it more than I did originally. A friend of mine showed me his laserdisc of it, and then I saw the Special Edition, which I felt was an improvement. So the notion that this was some sort of untouchable masterpiece until suddenly last week seems a little strange to me.