This could be very interesting. Also, the wording in your post is a bit unclear--are you de-greening Owen's shirt in that shot? Because I think even on the IB print there is a bit of green going on there. It might actually be the way the print/timing ended up making it look. Actually, most original 35mm/70mm sources exhibit a green tint throughout the film. One thing to be a bit careful of is making things look ideal, because the authentic colouring might not have been as nice/"correct" as we would like.

For the Binary sunset, you will of course have to eyeball it. But sources to base the judgement off:

-Puggo 16mm (the print is massively desaturated keep in mind)

-Theatrical telecine bootleg (moth3r)

-Technicolor screening photo

-Capnap (16mm?) telecine bootleg

-Derann 8mm screencap (on my 8mm page)

These all show various levels of consistency in the colours, it's usually the brightness levels that vary around.

 

Also, this is something that I posted in my thread on the colouring, but I recommend a bit of a contrast bump to the image. The GOUT is relatively flat, I don't know if the G-Force gamma change solves it completely, but the DVD itself definitely could use a bit of a kick here.

zombie84 said:This could be very interesting. Also, the wording in your post is a bit unclear--are you de-greening Owen's shirt in that shot?

Do you mean Obi-Wan? If so I am actually doing the opposite, even with the general saturation boost and dialling down the reds his shirt and cloak are still rather washed-out and red. So I have isolated this washed-out brown colour and re-coloured it to match what I see in the Technicolor photos.

zombie84 said:Also, this is something that I posted in my thread on the colouring, but I recommend a bit of a contrast bump to the image. The GOUT is relatively flat, I don't know if the G-Force gamma change solves it completely, but the DVD itself definitely could use a bit of a kick here to get things popping more.

I completely removed the black/white/colour adjustments in G-Forces script so all black/white/colour changes are being made by me as part of the colour grading process. I have already boosted the contrast as much as I feel comfortable with. It's interesting you should mention it as I have had to restrain myself from increasing it too much because its so easy to end up with crushed blacks if your not careful. :(

Yes, precisely. SW also has a rather high-key, slightly pastel-ish look to it, so you shouldn't go crazy with the contrast. If you look at some of the Technicolor photos, you get a better sense at how the contrast should look. There should be nice blacks and a sense of pop to the image, but it shouldn't be ridiculous or anything. Ultimately the GOUT has limits with how far you can increase the contrast before you start crushing the black detail too much.

Also, as for Empire colour references, aside from a saturated GOUT, you can compare two other relatively useful sources for colour:

-Puggo 8mm (this print in particular has terrific colour...possibly an LPP print)

-Theatrical bootleg telecine

The theatrical bootleg telecine has a really big pink shift in the highlights for most of it, but shows off a lot of the saturation. In general, it is consistent with a saturated GOUT, and is more for confidence than anything, but it might also be useful for knowing if you've gone too far or not enough.

Many thanks for all the useful pointers zombie84. :)

EDIT: @AluminumFalcon at this stage I have no idea when Star Wars will be finished, it could be a few days it could be a few weeks, it all depends on when I hit that sweet spot with the colour grading. ;)

Lee, I'm currently building a better "colour reference" page that will include a new pass at auto-colouring the GOUT, along with reference caps from the additional sources I mentioned. I'll hopefully have the SW section done before the weekend is over.

Thanks Zombie that sounds like it could be quite useful! I too hope to have some screenshots to share by the end of the weekend. ;)

Personally I would be more happy to see someone take a stab at the pre-THX LD transfers instead, but every attempt to get the films colortiming closer to its original state is always welcomed. :)

I'm glad to see that my sub-script coming to good use, don't feel restricted by it though, it's not perfect IMO, I would be happy to see someone improve upon it.

As this is mainly a color correction project, I suggest that you keep these glitches in mind: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-Trilogy-Original-Theatrical-Versions-2006-DVD-Flaw-List/post/462787/#TopicPost462787

Maybe you could splice in footage from other sources in those scenes.  

The close up of the twin suns should also be red in color and not blue/purple as you can see in this post for example: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-Colortiming-Cinematography-was-What-changes-was-done-to-STAR-WARS-in-93/post/428819/#TopicPost428819

That is something I'm 100% sure of as I've obsessively studied that close up on many transfers out there, and that close up is only blue/purple in the '93 telecine.

I'm looking forward to see what you can accomplish, good luck with this project.

rockin said:
:O

Shockingly awesome Lee.

I never knew there was more life left in the GOUT source. It almost looks like a totally different source.

Thanks rockin! :D

I am VERY excited to see this come to fruition....nicely done Lee....it's looking great.

 

:)

Thanks Jetrell. :)

I don't want to jump the gun as I won't know until I have watched this on my 26" LCD TV, but I think this colour grade might be the one! :D

Nerfherder said:
Awsome-zilla!!! However  - and please don't think I am nit-picking - I think just a TAD more colour would bring it closer to those Technicolor print shots, unless it's my laptops screen of course...

At any rate it's leaps and bounds better than the stock 2004 GOUT, and shocking that Lucasfilm couldn't even be bothered to do a basic colour correction to it like you have here for its release. Just goes to show what some love for this film and technical competency with video tools can reveal.

I salute your technical prowess, Sir!

:D

Increasing the saturation is much like increasing the contrast you have to restrain yourself otherwise you end up doing more harm then good to certain areas of the picture. I have already increased the saturation as much as I feel comfortable with because we have to remember that while you can polish a turd until its so glossy you can see yourself in it, this doesn't change the fact that it's still a turd on the inside. :(

The Aluminum Falcon said:

Wow Lee! Those colors look fantastic! They're so vibrant and completely unlike the monochromatic (in comparison) GOUT! I think you've hit the correct grade :-)

I thought it quite ironic myself when I was comparing before and after shots earlier today with the untouched GOUT looking as black and white as it did it made me think about George Lucas' stance on the colorisation of black and white films. LOL

Many thanks for all the positive feedback everyone! :D

I think the saturation could be bosted by about 10% as well, at least for most shots, to match Technicolor levels without sacrificing anything. But these still look very nice. Good job!

Nice results! IMO and this is just my opinion as there's as much opinions when it comes to color-timing as there is colors, you should go a little warmer. Star Wars IMO had a very warm color palette.

The sunset:

The colors in the wide shot look way off and unnatural to my eyes, the lower sun is too pink and the sand have a sickly green/yellow tint.

The shot of Luke is incredibly close to how it looked in FOX-promotional material for the SE before it went looking like night in the '97 video release. It's been a while since the '97 SE played in cinemas but I clearly remember that I reacted when I first saw the SE on video and thought it looked weird and couldn't remember it looked that way in the cinema. Anyway, it looks beautiful, the photo of the Technicolor screening have more pink in it though.

A little more red in the close up of the suns and it would look much better.

Again... just my opinion, what you've accomplished so far is really nice. Keep it up! :)