Great!  Thanks a lot for the feedback. 

Hi althor1138.   Congrats and very exciting!  I think I saw that on ebay.  I am using a relatively low cost diy approach and have put in a lot of man hours working out my process, and it is a mixture of different things put together to make it work the best way.  My mom is in town right now and further progress is on hold for a week or two.  I started working on a rig that will hopefully make things go much faster.  As I mentioned previously, I am trying to hold off on revealing my exact method until my next clip is released and I get a bit of feedback on it, and then I will explain why I have been kind of tight lipped about it, and will explain my whole process.  I should hopefully have some time to get it worked on and maybe released during the weekend of October 15 if not starting a little before during the evenings after work.  Most likely it will be just a few more seconds of video.  Hopefully after that I can fly through the rest and release the whole thing (but as mentioned I will reveal my method before that, and maybe that will allow others to help me make it even better).  I am anxious to share my method and almost did a few times, but I am still chomping at the bit.  Now you placed even more pressure on me, lol.

One thing I have noticed that I am wondering about with my last clip is the color levels are wrong when using VLC, but are correct with Windows Media Player.  I am not sure why and the best settings to use that will work with anything.  If anyone has any suggestions, that would help a lot.  My only thought at this point is 16-235 vs 0-255 for the color range (I used 0-255 with the original images before making a movie out of them), or RGB vs YUV or whatever.

Let me know when you get your 35mm clip and be very careful with it because it is very easy to scratch it.

Saw this on ebay , didn't know if it would be of interest to anyone here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-1977-35mm-Film-Trailer-Reel-Rare-Completely-Original-Film-Cells-/130583549493?pt=UK_DVD_Film_TV_OtherFormats_GL&hash=item1e6762d635

Ok, here is a one second clip with my new process (both 1920x818 and 2560x1090 versions).  I finally got it where I want it.  I built my new rig today and made this very short clip.  It was relatively painless, and WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY easier than before.  Let me know what you think and I will finally reveal my process.

Like my previous clip, this is best viewed in Windows Media Player because for whatever reason, VLC has higher brightness levels.  Wish someone could tell me why.  I suggest to loop it since it is so short.  This is immediately before the final Death Star blowing up scene that I released before.  I might decide to go back and redo that last scene, but not until I am all done with the rest of the trailer.

http://www.mediafire.com/?dqme62ikis8qbmq

Nice clip, thorr. It looks very clear with good detail. I'm watching it on Windows Media Player though and it does seem a tad bit too bright to me. 

Thanks!  You're absolutely right.  Try this one instead, and let me know what you think: http://www.mediafire.com/?dqme62ikis8qbmq

I will update the post above with the new link.

Thank you. The new one's black level is an improvement, though, in my opinion, it could just be a tad bit darker. Anyway, as said before, even with it being darker, the detail is still very present and nicely done.

Thanks again!  Here is a screenshot comparing how it looks on my computer.  The top is from VLC and the bottom is from Windows Media Player.  I adjusted the black level as far as I can without losing detail in the original images and the darkest parts are pretty close to black as shown in the middle between the images.  Does it look the same on your computer?

http://www.mediafire.com/?tqgvu06be5jy6bt

Are you saying the black level should be darker, or the image as a whole should be darker (ie the white levels are overblown)?

thorr said:

Does it look the same on your computer?

Yes it does.

Are you saying the black level should be darker, or the image as a whole should be darker (ie the white levels are overblown)?

I believe that the whole image should be slightly darker. I altered your screenshot to what I approximately believe is right here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?n7z5waj72hpe6nz

Sorry if I'm coming across as picky. I'm not particularly apt in judging how dark or light something should be, but, just by how I see it, I think that it should look like this.

Thanks again.  I like yours better too.  I will play with it more and see if I can match that next time I get a chance.  Really appreciate the feedback.

Ok, here is a new link again with updated level adjustments: http://www.mediafire.com/?dqme62ikis8qbmq

Cool, memories are flooding back of seeing this in front of Independence Day. Ah, when the SE seemed like a good idea, before we all realized that George was serious about suppressing the original versions. It was Star Wars on the big screen, how could we refuse that?

Am I insane, or was there a *very early* SE teaser which just had the SW logo slowly zooming up on a black screen and some text or something? No music or anything. I swear I saw just such a teaser at the front of something around Christmas '95 (Jumanji?). I've found no mention of it, even from back then...

Anyone having a problem with the clips?  I tried them on my work computer and got corrupt video.  I probably need to install FFDShow or something.

thorr said:

Ok, here is a new link again with updated level adjustments: http://www.mediafire.com/?dqme62ikis8qbmq

Fantastic job, thorr! The latest version looks perfect, on my monitor at least. In any case, I'm having no difficulty playing it.

Thanks for the feedback!

In short, my process for doing this is using a flatbed scanner.  The reason why I was being secretive about it is because I have been told on numerous occasions that it could not be done this way, and I never accepted that answer and wanted to prove to myself and others that it could be done with acceptable quality before saying how I did it.  It wasn't without it's challenges though. 

There are many things I had to deal with such as:

- dealing with a roll of film instead of individual frames

- aligning each frame properly so that it doesn't jump around

- getting all of the information off the frame without crushing blacks or blowing out whites

- matching the color between each scan

- cropping each frame in the right spot

- getting enough resolution but not so much that it takes forever to scan

- aligning each physical frame on the film roll properly when scanning

- keeping the film and the scanner glass clean and free of dust

I had two scanners that were capable of scanning film.  I started with my older scanner because it was like a dream come true for scanning roll film.  That scanner is an Epson 1640su photo scanner. http://www.galerie-photo.com/epson_perfection_1640su.html  It has a transparency unit that sits on top and has a film holder that lets you slide the film through it from side to side which is great for roll film.  The problem is there is a little bit of space around the edges of the transparency adapter and the scanner glass, and also around the edges of the film holder and the transparency adapter.  When scanning the film, the frames would not be aligned properly.  35mm film is very small and any slight movement misaligns the frames.  Also the sprocket holes were hidden in the film adapter, so there was no point of reference for aligning the frames.  Also, the scanner resolution was enough for 1920x1080p, but not enough for full WQHD resolution (it was still better than 1920x1080p though).  Also, it crushed the blacks a bit.

Next up was my newer scanner - Epson V300 Photo.  Much nicer, newer, higher resolution, etc.  It has a built-in transparency adapter by removing a white plate out of the lid.  http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l%253D241661%2526a%253D241491%2526po%253D3,00.asp?p=n#fbid=8syvXc6_UbW There are several challenges with this scanner.  The film holder that it comes with doesn't accept roll film.  It expects you to put pre-cut negatives into the holder and you fasten them in with a small plastic door.  Also, in order for it to work in transparency mode, the film holder needs to be in place or it will detect that it is missing and give you an error.  I thought of running the roll film underneath the film holder, but that led to another issue.  The film strip in the adapter runs lengthwise but there is a rectangular window at the end of it that can't be blocked or it won't work.  So you have to do it horizontally one frame at a time.  The problem is the top of the scanner hinges along the side instead of the top, so it gets in the way of being able to run the film that way. 

So what I did for the first clip with the Death Star explosion was run it somewhat diagonally underneath the film holder and then used Photoshop to straighten everything out.  Also, I used it to align the frames by overlaying them and using the Difference between the layers.  Since the scene was stationary, I could use the stars as reference points.  The huge challenge was each frame didn't line up exactly right so I had to stretch it in areas to get everything aligned.  This was extremely time consuming, but the end result was pretty good.

During the process of this, I discovered this nifty device: http://www.amazon.com/OMNI-Stand-Alone-Image-Slide-Scanner/dp/B0046TBJEM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319082819&sr=8-1  This appeared to be a perfect solution to scanning roll film.  In reality though, it produced crappy results.  The film had to slide through a clear plastic holder inside and the plastic came scratched so the scratches would be in every frame and it was essentially a CMOS video camera and not a scanner, so the picture looked terrible (full of cruddy noise) compared to what I was getting with my scanner.  So it was worth a try, but I returned that.

So finally, I came up with a really good solution and that is what I used on my latest clip.  I figured out that by scanning in a different spot on the scanner glass, I could run the film roll perfectly horizontally on my newer scanner and not have to do it diagonally (wish I would have figured that out earlier).  Then I built a wooden frame tightly around my scanner and I screwed in two film holders from my old scanner - one on the left of the scanner, and one on the right for passing the roll film through at each end.  This allowed me to perfectly align the film without it moving around at all.  I would just have to worry about aligning in the up and down direction essentially.  Here is a pic of my rig: http://i52.tinypic.com/2elxhep.jpg

I use the same process as before with the Difference between the layers in photoshop, but now I can use the sprocket holes for reference because they get scanned when passing underneath and across the film holder.  When scanning, I do one frame at a time because that is all that fits under the opening of the film holder.  It makes it easier to do one frame at a time too because I can just move it over 4 sprocket holes at a time and scan.  It's easier to count 4 than 32 for example.  To get rid of the dust and to protect the film from getting scratched as it goes under the film holder, I rap the film with a microfiber cloth.  This works perfectly and I don't have dust problems like I was having tons of before.  Each frame gets scanned in under a minute and has enough resolution for full WQHD.  So I basically surf the net as I scan frames and the time flies by. 

After scanning the frames, I have to manually align them in Photoshop.  This goes very easily now that it is straight and I can use the sprocket holes for reference.  After that, I can automate the rest of the post processing in Photoshop - crop in the same spot on every frame, resize every frame, color correct the same way on every frame, etc.  After all of the frames are done, I bring them into VirtualDub and make a lossless AVI.  After that, I use Xvid4PSP to make the final video. 

Monday evening after work, I scanned 116 frames.  I have been busy after that, so I haven't aligned them yet, but to make a clip out of them should go pretty quickly.  It would start at the point where the Star Wars Trilogy screen ends and the Millenium Falcon flies by the planet Yavin, then Luke shoots his photon torpedos, then the RotJ Death Star blows up which would be from my original work.

So in a nutshell, that's my process.  A lot went into getting where I am today, but now it is working pretty good.  It just takes time and dedication to scan and align the frames.  The rest is pretty easy.

Sounds like a great, MacGyver-ish method :-)

May I suggest though, that a software like After Effects is probably a faster way to align all you frames, instead of doing it by hand in Photoshop? In After Effects you could just motion track the sprocket holes, and have them align automatically...

Thanks!  That's the kind of stuff that I was hoping for.  I have no idea how to do that, but would be thrilled to know and have 116 frames just waiting to try it on.  Any info you can provide to help would be great!

I'm off to work now (after all it's 7:45 in the morning here right now), but you might want to check out this tutorial:
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/stabilize_shaky_footage/

In that tutorial only one point is tracked, thus only the position is stabilized... but as you can see, there's an option to track the rotation as well, by picking a second point. I'd say you just pick the two sprocket holes in the opposite corners and it should work perfectly.

If it's still unclear after that, I'll write something up tonight.

Thanks, that is very helpful!  It is almost 11:00 pm here, so I won't get a chance to try it until tomorrow evening.  I will let you know if I need any further help.  Do you know if it is possible to track two or more points?  I would like to track the sprocket holes on both sides if possible.  If not, it probably won't really matter.