Original Thread Opener:
I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a color regrade of the Alien movies. Specifically, Alien and Aliens but maybe looking into the other two later. The goal is to regrade both these movies back to early versions. I'm a novice but in the last few months my skills have improved to the point that I want to try to take on a project (in my spare time) and what better project then two of my favorite films.
Alien:
For Alien I was looking at the 1999 DVD from the Alien Legacy set and/or the 1995 widescreen laserdisc. I have completed about 25% regrade of Alien to both the 1999 DVD and LD. I want to run a comparison to see which plays better. The rumor was that the 1999 DVD of Alien was the closest to the original theatrical prints. It lacks the overall blue and green timing of the later D-theater's and Blu-ray's masters but does have those colors in a few spots. Beside the color changes it is also a touch brighter. The laserdisc (http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/06718/8760-85/Alien-%281979%29) is darker then the Blu-ray and much warmer. It also lacks green timing but has several scenes with unique color timing. People don't look like bloodless vampires.
Soundtrack wise, I want to include the 1995 LD's 5.1 70mm "test Sensurround" soundtrack (graciously provided by _,,,^..^,,,_), the Dolby Stereo PCM soundtrack from the oldest LD I can find (http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/10590/1090-80/Alien-%281979%29) and maybe the DVD's 5.1 the BD's 4.1 soundtrack, which is hopefully the refined 70mm mix.
Aliens:
For Aliens I was looking at the DVDs and/or the last widescreen laserdisc. Unlike, Alien all the pre-BD DVDs and HD version of Aliens have the same color timing, whereas Alien's color timing is different in almost every iteration. I started grading the Theatrical cut of Aliens to the last widescreen laserdisc (http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/06719/8761-85/Aliens-%281986%29). The laserdisc looks similar to the DVDs in color tones (blues and purples and no blanket green of the BD) but with much higher saturation and unlike the DVDs warmer skin tones.
Edit: Also using 35mm pics/scans of the theatrical trailer
I'm not sure if I want to do the theatrical cut or extended cut. I have been thinking about doing a preservation of the CBS cut. The CBS cut is basically the extended cut without the Hadley's Hope scenes at the beginning. Basically, it keeps the focus totally on Ripley, keeps the important emotional points of her daughter but retains the tension of not knowing what happen on LV-426 till you get there. It is my preferred version of the film...
Soundtrack wise I have AC3 5.1 soundtrack from the LD and the Dolby Stereo PCM soundtrack from the oldest LD I can find (http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/10644/1504-80/Aliens-%281986%29). If I do any of the longer cuts, I will need the longer cut's PCM soundtrack.
I'm not sure if the final form will be MKV or Blu-ray. Anyone interested? Branching off the discussion in the Alien/Aliens Color Regrade thread here:
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Alien-Aliens-Color-Regrade/topic/17002/page/5/
While taking a break from grading Alien, I posed a question whether anyone was interested in a color regrade of Blade Runner. Using a 80s era laserdisc someone uploaded to the spleen. I regraded parts of Blade Runner to see the results.