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Star Wars 1977 Technicolor IB print color references (matched to print) — Page 5

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Interesting Williarob! I also checked the 1977 bootleg:

I included the next shot to show that it’s not a yellow shift in the bootleg.

It’s in very good agreement with both scans:

In fact, I would say the colors of the three sources are almost identical.

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DrDre said:

As you will notice most of the frames suffer from a green cast, which can vary from shot to shot, and as we know from Mike Verta from print to print. I’ve discovered it’s possible to balance the frames by using the sound track portion of the frame, such that we obtain the “ideal” Technicolor print. Here’s a test result (contrast is not final, I just wanted to boost the colors to better see the result of balancing):

Although some green color noise remains, it is much improved in terms of color balance. I will test the procedure on the other frames as well. To be continued…

Your post put some questions in my mind. When is the sound track added in the film making process ? If you balance it, you are close to the inter-positive which was used for the print, no ? So the IP wouldn’t have the green biase of the print ?
But is really that green cast a flaw of technicolor prints ? Is it not intended in order to have balanced colors under artificial yellowish light ?

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The Technicolor process is very different from the typical print process which uses interpositives and internegatives. The Technicolor process uses a color separation to create the master dye transfers. The optical soundtrack is printed in separate process. So there is no correlation to the soundtrack and the print. I believe DrDre is using the soundtrack as a given static color to help correct the print colors.

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Tomorrow I will upload the next batch of scans. I also think I’ve optimized the contrast for the earlier ones:

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Don’t change anything for them, they seem almost perfect !

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DrDre said:

Tomorrow I will upload the next batch of scans. I also think I’ve optimized the contrast for the earlier ones:

The problem I’m seeing with this is that you have blown out the contrast - inky darks, and blinding lights. Your un-contrast adjusted version looked much better. I think to meet your original purpose you should just leave the scans uncorrected so we can see the calibrated colors.

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I’ve adjusted the luminosity curve somewhat to prevent blowout and crush. Consequently, there’s also more shadow detail, but overall it (luckily 😉) looks pretty similar:

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I have no clue whether the colours (sorry, colars) are accurate, but I really love how they look and feel

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DrDre said:

I’ve adjusted the luminosity curve somewhat to prevent blowout and crush. Consequently, there’s also more shadow detail, but overall it (luckily 😉) looks pretty similar:

Now that has a richness and balance that looks like technicolor. Very much like the recent blu-ray restorations of The Ten Commandments and The Quiet Man.

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I’ve completed another 9 scans, and they’ve been added to the collection:

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Swazzy said:

White balanced, for your consideration:

It’s like… unfiltered principle photography… really nice white balance there Swazzy.

DrDre said:

More coming soon…

Can’t wait! 😃

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UnitéD2 said:

The same under a yellow exposure. Is it representative of what would be on the screen ?

Imgur

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/212583>>>>

Whether your push to a warmer temperature is actually correct? I don’t have a clue.

Since most calibrated TV Sets probably use the warmest (or next to the warmest) setting, some cannot add the warm vintage light bulb effect by themselves.

Thus a warm light bulb effect should be added to the final master (just like you did). And if somebody wanted a more neutral “projection“ he could always set his TV to a (more) neutral color temperature.

At least I have the feeling the we shouldn’t overdo that effect and shouldn’t go with the warmest vintage bulbs but should go for rather “new“ ones.

“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians”

“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” --George Lucas on March 3, 1988

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That is beautiful, Dre!

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Here are seven more scanned frames:

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The red pannels in the Death Star control room seem to be less orange than what we often see in other technicolor corrections.

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UnitéD2 said:

The red pannels in the Death Star control room seem to be less orange than what we often see in other technicolor corrections.

Indeed, and considering the green shift in the print it’s even less orange when corrected.

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DrDre said:

UnitéD2 said:

The red pannels in the Death Star control room seem to be less orange than what we often see in other technicolor corrections.

Indeed, and considering the green shift in the print it’s even less orange when corrected.

It’s partially a saturation difference. Pulling those dark greens a bit and bumping the sat:
(I think this is a bit too hot, but just showing how the red panels change a lot)