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Raiders of the Lost Ark - Bluray color balanced (LUTs Released) (a WIP)

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 (Edited)

Following some heated discussions I decided to create a thread on the balancing of the colors of the Raiders of the Lost Ark bluray, which borders on an orange and teal color grading. While a shot by shot correction will naturally give you the most freedom to manipulate the colors, it’s still interesting as a test case to explore how the colors of the official release might be improved single correction of the entire film.

This will be an interactive thread, meaning that the color grading will evolve depending on your comments and suggestions. I will be sharing LUTs of each of these iterations, such that you can create the version of the movie you like best. At some point I might render (or some other volunteer) a final release version, but this is first and foremost a thread to experiment, explore, discuss and learn from each other.

I’ve created a first version to start the discussion. Here are the first five screenshots (more will follow):

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray regraded:

Here’s the first LUT:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8_LYKyZDiajVnc0Sk53RzZmNDQ/view?usp=sharing

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Here’s a second set of five frames.

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

Bluray:

Bluray regraded:

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Good work DrDre, honetsly I like the warm of the bluray, a different approach could be something like add more green and remove just a little of yellow in the highlights




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It does look pretty amazing Dre. Sorry that the discussion on kk650 board didn’t go so well. If I have one comment, the shot of Indy running away from the Hovitos and the pan american plane shot, the sky (mostly the clouds) looks a tad bit bright for my eyes, it could be my monitor, but to me they look bright. Everything else looks fantastic with just the right level of yellow that I can appreciate over both the bluray and the 35mm print!

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Dre, are you using WOWOW as color reference? I think so, but I would like to have a confirmation.

DVD color grading is different from both WOWOW and BD, and, IIRC, LD has another different grading, too; can’t say the latter is the closest to theatrical one (there is a proper 35mm scan, after all), but, again, IIRC there is at least one LD version taken from release print (first Italian version); sadly, it’s p&s, so I wonder if there is a widescreen version as well (from release print).

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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Thanks everybody for your comments! 😃

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 (Edited)

Deloreanhunter12 said:

It does look pretty amazing Dre. Sorry that the discussion on kk650 board didn’t go so well. If I have one comment, the shot of Indy running away from the Hovitos and the pan american plane shot, the sky (mostly the clouds) looks a tad bit bright for my eyes, it could be my monitor, but to me they look bright. Everything else looks fantastic with just the right level of yellow that I can appreciate over both the bluray and the 35mm print!

It’s oke, kk650 is passionate about his work, and so am I, so it got a little heated. Maybe I was a little harsh, then again I did feel the issues I addressed were somewhat more serious than just a matter of taste. Anyway, we both said our piece, and that’s that.

I reduced the brightness somewhat in the brightest areas, and added a bit more yellow to the city walls in the Cairo sequence:

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^…^ said:

Dre, are you using WOWOW as color reference? I think so, but I would like to have a confirmation.

DVD color grading is different from both WOWOW and BD, and, IIRC, LD has another different grading, too; can’t say the latter is the closest to theatrical one (there is a proper 35mm scan, after all), but, again, IIRC there is at least one LD version taken from release print (first Italian version); sadly, it’s p&s, so I wonder if there is a widescreen version as well (from release print).

I did use a WOWOW frame as a starting point and adjusted it from there, as I generally prefer that color grading to the bluray.

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DrDre said:

I reduced the brightness somewhat in the brightest areas, and added a bit more yellow to the city walls in the Cairo sequence:

Perfect!!

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 (Edited)

These balances look great DrDre!

While the discussion in kk’s thread was going down I had already started making an imperfect test correction of his version inspired by the 35mm colors just to see what I could do with it.

EDIT: [BROKEN LINK]

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Dek Rollins said:

These balances look great DrDre!

While the discussion in kk’s thread was going down I had already started making an imperfect test correction of his version inspired by the 35mm colors just to see what I could do with it.

Thanks! For some reason I can’t see the image you posted, sadly.

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 (Edited)

Is there any way to make the contrast levels more like the DVD? It’s just my opinion, but I think the DVD has a really nice balance.

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DrDre said:

Dek Rollins said:

These balances look great DrDre!

While the discussion in kk’s thread was going down I had already started making an imperfect test correction of his version inspired by the 35mm colors just to see what I could do with it.

Thanks! For some reason I can’t see the image you posted, sadly.

Weird, it’s still showing up for me. This should work:

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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rockin said:

Is there any way to make the contrast levels more like the DVD? It’s just my opinion, but I think the DVD has a really nice balance.

I will look into it.

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 (Edited)

Dek Rollins said:

DrDre said:

Dek Rollins said:

These balances look great DrDre!

While the discussion in kk’s thread was going down I had already started making an imperfect test correction of his version inspired by the 35mm colors just to see what I could do with it.

Thanks! For some reason I can’t see the image you posted, sadly.

Weird, it’s still showing up for me. This should work:

Ah, yes, thanks! Looks good, although I would reduce the green a bit.

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Are you going to leave the bar scene with its home video red tint or revert it to its more neutral film appearance?

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DrDre said:

Dek Rollins said:

DrDre said:

Dek Rollins said:

These balances look great DrDre!

While the discussion in kk’s thread was going down I had already started making an imperfect test correction of his version inspired by the 35mm colors just to see what I could do with it.

Thanks! For some reason I can’t see the image you posted, sadly.

Weird, it’s still showing up for me. This should work:

Ah, yes, thanks! Looks good, although I would reduce the green a bit.

still can’t see.
clicking enlarge button opens empty placeholder.
clicking direct link below it opens this:
error image
sorry for off topic…

You really only need to hang mean bastards,
but mean bastards you need to hang.

John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth

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 (Edited)

RDPlissken said:

DrDre said:

Dek Rollins said:

DrDre said:

Dek Rollins said:

These balances look great DrDre!

While the discussion in kk’s thread was going down I had already started making an imperfect test correction of his version inspired by the 35mm colors just to see what I could do with it.

Thanks! For some reason I can’t see the image you posted, sadly.

Weird, it’s still showing up for me. This should work:

Ah, yes, thanks! Looks good, although I would reduce the green a bit.

still can’t see.
clicking enlarge button opens empty placeholder.
clicking direct link below it opens this:
error image
sorry for off topic…

That’s weird. Anyway, can you see this?

BD

Regrade

I started again by matching to a 35mm frame first and adjusting from there. I think this looks like a pretty good attempt at matching the BD to the 35mm look. Thoughts?

(I’m a big fan of the 35mm look, if you can’t tell 😛)

EDIT: Sorry if I’m hijacking your thread, haha. Just want to pitch in a little, 'cause I always love a good Raiders discussion (one of my favorite films).

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Hijack away! Any discussion is appreciated! 😄

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hairy_hen said:

Are you going to leave the bar scene with its home video red tint or revert it to its more neutral film appearance?

At this point it’s just about getting the colors to look appealing, not so much getting to the look of the original release.

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I dig it, Dek Rollins. Should be even better using the WOWOW broadcast instead of the Blu-ray.

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 (Edited)

Dek Rollins said:

That’s weird. Anyway, can you see this?

Nope. Seems there’s some problem with image.ibb.co in my neck of the woods maybe,
can’t open in Firefox or Chrome. I can see other pics just fine.

Anyway, I like the direction this regrade is going!

You really only need to hang mean bastards,
but mean bastards you need to hang.

John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth

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Time

RDPlissken said:

Dek Rollins said:

That’s weird. Anyway, can you see this?

Nope. Seems there’s some problem with image.ibb.co in my neck of the woods maybe,
can’t open in Firefox or Chrome. I can see other pics just fine.

Anyway, I like the direction this regrade is going!

I edited the post with imgur links, hopefully you can see it now. I’m getting tired of image hosts not working.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

Author
Time

Thanks, Dek! It’s looking good! Also a fan of 35mm, I like the colors of it here, but from the screens I feel the levels could go maybe a third toward Blu-ray.

You really only need to hang mean bastards,
but mean bastards you need to hang.

John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth