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Attack of the Clones: Color Correction of the Blu-Ray (Released)

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 (Edited)

Hello guys,

I found this article about changes in re-releases of the prequels: http://www.dvdactive.com/editorial/articles/star-wars-the-changes-part-four.html

It stated that the Blu-Ray version of AOTC has some weird color grading. I decide to use DrDre’s tool from http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Color-matching-and-prediction-color-correction-tool-v13-released/id/18128 to fix it.

The following changes have been made to the colors:

  • The Jedi meeting in Palpatine’s office has been made more blue.
  • An orange hue has been added to the meeting with Obi-Wan, Anakin & Padmé to add to the effect of the sunset.
  • A pink glow present in the entire chase sequence has been removed.
  • I added a slight yellow touch to the Jedi Council meeting for better skin tones, especially for Yoda & Windu.
  • The same yellow touch has been applied to Palpatine’s conversation with Anakin.
  • A purple hue in the conversation between Obi-Wan & Windu in the hallway of the Jedi temple has been removed.
  • The scene of Padmé packing her things in her apartment has been made a bit more green.
  • The Archives have been made more blue to be consistent with how we see them in Revenge of the Sith.
  • Skin tones have been improved in the refugee spaceship with Anakin & Padmé.
  • Added a bit of green to the younglings scene without altering the lightsabers.
  • Removed pink from the arrival of Naboo scene. The result is much more orange, which suits the bright sun of Naboo.
  • The colors in the conversation between Padmé and the Queen have been slightly tweaked.
  • All scenes on Kamino, Naboo & Tatooine have been made more orange, as well as the Geonosis scenes up until the arena battle.
  • Orange has been removed from all scenes starting with the arena battle.
  • The same orange hue has been added to the Naboo wedding.

A 15-minute video showing the changes can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjdol99wjEE

The only used video source is: STAR WARS Episosde II Attack of the Clones Official Blu-Ray 2011
Format: MP4
Available in HD 1080p and SD 360p, H264 29.97 fps
HD File: 2.62 GB, 2.5 Mbps
SD File size: 945 MB, 800 kbps

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Can I ask why 29.97fps? And 2.62GB for a 2 hour long HD movie?

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I added the data rates to the file info. This probably explains the file sizes.
The original Blu-ray had a framerate of 23 fps, but my editor gave output files of 29.97 fps.

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Chris358cp said:

I added the data rates to the file info. This probably explains the file sizes.
The original Blu-ray had a framerate of 23 fps, but my editor gave output files of 29.97 fps.

Well, that is not right, then. 😃 should be 23.976 as output.

Also, there are HDTV caps and restorations of the DVD version of the film if you want to watch it in HD with better color.

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I have made a comparison of the DVD version with what I made. In some occasions I saw that the DVD version had more blue, so not the most realistic colors.
My intention of this color correction was to create the most realistic colors for each scene. I made multiple LUT files and looked scene-by-scene what I thought was the most realistic.
If it’s necessary, I can reprocess the video’s with 23.976 frames/second.

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It’s necessary. Don’t want ntsc stutter. You also might want to export it with about 10 times the bitrate for 1080p, or about 4 times if you want to do 720.

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Possessed said:

It’s necessary. Don’t want ntsc stutter. You also might want to export it with about 10 times the bitrate for 1080p, or about 4 times if you want to do 720.

Yep. Worth learning these things, as you don’t want to spend a bunch of time color correcting things, only to introduce new problems in the final step.

As wonky as colors are in some of the Star Wars releases, I think I’d probably take that over repeated/stuttery (or blended interlaced) frames or super low bitrate. But again, issues like these help you learn about the different important steps in rendering and editing.

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Thank you for the feedback guys. While I started fixing the framerate and data rate, it would be nice to get feedback on the actual color correction as well. I’m going to continue with this project, because I think everyone deserves a Star Wars film with realistic colors.

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I still haven’t seen AOTC, I really should try to watch it.

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
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I would settle for AOTC “as close to theatrical as possible” edition.

she/her
mwah

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poita said:

I still haven’t seen AOTC, I really should try to watch it.

I would watch a fanedit. If you’ve truly never seen the theatrical you might be able to actually enjoy it, but you are pretty much guaranteed to not like the theatrical.

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 (Edited)

Possessed said:

poita said:

I still haven’t seen AOTC, I really should try to watch it.

I would watch a fanedit. If you’ve truly never seen the theatrical you might be able to actually enjoy it, but you are pretty much guaranteed to not like the theatrical.

I was considering the exact same thing when I went for my very first viewing of The Phantom Menace, but in the end I did go with the official Blu-Ray version (not DVD because puppet Yoda in TPM sucked). This allowed me to get my opinion on the real thing before heading to a fanedit.

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Yeah and that makes sense but if your first experience with a movie is that it’s terrible that’s going to be hard to shake, whereas if your first experience is a well done fanedit you might at least think it’s decent.