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Empire Strikes back 35mm restoration feedback thread (POUT) (a WIP) — Page 4

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Me too. Once I save enough up for the cleaning, I’m pushing to get it scanned as quickly as is possible, I am a bit paranoid about something happening to it now that it has been acquired.
I decided to get the thousand dollars worth of drives now, so that when a scanning window opens it will be ready to go, hopefully I will be able to afford to get it fully cleaned before the scanner becomes available again, but if I had to make the choice between getting it scanned without cleaning, or waiting a year, I’ll choose getting it scanned without, and then try for another scan once cleaning becomes possible.

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bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!

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Mate, this is so exciting. Considering the miracles you were accomplishing with those red faded prints I can’t wait to see what you do with this.

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It is just so good to have an actual colour reference to work on. I’ll be able to project any restoration side by side with the print to check the colour.

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!

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poita said:

A couple of images from the new print. It hasn’t been cleaned yet, and I’ve just ordered 40TB of HDD ready to store the scan, once they arrive I’ll see about getting the cleaning done, but I couldn’t resist grabbing a few images for everyone in the meantime.

Looks amazing poita!

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Fucking amazing!

What’s the internal temperature of a TaunTaun? Luke warm.

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Here are some larger files for the pixel peepers.
The scanner wasn’t calibrated or refocused, just sneaked in a few frames in-between other jobs.

Same three frames, just higher res and not scoped.

https://we.tl/hvnq50Ej49

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!

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poita said:

Me too. Once I save enough up for the cleaning, I’m pushing to get it scanned as quickly as is possible, I am a bit paranoid about something happening to it now that it has been acquired.
I decided to get the thousand dollars worth of drives now, so that when a scanning window opens it will be ready to go, hopefully I will be able to afford to get it fully cleaned before the scanner becomes available again, but if I had to make the choice between getting it scanned without cleaning, or waiting a year, I’ll choose getting it scanned without, and then try for another scan once cleaning becomes possible.

How much do you need for the cleaning?

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Also, I’m sure I just missed this, but how in the hell is this print not all pink and vinegary? Is it IB Tech, poly, kept safely in an Argon chamber for 40 years, or what?

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

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CatBus said:

Also, I’m sure I just missed this, but how in the hell is this print not all pink and vinegary? Is it IB Tech, poly, kept safely in an Argon chamber for 40 years, or what?

Cold storage, I believe.

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poita said:

Here are some larger files for the pixel peepers.
The scanner wasn’t calibrated or refocused, just sneaked in a few frames in-between other jobs.

Same three frames, just higher res and not scoped.

https://we.tl/hvnq50Ej49

Is this missing calibration and focus the reason for the glow around bright areas (like the audio track or the crawl)?

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Yes Laserschwert, the flare on the left hand side is due to some smudging on the lens, the lens was dirty, the scanner had just run a print that had been treated with filmguard, and some ended up on the lens. It meant that print had to be taken off and cleaned, so it gave me a ten minute window on the scanner, we just chucked it on quickly to see how it looked.

Arnied, cleaning and prep is USD145 per reel, so $870 (and freight).

CatBus, the print was put into cold storage nearly 25 years ago, so it has the slightest amount of fade, but it is really slight. It means we finally have a truly reliable colour reference for Empire as it was in the cinema. It is very exciting.

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!

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That is really fantastically awesome news, Poita! So, is your original 35 mm restoration started back in 2016 of ESB going to be shelved now and replaced with this new and improved print? Just curious… 😃

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It will be a combination of the two prints, with this new print being the main source.
There are bound to be some missing or damaged frames that are better on one print than the other.

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!

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Wow, Poita, this thing can’t have ten years of fade on it. It must have been recently-struck when it went into cold storage. I guess they were still doing that 25 years ago.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

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All I can say is wow. This print looks stunning. I’ll be sending another donation or two your way in the coming weeks!

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@CatBus it’s not a reprint, it’s an original 1980 print! 😄

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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Beautiful print. I hope you store it during and after the preservation in the same cold conditions. 😃

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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RU.08 said:

@CatBus it’s not a reprint, it’s an original 1980 print! 😄

That’s… I can’t even.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

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That’ll be the one - it was sandwiched between ANH and ESB in the 1982 double bill.

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 (Edited)

That teaser frame grab looks like they literally unfolded a poster, and filmed it / photographed it.

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LexX said:

Beautiful print. I hope you store it during and after the preservation in the same cold conditions. 😃

Yes, it is currently in cold storage at the Academy in LA until I can get it cleaned.

It spent its life from 1985 til 1993 in archival storage, it would have been kept in ideal conditions, at about 7C, it then went to a collector for a couple of years, and then went into cold storage until now.
It is a very lucky (and stupidly expensive) find.

The teaser for ‘Revenge’ is this one:

https://movieweb.com/star-wars-revenge-of-jedi-teaser-trailer-rare/

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!