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TITANIC 35mm Preservation! (a WIP) — Page 5

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Yes what I’m saying is the scan needs to be adjusted to match how the projected print looks. When I saw the film projected for example most/all of the skies in the outdoor daytime scenes are a warm white, not grey/blue.

Whereabouts do you live? If you can see a screening on film you’ll see what I’m talking about. I would expect there to be more screenings of Titanic this year as it’s the 20th anniversary of the film.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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Oh yes, I see! Apologies, I totally misunderstood. Just finding g this so extremely fascinating, and grateful that it’s being done at all👍🏻.

I live in South Africa, it’s not likely that we will get a 20th anniversary screening anywhere (with 35mm at least!)

  • it’s a bit too niche for the film culture over here I’m afraid. I could be proven wrong though so I’ll keep an eye out, for sure!
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What you need to do is find a cinema that still does 35mm (or is interested in doing 35mm) and then get them to book the film. It wouldn’t be hard to convince them to book Titanic as it ticks all the right boxes: it’s a family film (both kids and adults can enjoy it), it’s a good quality film being made in the later 90’s compared to lacklustre 80’s prints, it’s a popular movie that people love. A good place to start would be your local film and tv archive, find out from them if there are any local cinemas they loan or hire prints to for exhibition and then go from there.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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Trailer:

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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I gave it a very quick colour correction in the direction of the projected print colours which are warmer than the scan (and in some places you see faces turn piss-yellow). I don’t plan to push the yellows it as far as it actually appears when projected, I don’t think people would accept that, but maybe a tad warmer than what you’re seeing in the Trailer.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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If the movie is close to the trailer, it will be great! The photography is almost palpable, definitely not as an over digitalized frame. It’s just an opinion : the less corrections, the better the result. I don’t think it is important to remove or reduce “yellow” because it’s not the same one you can see on a blu-ray. Studio remasters try to digitally emulate a chemical treatment ; I think it is best to leave intact. 😉

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 (Edited)

I’d also request for the colours to be left on this just as the projected print shows. 35mm prints were more yellow and green than red. We saw this on the 35mm and 8mm examples of Terminator 2, as well as Jurassic Park.

Digital grading cannot successfully emulate the look of photochemical timing, which is why neither Jurassic Park 3D or Terminator 2 3D (I saw it twice theatrically) could emulate the photochemical colour dynamism. There was very little colour separation in both JP3D and T23D because of the limitation of digital colour space.

Because there is already so much good colour information and colour separation on this Titanic 35mm, it’s best to match it to projected colours (you’ll need to use the very same bulbs they used in the cinemas back then) and leave it at that. If there’s no way to accurately find out 1997 projection bulb colour temperature, then it’s best to leave the colours on the print alone. This is my suggestion anyway.

Also, @RU.08, I sent you a PM. Please check and let me know. Thanks.

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RU.08 said:

Trailer:

Amazing! Love this 😄
Interesting to note, that this must be a rare alternate trailer since there are a number of substituted shots (mostly during the sinking scenes, in the trailer shown here) when compared to the other 4 minute theatrical trailer. This one here is more in line with the 5-minute ShoWest version. Very cool indeed!

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I have no idea how “rare” the trailer is (by that I would mean its actual usage in Cinemas I suppose), but I can say that our scanner owns it and scanned it for us and you can thank cpalmer2k for paying for the scan (not overly expensive for a trailer, but still an expense and generous of him to do so). It’s a pity it’s the only trailer we had access to, I’d love to do some more. 😃

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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It’s a gem, all the same - I love new discoveries like this (it’s a rarity, trust!)

I’ve actually got a full trailer reel for Titanic, it’s the 4-minute version…but I’m going to have to check it to see if it’s this exact same version, or the more common one that features the extra Digital Domain shots. I don’t have a projector so haven’t ever played it, but I’ll have to carefully look at some of the shots and find out. I always thought there was only one long version.

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It’s a pity you’re in South Africa… but we can always get it transferred if you’re interested in sending it transcontinental. 😉

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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RU.08 said:

It’s a pity you’re in South Africa… but we can always get it transferred if you’re interested in sending it transcontinental. 😉

Hi again!
I’ve just unspooled and checked my trailer and surprise - it’s the same version as the one posted here. It doesn’t feature the additional Digital Domain shots, as seen in the later 4-minute trailers. Neat discovery, but I do wish I could’ve contributed! The shot of old Rose, dissolving after she says “I’ll be damned” is a giveaway, this dissolve doesn’t appear in any other released trailers that I’ve seen - it’s usually just a straight cut to the next shot.

IMG_20171019_205341.jpg

The only single difference I can see though is the framing in this one shot of Kate (seen here) where we see less of her head and more of her shoulders.

IMG_20171019_220351.jpg

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The hard drive has been sent from the scanner to a friend who is making a backup copy of the scans, then it’ll be forwarded to me. It’s going to take about 20 hours to dump my scans from it to another drive.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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RU.08 said:

The hard drive has been sent from the scanner to a friend who is making a backup copy of the scans, then it’ll be forwarded to me. It’s going to take about 20 hours to dump my scans from it to another drive.

Great, looking forward to it. Take as much time as you need.

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Hello! I would like to contribute and donate for this wonderful project. Who can I get in touch with?
good luck with the project.

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Hello. Happy to contribute to this project. Let me know. Thanks.

Film is not Dead

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 (Edited)

Not to be a debbie downer… I do think this looks amazing (it’s like being in a theater and watching it with an original film projector), but so does the blu ray. I could understand if the blu ray looked terrible. Would anyone care to explain in case there’s something I’m not reading between the lines.

Also I would like to know about the status of this project. Is it near completion?

YUB NUB!

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skywalkerfan101 said:

Not to be a debbie downer… I do think this looks amazing (it’s like being in a theater and watching it with an original film projector), but so does the blu ray. I could understand if the blu ray looked terrible. Would anyone care to explain in case there’s something I’m not reading between the lines.

Also I would like to know about the status of this project. Is it near completion?

“Hey, I think what you’re doing is pointless, but … is it finished yet?”

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ChainsawAsh said:

skywalkerfan101 said:

Not to be a debbie downer… I do think this looks amazing (it’s like being in a theater and watching it with an original film projector), but so does the blu ray. I could understand if the blu ray looked terrible. Would anyone care to explain in case there’s something I’m not reading between the lines.

Also I would like to know about the status of this project. Is it near completion?

“Hey, I think what you’re doing is pointless, but … is it finished yet?”

I didn’t say it was pointless. Why are you being such a fucking smartass??

YUB NUB!