I’d suggest going for a Kodak 5247 film stock emulation. The current grade seems very sloppy and over-saturated
Well considering how little time I spent on the grade, I’m not surprised to hear such a reaction. I went for a mix of Kodak 5245 (what TPM was shot on) and a highly saturated look. I’ve tried in the past to make older looking film emulations such as 5247 even using scenes shot on digital and the same scene shot on 5247 and I can’t seem to make a consistent emulation. An ideal film emulation grade should be able to create a consistent recreation no matter the shot rather than having to tweak the grade for each individual shot. Emulating modern stocks is a lot easier, but I definitely want to go for an older look like 60’s or 70’s film stock such as 5247, so I’ll keep trying to work on that and do more research.
My hunt for proper old film stock emulation is why my PT project still hasn’t come out yet. The upcoming ROTS release is based on the modern film stocks TFA and TLJ were shot on rather than the recreating a film stock used on the OT, and honestly I only feel like releasing it to satisfy people’s hunger for a better looking PT and not because it’s something I’m satisfied with.
In terms of the saturation levels, I’m still playing around with that. I think the film’s more fun atmosphere would lend itself to that visual style, but maybe I will settle for something more balanced.