Work is continuing on processing the 2020 blu-rays to remove the horrendous static grain . Its a very long process though. Having to create multiple masked layers, lots of rotoscoping so that only the areas that need processing get processed (and to enable different levels of processing to sections of the picture) so that you don’t scrub away the detail (like the digital noise reduction has sadly done for so many shots on these new versions). It’s very tedious. So far the first 37 minutes of the film have been completed. This side of things is going to continue well into the new year, but the result will hopefully be worth it. I really wish that it could be an easy fix, just adding a layer of 35mm grain to hide it, but that doesn’t work. Yes, the final result will have some added real 35mm grain, but this film does need to end up with around the same amount of grain as the previous 2 films or it will look completely out of place when watched back to back. Some shots are beyond repair though. Shots that have had so much digital noise reduction applied than the image is blurry and lacking detail. Detail thats actually better in the older 2011 blu-rays, and those are notorious for lacking detail. So its a case of swapping out the destroyed shots and replacing them with either their processed 2011 versions or from footage taken from 4k83. These shots also have to be regarded and processed so they don’t look like they are from completely different versions when viewing. In the end though, it will result in a much better looking version of this film.

When i get bored and tired of the monotonous rotoscoping work, i like to test out what the final grade could be like. Using the 4k83 scans as a reference, i’m able to get this film to look pretty close to how it looked originally. The 2020 blu-rays, for some reason. look washed out and have a very brown tint to them. The highlights are completely flat too. Luckily these are still a better grade than the older 2011 blu-rays, so i’m not having to remove that bad blue tint that was added to the films. Fixing the highlights alone has brought out more detail in the picture but fixing the grading is really making this film look so much better. Being able to bring out colours and tints that were hidden underneath the brown flat current grade. I’ve attached a couple of comparison samples, but the best way to see just how the grading looks compared to the 2020 blu-rays is through these links: