Hey, so a lot of things have happened in the last six months or so, and I’m afraid I’ve not been able to do any editing (or anything creative at all).

I do have an update, though. The Hobbit movies were shot in 5K but mastered with a 2K digital intermediate, meaning all the VFX and colour work was done at (effectively) HD resolution and that any 4K release would have to be a mere upscale. However, it turns out that for the recent 4K disc release they’ve actually re-rendered the VFX and done a new 4K DI, and among other things, the colour looks a lot better than the original versions, more natural and more consistent with the Lord of the Rings films.

So, as you might have guessed, I’ve decided I want to use the 4K release as a base for the Roadshow Edition. I’m not sure that the final release will be available in 4K itself; I may find it too limiting in terms of using additional material.

I won’t have to go quite back to the beginning. I can drop in the new version over the top of the old for much of the picture, and although I expect I’ll have to redo my own colour correction, day-for-night grades and so on, as well as some of the fiddlier transitions, it shouldn’t take too long… once I have the source material, which may take a little while given my present situation, as I haven’t been able to get my hands on a copy just yet.