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Alien 1979 - 35mm scan opportunity (a WIP) — Page 4

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Does anyone have an update on this? Or know if RU.08 is still around?

Collector of digitally preserved 35mm feature film prints

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FilmD00d said:

Does anyone have an update on this? Or know if RU.08 is still around?

Last I heard from him was October 19 and he said it was still in hand. Gotta remain hopeful i suppose.

Film is not Dead

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Another ‘took the money and ran’ is more than likely. Love to be proven wrong, but it’s all too easy, which is a real shame.

Got shafted myself out of a Demolition Man 35mm print. Yes, it was only £200, but that’s not the point.

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brad86 said:

Another ‘took the money and ran’ is more than likely. Love to be proven wrong, but it’s all too easy, which is a real shame.

Got shafted myself out of a Demolition Man 35mm print. Yes, it was only £200, but that’s not the point.

Mate where do you get off making accusations of thievery against someone you obviously don’t even know? As someone who actually knows him I can attest that RU isn’t the kind of person to do anything like that. There’s always a constant backlog at scanning joints - you’re not taking something to a printing store to get copied…things like this take time, just because updates aren’t constantly forthcoming doesn’t mean someone has done the dirty. At the best of times getting something scanned in a proper facility is very time consuming, let alone with everything currently going on.

Next time don’t be a REDACTED REDACTED & try to start shit in public like you know a thing or two about someone as you’re going to come off looking like a complete tool.

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Soupdrinker0 said:

brad86 said:

Another ‘took the money and ran’ is more than likely. Love to be proven wrong, but it’s all too easy, which is a real shame.

Got shafted myself out of a Demolition Man 35mm print. Yes, it was only £200, but that’s not the point.

Mate where do you get off making accusations of thievery against someone you obviously don’t even know? As someone who actually knows him I can attest that RU isn’t the kind of person to do anything like that. There’s always a constant backlog at scanning joints - you’re not taking something to a printing store to get copied…things like this take time, just because updates aren’t constantly forthcoming doesn’t mean someone has done the dirty. At the best of times getting something scanned in a proper facility is very time consuming, let alone with everything currently going on.

Next time don’t be a fucking REDACTED & try to start shit in public like you know a thing or two about someone as you’re going to come off looking like a complete tool.

Who are you calling a REDACTED. Maybe you shouldn’t read into a post and try to find shit that isn’t there.
I said I would like to be proven wrong, and currently I have not. I was making a suggestion to a possible outcome, not an outright accusation.

Who’s the tool, again ?

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‘Took the money & ran is more than likely’ seems fairly cut & dry to me. Again - you don’t even know the person yet you want to assume he’s just stolen from those of us who have actually helped out with this project. There’s plenty of us including myself who can attest to the opposite. No one needs to get into specifics just to please some newbie with all of four posts that hasn’t made any contributions itself. Stay in your lane.

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Soupdrinker0 said:

‘Took the money & ran is more than likely’ seems fairly cut & dry to me. Again - you don’t even know the person yet you want to assume he’s just stolen from those of us who have actually helped out with this project. There’s plenty of us including myself who can attest to the opposite. No one needs to get into specifics just to please some newbie with all of four posts that hasn’t made any contributions itself. Stay in your lane.

Stay in my lane. Yeah, I don’t take orders from little internet chumps. I made a suggestion as to what I personally believe is the outcome of this project.

Guess time will tell. As it currently stands, I’m pretty spot on.

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Thread unlocked at the OP’s request. In the words of my old pal Toad, Be nice, or be dog food!

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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Thanks SilverWook.

We have scans from two prints, and I’m still waiting on a rescan of one reel. Until that happens that reel won’t match the quality of the rest of the scan.

As others have mentioned there are all kinds of reasons for scanning delays. Covid has probably caused all kinds of logistical issues as well with many of them - whether that’s in sourcing cleaning fluid, getting scanning equipment maintained or repaired (that’s very specialised and usually the “mechanics”/maintenance technician need to travel internationally or from another part of the same country to do that), getting spare parts manufactured, and so on. It’s no different to any other workshop equipment - like say a CNC machine in a joinery, if it breaks down and needs maintenance you can sometimes have to wait weeks or months to get a technician out depending on where you’re located, how many technicians there are, how busy they are, etc. Getting affordable time with a good scanner doesn’t just happen by magic.

brad86 said:

Another ‘took the money and ran’ is more than likely. Love to be proven wrong, but it’s all too easy, which is a real shame.

I haven’t taken any of your money brad86, so you’re in no position to feel ripped off. It’ll be done when it’s done.

I’m sorry to hear about the Demolition Man print, unfortunately shit happens. You’re always best to check with people involved in scanning privately if they know who a seller is and have any experience - some collectors are really fantastic and others are not so much.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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Welcome back and thanks for the update! Can’t wait to see this one in its grainy glory.

Collector of digitally preserved 35mm feature film prints

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Got to see this on the big screen finally during fathom events. Soon it it be can be seen the way it was meant to be at home so I’m excited.

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He’s posting blu-ray.com links in other threads as well. Does he actually not think we know about the official releases or is he trolling?

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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“Ash, that transmission… Mother’s deciphered part of it. It doesn’t look like an S.O.S.”

Welcome back RU.08, it’ll be worth the wait 😃

Film is not Dead

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Hey great question.

I am independent, not part of TSWT.COM but I am in good contact with them. This project is being handled by someone else (not me and also not TSWT.COM) unless you hear otherwise they are anonymous.

I also use my own scanners, although I have invited others to use them from time to time not everyone chooses to.

I am not asking for any more funding for this project and I’m focusing my efforts on Disney in particular.

Thanks!

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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Hi,

I’ve been watching this project/thread for a while, and whilst I’m sure you guys have exceptional references for theatrical colour grading already, I thought I’d offer some input:

As one of my all time favourite movies, I’ve got a wide selection of transfers of this film from various home video releases and TV recordings. Often, people are quick to regrade everything to Laserdisc colours, but with this project having two scanned prints of differing colours, I thought I’d mention that the first set of screenshots (darker blue/green tint to Ash) you posted are highly likely to be more ‘1979 theatrically accurate’ than the cleaner ‘whiter’ screenshot of Ash from the second print. This is based on the very first pre-cert VHS release, and the very first USA TV airing, both sharing colours much closer to ‘print 1’ and hold up when cross referenced to theatrical lobby cards/early promo stills. Interestingly, the second ever USA TV airing shared similarities with your second print. If you like, I can contribute some screencaptures? 😃

Also, silly question, but where will this release be made available when it is ready? Will myspleen be a good shout? (I’m not as familiar with releases on original trilogy or how to get involved, but I’d like to!) 😃

Apologies if this looks like a duplicate post, I posted a while ago some months back but I cant see it in the convo anywhere

JB

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A donor encode is now available (well I can make it available to all donors in a couple of hours - PM me if you donated). This is not considered a final version at this stage and was the result of 2 separate print scans.

We’re not using VHS or LD or anything other than film as the reference for theatrical colour timing. The operator of a SD telecine was literally called a “colourist” because they would grade the transfer on-the-fly for home video or broadcast. There’s nothing at all theatrically accurate about that process, and they come from what are known as “TV prints” which are 16mm prints struck specifically for telecine.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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RU.08 said:

A donor encode is now available (well I can make it available to all donors in a couple of hours - PM me if you donated). This is not considered a final version at this stage and was the result of 2 separate print scans.

We’re not using VHS or LD or anything other than film as the reference for theatrical colour timing. The operator of a SD telecine was literally called a “colourist” because they would grade the transfer on-the-fly for home video or broadcast. There’s nothing at all theatrically accurate about that process, and they come from what are known as “TV prints” which are 16mm prints struck specifically for telecine.

Thanks for the speedy reply RU.08 😃 That’s greats news regarding using film! [In regards to VHS and TV broadcasts, you are absolutely spot on - though I brought it up as I have found many examples of the earliest of home releases and TV airing from early 80s having very little changes made (in example, one movie I obsess over - ‘The Evil Dead’, the earliest 1982 pre-cert vhs/Beta/v2000 release from Palace was a lot rougher and radically different colour from all other releases afterwards - cross referencing with lobby cards and tweaking between the two as an approximation, I was surprised how close it ended up when I finally got my hands on a ‘Book of the Dead’ transfer (only minimal differences in colour temperature) - applying the same method as a ‘rough guide’ for Alien, the first print you showed (blue/green tint in the ‘Ash’ scene, and darker overall image in the jockey scene then home releases etc, grey nostromo model) seems exactly what I would have estimated - even with the theatrical lobby cards… I just thought it was worth mentioning in case you guys were torn between the two (though I have no doubt that this is in safe hands with you guys - I hope it didn’t come across as me trying to tell granny how to suck eggs! Apologies if it did ^^;

Regarding sending links to those who backed/donated. If it’s not too bold to ask, I know you aren’t accepting donations towards this anymore, but as it’s my join all time fave movie,and I’m late to the party, I figured I’d ask: I’m willing to donate to one of your other projects (of your choice!) may I be included in getting the early transfer of alien with the others today too? (As opposed to the other movie I was donating into)? 😃 I often prefer the rougher transfers to the final versions

JB

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This is an amazing project and I’m so excited to see it moving forward