Star Wars Episode I: The Rise of Naboo (v3.5 released) — Page 12

I have another update. I finally tested my theory out. I redid the film grain overlays, replaced the cleaner overlays with filthier ones, and changed them around to see if my luck would improve if I exported again. And to my sadness, it crashed again. So, for whatever reason, it looks like I may have to sacrifice the film grain if I want to get a good export.

I’ve been asking myself whether to try again with the color grading or not. Ideally, I don’t want to. I’ve gone through a lot of trouble to get this edit looking good. But at the same time, I’m not a fan of making it look soft and overly clean.

I’ve been entertaining a few ideas off the top of my head on what to do next. One is to throw in a film look LUT. This would compensate for the lack of grain, but I would have to go back and re-adjust the Resolve FX features all over again due to the change in contrast such a LUT would add. Another idea is to use the techniques I’ve learned from Jeff Bartsch’s book, Edit Better, but I think those techniques are designed for someone who is more of a professional colorist than I am. It would also require me to start the grade all over again too, since it doesn’t utilize Resolve’s FX features, which my current grade does. Third option? Same as option two, but with a LUT. Fourth option? Get over it, and stick with the grade as is, warts and all.

I guess there are a million possibilities for the color grading right now. I’d love to hear some more thoughts on this, as I’m not sure what to do next.

BrotherOfSasquatch said:

I’m curious… Couldn’t you just export it with the color grade, import that file back in and then add on the grain?

I decided to try this out. I exported the file in GoPro Cineform, put that file in a new project for the grain, copied and pasted the overlays, and exported yet another GoPro Cineform file. I then deleted the original file to save my disk space, and converted the grain file to mp4 via Handbrake. All in all, the first file was about 87gb, the grain file, 127gb, and the converted Handbrake file 10gb. It’s not my favorite way to export a file, but it did work. The downside is that the final result is very bare bones. Only one audio track, no chapter markers, no commentary, etc. It’s just the edit itself in 5.1 surround, and nothing else. So, those issues need to be taken care of before I can be satisfied with this. But it did work, so this option is worth keeping on the table.

On a much happier note, I’m almost done with my commentating on Coruscant, and I have only the last third to go on the audio commentary! Here goes nothing!

Cover art is now on the topic. Thanks again, ArtisDead!

Just made a big speech on the commentary track, and I’m now officially at the climax for the audio commentary! 🥳

I’ve almost finished reading Jeff Bartsch’s book, Edit Better, and I decided to take a few pieces of advice for the sound editing and audio mixing. I decided to apply both audio compressors and EQ to each audio channel and adjust them individually. I’m already in love with the first 5 minutes of audio in the edit, but I will probably have to test it out on my 1080p HDTV just in case my computer speakers are lying to me on something.

I’ve also been entertaining some ideas to fix the export issues I’m having, and I think I’ve come up with a few solutions! I found out I can export the commentary track via an audio only track in Linear PCM. So, when I’m going through the film grain overlay stage, I can just pull out the audio-only track and apply it to the rest of the edit! And I think I can do the same thing for the stereo track as well! The only question, though, is whether it will work or not without crashing. There’s only one way to find out, but I’m keeping my chin up and assuming the best! The only downside is that I’ll probably have to do chapter markers again when I go through the film grain overlay export, which can be a time-consuming annoyance. But otherwise, I think I might be able to export the file with the grain after all!

And finally, yes, I’m recording more commentary stuff for the ending! 😊

Now halfway through the climax for the audio commentary! 😊

I finally watched v3.5 (sans audio commentary) on my 1080p HDTV! Everything looked good except for the film grain overlays. The inconsistencies between them were too obvious. I was hoping to use multiple overlays as a way to simulate alternating film reels, but the overlays have different gamma levels, and I also didn’t want to lower the opacity of the overlays because I hate the idea of making the grain less visible. So my plan of attack now is to use just one overlay and stick with it. I’ve thought up one, but I’m not sure if it works for most people. Below is the opening negotiations scene with the color grading and a sample of the film grain overlay I’m thinking of using. What are your thoughts on the this one? Is it too dirty?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LH5bseEoRbsR17IucRW_fRDAMnXFrGI7/view?usp=sharing

NotTheDri0ds said:

I think there’s definitely a bit too much grain, to the point it’s a bit distracting imo.

I see! I’m still waiting on some other folks on fanedit.org, but I’m guessing that Star Wars fans don’t like film grain all that much. I’ll probably switch to a different grain overlay (although how soon I will do it depends on what response I get on fanedit.org).

After getting a somewhat lukewarm-to-negative response on the film grain overlay (mostly from my friend, NotTheDri0ds), I decided to change it up and try again. Since he felt that the grain was too distracting, I decided to use a low film grain overlay this time. This was one of the overlays that suffered from the gamma problem I mentioned earlier, so I readjusted the offset in order to get the color grading as close to what it was before the grain was applied, although I want to make it clear that this is an approximation, and not a re-creation. With my technical jargon aside, here’s my latest idea on the grain:

https://vimeo.com/734275343

NotTheDri0ds said:

That’s definitely a lot more subtle. I wonder if there’s a way you could get a middle ground between the two? It could just be Vimeo’s compression, but I can hardly notice it.

Also, hope my critique hasn’t been too scathing, lol. Looking back my previous replies did turn out a bit more blunt than intended.

I can barely notice it in my editing suite, so I’m pretty sure the compression isn’t fooling you.

The low grain overlay I selected is one in a set of three overlays. The three are labeled as low, medium, and high grain. Admittedly, the medium grain overlay in those three is my favorite overlay ever. However, I’m reluctant to try it out because it looks similar to the first overlay I tried out, minus the dirt and scratches. I’d be happy to throw on the medium overlay if you’d like, but I’m guessing your thoughts on it will probably be the same as the first one.

NotTheDri0ds said:

I’m interested in seeing how the medium would look. In all honesty I’d rather it be a bit too noticeable than hardly visible at all, if it’s supposed to be going for a more classic A New Hope look.

I don’t really have a singular look in mind, other than to make it look more cinematic, and/or to make it look great. Anyway, I’ll see if I can upload the medium grain overlay. I’ve been uploading to Vimeo a lot lately, so I don’t know if I have enough space to upload it this week, but I’ll try to get it out there as soon as I can!

Got through Vimeo’s weekly storage limit. Here’s the medium grain overlay test, as requested by NotTheDri0ds. I hope it’s a good one!

https://vimeo.com/736011645

NotTheDri0ds said:

Sorry for making you kinda jump through a lot of hoops regarding this lmao. That is definitely my favorite of the three!

It’s okay. The color grading would be slightly weaker without those hoops!

Anyway, thanks for the advice! Since it’s my favorite of the three as well, I’m gonna go with that overlay and say that the color grading has reached its peak. I don’t think I can improve upon it any further now.

Now, I just have to go through the tedium of finishing the commentary track, and I can get Episode I submitted to fanedit.org! 🥳

Just two scenes away from completing my Episode I commentary! Once it’s completed, I’m gonna start making the necessary steps for submission on fanedit.org! 😃

The audio commentary is now complete! 😁

I will now begin the process of testing this edit out, and hopefully, I will be submitting this edit sometime this week! 😄

Commentary track turned out to be INSANELY, EAR-SPLITTING-LY LOUD! Going back to lower the volume levels right now for a re-upload.