Originally posted by: tweaker
I think preserving the matte issue is kinda ridiculous. We're not talking about something that is a result of special effects limitations of the day. You don't see similar issues popping up throughout the film (not that I'm aware of). Somebody screwed up, and the crappy mattes made it into the finished film. As sort of a side thing, I can understand the preserving of the mattes in order to keep that "opening night" feel, but as far as the finished film, no.
What is being preserved here is the original "finished film." Since the "crappy mattes made it into the finished film," they too should be preserved regardless of whether they belong there or not.
If we were talking about fixing that scene where the guy in the storm trooper outfit whacks his head, that would be too much, as it would involve taking drastic measures to fix a real-life scene, something that happened on set and was recorded to film, and kept for the finished movie. The mattes, on the other hand, are the result of somebody in the SFX department being asleep at the wheel.
I think preserving the matte issue is kinda ridiculous. We're not talking about something that is a result of special effects limitations of the day. You don't see similar issues popping up throughout the film (not that I'm aware of). Somebody screwed up, and the crappy mattes made it into the finished film. As sort of a side thing, I can understand the preserving of the mattes in order to keep that "opening night" feel, but as far as the finished film, no.
What is being preserved here is the original "finished film." Since the "crappy mattes made it into the finished film," they too should be preserved regardless of whether they belong there or not.
If we were talking about fixing that scene where the guy in the storm trooper outfit whacks his head, that would be too much, as it would involve taking drastic measures to fix a real-life scene, something that happened on set and was recorded to film, and kept for the finished movie. The mattes, on the other hand, are the result of somebody in the SFX department being asleep at the wheel.
Where do we draw the line, then? Certainly the jump cuts when Luke turns his lightsaber on/off could have been fixed using 1970's technology, but they were not. Same with the matte lines. I have no doubt there will be a number of projects spawned after the completion of this project that will use the X0 material as its source-- these projects can and should be allowed the freedom to pick and choose what corrections to make-- but IMO as far as initial preservation goes, if it was printed to film, it should stay.