Puggo GRANDE - 16mm restoration (Released) — Page 21

Too bad nobody has scored a 16mm print of jedi like that pristine one offered on the 8mm forum boards for 16mm films.

I don't have that kind of money or i would have been the first one to contact the person offering the print.

My only problem would have been even if i had the money are these foreign prints with the english audio re-recorded from laserdisc or DVD.

The dubious origin printed in the 1990's ?

The only real print i know of that is authentic is the derann films super8mm release as they had the rights to produce them for a limited time from Lucasfilm.  Taken from a 35mm release print with the sound in a mono fold down of the theatrical stereo.

Film collecting is a rather fun hobby but requires a lot of money, you need the equipment to screen them and the space.  Biggest problem is storage to prevent age and slow down vinegar syndrome.

Even if properly stored there is no guarantee if the stock is Eastman pre-lpp .  The guy who had the empire 70mm prints on ebay i think had his stored in a cool dry place for over twenty years and they still turned to pink.

Thanks for posting the clips and pics, that is a fine print!

Wow the color is pretty stunning for a 16mm print, it really does almost look as good as a 35mm print, maybe better because of no fading.

Now that makes me wonder what the return of the jedi print looked like.

Too bad there was no star wars print like these.

Derann only had star wars and return of the jedi not empire.  The classic home cinema release from what i have read was of medium quality.  With lots of wear being taken from a release print.  Burn marks and scratches, and not the best image quality.  Somewhat murky i think.

Don't know about derann's jedi print, but a new hope aka star wars 77 was supposedly slightly cropped.

As for 70mm prints how many are not pink and have the dire shrinkage on the magnetic track.  I think that was what happened to the jedi print someone once offered, since the seller claimed the audio was out of sync with the picture.  As far as i know the only person who has claimed to have seen a pristine 70mm print of star wars in recent years was Steve Hoffman, the guy who did the initial restoration of raiders of the lost ark soundtrack for DCC classics.  Another restoration was recently done by a different record company without his involvement.

Certain films i wish i could see in a restored 70mm theatrical print, are Star Trek II the wrath of khan, Star Trek the motion picture. Raiders of the lost ark, star wars, empire strikes back, and return of the jedi, superman.

Whoa, nice color.

rsortor said:

Another thing I noticed, this print is a smidgen dark, which virtually eliminates all the garbage mattes!

Brightness/darkness of the print is virtually inconsequential on the workprinter... illumination of the frames has a huge range of adjustment. They of course will also come out considerably sharper, so it's hard to judge from your pictures how scratched it might be. But the color balance in your shots bodes very well.

Several of the lost Dr. Who episodes only exist because 16mm prints were found. That was a broadcast medium back then. It was also the rental format of choice before VHS... I remember my great uncle used to rent Disney films and a projector occasionally and we'd sit out in his backyard to watch a movie.

mcfly89 said:

I'm very excited about this, but we have to find a way to capture in HD. Can't we swap an HDV camera for the DV one in the workprinter?

It is possible to upgrade the Workprinter for HD, but it would take hundreds if not thousands of $ in equipment.  A new video card, something called a "velocity box", and several software upgrades.  And of course a good HD camera with manual adjustments.  And if you're going to do that, you might as well get the RGB upgrade too.  Considering this isn't an actual scope scan (it's faked in software), and that there is likely to be cropping like in the PG, and it's not a wetgate transfer, I'm not sure it's worth the cost and effort.

It is hard for me to believe that any 16mm scan, even from the most pristine of prints, could possibly come anywhere close to the corrected GOUTs.  I think of the PG and other similar captures as reference material for people researching what was printed on the films back in the years they were made. That reason is enough for me to get excited about transferring them. But you can always make it a little better, and once you start down, there's practically no end.

The Evil Dead was shot on 16mm was it not?

You bet! Check out these screens.

Wow! 16mm looks great on blu.

However nice it would be for this ESB print, it really isn't cost effective at all.

Can't believe we will actually be able to see Puggo ESB!!

Don't get me wrong, 16mm can most definitely look fabulous converted to HD.  But I still don't think it is possible, at home, to get the kind of results that Hollywood can. They have scanning equipment that puts even the best moviestuff units (the Workprinters, Snipers, and the Quicksilver, which run nearly $10K) to shame. They also have software (and training) that is in a different league -- there is another world out there if you're MGM and can pay for the very very best.

Transferring films myself has caused me to look at films in a different way. Now when I look at an old film I can't help but notice the transfer, and often I'll see things and know exactly what caused them.  I think I do pretty good transfers, better than the majority of transfer houses out there for hire.  It bugs me when I see a cheap-ass transfer on a great classic. It REALLY bugs me when I see an old film and think that I could have done a better transfer myself on my Workprinter (which is surprisingly often). But when I see a really good, cost-is-no-object Hollywood transfer of a great film noir classic, I am blown away.