zombie84 said:
Reading his statements is actually pretty scary. Scary because:
1) he predicted the precise problem in the situations we now face
2) it's amazing how much George Lucas 1988 feels the same about cinematic preservation as I do, but most importantly
3) he predicted every type of digital alteration that he would eventually put to use in the SE as a threat.
Listen to this:
"My name is George Lucas. I am a writer, director, and producer of motion pictures and Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., a multi-faceted entertainment corporation.
I am not here today as a writer-director, or as a producer, or as the chairman of a corporation. I've come as a citizen of what I believe to be a great society that is in need of a moral anchor to help define and protect its intellectual and cultural heritage. It is not being protected.
The destruction of our film heritage, which is the focus of concern today, is only the tip of the iceberg. American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors, or filmmakers from having their lifework distorted, and their reputation ruined. If something is not done now to clearly state the moral rights of artists, current and future technologies will alter, mutilate, and destroy for future generations the subtle human truths and highest human feeling that talented individuals within our society have created.
A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history.
[snip]
People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society. The preservation of our cultural heritage may not seem to be as politically sensitive an issue as "when life begins" or "when it should be appropriately terminated," but it is important because it goes to the heart of what sets mankind apart. Creative expression is at the core of our humanness. Art is a distinctly human endeavir. We must have respect for it if we are to have any respect for the human race.
These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with thier computers can add color to black-and-white movies,
change the soundtrack,
speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder.
Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces."
It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires.
The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely dilligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control.
In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten."
That's George Lucas, I just have to remind again. That's only about 40% of his full letter, but it's representative of the whole thing. What the fuck happened to this guy? He sounds like was pretty cool.
I thought I posted earlier here. I posted some screenshots of the color screwups in a couple of facebook groups including Adywan's Empire Revisited. I would be more than happy to share any additional pics I've got or give suggestions to make it visually clearer.
About the Lucas testimony above, someone said it would be nice to make a video but you'd need Lucas' voice. You could impersonate it or you could just do something like the voice over in the Red Letter Media reviews.
Actually, Mike Stoklasa is pretty clear that he's not a fan of the special editions, I wouldn't be surprised that he hasn't done a review of those alterations. Maybe he might be willing to do so. Or not.
Either way, I don't see why somebody couldn't make an interesting video showing the difference between letterbox and animorphic, explaining how it is possible to see the films restored without changing them and how no, 1993 video tape master is not the best a 1977 film can look. Movies shot on 35mm film are actually better than HD but some people seem to think oh digital must be better.
In fact Episode II looks the worst of any Star Wars movie because it was shot on video.
I could make a video but I don't have the time at the moment like I suspect many others.
What if we thought about making a script together and having all the photos and videos compiled so that one of us would only have to record the thing?
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
