logo Sign In

Harmy's STAR WARS Despecialized Edition HD - V2.7 - MKV (Released) — Page 12

Author
Time

Thank you, guys :-)

And here's the final version of the "Look sir, droids" scene :-) I had to make the wipe from the second to the third shot start a bit earlier, because it was different in the SE but I think it works OK.

Author
Time

Hal 9000 said:

At this rate, this is going to end up virtually indistinguishable from a properly restored OOT!

Well...no. I do believe this will, at times, be missing the messy black borders from optically composited effects.

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

Author
Time

Hey Harmy,

Just wondering if that THX WOW reel had anything useful.

"I will laugh my ass off a hundred years from now when the only version of STARWARS people remember are harmys despecialized editions.  They will project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality."

Author
Time

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry to say that it didn't, because almost none of the original shots that were there were complete and those that were didn't look better than DJ's upscaled GOUT.

Author
Time

Harmy said:

Thanks, I hope you understand :-)

 No prob.

This project is making me a bit teary ... *sniff* ...There I'm better now.

I was looking back thru your test vids and discovered this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSt_xEpK7mo  at 8:53 you can still see the Special Edition ships flying around in the sky behind luke and ob1. Don't forget to remove them. You probably already did it but just in case I'd  like to point it out.

 

 

 

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7906/lando62copywu5.th.jpg

Author
Time

Yeah, I even already posted a video some time ago, where the ships were removed :-)

Author
Time

Harmy said:

Thank you, guys :-)

And here's the final version of the "Look sir, droids" scene :-) I had to make the wipe from the second to the third shot start a bit earlier, because it was different in the SE but I think it works OK.

 It works beautifully, man are you a perfectionist. Keep up the great work Harmy, I can't wait till this is complete.

HARMY RULES

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Wow this is looking absolutely fantastic - the next best thing to having the OOT restored by the company who owns it and (you'd have hoped) would care about it too! I'm far more excited by these projects than the official blu-ray 'event'.

Due to our slow ISP I'm still downloading the depecialized AVCHD ESB file by file, and should finally have that finished in another day or so. Needless to say I can't wait to get my projector fired up and watch that :)

Thanks Harmy - and indeed to all others here - for spending so much time and effort in keeping the original version of this film alive.

- N

Author
Time

Thanks again, guys, I'm really happy about all the positive responses :-)

I'm full on in the cutting and colouring process now. Just now, I'm reviewing a workprint of the 1st 45 minutes and am generally really happy with it.

I considered compositing in the original Leia hologram from GOUT but after I tested it out, I decided to just try and colour correct the SE one to make it look closer to the original.

With the colour problematic scenes such as the capture of R2 and the sunset, I'm going with a sort of a middle ground approach for now, here are a few screenshots, please let me know what you think:

 

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I'm no expert but I do like my film to look like film, and true to the original screening wherever possible.

From those shots I'd say you've comfortably nailed it, and then some - beautiful work! :)

Author
Time

Harmy said:

Thanks again, guys, I'm really happy about all the positive responses :-)

I'm full on in the cutting and colouring process now. Just now, I'm reviewing a workprint of the 1st 45 minutes and am generally really happy with it.

I considered compositing in the original Leia hologram from GOUT but after I tested it out, I decided to just try and colour correct the SE one to make it look closer to the original.

With the colour problematic scenes such as the capture of R2 and the sunset, I'm going with a sort of a middle ground approach for now, here are a few screenshots, please let me know what you think:

 

Truly amazing Harmy!  I understand that some of these scenes are problematic in terms of color timing, but I think you've managed to strike a very good balance and I love what I'm seeing (I particularly love how you've returned to the original look of Leia's hologram).  If these particular shots ended up being the final versions, I'd be perfectly happy with it.  Keep 'em coming I say.

"Oh, don't sell yourself short Judge, you're a tremendous slouch."

Author
Time

Nerfherder said:

I'm far more excited by these projects than the official blu-ray 'event'.

Thanks Harmy - and indeed to all others here - for spending so much time and effort in keeping the original version of this film alive.

 

I was thinking the exact same things.  This is quite possibly the closest thing we'll ever have to the restored original film and I'm grateful for the efforts of all who have have color corrected, upscaled, edited, rotoscoped and generally restored what should have been left alone.  Thanks!

Author
Time

Harmy said:

Thanks again, guys, I'm really happy about all the positive responses :-)

I'm full on in the cutting and colouring process now. Just now, I'm reviewing a workprint of the 1st 45 minutes and am generally really happy with it.

I considered compositing in the original Leia hologram from GOUT but after I tested it out, I decided to just try and colour correct the SE one to make it look closer to the original.

With the colour problematic scenes such as the capture of R2 and the sunset, I'm going with a sort of a middle ground approach for now, here are a few screenshots, please let me know what you think:

 

To my eyes it would look much better shifted more towards the color timing of the GOUT or Technicolor presentations and quite a bit more away from that of the SE's. The SE's color timing was atrocious, at times it was so grossly oversaturated it looked like some of them were wearing red Indian war paint. Your shot still pushes red a little too much in my opinion, Luke starts to look less like Mark Hammil and more like George Hamilton.

 

Apart from the reds though fantastic work as always.

Harrison Ford Has Pretty Much Given Up on His Son. Here's Why

Author
Time

You and I both know what is and isn't still on the table Frink.

Harrison Ford Has Pretty Much Given Up on His Son. Here's Why

Author
Time

Seriously though, the red is pushed like a motherfucker.

 

A color timing that makes it impossible to achieve proper flesh tones... as was seen in the theatrical presentations.

 

Harmy, you are a fucking wizard and your work is unreal, but just dialing down the saturation would work wonders.

 

The SE's should not be used to achieve a middle ground, they were absurd in that department.

 

Honestly.

Harrison Ford Has Pretty Much Given Up on His Son. Here's Why

Author
Time

I don't know but it seems like we're not looking at the same pictures. The GOUT is grossly undersaturated, there's no question about that and the only picture in which you can see skin tones is the one with Luke, which is over-all redder than either the SE or the GOUT (both very blue cast), because I colour timed it to resemble the technicolour photo (while compensating for its overexposure). And the red skin is very natural in that shot, because he's looking at a red sunset and is illuminated by it. And as to the saturation, it's already considerably lowered and I'm not going any lower with it, because that way I'd soon get to the GOUT levels.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Harmy said:

I don't know but it seems like we're not looking at the same pictures. The GOUT is grossly undersaturated, there's no question about that and the only picture in which you can see skin tones is the one with Luke, which is over-all redder than either the SE or the GOUT (both very blue cast), because I colour timed it to resemble the technicolour photo (while compensating for its overexposure). And the red skin is very natural in that shot, because he's looking at a red sunset and is illuminated by it. And as to the saturation, it's already considerably lowered and I'm not going any lower with it, because that way I'd soon get to the GOUT levels.

The GOUT isn't grossly undersaturated in any sense; compared to the SE it has a much, much, much more sensible color timing. The SE is oversaturated to the brink of absurdity.

In the original presentations (as better presented by the GOUT or Technicolor transfers) Luke has an exceedingly more natural skin tone. In the SE it is crazy, without question, in yours it's between those levels.

I'm sensitive to proper color timing, and the SE has the polar opposite of it. Even considering the overexpsoure and aging of the Technicolor print if you think it displays anywhere close to the amount of red bias as the SE I don't know what to say. Luke is almost a redhead in the SE.

Look at Luke's flesh tone. It is absurdly orange / red.

The SE is hardly a source to use as a baseline.

You do unbelievable work Harmy, but the color timing is off.

 

Harrison Ford Has Pretty Much Given Up on His Son. Here's Why

Author
Time

I think Stinky's right that it's a little oversaturated, but wrong in saying that the GOUT isn't undersaturated. Perhaps at least for that scene (if you're going scene-by-scene that is) you might consider a different color grading?

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Sorry, guys, but I must strongly disagree, the way I see it, Luke is way more orange in the Technicolour photo than in any of the other pictures and he's downright purple in the GOUT (which most definitely is undersaturated, which was proved by those technicolour photos.) And I just maintain that it is less saturated than the Technicolour pic, the only thing I'm considering with that shot, is brightening it up a bit.

Anyway, here are some more pictures:

 

 

 

Author
Time

I agree with Zombie on this issue. And mainly, I trust the guy, he did a lot of research and wrote a fucking 600pg (or so) book about STAR WARS:

zombie84 said:

 

...in fact, this kind of vibrancy is basically what the films looked like. The colours were bright and saturated and skin tones were vibrant. The effect is not fully reproduced here because of the video issues and also because I didn't spend enough time getting a totally pleasing effect but just did a quick pass for a demonstration.

What people always ask though is what was the palette of the films? What was the "look"? Is it like the SE, or the GOUT? It is actually in between, but leaning towards the SE, and in fact the actual original colours are often more vibrant that the 2004 transfer because of frequent dullness that transfer was plagued with in shots. No one has ever seen the film look right since theatres.

One way you can tell that the vibrancy here is approximately accurate is because you get colour in Hoth and in the Death Star again, and you get those luminant skin tones. That is what the Technicolor print looks like, and it's sort of the way the SE looks like as well, and also other prints and stills --and it's all there on the GOUT. Which indicates that this approximate level of saturation is appropriate. Again, there are some issues, the video doesn't reproduce it well and maybe I could have made the tones more pleasing looking or backed off a touch. You can't get the original colours to look accurate like this and also pleasant, which is why G-Force and LFL Pwnage just gave it a bit of a bump rather than something radical like this. Even then, I felt LFL Pwnage had some popping issues; I've stated before that my favourite version thusfar is the newer Editdroid, even though its the most desaturated and thus the least accurate, but it just looks more pleasant to me.

However, I think it is noteworthy to demonstrate how desaturated the GOUT is, that colours that approximate the Technicolour levels is actually hidden in there and that it reveals a lot of information about the grading palettes--Dagobah being so green and blue, rather than grey and brown, with colour back in the Death Star as already confirmed by other sources, and blue tinting returning back to Hoth in most (but not all, mind you) scenes there. You also get to see that a lot of scenes, even in live action, had unexpected colour casts either in lighting or grading or just print fluxuations, which has been seen in other prints and stills but never in home video telecines. I just thought this would be interesting for demonstration purposes, that the GOUT has fairly accurate colour buried in it if you can extract it. Again, the effect is not the greatest looking for various reasons, but like I said the original colour vibrancy is pretty close to the levels here and it changes the GOUT palette pretty radically, which a lot of people might not have seen before.

Author
Time

I wish I had taken note of the flesh-tones better at the Technicolor screening, but I can at least confirm that the reds should be very vibrant. It sticks out in my mind that when R2 & 3PO are in the little alcove in the Death Star hangar, there's a red disc-shaped protrusion or two behind 3PO in some shots. I remember being shocked at just how much the red popped off the screen.

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

Author
Time
 (Edited)

If that's true it's completely insane, it's the most inaccurate flesh tones I've ever seen. I've never seen an original reel presented theatrically unfortunately but I do know until the SE every home video release had something resembling accurate flesh tones but in the SE everyone looks like cooked lobsters.

I've never seen any caps from the technicolor presentations with anywhere near the amount of red bias the SE has either.

http://savestarwars.com/technicoloribscreening.html

The SE is just too oversaturated, way too oversaturated, the red bias is off the charts.

 

In that technicolor presentation there the flesh tones are 1 trillion times more accurate than they are in the SE.

Harrison Ford Has Pretty Much Given Up on His Son. Here's Why