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Luke's saber appears to be green in the making of Star wars documentary

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Not sure if this has been covered yet.

Luke's saber appears to be green in this documentary(which aired on 9/16/77)

It probably coincided with the dissemination of the theatrical prints with the Mono optical track tacked on.

And it I think this documentary  used one of these mono prints as the source for it's clips.

Is it possible that the mono prints had a different colour grading(at least in some areas regarding the optical composites)?

 

From this angle , Lukes lightsaber was composited on without the comfort of an in camera blade:

 

 

The optical sample that was to be composited in was greenish in it's tint:

 

 

Look at the width of the glow in the following frame(this one without seeker ball composited in):

And now with seeker ball added in:

 

And here is the final composite:

The saber has a greenish tinge with a possible modicum of blue:

 

 

 

And as it appears in the 2004 DVD:

 

Does anyone else have this documentary and are the colours similar to what I have shown here?

 

I saw Star Wars in 1977. Many, many, many times. For 3 years it was just Star Wars...period. I saw it in good theaters, cheap theaters and drive-ins with those clunky metal speakers you hang on your window. The screen and sound quality never subtracted from the excitement. I can watch the original cut right now, over 30 years later, on some beat up VHS tape and enjoy it. It's the story that makes this movie. Nothing? else.

kurtb8474 1 week ago

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=SkAZxd-5Hp8


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Yes similar colors, but what's confusing is the opening shot of this program's sequence (from the Japanese laserdisc version - Gonzo) [23:10] has a white saber.  (the three sided spinning version, I think) 

Then a later shot has a blue saber in a close up. [23:39]

Comparison of these two captures:

Dr. Gonzo

Your version:

 

*edit*

The idea that a version (you have suggested the Mono) had a different color is interesting.  But there is a bootleg which is considered to be from a Mono print and it looks like this:

Mono Bootleg

and a different source bootleg looks like:

Moth3r Widescreen SW:

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none said:

Yes similar colors, but what's confusing is the opening shot of this program's sequence (from the Japanese laserdisc version - Gonzo) [23:10] has a white saber.  (the three sided spinning version, I think) 

Then a later shot has a blue saber in a close up. [23:39]

Comparison of these two captures:

Dr. Gonzo

Your version:

 

*edit*

The idea that a version (you have suggested the Mono) had a different color is interesting.  But there is a bootleg which is considered to be from a Mono print and it looks like this:

Mono Bootleg

and a different source bootleg looks like:

Moth3r Widescreen SW:

Thanks for the confirmation and comparisons.

Yes my version also has a white then blue saber before the mild green one.

Wierd.

Hopefully this documentary will be in HD when it is released on Blu Ray---might help to clarify the situation.

I saw Star Wars in 1977. Many, many, many times. For 3 years it was just Star Wars...period. I saw it in good theaters, cheap theaters and drive-ins with those clunky metal speakers you hang on your window. The screen and sound quality never subtracted from the excitement. I can watch the original cut right now, over 30 years later, on some beat up VHS tape and enjoy it. It's the story that makes this movie. Nothing? else.

kurtb8474 1 week ago

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=SkAZxd-5Hp8


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The doc definitely used clips with the mono mix. Listen to the sounds the chess table makes when buttons are pressed. You can hear the same sound effects in Puggo Grande.

Where were you in '77?

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^ The Puggo Grande mono track is from the Swedish 16mm print.

http://www.hardbat.com/puggo/puggoGrande.html

What is the "Puggo GRANDE"? It is my telecine transfer and restoration of an old 16mm print of Star Wars. The film was borrowed from a source who wishes to remain anonymous, and who for now will go by the name Jaxxon. Actually, Jaxxon provided me with two prints, both of which have the original crawl. One of the prints has Swedish subtitles and the mono mix. I used the Swedish version as a source for the mono mix and for a few video segments when needed to patch damaged frames. The Swedish print was later released seperately.

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My copy comes from the EditDroid set and  it has the lightsaber BLUE.

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Sorry to bump this after so long, but I noticed something interesting. When this clip appears in "ILM: Creating the Impossible," the part with the blade on black is blue...

...but the final comp has it with the aqua/seafoam tinge (like in the above screenshots from TMoSW).

When the test footage is shown in TMoSW, the color balance of these two clips match. In ILM:CtO, they don't. Is this just some digital monkeying by the makers of this doc?

I wish there were a 70mm film cell, or a snapshot of this scene from the Senator screening...

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One thing to keep in mind is that some of those old video transfers have a pretty hefty green push, so that's going to affect how the blade shows up.

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What's interesting is that in Creating the Impossible, the hue of the individual saber element and the comp don't match. In all copies I've seen of TMoSW, they do. That's what is interesting.

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Question. What does the untouched Moth3r widescreen bootleg look like for this shot? The one posted was touched up by Moth3r in order to make the quality passable.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Wow, I guess you really can polish a turd... either way, the lightsaber is basically the same. Thanks for indulging me.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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In the original source, I can definitely see blue in the saber. Not sure if it's due to color shift or what - geez, I so wish that someone could track down the original master copy of that telecine...

It seems more and more likely that the original prints in '77 had an actually *blue* saber glow throughout the entire Falcon section (even if it was still weak relative to the core in certain shots). How is it that this one thing got worse and worse and worse with every iteration of the film? (Does anybody remember how it looked on the theatrical prints of the SE?)

*sigh* If only this scene had been photographed at the Senator screening...

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Danny was basing this on the very faded and clearly Eastman Kodak release print reduced to monaural and 16mm for the documentary. 

This looks exactly like what an American print would look like six months or a year after being struck.  A UK IB Tech print would have still retained all its colors.

Luke's Saber in Star Wars was blue white. In Empire  Blue and Green in Jedi.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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For what it's worth, it was (mostly) blue in '92:

More here: http://tinypic.com/useralbum.php?ua=CDgaYJp8mF%2Fm0YMdtQMt%2FA%3D%3D

Not sure if that link works, I've never linked a TinyPic album before. If it does work, you have to sort it from "Oldest to newest".

However, this shot (right before Luke turns off his saber) is a bit more greenish.

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