SpilkaBilka said:
danny_boy said:
The irony is that the duplication process used in the fotochemical workflow tended to "even out" the discrepancy between the parts of the o-neg that were 1st generation and the other parts that were optical duplicates.
So by the time you got to that 4th generation release print the film looked relatively seemless.
But if you strike a positive digital "print" from a 4K scan the difference in granularity between all the constituent parts that make up Star wars will be jarring.
I know very little about all this, but in a way I've come to the same conclusion, which I think is sort of the same point you're making here: filmmakers account for generational loss, and it is in fact part of the intended look of the theatrical print. (And therefore, wouldn't a scan of a theatrical print be the definitive way to watch SW, or really, any movie?)
Not sure if you saw it, but have you seen the thread where I asked about this:
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Trying-to-understand-film-preservation-perhaps-a-stupid-question-but-shouldnt-digital-masters-be-struck-from-theatrical-prints/topic/14944/
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for pointing me to that thread---I had not seen it before.
back in 1977 Lucas compensated for the quality differential between dupes and 1st generation by actually using 2nd generation inserts to mask these same differences!
Other pieces weren't even original negative, but intentionally degraded duplicates that Mr. Lucas had stuck in to avoid emphasizing the quality of adjacent optical effects, some of which were so crude as to be almost unacceptable.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB854660380658056000.html?mod=googlewsj
RickMcallum said that the CGI inserts used in 1997 had to be degraded to match the lower quality of the original negative.
All the new and enhanced stuff, which cost about $15 million, then had to be "degraded" to match the original images, McCallum added.
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF A FILM
`STAR WARS SPECIAL EDITION' PRODUCER TRACES THE RESTORATION AND RE-ENVISIONING OF THE ORIGINAL
SOURCE: By Deborah Peterson
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff PUBLICATION: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
SECTION: GET OUT
DATE: January 30, 1997
EDITION: FIVE STAR LIFT
PAGE: 31
It is these compromises that pushed Lucas to go digital.