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kk650's Star Wars Saga: Regraded and Semi-Specialized (Released) — Page 10

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They're very good.

After seeing every old movie remastered in a teal colour timing these days, it makes me wonder if that will be the next thing for Star Wars in the future.. But I also wonder if it were teal, would that look superior to the current blu-ray and perhaps more in line with some of the prints? Hmm.

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rockin said:

They're very good.

After seeing every old movie remastered in a teal colour timing these days, it makes me wonder if that will be the next thing for Star Wars in the future.. But I also wonder if it were teal, would that look superior to the current blu-ray and perhaps more in line with some of the prints? Hmm.

Thanks rockin!

If they did a 4k remaster of the Star Wars films, they certainly would much better in terms of detail and retained grain than the current blu-rays, no doubt about it. You just have to look at the detail/grain on the 4k remastered fellowship of the ring blu-ray to be pretty certain that would be the case. In terms of colour though, its debatable, it depends on how strong the teal tint is.

The Star Wars Original Trilogy on blu-ray has a bluish tint across all three films and boosted contrast. Based on my experience with teal films though and fixing them, if the teal tint was on a similar level to say Titanic or The Terminator, the Star Wars Original Trilogy would look worse in teal than it currently does on the blu-rays. Teal is a colour that really does mess up all the other colours, I still have no idea why the studios insist on adding it to every film these days...

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For those that are interested, the new regraded release of Fellowship of the Ring in now up on tehparadox. Let me know what you think. :)

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Okay, just finished the new Fellowship of the Ring regrade using what i'm going to call the 'classic' settings. Here are some comparisons between the blu-ray and 'classic' settings regrade below:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/71251

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/71253/

And here are some comparisons between the first 'more colourful' settings regrade and the 'classic' settings regrade:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/71254/

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/71255/

Guys, please let me me know your thoughts on how they look and which of the two settings you prefer. I'm personally leaning towards the classic settings myself because I suspect that the more muted look is what Peter Jackson and Andrew Lesnie were going for with this 4k remastered transfer of Fellowship of the Ring and respecting the intentions of the filmmakers is always the most important thing of all for me.

I think these two regrades are the very best I'm able to do to make this amazing film look as good as possible.

Now, onto the Star Wars Original Trilogy...

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Add me as another vote for the desaturated version.

A request...any chance that you can include screenshots from the EE DVD and TE BD to compare against the existing EE BD and your regraded version?  Since the idea is presumably to bring this fine film in its extended edition as close as possible to the colours in its theatrical, green-tintless counterpart as possible, I'd think that comparisons to the EE DVD and TE BD might be useful.  Just a thought. 

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Nick66 said:

Add me as another vote for the desaturated version.

A request...any chance that you can include screenshots from the EE DVD and TE BD to compare against the existing EE BD and your regraded version?  Since the idea is presumably to bring this fine film in its extended edition as close as possible to the colours in its theatrical, green-tintless counterpart as possible, I'd think that comparisons to the EE DVD and TE BD might be useful.  Just a thought. 

Hmm, I don't think there's much point. Trust me when I say that the image dynamics very closely match for most of the scenes. In terms of colour though, this 4k remaster is a totally different animal to the theatrical blu-ray, most scenes have been regraded very differently by Peter Jackson and Andrew Lesnie.

I have simply removed the blanket green tint and corrected the messed up image dynamics of the official blu-ray, not tried to recreate the colour grading of the theatrical blu-ray. Doing that would require a shot by shot regrade that I simply don't have the time to do.

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kk650 said:

In terms of colour though, this 4k remaster is a totally different animal to the theatrical blu-ray, most scenes have been regraded very differently by Peter Jackson and Andrew Lesnie.

I have simply removed the blanket green tint and corrected the messed up image dynamics of the official blu-ray, not tried to recreate the colour grading of the theatrical blu-ray. Doing that would require a shot by shot regrade that I simply don't have the time to do.

Thanks, makes sense.

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Hello there, kk650!

I just joined today after having been a long time lurker of the SW Preservations forum.
Truly, posters like you and You_Too have put in a lot of effort to bring out the Saga's beautiful cinematography the way I remembered seeing it on the big screen.

People underestimate the importance of film grain in movies that rely on special effects. It's the finishing touch that glues everything together and creates the subconscious sense that what the audience is being presented was captured through a lens. 

Can't wait to watch them in motion, judging by screenshots, I'm in for a great ride.
Great color timing, natural grain, no DNR- just all around gorgeous! 

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Thanks StarmanSkywalker!

I'm currently finishing off my regraded versions of The Two Towers and Return of the King but then i'll be back to these Semi-Specialised editions. Regrading settings are pretty much finalised, so all that needs to be done is some audio editing, then they'll be good to go.

If you like what you're seeing with those screencaps, you're in for a real treat with these Semi-Specialised editions! :)

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Okay, I've been focusing all my attention these last few days on getting the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition finished for May the 4th and it is proceeding very nicely.

Here's a little preview clip to show how the colour grading is going to look in this Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2:

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https://mega.co.nz/#!T9BllRhR!CNc1-aYgcGBrcTLdLLPThyxECJ54Q_8agk28xUpich4

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Here's the same preview clip taken from the official blu-ray to compare to the clip above:

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https://mega.co.nz/#!O5JF1CCI!-x3UyB_NjpB5WysikWhcWwMaj576270sUYIV9RrHeaI

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And here are some comparison shots taken from the preview clip between the official blu-ray and the semi-specialised release (note the removal of the distracting red light in vaders eye in the third and fourth comparison on the semi-specialised edition, one of many corrections made to this semi-specialised edition like correcting the lightsaber colours and making them consistant):

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http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/73007/

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/73008/

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/73011/

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Good job, I like the results, go ahead this way!

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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Cheers guys!

I should probably include the details of this Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition from the first post to give everybody a better idea of how this release differs from the official blu-ray:

STAR WARS: Semi-Specialised Edition

Below is a brief summary of the changes made to this film:

Star Wars:

Audio changes:

Original Krayt Dragon call restored

New lossless pcm audio track created to fit this semi-specialised edition, based off Belbucus's excellent 1993 Star Wars PCM audio mix

Video Changes:

Regraded to remove blue tint running throughout the whole film that was introduced for the first time in the special edition DVD and was carried over to the blu-ray

R2D2 no longer hiding behind a CG rock when Obi One Kenobi appears

Silly CG droid and jawa antics when they enter Mos Eisley have been removed

Jabba scene removed

Han shoots Greedo first with no awful CG head dodging action

 

Lightsabers made more consistant so they are not constantly changing colour, Vader's lightsaber is now red all the time rather than turning pink.

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Awesome news kk650!

Do you have anything lined up yet for Empire?

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rockin said:

Awesome news kk650!

Do you have anything lined up yet for Empire?

I certainly do. I don't like to keep you guys that support me and enjoy my releases waiting. :)

I have been working on all three OT films in conjunction to maintain a consistant look across the whole trilogy. All the editing and most of the grading work is pretty much done so Empire Strikes Back should be available for release soon after this release, most likely in a week or two.

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kk650 said:

rockin said:

Awesome news kk650!

Do you have anything lined up yet for Empire?

I certainly do. I don't like to keep you guys that support me and enjoy my releases waiting. :)

I have been working on all three OT films in conjunction to maintain a consistant look across the whole trilogy. All the editing and most of the grading work is pretty much done so Empire Strikes Back should be available for release soon after this release, most likely in a week or two.

Again, that is really awesome news. 

Your colour grading has been really great - one of the best I've seen. I'm curious to see how you have tackled the colours on Hoth in Empire.

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If you like the colour grading on this Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition, I think you'll really like how Empire Strikes Back looks. I'll try to have a preview up for you within the week.

For all those waiting, I should have my Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2 up in 5 hours. May the 4th be with you all! :)

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Looking forward to seeing this release. The sample clip you posted above plays really nice on my monitor and has a lovely clarity to it. I'm sceptical a one stop colour correction can satisfy me altogether, but I'm willing to be proved wrong on this.

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frank678 said:

Looking forward to seeing this release. The sample clip you posted above plays really nice on my monitor and has a lovely clarity to it. I'm sceptical a one stop colour correction can satisfy me altogether, but I'm willing to be proved wrong on this.

haha who said Star Wars has just one colour correction setting for the whole film? I wish it was that easy.

No, there must be at least 20-30 different colour correction settings for different parts of the film, excluding all the lightsaber shots that had to be selectively colour corrected. This film is simply too inconsistant colourwise to do anything else. Luckily Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are a lot more consistant colourwise so far fewer different settings were needed for those.

I've maintained the overall colour scheme but there are colour tweaks all over the place just to reign in the more inconsistant parts of the film. Most of the scenes with Grand Moff Tarkin had to be selectively regraded for example, they were too saturated a lot of the time.

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Cool I think this is right. The saturation levels seem to be such a rollercoaster on star wars that trying to put just one straight line through the middle would throw out so much stuff.

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frank678 said:

Cool I think this is right. The saturation levels seem to be such a rollercoaster on star wars that trying to put just one straight line through the middle would throw out so much stuff.

Definately.

I did try to use just one setting when I first started these Semi-Specialised projects but quickly came to a realisation that I was having to sacrifice too much in certain scenes, so I had no choice but to selectively colour grade those scenes to fit the colour scheme of the rest of the film.

These Semi-Specialised releases are by far the most complex releases i've done so far, both in terms of editing and colour grading. If I had known beforehand how much of my free time they would eat up, I probably wouldn't have started doing them in the first place haha

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Yes I think quite a few Star Wars projects have been abandoned here for this very reason, mine included.

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Okay, the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2 Classic is now up on tehparadox. May the 4th be with you! :)

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Netload links are now up as well.

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Here's a second preview clip:

https://mega.co.nz/#!G95VwSpZ!SP1KSLv1m6G0lmWSdP42bfThgVXmMXaPSmQfozP1Y_E

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And the same clip from the official blu-ray:

https://mega.co.nz/#!qpQXHKJb!NLGCZSHsU_d6hQI6srJnbtJ1-z_qc7BM36f5Glwbmz8

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And finally here's a comparison between the official blu-ray and the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2 Classic:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/73361

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I should also mention as well that for those interested in this release but wanting better audio, there is also a DTS-HD 5.1 audio track for this release that can be found in the kk650 release list on tehparadox.

I'm off to regrade a new 16gb Alien Theatrical Cut now. I always felt my previous release was a little unsatisfactory and I need a much deserved break from Star Wars.