Empire Strikes Back on Super8

I was given the opportunity to purchase a brand new Super8 transfer of Empire Strikes Back from a foreign negative, so how could I say no?

It is on brand new poly stock, I have one reel of it (I only had enough money for a downpayment and they were kind enough to let go one reel at a time as I pay).

I sat down with this projected side by side with the only known 35mm LPP of ESB in existence (before you ask, the owner of the 35mm will absolutely *not* let me scan it), and I am pleased to say, the colour is nearly a perfect match.

This Super8 will be a great resource as a reliable colour reference for ESB.

I am busily digitising this reel, you can see a movie of the grab in action here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/msl15wiwg0pfdxy/Empire8.mov

Download it rather than watch it in dropbox, as the preview in dropbox is all crappy.

I do of course then have to grade the scan to match the print, and these images are from my phone, so don't worry, the final version will look much better.

Now I just need to find $400 to pay for the rest of it!

Right-click on the image above and select 'View Image' to see it in full.

BTW. The Red box is just the sampling area for the real-time histogram view, it isn't a cropping selection.

that looks great!

team_negative1 said:

Thanks for referencing this. We weren't sure if you wanted to make this public here are not. It will be a very good resource.

Also, there is another LPP of Empire besides that one that we know of, so it's not the only one.

Team Negative1

 I know the one you mean, but it hasn't been verified yet. I am very much hoping that it does indeed turn out to be a true LPP.

No soundtrack, it is a mute print.

I couldn't afford this as it is :), it would have set me back another $500 to get the film striped and soundtrack transferred.

It was.

Well he did say foreign negative so it'd be a distinct possibility!

Nice one Poita good luck, I'm sorry I can't help financially but I hope you get support from others members. Is LPP the same as IB/Technicolor or is it a different stock altogether? I only ask because I was under the impression IB's were discontinued around the time of Star Wars and that it was "fortunate" there were any of SW let alone any movies that came after it?

LPP is very different from IB. It's basically improved chemistry of the traditional Eastman color process - the green and blue layers are much more stable and will not fade as easily (so no Red-fade!)

It came about in the early 80s I believe when Martin Scorsese pressured Eastman Kodak to create a more stable film stock. 

BTW, Poita, great find! I'll definitely chip in - just let me know what to do.

All I will say is it is from Europe, the lab understandably does not want to be identified.

Any help to obtain equipment or help with shipping is always appreciated, feel free to PM me if you can help out, I would like to be able to get this print scanned, and graded to the print as a colour reference for anyone out there doing restorations, whether it be from laserdisc or 35mm film...

I imagine someone here could GOUT-Sync it if you wanted audio to go with it.

Mavimao said:

BTW, Poita, great find! I'll definitely chip in - just let me know what to do.

 Thanks Mav, send me a PM :)

I've scraped together enough to get the last reel, so will be scanning it on the weekend. Then will get onto grading it to match the print.

On another note, anyone looking for HDDs, newegg has a 24hr special on 4TB drives for $129 with free shipping. Code is EMCPCHA27

Hey, there haven't been many recent developments on this or the 35mm project. I really hope everything's going well.

I was wondering, though, was the foreign negative source that produced this OUT? How are its colors preserved so well if it is? Really looking to both of your efforts here.

It will be done when it is done. 35mm stuff bumped the priority down, but it will happen.

BTW, could you guys post with a signoff of -A, or -B or -C or something? I really hate answering to a committee! (ittee...ittee...ittee)