kk650 said:
PDB said:
kk650 said:
Fleshtones are all very nice and orange in those 35mm shots of Aliens, I think you want to try to make sure you're getting those just right, I can see a little green in those fleshtones as well so you've got leeway to lean in that direction if you want, i'd personally avoid leaning towards the reds though in terms of fleshtones, the characters looking permanently sunburnt is not a good look IMHO.
Lights look nice and yellow as well, could probably use a little more red though to warm them up a bit more, at least for my taste.
I really like how the colours of those 35mm prints look! If you get the fleshtones and lightsources looking like those in the Aliens 35mm prints, you'll definately be onto something great here IMHO.
I would love to time my regrade of Aliens off those 35mm frames. I too like the coloring which has warmer skin tones and more saturated colors then the DVD, less extreme then the LD. There are two problems. One I'm pretty sure that they are from a trailer so they may not be the final color timing of an Aliens print. Second there are too few to figure out the correct timing for every scene. Some of those 35mm frames match the DVD best, some the LD and some the BD (the scenes without horrible green). Looks like I should correct to the LD and pull the saturation down and lighten the skin tones or grade to the DVD and increase the saturation, make the skin tones warmer and increase the contrast. Oh well need to finish Alien first before any of that.
Hmm that is tricky. If I was you I would use the 35mm frames you have as a rough guide for what the fleshtones and lightsources should look like throughout the film. Use the LD and DVD colours as a guide as well of course but try to maintain a consistant look colourwise to each scene and that makes sense in relation to the lightsources and their colour. I always personally put the most importance on maintaining consistancy in fleshtone colour throughout the film, taking into account the lightsources of the scene in question and how the light would affect those fleshtone colour. Nothing takes me out of a film quicker than constantly changing fleshtone colours that don't make sense taking into account the lightsources present in the scene.
When in doubt, go with your gut and most important of all with grading, at least that i've found from my experience, of course take into account all the different opinions about how you should go about regrading this but ultimately when in doubt, go with what YOU like. Remember that when it comes down to it you are grading for yourself, creating a regrade that is appealing to you. Remembering that will keep you sane when all the different opinions leave you confused and conflicted, its impossible to make everybody happy. Keeping that in mind has certainly helped keep me sane in the past haha
Thanks kk650, good advice all around. I really appreciate the knowledge (and the bit about making everyone happy). Consistency is something that I'm working hard on and seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve. Alien seems to be a little hard in that regard since it is either very dark or has very bright lighting, sometimes often in the same scene. So fleshtones on the LD can be all over the place in a long tracking shots. The BD seems to have fixed this by making all the Caucasian skintones super pale but the problem is that creates a ton inconsistency in those shots also. Not sure I'm skilled enough to fix everything. I'm trying to finish the entire movie and get it as close to the laserdisc as possible and then go back and tweek shot to shot for consistency.
I might do a few versions of Aliens and see which ends up being thebest.
_,,,^..^,,,_ said:
100% agree! One of the best first attempt of a fan restoration - mine was a half disaster in comparison...
I doubt that but thank you for the kind words Andrea. Hope I can live up to them.
Here are two of the problematic scenes. Ripley in the Mother control room and blue head Ash. This is a first pass. I still need to adjust a few things (and youtube makes it look a little redder on some monitors):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwVLayvMTR8&feature=youtu.ber
Funny thing is, in the shots of Ripley where you can see the top of Ash's served head. They have a slight blue tint, even on the BD. That makes me think the blue might not be totally out of line. I post these shots since they will be the most controversial but it is in keeping with the LD and Jonno's pics.