Just watched Despecialized for the first time (2.5), gotta say thanks! Loved it, a joy to see the movie in HD clarity. Which other than seeing the 97 version in theaters, I’ve only even seen on VHS or laserdisc version.
For some critique, I feel some shots the color isn’t quite 100% spot on. It looks like yellow is a bit overpowering in a lot of the movie, with stuff like Han Solo’s shirt popping, or skin leaning more yellow when it should lean more on the red side I think.
Here’s a comparison of Luke in Despecialized and an old laserdisc rip: http://imgur.com/a/tZV7t
Sometimes skin and hair etc to me looks a bit like a colorized movie in this version, if that makes sense. Maybe at times oversaturated, and maybe not quite the right hue. Also maybe more blue should be in the mix at times. That said, definitely better than the color choices of the official blu-ray, and this wasn’t in every shot or anything, just at times.
That’s my only constructive criticism though, really really impressive stuff. I didn’t notice any quality drops, all the effects shots looked great, terrific stuff all around, thanks again. And great sound too, I went with the 85 track. Much thanks!
I agree with what you’re saying about the “colorized look” These were my exact thoughts when I first viewed the despecialized version. Not as distacting as bad CGI everywhere but I wish the color was a little more natural looking. maybe in V3.0?
That said my thanks to Harmy and all those that put in the effort to make these editions happen. I felt like I was 12 Years old in 1977 all over again.
Darth Lucas and I are both (independently) working on color adjusted versions of De 2.5. I think/hope we’ve made it clear to Harmy that it’s not intended to be disrespectful. He himself has clarified that he didn’t know that the reference scan was not yet corrected to the print, and Poita has pointed out the problems with the UK lab producing what was essentially one of the very last Technicolor prints made in the west.
The main thing that mine uses is Harmy’s 97SE, which is a refined version of his take on the Technicolor print (minus his 97 changes). Here are some comparisons: http://imgur.com/a/CPcka Note that I darkened the Sandpeople/Ben scene in those images and have since reverted them to the full 97 Respecialized contrast. Some changes are slight, some are big.
I also edited many of the strongly yellow/green shots by hand: http://imgur.com/a/adIa1 Note in this case that the shots preparing for the battle of Yavin are off (Luke is blue in the first, and the next two are kind of red) as these are old sample images. I have fixed it to be more neutral.
I don’t think I’ll make my own thread about it, because I think it will inevitably get some flack for being seen as a criticism of Harmy. But I can keep it out of this thread too if he wants. He did an amazing job correcting to the scans he had. I can’t really fathom how did it so well in some cases. My version isn’t supposed to be accurate to one specific source, it’s just a less jarring (to me) version for me to watch until 3.0 comes out. It is definitely not an attempt to remove his Technicolor based timing. Walls are still bright, faces are rosy. Just the green/yellow/brown shots I wanted to have a go at.