PS78: Pre-ANH Star Wars Bootleg VHS from 1978 ***"RAW" DVD RELEASED*** — Page 3

AntcuFaalb wrote: I can't get much information out of him.

How did the discussion go when your cohort mentioned he had this recording?

It can't be the mono mix. Luke clearly says "Blast it, Biggs!

Ok that's good to nail down.

AntcuFaalb wrote: the source VHS cuts off right after displaying "Robert Watts".

Is it a hard cut or is there some VCR static.  That's one of the problems of using this as an identification method, as tapes are just over 2 hours long, so is it cut because the original tape ran out or was it cut because it was part of the bootleg market and shortened reproduction time helped crank out the copies.

AntcuFaalb wrote: Assume it's not from a 16mm film source and we're 100% certain that it doesn't have the mono mix. What's left? That is, what might it be from?

16mm has not been ruled out.  Both stereo and mono mixes were available in 16mm prints sold in the late 70s.  As the vertical cropping is more then the 16mm, that's a factor which leans us in that direction.  But not definitively.

Finding a flaw which could give us a sense of scale of the original print is an aspect to look out for at this point.  For instance if a hair shows up, how much of the screen does it takes up will give us a sense of how large the original frame was.  Another place to look for these flaws are at leaders, reel changes or where pieces of the film are missing.  These pieces of the film may have been marked up by someone and the size of the pencil or pen may provide a clue.

Reel change/Cue location with pics and approximate times are mentioned here:

http://fd.noneinc.com/Reel_Changes/Reel_Changes.html

Discussed here: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Reel-lengths/topic/11666/

There's another explanation for why it would be cropped on the top and bottom, other than being 16mm-sourced. On film, before the 2x anamorphic stretch, Panavision actually has an aspect ratio of about 1.20:1, not 1.33:1. If it's from a 35mm print, then since it was transferred straight from the print without any anamorphic adjustment, it would have been vertically cropped by about 10% in order to fill the screen.

The adjusted pic bears this out, it has an AR of about 2.63:1.

If only the bootlegger had had the foresight to do a pillarboxed transfer...oh well. I'm just amazed we have a bootleg of this high a generation.

AntcuFaalb said:

So are you saying that the adjusted image is consistent with what you were talking about?

Exactly. Either this is a 16mm that was already vertically cropped, or a 35mm print vertically cropped by the telecine operator.

Not sure how we'd be able to tell which it is. I will say that the two English anamorphic 16mm transfers I've seen - Puggo Grande, and the bootleg that Catnap found - had a lot of dirt and damage in common. For example, the pan-down to Tatooine had a lot of emulsion damage (shows up as green blobs) and a couple of bad splices.

I was surprised that this kind of damage would be printed in from the previous generation, but unless the Puggo Grande print is the exact same print transferred in the "Catnap bootleg" many years earlier, it seems that at least one run of 16mm prints came from a rather beat-up source.

When I see this bootleg, I'll probably be able to provide more insight.

AntcuFaalb said:

I'm just amazed we have a bootleg of this high a generation.

Me too! Even if it's from a 16mm source, I'd really like to record this with a Panasonic AG-1980, as I think it'd be useful for color-correction. Do you agree?

As long as none of the skin tones make a person look like they had an accident inside a tanning bed it should be useful/informative I think.

The Baltimore Boot or BB?

You ought to pick a name because if someone's deep in some heavy anaylsis later on they're going to need a handy nickname

AntcuFaalb said:

I'm joining the two losslessly-compressed AVIs into a single one right now. Let me tell you: the quality of this recording does not do the VHS justice.

I suspect it might not be possible to get the captures looking quite as vivid on computer as they do through the TV monitor, currently the stills you've posted look a bit soft/washed out compared to the photos of the TV display, but keep in mind you probably won't get a perfect result right off the bat. You could always double check settings and stuff, or else get access to a better set up later on. On the plus side the current stills look clean and undistorted and don't obscure the sense of whats there.

IB Tech

PS78 tweaked to look like the above

except...

Pre ANH Bootleg also tweaked

So back to square one

And as you watch, consider dropping into the OT.com IRC:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Does-the-IRC-channel-still-exist/post/458805/

Server: irc.scifi-fans.net

Ports 6660-6668,7000

Try joining "OriginalTrilogy"

Here are some of the initial findings.

General: Cropping all sides, heaviest top/bottom.  The lower part of the top line of the Greedo subs gets shaved, the second line is cut.  Print is shifted generally right.  With a black shape on the left, right is vertically cut.  Generally bright.  In daylight shots the top 1/8th of frame gets blown out a bit.  Colors are pale but pretty good. (but i'm no colorologist)  Periodic tracking lines but they are brief, usually a few horizontal lines of static for a frame or two.  At shot changes which have a bright spot, there is a color balance/contrast readjustment.  Flicker is noticeable in bright shots, but it's not there all the time.

Specifics: The first reel change over is short.  Missing the second set of dots.  The Reel 3-4 change over is long.  Extended black screen.  As previously reported, it's the stereo* mix and has the John Williams tight credit and the switch to scrolling credits has an overlap with John Barry, as seen in mthr and PuggoGrande.

Questions: As the first reel change has been modified, is there a 16mm release which followed the theatrical release reel changes?  Or are most/all 16mm similar to PuggoGrande in which two theatrical reels are one 16mm reel?

Current Search: Looking for ideas of other things to help identify.  Collecting frame numbers which have frame errors like the Tantive Orange Errors which can be used to cross compare with other captures.  These errors are few (maybe one every two minutes, probably will become less frequent, still haven't left Tatooine in my viewing) and are generally a small percentage of the screen frame.  Of the ones checked with mthr it's about 50/50.  Will post examples tomorrow.

Everything is surprisingly clean, considering what it is and it's age.