Save Star Wars Dot Com — Page 5

zombie84 said:

Spent the night converting the raw photos from the Technicolor screening to correct the perspective. I shrunk them by 50% in size as well, so instead of 10mb they are about 1mb, but they should still fill your screen.

Some choice examples:

http://savestarwars.com/images/senatorcorrected/technicolor2.jpg

http://savestarwars.com/images/senatorcorrected/technicolor6.jpg

http://savestarwars.com/images/senatorcorrected/technicolor32.jpg

See http://savestarwars.com/technicoloribscreening.html for more. I didn't do the complete photo collection though. Maybe one day.

Puggo: Thanks a lot for the advice. This is exactly the sort of stuff I am hoping to sort out by posting the work-in-progress here and getting feedback. Of course, the main page I sort of threw together and always planned on re-working, but probably the text would have been on similar lines to the way it is now. I'll keep your post in mind when I go through and start editing.

Wow, zombie are those actually screen captures of the 35mm print wow Lucas would have kittens if he saw this. LOL

Wow those are smashing quality pictures the grain the scratches and tiny imperfections says one word “film”.

That is how it should look on bluray the detail should be captured with nothing more and nothing less there’s no EE no DNR no colour manipulation, just perfect.

Obi-Wan's eyes roll as he explains to Luke.

What I have noticed in the tiny areas of the optical effect is common issue with nearly or most telecine video transfers that takes a really good video engineer to see that only the image and colour is captured.

This green like cyan can be seen on countless laserdisc to DVD to even yes the so called perfect bluray format as I have witnessed first hand.

The Abyss on THX laserdisc and DVD look at the underwater scenes during the first shots you’ll see Ed Harris looking out a domed window at the divers and all the floodlights have cyan green all around it and its down to (blue and white) that causes the artefacts to be seen.

I can see the same thing with the optical effect around R2-D2 on the video transfer. “It takes a good engineer” to do it right and lot a lot of films on video just look like total crap.

Does anyone own the first edition of The Abyss on Fox widescreen laserdisc as I’m sure the colour balance would be correct on that version? I’ve seen a TV broadcast many years ago, that was the theatrical version as I saw in the cinema some x3 times.

The theatrical version on DVD is the same lousy colour balance and I doubt it was the same version produced for the early laserdisc because the colours and brightness to contrast had gritty realistic look on the TV version all the grain as well as scratches and que dots ever 15 to 20 minutes was all there.

Even the soundtrack Dolby mix broadcasted in digital NICAM725 had richer quality for optical 35mm.

If the digital cameras of today can capture clarity images of the space shuttles underside to see if there are missing tiles then I don’t seen any excuses as to why digital technology can’t capture the STAR WARS films in there entirety without the use of EE DNR or colour tricky that only leads to colour imbalance issues of unnatural colour skin tones.

I’ve only seen a few on DVD and bluray a few that look spot and few is just not good enough in my books since I just paid them for lousy cheap unprofessional work for rotten film like, “The 6^th Day” the optical and some pyro on set effects just turn to green crap because of the high intensity of the whites that have been boasted up to make bluray only appear its better than DVD.

Bingowings said:

Personally I think the tone is currently just right.

People have tip-toed around Lucas for decades and it's got us nowhere.

The petition here is diplomatically worded (as was the previous one) the case is put with measured eloquence but it's not being listened to (just like the last one).

We need an alternative more angry but equally eloquent voice out there to be the outlet not only of our hopes but also of our displeasure.

If it falls upon deaf ears nothing has been lost but at least our frustration has been noted by others.

Here, here.

Well, more like deaf ears for the Dolby film mix and blind eyes for the picture clarity.

Yeah a louder voice louder than his THX sound system so Lucas well at least acknowledge the original fans for once and reward us with what we have been pledging and begging for like dogs woof, woof! 

You don’t see Lucas going after cinema owner Tom Kiefaber then, tio get back the 35mm print?

I just wrote a blog entry that tries to distill all of the information I've gotten from zombie's sites:

http://doubleofive.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/save-star-wars/

I hope it drives a little traffic that way.

zombie84 said:

That was kind of my thinking too. We tried to ask "nicely" and "politely". But we have to be more aggressive and really underline how this is an afront to history, and ethics, not to mention the personal enjoyment of all those millions who gave Lucas the power to do this. We should stop pulling the punches, because we're being dishonest to the truth and letting Lucas get away with too much.

That depends on who is the intended audience for the site. If it is intended to inform people who don't know about the issues, then they won't even know that anyone has already been asking "nicely".

A lot of people on OT.com think that this is an issue that everyone out there knows about, and that people are on one side or the other. My guess, is that at least 99% of people out there don't even know about this issue. I personally have never encountered a single person amongst my co-workers, friends, or acquaintances who knew anything about the controversies surrounding the SW OT.  I even have a friend who works for Skywalker Sound, and when I asked his opinion, he honestly didn't even know what I was talking about.  Never mind your average person on the street.

I don't think the issue is about being nice or not. It's about being clear, concise and to the point. Do that, and I can assure you it cannot possibly sound "nice".

If I get a spare hour, I might give editing it a shot...

I'm afraid that link is broken, Zombie. Are you sure it's up?

Crazy idea that occurred to me. Would it be possible to get testimonials from people who were at the Boston screening? I imagine at least a few people had no idea what version they were going to see that night...

Maybe some words from the guy who owned the theater? From the video I saw, he could never be mistaken for a fanboy with an axe to grind. ;)

Fantastic article. Saying everything I wanted to say, but better.

I'm not sure exactly where the switched sabers occur, but its only for a few frames, maybe even in the middle of a shot?

Nerfherder said:

By the way noticed another flaw in the 2004 SEs the other day - at one point Vader and Obi's sword switch colours for an instant!!!!!! Deliberate creative fuck up, sorry decision!, or was it done as a slight joke/wink? Would be cool to have a screen cap of that on Save Star Wars.

I think the saber switch has always been that way. Screenshots are here: http://thelightsaber.com/drupal/node/15

Nerfherder said:

 By the way noticed another flaw in the 2004 SEs the other day - at one point Vader and Obi's sword switch colours for an instant!!!!!! Deliberate creative fuck up, sorry decision!, or was it done as a slight joke/wink? Would be cool to have a screen cap of that on Save Star Wars.

Yeh, they've always swapped colours like that ever since the original. But in a few shots in the 2004 set Obi-Wan's saber actually becomes purple

zombie84 said:

www.savestarwars.com/starwarsblurayblues.html  is now up.

Perfect. It would be so simple to do this!! Lucas blabbed on and on 13 years ago about how the films had been "saved" (although certain prints like the Senator IB and others still existed) and ever since then nothing has been made of them. No real theater bookings have been made since the SE release save for a few rare digital screenings of the 04. Also, if the basis of the original was the 97 restoration-they could simply use the 97SE 5.1 and make changes where the added material was removed.