You guys must really hate any museum that doesn't let you touch anything, don't you? I don't agree with his Adywan comments or the way he chose to leave, but -1's blog is about the same isn't it? Besides, registration is open, he just has to confirm you. That said, I am a member there and I'm looking forward to seeing progress.
Also, when it comes to manwhoring with merchandise: that's... always been on the Legacy site. So it's nothing new. Agree or disagree with it, personally I don't care either way.
A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em
bkev said:
You guys must really hate any museum that doesn't let you touch anything, don't you?
Horrendous analogy. Museums exist solely to preserve great masterpieces and display them in ways that can be enjoyed by any member of the general public. This is why anyone can walk into any of the established museums and enjoy these works as much as they please. They don't restore a historically important work and release a statement to the general public like "Michelangelo's David has been meticulously restored. It is locked in the basement, you cannot see it. Take our word for it, it is breathtaking. There are a couple Polaroid's available for public consumption if you don't believe us. Please buy T Shirts on your way out, the exit is through the gift shop." You don't need to "touch" these kinds of works of art to enjoy them, it's a visual medium, you likewise don't need to touch the original camera negatives of a film to enjoy one that has been meticulously restored for high definition and released on BD.... you simply need to sit down and watch the movie.
His efforts to "preserve" the original film are just as fucking useless for all concerned apart from himself - none of us will ever see them (and you're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.) These aren't being preserved for posterity, they're being preserved exclusively for his own personal use and enjoyment at best and at worst to sate his ego by establishing his own personal internet mythology when it comes to UOT preservation. That's fine, I have no problem with someone creating a version for their own personal use... but to pretend as though he's doing this community a tremendous service is fucking absurd - he isn't. None of us will be given the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of his labor.... and to use this vaporware to hock his SW-related merch is fucking bullshit. He's not releasing any material to be used by the likes of Harmy, DarkJedi, etc. He releases a tiny amount of screencaps with tweaked color grading every several months and bloviates about how vastly superior his presentation is relative to everything and anything else on offer.
I just got owned by Stinky without a single insult in his post towards me... this is both disappointing and flattering. I apologize for the poor analogy.
A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em
It was indeed a fantastic post. I give it four balls out of four balls.bkev said:
I just got owned by Stinky without a single insult in his post towards me... this is both disappointing and flattering. I apologize for the poor analogy.
Stinky-Dinkins wrote: These aren't being preserved for posterity,
The future generations who are alive after copyright expires on these films will be able to watch any preservation which exists at that time.
Hypothetically. A digital creation is only as long-lived as its copies. No copies? Short life.
none said:
Stinky-Dinkins wrote: These aren't being preserved for posterity,
The future generations who are alive after copyright expires on these films will be able to watch any preservation which exists at that time.
Hahaha, great. Wake me up in 100 years when the copyright expires.
He's not scanning Technicolor prints and he doesn't have access to the original negatives.... let alone the 4K scanner to feed the shit to. He doesn't have the capability to create a "definitive" version. His original Legacy version was already rendered obsolete by the BD release, which is why he's going back to create this second iteration. His newest preservation won't be relevant 10 years from now, let alone 100. Editing software and the hardware that implements it will have so vastly improved several years from now that something someone like Harmy can't dream of doing currently (because of hardware/software constraints) will be way, way easier to accomplish. I have more faith in Lucas releasing a "classic" version before any of this becomes relevant, to be honest.
If he doesn't plan on releasing them why does he never address what exact materials he's sourcing his holy grail of preservations from with anything resembling a shred of specificity? It's to maintain the illusion of unfathomable visual fidelity that none of us peons could ever hope to replicate. It's a fucking big fish story. This thread is seven years old, all it has to show of this project can be fit on floppy disk.
Guys, guys... Let's concentrate on what's REALLY important.
HE'S WINNIE COOPER'S HUSBAND.
Wait, stop! Nobody move.
A fuse is out.
I had to look it up for myself. He is Mr. Winnie Cooper. This is blowing my fucking mind, seriously.
I take back everything I said. I hope I didn't burn this bridge already but Mike... if you can hook me up with Paul Pfeiffer I'd be hugely grateful. Forget Paul himself, I will settle for Pfeiffer merch. For Paul's actual glasses I would hand you my nuts personally. I will settle for a current picture of Paul's glasses (must be not predate 2010) for much less. I am not shitting.
I am talking hardcore Pfeiffer here man, and I don't fuck around.
So does anyone have a clue what sources are being used for this? I could've sworn I head/read/saw that he was using a technicolor print for this, but have no idea where I got that from... And now I'm not sure what to believe.
He made vague *wink wink, nudge nudge* hints that it was scans from a Technicolor print, but maybe I was just reading into it too far.
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Sure looks like it to me. He just posted great-looking images of Greedo w/ original subtitles and Mos Eisley (and it is a GOUT-only shot, ddonna, this is NOT a hoax). The color balance reminds me of what I've seen of the Senator print.
Hell of a lot of detail, sharp as s***, it has to be a film print. He also said that he's not using telecine, as the quality is not sufficient for what he's doing. He previously referred to his image of the SW logo as being 4K. Take from that what you will.
He previously referred to his image of the SW logo as being 4K.
Original subtitles? Check.
Very preliminary, but still... cool.
Darth Editous said:
And in case anyone cares, his hatred of fan-edits (his recreating starfields in Maya notwithstanding, I think that counts) was already burning six years ago - must see if I can dig out that email...
Try here.
Mike has always had strong views about fan edits (and fan films, too). It's ironic that you took some inspiration from his original Legacy project, and your edit went on to inspire Ady.
Like most people here, I would rather watch a properly-restored version of the original (without fixed lightsabres, added motion blur and smoothed jump-cuts) than a fan edit. But I don't resent the fact that projects such as Revisited exist.
Mike may write harsh words on the subject, but expressing his honest opinion doesn't justify calling him a dick. I'm not surprised he's gone again (last time he "left" was after someone likened him to a crack dealer).
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ROFLRICK said:
Guys, guys... Let's concentrate on what's REALLY important.
HE'S WINNIE COOPER'S HUSBAND.
This explains everything.
Sorry...see below.
Moth3r said:
Mike may write harsh words on the subject, but expressing his honest opinion doesn't justify calling him a dick. I'm not surprised he's gone again (last time he "left" was after someone likened him to a crack dealer).
I have no problem with him expressing his honest opinion. My issue is the way he expressed it as an attack rather than an opinion. Not to mention it was an unprovoked attack having nothing to do with this thread topic or the question he was asked. It's why I said there is a difference between constructive criticism and being a dick, and I stand by my statement.
As far as why he left, if he did so for the reason you suggest, he needs to grow thicker internet skin. But the reason he actually gave boiled down to him being too busy and important to keep up here, and we should all follow him there instead.
If all he did in this thread was a single bump post to tell us the project was starting up again and we could follow his progress on his website, I wouldn't have said a word.
Finally, the whole merchandise thing really smells. Perhaps you recall the NNRRPPB! thread? You said that you would normally delete that kind of thread because Jay doesn't like when people use his resources to drive traffic to their own site. Well, as much fun as we had with that dude, at least he wasn't trying to sell us anything. And yes, I get that this topic is of interest to the Star Wars community, but the NNRRPPB! was a Star Wars related site as well. If you come here and try to bring people to your site where you are selling merchandise, I would think Jay would take a dim view of it.
TV's Frink said:
Perhaps you recall the NNRRPPB! thread?
Please, enlighten me.
Specifically, see Post 11.
I agree. The only thing I don't quite get is, what good does a restoration do anybody if it's just lying on someone's hard drive. It can get lost again quite quickly.
If he can share anything, I'd love for him to let us use his recreations of the original LFL title and the "A Long Time Ago..." one for other restoration projects.
Star Wars Revisited Wordpress
Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress
I understand completely why he's not releasing it, and I support him all the way. Kevin Brownlow continued to restore Abel Gance's Napoleon for decades, even while Francis Ford Coppola and the other rights holders prevented him from making it available to the public. Now, all parties have worked things out and it's finally going to be screened in Oakland, CA this coming spring. I think Mike has the same general mindset - he says it's not being made to sit on a hard drive, it's going to be "available to the future" when circumstances change. He calls it an investment, and I totally agree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDlP-kmzWk
This is a detail from the Mos Eisley shot he just posted. I think it's clear now that he's working from a high-quality (possibly IB Technicolor) print scanned in 4K.
I tell you, this detail-recovery thing looks amazing, and I get how it basically works. In a stationary shot like this every frame of a print has a different part of the negative detail in it, and he's taking all that detail and combining it back together.
Pardon me if I sound like a sycophant, I'm not, I'm just amazed by what he's doing and I support it.
TServo2049 said:
I tell you, this detail-recovery thing looks amazing, and I get how it basically works. In a stationary shot like this every frame of a print has a different part of the negative detail in it, and he's taking all that detail and combining it back together.
Pardon me if I sound like a sycophant, I'm not, I'm just amazed by what he's doing and I support it.
You know, since he's not sharing the results of his work with us, he could at least share the tools to help other people involved in restoration projects, since they apparently work so well. However, he doesn't even do that. And that's what annoys me the most in his attitude so far.
Ignorant of many things, but still a real bro.
TServo2049 said:
Pardon me if I sound like a sycophant, I'm not, I'm just amazed by what he's doing and I support it.
I think it's safe to say many people here support his project (who on this site wouldn't support a restoration of Star Wars?). As for his decision to not share it, again I understand his reasons, so no problem for me (although his reluctance to share his editing tools is a bit of a head scratcher). What does irk me, however, is his self-aggrandizing behaviour coupled with his condemnatory and belittling comments regarding the work of others.
In short, the project's great--it's the personality of the individual doing it I'm not particularly fond of.
“It’s a lot of fun… it’s a lot of fun to watch Star Wars.” – Bill Moyers
TServo2049 said:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDlP-kmzWk" target="_blank" title="www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDlP-kmzWk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDlP-kmzWk</a>
This is a detail from the Mos Eisley shot he just posted. I think it's clear now that he's working from a high-quality (possibly IB Technicolor) print scanned in 4K.
I tell you, this detail-recovery thing looks amazing