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StarWarsLegacy.com - The Official Thread — Page 78

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mverta said:

Swazzy said:

But here’s a dismal thought that crossed my mind: if your work is approved for release, could you imagine Disney perhaps further modifying it, in a way that would ‘satisfy its creator’ per say?

I’ve thought through that particular situation many times. Ultimately, it hinges purely on their “getting it,” because there is no way to compel them to leave it alone. You can’t say, “Take it or leave it,” because in truth, they can damn well take it and do what they want to it. Not literally, of course - “my” Legacy is safe and sound no matter what. But in terms of a release, part of my job in pitching it to them is to make the case for why it should be untouched. It’s a pitch I’ve had 15 years to prepare, and I’m pretty good. 😃

_Mike

This might not be something you can answer but, are the people you would be persuading aware of all of the issues regarding the sources and the archives and the color timing or is part of your job here getting them up to speed on the matter?

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Swazzy said:

Your resolve is inspiring and I hope all goes well after how much you’ve worked towards this. Best of luck!

Thank you, brother. Appreciate it!

Towne32 - my assumption is we’re geeks and nobody knows nothing. My presentation is structured to begin with a lot of “wow factor” before-and-afters with what it IS officially right now on Blu-Ray, compared to Legacy. Back to back, that is a pretty stunning contrast, easily discernible by anyone, and a good place to start. In fact, that back and forth can go on so long, be so damning, that it can start to look cruel and unusual to the Blu-Ray, and is around that point that I’ll be shifting into a bit on “how did this happen?” - a bit of a history lesson - which again is designed to be informative and interesting. But to most people, it’s hard to believe, unless they really see it, just how bad a shape Star Wars is in. I mean, no other important, relevant release (they’re still making Star Wars movies, you’ll notice) is so mistreated and neglected. But a pitch is a show - all pitches are. And I’ve done God-knows-how-many of them in my career. It’s a full multi-media presentation in a theater, with lots of eye candy, and aims to lead the audience towards an inescapable conclusion. But how it’s unique and different, and most importantly, profitable, are just key elements. So certainly an analysis of the market and making that case is part of it. But it’s gotta stay entertaining, and potential laden. Legacy, should it be adopted, would be the first truly new offering in a long time - not just another repackaging, and not just a bit of hype. This is a Star Wars nobody’s really ever seen, ready for 4K… ready for a limited theatrical release if they wanted to do it. It’s a strong pitch just on its merits, but that’s by no means a slam dunk. It’s got to be done just right, pitch-perfect, at the right time with the right people and every last pushback planned for. I have help from a fantastic team. We’re on it.

View the Restoration and join the discussion at StarWarsLegacy.com!

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Sounds like a great plan. If anyone can sell it, I’m sure you can.

Like every person on this forum, I would love to see Legacy. But, damn, I’d love to see the pitch presentation itself now.

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Thank you for clarifying, Mike. Some here were taking a potentially anti-ot.com (not a real site) stance because of all this (not I, as I have been probably the most vocal (or at least most annoying) critic of the team account and N1 in particular), so it’s nice to have it all out in the open so this site doesn’t suffer any more for it.

Good luck with your meeting. 😃

JEDIT: That was a long sentence…

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towne32 said:

Sounds like a great plan. If anyone can sell it, I’m sure you can.

Like every person on this forum, I would love to see Legacy. But, damn, I’d love to see the pitch presentation itself now.

Ha, yeah me too. I practice it in the shower all the time.

Wait, that came out wrong.

View the Restoration and join the discussion at StarWarsLegacy.com!

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It came out exactly as it should have and we don’t judge you for it.

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mverta said:

I didn’t end up using much of it, but I had it scanned at 4K. I was also loaned a “so-so” Tech by Person #2, and a really nice Tech by Person #3. For safety, Person #2 was given digital copies of both his AND Person #3’s scans. Person #2 was, at the time, assumed trustworthy, if for no other reason than self-interest. But then things changed. Person #2 decided to give ALL the scans in his possession to -1. Person #3 rightfully freaked the fuck out - he wanted nothing to do with -1,

What do you mean with “For safety” ? as a backup?

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laserbawz said:

mverta said:

I didn’t end up using much of it, but I had it scanned at 4K. I was also loaned a “so-so” Tech by Person #2, and a really nice Tech by Person #3. For safety, Person #2 was given digital copies of both his AND Person #3’s scans. Person #2 was, at the time, assumed trustworthy, if for no other reason than self-interest. But then things changed. Person #2 decided to give ALL the scans in his possession to -1. Person #3 rightfully freaked the fuck out - he wanted nothing to do with -1,

What do you mean with “For safety” ? as a backup?

Yep, basically.

View the Restoration and join the discussion at StarWarsLegacy.com!

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mverta said:
Towne32 - my assumption is we’re geeks and nobody knows nothing. My presentation is structured to begin with a lot of “wow factor” before-and-afters with what it IS officially right now on Blu-Ray, compared to Legacy. Back to back, that is a pretty stunning contrast, easily discernible by anyone, and a good place to start. In fact, that back and forth can go on so long, be so damning, that it can start to look cruel and unusual to the Blu-Ray, and is around that point that I’ll be shifting into a bit on “how did this happen?” - a bit of a history lesson - which again is designed to be informative and interesting. But to most people, it’s hard to believe, unless they really see it, just how bad a shape Star Wars is in. I mean, no other important, relevant release (they’re still making Star Wars movies, you’ll notice) is so mistreated and neglected. But a pitch is a show - all pitches are. And I’ve done God-knows-how-many of them in my career. It’s a full multi-media presentation in a theater, with lots of eye candy, and aims to lead the audience towards an inescapable conclusion. But how it’s unique and different, and most importantly, profitable, are just key elements. So certainly an analysis of the market and making that case is part of it. But it’s gotta stay entertaining, and potential laden. Legacy, should it be adopted, would be the first truly new offering in a long time - not just another repackaging, and not just a bit of hype. This is a Star Wars nobody’s really ever seen, ready for 4K… ready for a limited theatrical release if they wanted to do it. It’s a strong pitch just on its merits, but that’s by no means a slam dunk. It’s got to be done just right, pitch-perfect, at the right time with the right people and every last pushback planned for. I have help from a fantastic team. We’re on it.

With all the drama that’s been going on, posts like this give me hope. I believe in you. Hopefully, they will love it and then pay you the extraordinary amount of money you deserve to restore Empire and Jedi.

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We’re all rooting for you Mike. Hope the presentation goes well. Nobody would be happier for our hub to go relatively obsolete than we on this forum.

Any ETA on when frames will be posted? Not trying to rush you or anything, just wondering.

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Darth Lucas said:

We’re all rooting for you Mike. Hope the presentation goes well. Nobody would be happier for our hub to go relatively obsolete than we on this forum.

Any ETA on when frames will be posted? Not trying to rush you or anything, just wondering.

I’ve been mostly out of the country, and otherwise working my ass off to dig myself out of this abyss of Legacy debt 😃 So far so good, but that’s why it’s been quiet. But in terms of releases, I don’t want to put anything out ahead of the pitch. I don’t want to risk having any thunder stolen. I want to be able to end the pitch with a mic drop, basically.

View the Restoration and join the discussion at StarWarsLegacy.com!

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Mike,

Thank you for the update and the Q&A. For my perspective I all but abandoned all things Star Wars after the SE and PT. It took a lot to tear down a fan from the 70’s and 80’s who used to live and breath this great fantasy universe. Your project gives me hope.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and good luck with the forthcoming final phase in your effort.

Best Wishes,

J.W. Gant

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mverta said:
This is a Star Wars nobody’s really ever seen, ready for 4K… ready for a limited theatrical release if they wanted to do it. It’s a strong pitch just on its merits, but that’s by no means a slam dunk.

Holy shit. No matter what happens, thank you so much for all you’ve done. I’m sure you’ll knock the pitch out of the park. And win or lose, I’m sure we’d all like to see that pitch some day!

Anyone remember different camera angles from ROTJ?

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mverta said:

theMaestro said:

So I have a question. Let’s say you present this to Disney/Fox and they end up absolutely loving it. If they offered you a job to restore Empire and Jedi in the same manner, would you do it? I ask because I haven’t seen anyone put as much care and attention to detail into a restoration as you have and it would be great if the latter movies could also get the same treatment.

Absolutely. I don’t have the same love for those films, but absolute respect for their rightful place in film history. It’s just taken so much to get Star Wars together… so much time, so much energy. I’m so deeply in debt because of it, that the idea of going through all that again is just… what a nightmare. But if I was given the references - I mean, if somebody did the legwork and handed me the stuff and said, “fix this,” it would be great fun, and I’ve got the process for it. I mean, sure. Totally.

By the way, I notice there is talk about “speculation” regarding the “unethical” use of scans. There is no need for speculation, I am happy to provide the specific facts. They are as follows:

Legacy ultimately features the contributions of 4 (really 4 1/2) Tech prints in addition to various Eastman prints. Early on, I was loaned the “Spanish” print by -1. I didn’t end up using much of it, but I had it scanned at 4K. I was also loaned a “so-so” Tech by Person #2, and a really nice Tech by Person #3. For safety, Person #2 was given digital copies of both his AND Person #3’s scans. Person #2 was, at the time, assumed trustworthy, if for no other reason than self-interest. But then things changed. Person #2 decided to give ALL the scans in his possession to -1. Person #3 rightfully freaked the fuck out - he wanted nothing to do with -1, for all the reasons which should now be clear, but it was too late. Of course, relationships have been severed and damage done. Interestingly, in the middle of this process, a member of team -1 reached out to me because they didn’t have the Greedo scene for shit. To be cool, I actually gave them a nice Tech scan of that scene, not knowing they already had it, or were in the process of getting it. So no good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

So -1 ended up with scans they were not supposed to have, and did precisely with them what people were afraid of them doing. However, that’s spilled milk. -1 is in possession of some decent scans, which, when examining their work, should pretty much put to rest any question about how important ability and experience is in film restoration. Clearly, having decent scans ain’t enough.

Yeah, I was the person who reached out and got stuck in the middle. I had just joined the team and had no idea any of this was happening. Mike had just done a late night video Q & A and had mentioned that he didn’t know what print -1 had but would like to know if it was something he could use. I reached out to him and gave him some sample frames. Mike immediately recognized the print (which astonished me at the time) as being the Spanish print he had already scanned. I asked for help with the Greedo scene and Mike very kindly provided us with the full scene in 4k - which I used in the final version. Mike also requested we send him Reel 1 of the Spanish Print again so that he could get it rescanned, and I passed on the request to -1 who told me “no way”, and went on to bash Mike in another thread here on OT. -1 Also refused to even acknowledge Mike’s contribution to the project - not even a “thank you” for the Greedo scene.

While I can’t plead ignorance of the source for Team Negative One’s v2.0, I assumed that person #2 was the owner of that print and that if he gave it to us that meant it was ok for us to use it. For the record I don’t know that he ever sent us the scan of the second print (I’m pretty sure it never arrived although I heard it was supposed to. Certainly I never saw it, so I think he may have gotten cold feet, probably after person #3 started freaking out).

Anyway, while I initially supported the team, believing they had done nothing wrong here, I now know the truth and have since parted ways with -1.

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Oh that’s right! - I was going to try something else with the crawl; I forgot about that. Oh well, turns out it wasn’t necessary anyway. Still, yeah, bad mojo there. But you know what they say? “The truth will out.” You just gotta wait and stay cool, sooner or later, people burn themselves.

View the Restoration and join the discussion at StarWarsLegacy.com!

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Williarob said:

Anyway, while I initially supported the team, believing they had done nothing wrong here, I now know the truth and have since parted ways with -1.

As a long-time critic of the team, I salute you for your honesty.

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Yeah, despite anything the team has done or said, I will be the first in line to say Williarob deserves none of the blame.

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I trust Williarob more than the nebulous “Team Negative1”. He was more upfront about things in general, I think.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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I also trust Williarob for the same reasons.

she/her
mwah

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 (Edited)

I am absolutely thrilled that Fox/Disney executives are willing to examine your work. Let us hope for the best!

The Person in Question

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mverta said:

I want to be able to end the pitch with a mic drop, basically.

I have absolutely no doubts. I’ve seen my share of “how did Lucas mess this up?”, but every time I watch one of your clips, I am amazed at just how botched the BluRays really are.

Shame about TN1. Here I was thinking we’d finally have a project without giant egos to ruin everything…

This signature uses Markdown syntax, which makes it easy to add formatting like italics, bold, and lists:

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Hi Mike!

I am so stoked to have discovered what you have been working on! I’m a life long Star Wars fan and have always preferred the movie as it was originally released. That is how I grew up watching it (on an old video disk!) and I have been hoping Lucasfilm would finally do it justice and restore the film properly. The dvd release a few years back is a nice holdover, but on modern tv’s it just doesn’t cut the mustard! We got to talk a little about music on another forum a few years back (When you were finishing your Ultraman score, which is EPIC music!) and I was beyond pleasantly surprised to see your name here associated with this film restoration!

Having seen now some of the stuff you have shown for this project on your vimeo channel, I have to say I am blown away by how GOOD the samples look. I just wanted to wish you the absolute best of luck! I’ve been waiting a long time for a release of the original unaltered Star Wars (My old Video Disc copy is getting pretty warn down!) and this looks to be the best shot at it actually happening! Fingers crossed! knocking on wood! Keep it up man! I hope your presentation to FOX/Disney hits it out of the park and all this hard work makes it to a theatrical re-release and blueray someday.

If nothing end up coming from this, then at least thank you for making the attempt!

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mverta said:
Let me just clarify a few points:

  1. Legacy will be screened for Fox/Disney executives later this year. At least, that’s the plan, the discussions have started/invitations beginning, and so far, so good. We’ll see.

… (snip)…

mverta said:
But to most people, it’s hard to believe, unless they really see it, just how bad a shape Star Wars is in. I mean, no other important, relevant release (they’re still making Star Wars movies, you’ll notice) is so mistreated and neglected. But a pitch is a show - all pitches are. And I’ve done God-knows-how-many of them in my career. It’s a full multi-media presentation in a theater, with lots of eye candy, and aims to lead the audience towards an inescapable conclusion. But how it’s unique and different, and most importantly, profitable, are just key elements. So certainly an analysis of the market and making that case is part of it. But it’s gotta stay entertaining, and potential laden. Legacy, should it be adopted, would be the first truly new offering in a long time - not just another repackaging, and not just a bit of hype. This is a Star Wars nobody’s really ever seen, ready for 4K… ready for a limited theatrical release if they wanted to do it. It’s a strong pitch just on its merits, but that’s by no means a slam dunk. It’s got to be done just right, pitch-perfect, at the right time with the right people and every last pushback planned for. I have help from a fantastic team. We’re on it.

… (snip)…

mverta said:
I’ve been mostly out of the country, and otherwise working my ass off to dig myself out of this abyss of Legacy debt 😃 So far so good, but that’s why it’s been quiet. But in terms of releases, I don’t want to put anything out ahead of the pitch. I don’t want to risk having any thunder stolen. I want to be able to end the pitch with a mic drop, basically.

Can’t tell you how thrilled I am with these updates. Thanks for logging in and spending some quality time here again. I know I really appreciate hearing exciting news on Legacy like this. Best of luck!

If your crop is water, what, exactly, would you dust your crops with?

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camroncamera said:

mverta said:
Let me just clarify a few points:

  1. Legacy will be screened for Fox/Disney executives later this year. At least, that’s the plan, the discussions have started/invitations beginning, and so far, so good. We’ll see.

… (snip)…

mverta said:
But to most people, it’s hard to believe, unless they really see it, just how bad a shape Star Wars is in. I mean, no other important, relevant release (they’re still making Star Wars movies, you’ll notice) is so mistreated and neglected. But a pitch is a show - all pitches are. And I’ve done God-knows-how-many of them in my career. It’s a full multi-media presentation in a theater, with lots of eye candy, and aims to lead the audience towards an inescapable conclusion. But how it’s unique and different, and most importantly, profitable, are just key elements. So certainly an analysis of the market and making that case is part of it. But it’s gotta stay entertaining, and potential laden. Legacy, should it be adopted, would be the first truly new offering in a long time - not just another repackaging, and not just a bit of hype. This is a Star Wars nobody’s really ever seen, ready for 4K… ready for a limited theatrical release if they wanted to do it. It’s a strong pitch just on its merits, but that’s by no means a slam dunk. It’s got to be done just right, pitch-perfect, at the right time with the right people and every last pushback planned for. I have help from a fantastic team. We’re on it.

… (snip)…

mverta said:
I’ve been mostly out of the country, and otherwise working my ass off to dig myself out of this abyss of Legacy debt 😃 So far so good, but that’s why it’s been quiet. But in terms of releases, I don’t want to put anything out ahead of the pitch. I don’t want to risk having any thunder stolen. I want to be able to end the pitch with a mic drop, basically.

Can’t tell you how thrilled I am with these updates. Thanks for logging in and spending some quality time here again. I know I really appreciate hearing exciting news on Legacy like this. Best of luck!

Agreed. I try to log onto the Legacy forums occasionally, but it’s definitely more convenient when things are posted here, given it’s where I spend alot of my time, so I thank you for giving us occasional updates 😃