The ‘Custom Special Edition’ That Almost Wasn’t, But Then Was (Released) — Page 19

While I am not committing to doing another revision of ANH, I jotted down a dream list of what I’d like to tweak further if I did.

• Remove the extra vaporators added to one shot in the SE during the sale of the droids
• Darken the sunset scene, and avoid using NeverAr’s sunset shot due to color banding
• Paint out the rats from the establishing shot of Mos Eisley
• For the narrow alleyway shot, paint out the rats and maybe one set of the mirrored troopers
  (- Or, even better, take the OOT intermediate shot of a speeder passing and add the SE dome-building backgrounds, but that’d be way out there)
• In the unplanned event that I do not go with the expanded galactic celebration at the end of ROTJ, remove the SE wide shot right after the checkpoint
• Remove the shockwave ring from Alderaan
• Give Obi-Wan’s saber a core during that one shot in which it fizzled out but was halfway fixed for in 2011
• Fix the continuity error during the SE Biggs scene as R2 abruptly jumps to a higher position during the masked optical wipe used to shorten the scene from the way it was filmed
• Do something about the shot of X-wings approaching the Death Star. It’s always looked poor, but using the OOT version wouldn’t mesh well with what would follow. The moon should be painted out, as we all recently learned causes a continuity problem, and perhaps the R2 unit seen more prominently could have its squarish blue panels made more rectangular. But this shot is unfortunate.
• I am ambivalent about the Death Star explosion shockwave ring. I would feel better about it if Alderaan’s were removed or vice versa. I could play with it if the SE Death Star element was used to replace the OOT’s as the explosion begins. (The SE Death Star element would lead into the OOT explosion, processed to match the surrounding 2011SE footage.)

I still think the current version of ANH is good, and most of these ideas probably couldn’t really be done anyway. But I have all my changes saved as ProRes files so it would be relatively easy to get it loaded again.

Well, I am working on trying to remove the explosion ring from Alderaan for my fanedit, and I can give the 1080p file next week or so, but I cant guarantee it due to the pandemic going on.

I also have a re-composited shot of the grainy speeder drive-by shot in the OOT graciously done by SkyDude over at the Star Wars Trilogy forums which I can give to you aswell.

If you don’t mind, that sounds great. If I can get a few of those wish list items, I’d be happy to do a V3.

Could anyone possibly “de-specialize” these two sarlacc shots for me? I wouldn’t think it’d be too difficult for someone in the know.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17sGEHYMd0ecRyeixLHzjXhVqsH6oAgBD

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QztjZho2yg-1ajWAhyW5IYybomCvdjG_

Two for ANH, one for ESB. Just a workprint for ROTJ so far.

I didn’t for the SEs because it was (supposed to be) a straightforward pick-and-choose of the changes they already made.

With my life being as chaotic as it is, it seems impossible to find 6 1/2 hours alone with quiet to even be able to!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZwFZ2dos1-qbGqxX1512Ri787Lc5WU4e

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TzgLt6l4LmMp4z9PTiA_PNvNiVjXs7cz

Updated Sarlacc links!

ROTJ’s 19SE (SDR) colors look just fine to me. Moreso than the new ANH or ESB. Maybe it’s because the 2004/11 transfers were just the worst.

Anyway, I find that increasing the brightness somewhat and dialing the saturation up 20% makes it feel like it could fit in reasonably well with the modified 2011 version of the other two films without taking things too far.

To adjust the brightness, I increased the whites by 13%, the midrange about half that much at 6%, and left the blacks where they were. It looks good to me, anyway, and hopefully that logic is sound.

Yes, even though hopefully Ridley will eventually present the sequence with tentacles but no beak, despecializing those two shots now will let me preset a good V1 that can stand in case that never happens.

The rest I am using whole shots from 4K83, but those two especially wouldn’t be great to do that for.

Is the reason why because the black lines around the skiffs were removed in the Special Edition and you would like to retain those still?

Partly. Also having so many elements onscreen gives more to look slightly different compared to other shots. The sky, the skiff, the sand, etc.

Most of the other shots are more focused and have less ‘liability.’

Obviously despecializing most of them would be ideal, but 4K83 works pretty well for most shots. Surprisingly well.

Hmm, thanks for taking a look at any rate.

Yes! Will do ASAP

Here’s the first clip for the moment. Gotta rip the other one from 4K83 later on…

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bbuhKRmmYspD_c5uoLFJKHEeuADFLIlS