The Little Mermaid (1989) - 35 mm (Released) — Page 2

A quick update: The print has been shipped and arrived safely at the scanner’s place yesterday. More updates will follow soon and maybe we already have some first impressions then. 😃

Received some first samples today, and they look pretty good. Here are some screenshots, no proper color correction has been done yet:

Donors will also be getting a video-sample shortly. It’ll take a little while longer before I’ll have the actual scan here, but I’m really looking forward to working on this and I hope you guys like it as well.

Really great to see this coming together! is there any way for me to support / donate / participate in this project?

Looks absolutely beautiful

that is beautiful. wow

Here are some comparisons to the Blu-Ray:
http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/KKYLNNNX
http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/KKY7NNNX

Just to let everyone know: I’m now having the drive with the files in hands so work can finally begin. 😃

Can’t wait to see this project. Little Mermaid is one of my most beloved films.

The 4K restoration for the Blu-ray release is excellent, and perhaps the best/ least tampered with Disney classic to come to the format (that beautiful grain), but it still has been manipulated. Particularly, the saturation is amped up, and the opening titles featuring different timing that now doesn’t sync with the audio. Also, the Priests knee will never return to any official release.

BenjaminG said:

Can’t wait to see this project. Little Mermaid is one of my most beloved films.

The 4K restoration for the Blu-ray release is excellent,

Wait, what? This is the first time I’ve heard that Disney’s The Little Mermaid was restored in 4K for the Blu-ray. Can you or somebody point me in the right direction so I can confirm it myself?

RU.08 said:

Yes, as Avatar_Emil_Borg said please confirm what you’re looking at. This release:

http://rahulandi.com/the-little-mermaid-4k-blu-ray-blu-ray-3d-blu-ray-three-disc-edition-1989/

Isn’t until later this year. If you mean the 2013 Diamond Edition it was absolutely tampered with to the Nth degree - screenshots are here.

The 2013 restoration was done at 4K, but to date hasn’t been released in this resolution.

I would love to be wrong, but I highly doubt that listing from Rahulandi will happen, at least not this year.

Some first impression from my work on reel 1:

Wow, that looks great! Wish I would have seen this earlier. Is it too late to donate?

Agreed. I would like to donate to this project too.

Well, the cost for getting the print scanned and shipped have already been funded. But of course I’m happy for further donations that’ll help covering additional costs like hard drives etc. or I can use them to get prints for upcoming projects. So if you’re interested feel free to drop me a PM! 😃

A few more pics - this time from reel 2:

Reels 2-4 are a bit less detailed than reels 1 and 5 and the color is also a little different. The reason for this could be the changes in the credits that were necessary in 1998 wheras reels 2-4 stayed the same as in the initial release.

I’ve been trying to improve the grading again, here are a few new screenshots from all five reels:

They look to be a bit yellow and the saturation seems low.

yotsuya said:

They look to be a bit yellow and the saturation seems low.

Do you think the saturation seems low because we’re so used to the mega boosted saturation from the last few releases?

I can tell from my own experience: Colours from this kind of prints are awesome. It will take a minute or more, but you get used to it. It is not a new 3D-animation release nor an episode of the simpsons etc.
Example: It was a relief to see the print of Land before time. After watching the Bluray I thought this movie looks bad and false, but seeing the 35mm print was like seeing another movie. The “muted” and earthy colours suited more to the atmosphere of the film.
PS: You can also saturate your tv or projector to get more “vivid” colours as well and everyone else can use the right saturation, better option: high-lamp-mode on ordinary projectors brings the colours back, if you have no Xenon-lamps(but on a Tv it should look good as it is)

The problem is that most of us are already used to that squeaky look for Disney-features. They already moved towards this with the first digital releases, but since the Lowry-restorations it got really bad. The Blu-ray of “The Little Mermaid” is at least not as bad as the 2006 DVD which had some more “digital improvments”, but it’s still not how the film looked in cinemas back in the days.

Here are a few comparisons between the Blu-ray and the 35 mm: