Thorr's 35 mm Star Wars Trilogy SE Trailer WQHD Restoration (Part-Finished) — Page 8

Jetrell Fo said:

thorr said:

Hi You_Too.  Thanks for your interest.  No, it's not done yet.  I tend to do it in waves when I feel like it.  It takes a lot of time.  Sometimes something happens that demotivates me because I have to redo something, and so I stop for awhile.  Since you showed some interest, I might start again soon.  When do you plan to release the 97 SE blu-ray set?

Jetrell Fo - I am very interested in the DTS trailer audio.  There are two versions of this trailer.  Do you know which one you have, or both?  If anything would really get me motivated, it would be having an awesome soundtrack to go with this.

Here are the two versions I am aware of.  The part where Jabba is talking to Han is different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRgsMKu8oNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4J7R8uzYrc

From what I can tell, the first trailer link is the "President's Day" trailer...I believe IT is on the 2004 Bonus Disc.  Of course the second link above is from the LD.   I believe the U.S. LD set had 3 trailers total.

The DTS SE discs each contain trailer audio for the SE.  I will have to listen to them and sort em out for you.

From my notes, there were three trailers...

TEASER-The first one was from Spring/Summer 1996 and was part of the Sansweet-Lucasfilm fan roadshows that culminated with the screening of the trailer... Probably an early cut, and never made it to theaters.  I have a fan recording/bootleg of this somewhere.  This one had the alternate Jabba shot, "President's Day weekend", "On Feb 14 Star Wars, followed soon after by the ESB and then ROTJ".  I think it was only shown a few times in public.

TRAILER A-This trailer had a limited summer release in 1996 in a few select markets. According to someone who worked at a theater, these trailers were hand delivered and picked up later by FOX representatives.  This trailer had the updated Jabba scene.  I believe the rest, including the audio was unchanged from the first one. 

TRAILER B-This version came out in Nov/Dec 1996 and ran through Jan 1997.  In this version, the dates have firmed up (Jan 31st, Feb 14th and Mar 7th) and there was a new line added by Princess Leia "Here they come!".  

It's doubtful that a DTS 35mm print of the first trailer exists in the wild... The bonus disc is probably the best and only source available. 

Of course there were ESB SE(Trailer C) and ROTJ SE(Trailer D) too...

May have missed it, but are you using a scope or flat version of the trailer?  In the event you decide you want to do a ROTJ SE trailer, I have a brand new, unused flat version.   I also have a ESB scope somewhere, but it's been used.

bkev said:

...alternate Jabba shot? Do tell. Does that mean they used a different model, or a different point in the sequence to highlight?

It's the shot of Jabba and Han further along in the conversation... "Han my boy"...

I do need to check if the Sansweet roadshow trailer effects were complete though.  I know he showed some clips of Jabba being designed on the computer prior to the trailer being shown.  Looks like the trailer is on TWC301 - tread well collection too.

Sorry, no real progress.  It's time consuming and I haven't spent much time on it lately.  I will get it done one of these days.  This weekend I tried a different approach out of curiosity.  I tried taking a picture of the frame with my camera, but my lenses aren't macro and the resolution would be too low.  It would be great if I could scan each frame quicker that way, but it won't happen.

This is where I am at (starting at the end and going backwards).

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5jfpy3

I have a new method I am going to try.  I have some headaches with my current method that I am sick of dealing with and I don't really want to discuss, and I am cautiously optimistic that my new method might produce equal or better results much faster.

I am going to buy some extension tubes for my Canon 5D Mark II DSL.  This will allow me to do the macro photography that I need.  I have a variety of lenses I can try to get the best results.  Currently, I think I will use my 35mm F/1.4 lens because when combined with a 28 mm extension tube, it will give me 0.98 x magnification at a distance of 140 mm which would put it just out in front of the lens.  I am not sure if it will focus that close though, so I will experiment once I get the tubes.

This is the general idea, but I will build my own rig with this concept:

http://www.johnamon.com/2010/08/how-to-copy-35mm-film-with-dslr-camera/

I am going to try using this as a back light.  The brightness is adjustable. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TJ6JH6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These are the tubes I will get: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y60DZO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the wireless remote shutter I will get: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049HCSM8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did a test shot with my 135mm lens with a 1.4 and 2.0x extender on it handheld with my monitor showing a white page as a back light and it worked as a proof of concept.

The hardest part will be making the holder for the film to slide through.  Until I know exactly how far from the lens it needs to be, I can't really plan for it.  I am thinking I might be able to use a lens hood somehow but not sure.

Update: just had another idea for the mount.  Most of my lenses have a 72mm filter size.  I bought a 72-77mm step up ring.  I can superglue this to a block of wood.  I would cut a hole through the wood and mount my two 35mm film sliders from my scanner rig on both sides of the hole on the other side of the wood.  Then I can just slide the film through the sliders and see the whole frame including the sprocket holes.  I just need to get the depth right.  If I can set the lens to F/22, then I get more depth of field which will help.

Got my camera stuff and started experimenting.  I haven't built a rig yet, so this is for demonstration purposes only at this point.  I have lots of settings I can play with (aperature, brightness of back light, shutter speed, lens used, etc.).

Here is a comparison of the scanner method vs. the camera method.  In my opinion, the camera method is much sharper (one of the things that bugged me about the scanner method).  I didn't clean the dust off the frame and you can see how sharp it is.  Keep in mind the objects in the frame are in motion so they look blurry.

Note, I have already photoshop'd these to adjust levels, etc.  The camera version needed less adjustments.

The camera version was done with some playing around with different camera settings.  I haven't gotten it perfect yet.

Scanner:

http://i43.tinypic.com/qywdpf.png

Camera:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2isji44.png

Original image files (after photoshop):

http://www.sendspace.com/file/oaa5he

The potential here is huge because I could fly through the scanning process once I get the camera settings where I want them and build a stable environment to advance the frames.

poita said:

The camera is a better way to go. If you have a flash head (A Strobe) it will give better results frame to frame than that light source. It will also freeze any motion in the frame and give you a really sharp picture.

An old non-digital 35mm camera can be cannibalised to make a film gate, good SLR bodies are basically free these days and a great source for parts.

Thanks for the suggestions.  Can you explain the flash head idea further?  I have a Canon Speedlite flash, but I am not sure how it would be used.  Would I bounce flash it off a white surface, or disconnect it from the camera body somehow and fire it directly through the film into the lens?

I think the light source I have is pretty good and will hopefully be consistent. It has lots of LED's in it evenly spaced, and placed far enough away becomes out of focus so you don't see any of the individual LED's.  I always do a full scene from start to finish before taking a break, so it should stay consistent for short spurts I think.  I will know after I build the rig to run the film through how well it performs.  The brightness is adjustable, but as long as I leave it alone for an entire scene, it should stay the same hopefully.

I am also interested in the 35mm camera film gate idea.  Do you have a link or any suggestions about how to go about that?  I have my own ideas what I plan to build, but it may or may not work well.  I will know after I try it.  I plan to work on it this weekend.

Thanks again!

Thanks a lot poita.  I took some test shots and I agree that the Flash should provide better results.  I did some research and gave it lots of thought so far, and here is my current plan...

I am going to do something like this: http://photos.imageevent.com/sipphoto/samplepictures/Slide%20Macro%20Setup.jpg

I will get one of these to detach the flash from my camera: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Z3H36O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A17PX87GQZ7MWI

and one of these diffusers to put on the flash: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y0CXX0/ref=gno_cart_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

And I will mount (maybe with superglue) the slide holder to the diffuser.  You can see my slide holder on the left of the scanner in this picture: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2elxhep&s=7

I have two tripods, so I will mount the flash to one, and the camera to the other.  Once I get it lined up, I will use my remote trigger to take the pictures. 

I may also put a tube made from posterboard or a paper towel tube between the lens and the film to block out the surrounding light and keep them stable when I slide the film through.  I first need to figure out which lens is best and what the distance will be.

thorr said:

 

Original image files (after photoshop):

http://www.sendspace.com/file/oaa5he

The potential here is huge because I could fly through the scanning process once I get the camera settings where I want them and build a stable environment to advance the frames.

the scanner looks better. you see more details of the falcon's instruments. blacks look crashed on the camera pic.

also check the stars near the tie fighters on left. scanner pic is better there too.

overall: scanner is a pain to work with. but the result - judging from the given samples - speak for it.

Thanks for your feedback.  It was a proof of concept hand held shot.  I have a million different variables that can be tweaked to dial it in.  I think once I get it set up right with the flash and the best lens on a tripod along with the right exposure, the camera will look better.  Time will tell.  As of now, I am not planning to start over again and redo everything, so most likely it will be half and half camera and scanner.  I spent a lot of time post processing the scanner stuff and don't want to start over completely.

Finally got a little time to play with this and so far it looks like in order to get the best results, I would need to do HDR / AEB techniques because I can't get scenes like the Death Star explosion to have bright stars and not have an overblown explosion (no pun intended).  The dynamic range of the shot isn't there without it.  It's a bit frustrating at this point.  If anyone has any settings they recommend for the flash and/or camera to try, I am all ears.

Update: I might have the Aperture set too small.  I will play with it more this weekend.  Here is an interesting article that might help.  http://petapixel.com/2012/05/18/how-to-scan-film-negatives-with-a-dslr/

Played around a little more.  I tried using the transparency adapter backlight from my old Epson 1640SU scanner with my camera instead of using the flash.  Eventually I will probably want to use the flash, but I need to build a rig for it because there is no other way.  At least with this backlight, I can figure out the best lens and distance and focus, etc. because I can use live view and see it instead of taking a picture in the dark that gets lit up only when the flash goes off and checking the focus after the picture is taken.  What a pain that is!

I adjusted the color/levels with Photoshop, so it is probably a bit too bright, but the results are similar.  The idea is to save tons of time eventually because it is close enough to the scanner in quality.  The scanner adds its own artifacts, so before saying it is better, look closely and see if you really see any more detail (aside from blown out highlights from my adjustments). 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/277ica

Another idea I had is to use the transparency backlight adapter with my new scanner which would allow me to scan a lot of frames in one pass.  Then I would just crop each of them to files quickly manually or automatically.  That may be the ultimate solution, but I haven't tried it yet.

I got it!  I built my rig with the flash, and I am fully satisfied with the results!  Ignore the crap I posted above with the backlight.  ;-)  The stars show up when there are bright areas too.  Here are some samples:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/64lqdc

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5hpu8j

Now, I can fly through the scanning process! :-)

How's things coming thorr?  Any chance you're done scanning?

Thorr, is there a chance you could post a scan of the opening Fox and Lucasfilm logos? I'm currently getting German prints of three SE trailers (B, C and D) scanned and the opening logos seems to be pretty low-res and pixelated - as if they've used preliminary renderings of those.

Interestingly the LF-logo in front of Trailer B isn't the one we know from the DVDs and Blu-rays (and the other SE trailers, for that matter), but the one used before that (for example in "Willow").

I haven't worked on this since my last post.  I am scanning everything in reverse, so the logo will be the last part that I do.  I will get back to this project eventually.  I have had some turmoil in my life recently and haven't felt like spending time on this.  It should go pretty fast once I do decide to start up again.