kk650's Star Wars Saga: Regraded and Semi-Specialized (Released) — Page 11

kk650 said:

I should also mention as well that for those interested in this release but wanting better audio, there is also a DTS-HD 5.1 audio track for this release that can be found in the kk650 release list on tehparadox.

I'm off to regrade a new 16gb Alien Theatrical Cut now. I always felt my previous release was a little unsatisfactory and I need a much deserved break from Star Wars.

 Wait I havn't finished downloading it yet. You got to stick around for my critique so you feel shamed into starting from scratch and making a version 3!!!!

frank678 said:

kk650 said:

I should also mention as well that for those interested in this release but wanting better audio, there is also a DTS-HD 5.1 audio track for this release that can be found in the kk650 release list on tehparadox.

I'm off to regrade a new 16gb Alien Theatrical Cut now. I always felt my previous release was a little unsatisfactory and I need a much deserved break from Star Wars.

 Wait I havn't finished downloading it yet. You got to stick around for my critique so you feel shamed into starting from scratch and making a version 3!!!!

I'm an optimist so i'm hoping that you like what you see so it doesn't come to that haha

I agree^

The clip looks great - and yeah, it does look very laserdisc like colour wise. 

Cheers for the feedback guys! Has anybody got round to checking out the whole release yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how the colours look throughout the whole film.

As for the colours looking like the laserdiscs that is fascinating because I wasn't intending that at all, I was just going by gut for what felt 'right' to me and using fleshtones and light sources as a guide, with frames taken from the theatrical prints as my only real reference points.

I hope to give my 2 cents at the weekend when I get to watch this properly but so far I havn't seen anything that I don't like!

Okay, i've just posted the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2 Classic up on myspleen for those that are interested in checking it out.

One thing that i've noticed just recently is that at the start of the 2nd preview clip, purple dots appear on the jawas, then disappear. I checked on the blu-ray and its there as well. Are these on other people's Star Wars blu-ray transfers as well?

I find them distracting now that I know they're there so i've gone ahead and manually removed them using photoshop. I also noticed a similar thing when leia hugs chewie after they escape from the death star and blow up the tie fighters, blue dots appear out of nowhere then disappear, also from the blu-ray. I've gone ahead and removed them.

If anybody comes across any more, please let me know the timecode so I can check them out. I'm personally going to go through the whole film keeping an eye out for more to remove, so when I release this semi-specialised edition with a higher bitrate and Cinema DTS audio, they've hopefully all been taken care of.

Maybe the Jawas have the measles.

I might not get to watch this for a little while but I wanted to post my initial impression of this release from skipping through it. I think this is the correction to go for if (like me) you don't like the more lobster-like end of skintones. To me this is overall a more brownish palletted star wars and is quite reserved in its saturation levels on the whole, so that everything sits nicely together. Some (myself included) might have wanted to see a bit more 'pop' in places but I think that might have actually spoilt the overall feel/intention of this classic/retro look. I'm glad to see another unique release.

And of course preferable to the original Blu-Ray (imo)

frank678 said:

I might not get to watch this for a little while but I wanted to post my initial impression of this release from skipping through it. I think this is the correction to go for if (like me) you don't like the more lobster-like end of skintones. To me this is overall a more brownish palletted star wars and is quite reserved in its saturation levels on the whole, so that everything sits nicely together. Some (myself included) might have wanted to see a bit more 'pop' in places but I think that might have actually spoilt the overall feel/intention of this classic/retro look. I'm glad to see another unique release.

And of course preferable to the original Blu-Ray (imo)

Thanks for the review frank678.

Yeah, I was going for the classic/retro feel that I was getting from the film print frames I had as references. Poita said that the Star Wars prints were never as saturated as some home releases have led us to believe and the frames I have certainly confirm that.

Remember though that a technicolor release for this is also coming out so that'll probably be more to your taste. I'm looking forward to seeing how that version looks compared to this one, with punchier colours and that technicolor kick. :)

EDIT: Looks like the technicolor settings need a little adjusting.

frank678, i've been thinking out about what you said in your review.

I like how this latest release looks but checking it out on my tv, i can see what you mean that it lacks a little 'pop' as you put it. That's fine for this release because that's what I was trying to achieve, a matte look like the prints but for the average viewer that just wants to enjoy a good looking film without caring what the prints look like, its lacking that 'pop' you're talking about.

With that in mind, I've decided to cover those that want that 'pop' without having to watch the technicolor release with its punchier colours.

This latest release with a look similar to the prints will now become the retro release, I will create a Star Wars release with normal colours and 'pop' called the classic release and the release with 'pop' and punchier colours will be called the technicolor release. That should cover all the bases. I've pretty much finalised the settings for all three.

I still need to decide whether i'm going to bother creating retro releases for ESB and ROTJ as well but i'll cross that bridge when I get to those.

I should clarify that it only looks washed out in some scenes and other scenes look spot on. Its a balancing act because if you go too far the other way with saturation it can become a bit heavy. I really think the only way round this perfectly is to go scene to scene. It doesn't necessarily spoil the viewing experience to see a couple of under-saturated parts, I think the unique selling point of your version is actually the palette you've arrived at, which gets the film away from the pink/purple end of the spectrum in a clear way. Maybe leave time for this version to sink in for a couple of weeks before you revise it?      

I too would leave the settings.  They look fine to me.  Good job!

I heard the edits to the Mos Eisley approach though and think that making them smoother would be an improvement.

Cheers for the input guys but I'm not planning to retire this release, only to take into account more modern sensibilities of what is appealing and give people a release that is more pleasing to the eyes of a casual viewer. This requires a little adjustment of fleshtones and a slight adjustment of saturation. I've checked the sandcrawler clip with my retro (perhaps better to call it 'print'?) settings and classic settings on my TV and the classic clip is undoubtedly more pleasing to the eye, even if the other clip feels more 'right' in terms of the print.

I want to get all three versions sorted out while its fresh in my mind so I can put Star Wars behind me and move onto Empire Strikes Back.

Chewtobacca said:

I too would leave the settings.  They look fine to me.  Good job!

I heard the edits to the Mos Eisley approach though and think that making them smoother would be an improvement.

 Thanks Chewtobacca, i'm glad you liked what you saw.

Do you mean making it smoother visually or in terms of the audio?

I mean in terms of the audio.

Is there a audio cut in particular that you are refering to? Are you talking about where I cut the jawa swinging antics?

42:54

43:06

43:58?

I'm fairly sure I can hear all of your audio edits.  Are you crossfading at edit points?

Chewtobacca said:

42:54

43:06

43:58?

I'm fairly sure I can hear all of your audio edits.  Are you crossfading at edit points?

I just checked what I used in my project file. I used the audio fade filter in TMPG Video Mastering Works 5 to link the different audio clips together. Is that what you mean by crossfading? I just checked those cuts you mentioned and I'm personally satisfied with the audio cuts there, I feel they're pretty seamless.

I couldn't cut earlier with 42:54 because there were annoying droid sounds, 43:06 was always going to be problematic because there is music playing there where I cut but I felt I got lucky and the cut worked pretty well musicwise, I personally did not find it jarring. With 43:58 i'm changing back to belbucus's PCM audio from the special edition audio so the change will always be noticable if you're looking for the cuts but again within acceptable limits and not at all jarring IMHO.

I did actually spent a pretty long time getting them and all the other audio cuts in the film as seamless as possible, I'm a pretty difficult guy to please, but of course I'm an amateur audio editor and TMPG Video Mastering Works 5 is not a dedicated audio editing program. Overall I am satisfied that the audio cuts are seamless enough not to take me out of the film, which is the most important thing for me.

If you're happy and don't want to change anything, then there's not much more to be said, but I would point out that I heard the cuts without looking for them.