Cobra Kai

Alderaan said:

Hardcore Legend said:

Alderaan said:

Why would Kathleen Kennedy have any say whatsoever on camera setups anyway.

She should start acting like a producer IMO.

You do realize she is also the president of LFL, correct?

I’m sorry, but when is it a good idea for the president of the company, to be deciding how many cameras should be used and where they should be placed?

Where can we sign up and direct Ms. Kennedy’s movies for her?

You’re jumping to conclusions here. Obviously KK was not that involved in the shoot from the beginning. It sounds like they are simply talking about the directors not working fast enough and how they did not accomplish as many shots as was on the schedule. “Set-ups” do not refer to the number of cameras being used. A set up involves everything that has to come together to get a certain shot: camera position and movement, lighting, dolly tracks, in-camera special effects, actor movements, etc. And all of these set-ups would have been planned in advance.

And remember, the specific day mentioned in the article took place very recently, after everything had pretty much reached a boiling point. I’m sure after KK and Kasdan saw the rough cut, and saw how the scenes were playing out when everything was edited together, they gave the directors specific instructions on what changes to make, scenes to reshoot, etc in order to fix certain problems with the scenes. And of course everything needed to happen within a set timeframe.

That being said, I find this all to be pretty amusing. This movie was a bad idea from the beginning and I wasn’t even planning on seeing it in the first place.

https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2017/06/what-our-sources-are-saying-about-the-star-wars-han-solo-shakeup.html

DrDre said:

Stotchy said:

It’s so pleasing that there is potentially a solution to to appease everyone’s different color timing tastes without HUGE efforts of doing so manually shot-by-shot.

I for one am not a fan of the green technicolor look so Neverarbot and Vertabot alternatives are fantastic to have available!

RE your limited Verta references, can you use screen shots from Mike’s videos? Or will the Vimeo compression likely have messed with the colors?

If I understand correctly, the Verta videos are not graded yet. He first corrected Legacy to neutral colors, which he shows in his videos, and then does the color grading at the end. The four earlier shots all represent preliminary grades.

I’m just going off memory, but I assumed at least some of those videos were already graded, since he sometimes compared the color to the blu-rays and seemed to imply his restoration was how the movie was supposed to look?
Also, in the Yavin launch video when he compares the restored shot to the original print, he specifically remarks how much the “color grading” impacts the final shot in terms of dynamic range.

Again, just the impression I got from watching them, so I could be wrong.

*edit - I just watched another of his color comparison videos and he mentions that his version is how the technicolor print looked. So I guess I misunderstood and the versions in the videos are just simply corrected to match the techs and from there he does the final color grading. Is that correct?
Thanks.

Well, my experience has been the complete opposite of some of you.

I have discussed the OOT with a LOT of friends and acquaintances over the years, ranging from hardcore to casual fans. Not once did I hear anything other than disgust for the SE’s, and everyone expressed their wish for an OOT release.
The last guy I talked to had just shown his kids the trilogy for the first time. They watched the blu-rays, which was his first time to see 2011 versions. His first comment was “I had forgotten how many changes were made to the movies,” and then said he would never watch those versions again. I then told him about Harmy, TN1, Legacy, etc.
(I am 40 years old, BTW, and everyone I’ve talked to about it has been about my age, give or take a few years.)

Now apart from my personal experiences, when they first announced the digital releases a while back I did look at all the social media reactions from fans. When it was first announced on Facebook from the official Star Wars page, I went through the hundreds of comments to see how many people were asking about the original versions. On the first post, the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of all the comments were about the OOT. I would have to go back and look to be sure, but I recall that the number was over 70%, and then it was pretty much the same thing on all subsequent posts regarding the digital releases.

Now let’s forget all that. The fact is SW obviously has the biggest fan base of any movie in history. The original versions started one giant pop culture phenomenon and existed for 20 years before the SE’s with millions of fans growing up watching them at home on VHS.
With all of the other restorations and blu-ray releases of classic movies that have been done over the years, I find it strange that people believe an OOT release would not be profitable enough for a studio to mess with. Star Wars fans will buy just about anything anyway, and have been double-dipping on releases since the VHS days. So you will even see a significant percentage of fans who are content with the current blu-rays, purchasing an OOT release just to have in their collection.

Now, that being said, I’ve pretty much given up hope since the 40th anniversary came and went without any mention of it. I would love to hear from Mverta, but he obviously can’t or won’t share any info from his conversations with people at Disney/Fox.
Personally, I’m completely done with all things Disney at this point. I hated TFA and R1 anyway, so no big loss there…

DuracellEnergizer said:

So someone has to be a blood relative in order to receive a telepathic broadcast deliberately aimed their way? Okay. . . .

Yes. Everyone knows the stormtrooper here is Obi-wan’s cousin.

Leia hearing Luke call for help at Cloud City isn’t foreshadowing, because Leia was not meant to be his sister at the time. That came about during the script writing process for ROTJ.

JokerRulez said:

No news is good news guys.

Patience.

–JokerRulez

Not that I have abandoned all hope, but I simply don’t have any confidence in Disney/Lucasfilm anymore. Yeah it definitely looks like Mike has gone dark for a reason, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s good news.

Just off the top of my head, you might try these guys, although they don’t have an enormous amount of followers, but both are OOT fans:

• Bill Hunt / Digital Bits
• Eric Vespe (Quint from Aint It Cool News)

poita said:

I know people have already posted this, but it was confirmed in a digital bits interview a few months ago: (https://tr.im/1c09C)
"We’ve essentially confirmed that Disney’s current 4K scan of the film is the most recent revised version (essentially the latest “special edition”), not the original theatrical edition. What’s more, Disney’s director of Library Restoration and Preservation, Theo Gluck, held a special event at Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts last night, a presentation called Animation Restoration at Walt Disney Studios. Gluck was asked there about Star Wars and reported that the original cut negative for the film currently exists in its “SE” configuration only."
When asked if there were any plans for an OT restoration, the answer was no:
"Disney’s director of Library Restoration and Preservation Theo Gluck, and 20th Century Fox’s Senior VP of Library and Tech Services Shawn Belston have confirmed to the outlet that no such work on a reconstruction has begun."
https://tr.im/1c09C

More recently, about 16 minutes into this interview, Kathleen Kennedy seems to rule it out:
https://omny.fm/shows/steele-wars/ep-131-3-star-wars-celebration-orlando-day-2-the-l

So, it looks like the will just isn’t there.

That LRM article is misleading. Because Nowhere in the original digital bits article did Bill Hunt quote the Disney guy as saying that there was no reconstruction effort going on. They never addressed that specifically during the event. That was just Bill Hunt speculating, and that article states Bill’s speculation as fact.
I’ve actually talked to Bill Hunt about it. He doesn’t know anything or at least he didn’t when that article was written. It was all speculation.

Also on the Kathleen Kennedy interview. That audio clip you posted is heavily edited. Watch the unedited video. It’s obvious that she initially has no idea what he is talking about, and then he actually specifies at the end about making changes to the “special editions” to which she replies that she wouldn’t touch those.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZO0_yYvmxo

Now all that being said, do I believe they have plans to release it? No, not really. I will be pretty shocked if it actually happens this year or in the near future. But there hasn’t been any definitive statement yet from someone at Disney/Lucasfilm that rules it out.

So… Is there anything in the issue that actually celebrates the 40th anniversary? Or is it all about the special edition?

I am not a great writer, but I do write copy for a living as a marketing director for a medium size corporation. There is some good stuff here (I love the line about Lucas lighting a spark), although I still see some things that can be tightened up and edited. I’ll take a stab at it tonight/tomorrow and let you look at it, ignore it, whatever.

I also agree with others here that the “alternative methods” part needs to be omitted. I think this letter needs to be 100% positive in tone, and that line kind of stuck out to me as I read it as not fitting in with the rest of the message. I really wouldn’t even bring up that whole subject in the first place.

As for the whole nostalgia angle… Heck yeah. Nostalgia can be a very powerful thing, and I totally agree with using that as the foundation for the letter. A personal and passionate plea for something that had such an incredible impact on us growing up, is a sentiment that a lot of people who may possibly read this will be able to relate to.

Anyway, I just watched this cool video that was recently made about that very subject, so it seems perfectly relevant to the conversation here. In fact, we need this guy to make a video for us, haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSWGwKKFxk

This is pretty cool and very well done. A quick tribute to SW and the incredible impact that it had on so many childhood imaginations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSWGwKKFxk

DrDre said:

For those of you expecting a special announcement with regards to the Star Wars blurays for May the 4th, here it is:

“Save $40 on the Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray box set”

http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-day-2017-deals

They must be blowing out their inventory in preparation for a new release this year. OOT confirmed.

Cthulhunicron said:

So why does Lucasfilm know about his restoration if he doesn’t plan on releasing it?

Because he told them about it, probably.
Mike has done contract work on a few projects for Lucasfilm and Disney over the years and has many contacts there. He has always been open about Legacy and the fact that he wasn’t going to release it is precisely why he was able to obtain such good sources.

His plan after finishing the work was to set up a screening for executives with the hope that one day it might be actually used for a release. He last stated in November that he had found “the guy” at Disney and through those conversations was connected with “the guy” at Fox with tentative plans for a screening in late February.

And yes, he has good sources but he also developed new techniques to combine information together from his multiple sources, so his restoration is most definitely the best SW has ever looked.

flametitan said:

nickyd47 said:

I wonder why he went silent
Is it a sign of something or did life get in the way?

I wouldn’t be surprised if this meeting required him to go under an NDA, even if they weren’t planning on anything.

This seems possible. It definitely appears that this is not simply a case of Mike being too busy. His last update about a possible February presentation came in November, and he has since ignored all Legacy-related questions on the message boards, his social media accounts, vimeo/youtube comments, etc, whereas he would normally have responded to these questions in the past at least on a semi-regular basis.

Fang Zei said:

I mean, Verta’s is a way better end product than TN1 or Harmy. SSE can at best be called a remastering and DE is a reconstruction. Legacy is about as close to a true restoration as you can get.

What I’m curious about is how Disney first warned him about not releasing it. Was it randomly brought to their attention?

Remember, Mike has done contract work for Lucasfilm on various projects over the years, so he has lots of contacts there, and he has been very open about Legacy so I’m sure everyone knows about it there.

He said this in the Legacy thread a couple years ago:

I have been told explicitly to expect the FBI should my restoration be released publicly, by friends at LFL who are in a position to know.

SilverWook said:

You dastard! Picking on a little Wookiee. He’s hardly the worst character in the HS. 😉

Perhaps you’re right. I should’ve chosen Itchy instead, who I believe also made an appearance a few years later in Big Trouble in Little China.

Lumpy

*edit - ah, I see I’m late to the party on this one. Yaddle… one of GL’s most baffling decisions.

Disco_Lobot said:

Cobra Kai said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

So I went back and watched the unedited clip. She literally says the Special Editions are his. She says she wouldn’t touch the SEs. No kidding. Literally no surprising info there, and should have no bearing on a potential release (or non release) of the theatricals.

Weird I just now saw that unedited clip. Yep, she had absolutely no clue what he was talking about and then he finally specifies that he’s talking about altering the “special editions”.

And not that it matters much, but she actually says “I haven’t touched those” instead of “wouldn’t.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZO0_yYvmxo

That was a terrible and stupid way to ask that question.

A much better way would be “Do you think there might ever be a release of the original theatrical versions alongside the definitive versions so that collectors and fans can see the evolution of the rich history of these films?”

Yeah, that was terrible. And who knows - he may not have even been talking about the original versions in the first place.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

I think the “are you kidding” implies wouldn’t.

Yeah I know it doesn’t really change anything. The unedited clip though is interesting and makes it even more clear to me that she wasn’t even thinking about the theatrical versions.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

So I went back and watched the unedited clip. She literally says the Special Editions are his. She says she wouldn’t touch the SEs. No kidding. Literally no surprising info there, and should have no bearing on a potential release (or non release) of the theatricals.

Weird I just now saw that unedited clip. Yep, she had absolutely no clue what he was talking about and then he finally specifies that he’s talking about altering the “special editions”.

And not that it matters much, but she actually says “I haven’t touched those” instead of “wouldn’t.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZO0_yYvmxo

That was my point. We don’t know the details and revenue that they get with their distribution deal. And Disney might believe that releasing this year and taking advantage of the 40th anniversary might be better for them than waiting until 2020.

Now, do I think it’s happening this year? No, I’ve pretty much lost all confidence in Disney/Lucasfilm. I just wanted to point out that it makes a lot of sense, marketing-wise, to release them now.

Disco_Lobot said:

It’s not like Lucasfilm hasn’t altered ROTJ multiple times after the director passed away… Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy there?

Also - why would they do any release prior to 2020? Spending a bunch of money on an OT restoration and having to split the money from TESB and ROTJ with Fox is just stupid. I still don’t know why anyone is expecting anything to happen prior to the rights reverting

First of all, none of us know what kind of distribution deal Fox has, nor what kind of money we’re talking about here. It may not be an issue at all.

By releasing them this year, on the 40th anniversary, they have a huge, built-in marketing message and can take advantage of all of the current hoopla surrounding the anniversary.

I just read an interesting quote from a certain person over at the steve hoffman forums.

This is concerning the original restoration for the 2004 release:

I was told point blank at ILM that Lucas kind of didn’t really care that much about home video, and he was mainly concerned with whatever project he was on at the moment. They told me they had considered remastering the theatrical versions AND the revised versions simultaneously, but there just was no time available to do it because Fox demanded a pretty stringent deadline. Money was part of it, but it was more about time than money.