Apparently Disney themselves have confirmed 4K restorations exist for the SE versions of the OT at an event, which were completed in 2011/2012 probably under Lucas’ supervision:
http://www.furiousfanboys.com/the-entire-star-wars-trilogy-exists-in-4k/
It seems likely these restorations will be released in the forseeable future.
Here’s an update:
Here’s the LUT:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v9tDj3tbL3_KOCKUlbigd1rOyCRPeL3E/view?usp=sharing
This is some really nice work, and in record time! Congrats! I think your shot by shot can also be used as a great basis for further tuning to cater to each and everyone’s personal preferences. Here’s my little effort, starting from the last shot of the film. I personally feel the color grading could use a little warmth to bring it more in line with the technicolor references.
sanjuro_61:
DrDre:
Hey DrDre, I was just wondering, are the technicolor references really that warm? Just looking at the video scopes, the red is very pushed. Not saying that’s wrong, I defer to your knowledge, just curious! The sanjuro_61 frame is a bit cool according to the scopes, so just as a quick test, I balanced the highlights, and the result is somewhere in the middle.
Yes, the technicolor prints are very warmly graded, although there’s a little too much magenta/red in the highlights. I will provide an update later today, to correct this.
This is some really nice work, and in record time! Congrats! I think your shot by shot can also be used as a great basis for further tuning to cater to each and everyone’s personal preferences. Here’s my little effort, starting from the last shot of the film. I personally feel the color grading could use a little warmth to bring it more in line with the technicolor references.
sanjuro_61:
DrDre:
I applied this adjustment to the two sets of sample frames I found:
It might need a little tuning here and there, to get to a final version (I see a few frames with some excess magenta), if there’s an interest, but you get the general idea.
Here’s the LUT:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hDo_XIiozzDanx5B1WAn-GuG31UwHlYW/view?usp=sharing
Yes, sorry to hear about your mother, poita! 😦
Here’s a little test for the Dagobah sequence.
Bluray:
Bluray regraded:
http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/YDZPNNNX
Dre, let me know if I can help in any way if you decide to do this.
Thanks! I will! 😃
I was already excited for 4k77 but this looks amazing!! Will you be doing the same regrade for the DNR version when it comes out?
Thanks! I might, although it might actually be easier to apply DNR to the color graded version.
How will the cc be distributed as luts or as the video files
The plan is as video files.
How will these files be distributed and can I get an aprox date of completion
It will be done when it’s done. I’m pretty busy, so I can’t really give a reliable estimate.
Oh I’m sorry. I was just looking at all the progress shots and was so excited by the work you are doing. Everything looked exactly how I remember it back from 1977. I didn’t mean to offend you. Your doing so much fantastic work I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong impression. I just got ahead of myself. Sorry again but absolutely love your work!
No problem, I was a bit rude myself, so sorry about that. I hope to get it finished soon, but these things always take longer than you would like. Glad you enjoy the work! 😃
I was already excited for 4k77 but this looks amazing!! Will you be doing the same regrade for the DNR version when it comes out?
Thanks! I might, although it might actually be easier to apply DNR to the color graded version.
How will the cc be distributed as luts or as the video files
The plan is as video files.
How will these files be distributed and can I get an aprox date of completion
It will be done when it’s done. I’m pretty busy, so I can’t really give a reliable estimate.
At this point, I would be happy with any release, that doesn’t look like it was approved by a color blind person.
The Post mentions
“Original Negative”
This could mean the OUT or it could be the SE’s…
Personally I believe it is the Theatrical Cut…
I want the hear your thoughts on this matter
I think it means both. This done to create a digital master from which future releases can be sourced. It makes sense to scan and restore every element used for the film.
I was already excited for 4k77 but this looks amazing!! Will you be doing the same regrade for the DNR version when it comes out?
Thanks! I might, although it might actually be easier to apply DNR to the color graded version.
How will the cc be distributed as luts or as the video files
The plan is as video files.
Any chance of even a rudimentary, automatic version of this to be exported and distributed? The market is starved for ESB regrades.
I will see if I can squeeze it in somewhere.
I think it is likely Lucas had the negative and all the original elements scanned and restored. So, I don’t think there’s a version persé. There are masters from which the original and SE versions could be created, although I believe at the time he was mostly focussed on the planned 3D releases of the OT.
Not sure if this is old news, but I came across this thread on thecantina.starwarsnewsnet.com, and stems from late last year and early this year:
https://thecantina.starwarsnewsnet.com/index.php?threads/star-wars-4k.54414/
Somebody involved with Reliance MediaWorks explains exactly what has happened to the 4K restoration of the OT. It was in fact finished for all three OT movies, and not rejected by LFM as has been suggested in the past. Additionally the colors on display in the reel we discussed in the past were only for internal purposes, and did not represent a final color grading. Here’s the jist of it:
"Reviving an old thread; I’m not 100% sure of George Lucas’ personal involvement with the actual reviewing of re-mastered content, but ILM worked closely with us to restore the original Star Wars Trilogy in 4K.
For those curious, there was a budget, but compared to the DVD remasters we did a decade ago, more money was pumped into creating pristine masters of the original film scans. The remastered footage was completed around 2012, but unfortunately nothing has come of that since.
I can most certainly guarantee you that nobody else is re-mastering the original SW films at this point. I say this with confidence because there is absolutely no one in the industry with technology as good as ours. Mind you that at this point, our software technology ceased development 6 years ago. If that tells you anything about the slow advancements in technology industry wide. This is the main reason Lucas came to us to begin with. We didn’t do the color correction, we only color grade for our own internal purposes. Our outfit is the only place James Cameron, David Fincher and George Lucas, to name a few – would send their films to. Unfortunately, a side effect of good work is price and the industry is flooded with cheap automated systems restoring films. The price the consumer pays is generic 4K upreses.
In my opinion I can only assume that they are waiting for advances in color technology to really make the remasters “pop”.
Any questions are welcome, I’ll try and answer what I can."
“All we provided was a mastered scan of the original with full image enhancement. No audio, no color correction, no VFX work, only a pristine restored digital version of the original. It is highly possible that someone is working on the digital delivery that we provided, I never denied that, but for me to believe that someone else out there has re-mastering capabilities beyond what we’ve delivered is not credible. If someone else is doing a remaster from scan, I can only say that it is being done through an automated system to save Disney money.”
“I can only say so much, but I was a lead image technician for several titles that were restored and have yet to see the light of day, such as True Lies 4K (4K transfer restored around 2013). Star Wars was a collaboration between several senior image technicians at the facility named above. I posted on this thread because I did a search on Star Wars 4K and came across this speculation thread. I thought it would be nice if someone with some insight could shed some light on the matter.”
If you are about to attempt Binary Sunset shot… I will tip you off look at Puggo Grande 😉 That is for Luke Leaving the Hut.
For the Dual Sun shot well… I would trust the Gout over any other on that one but do what you like.
One more tip off… I’m being good to you 😃
This shot has a red sky for the technicolor prints (inconsistent with the surrounding shots), and has a more consistent blue sky for the 1997 SE prints.
It’s pretty subjective, although I do check the relative brightness for the print, which I haven’t done for these shots yet.
It should be closer to this quick correction I did on my phone:
Yeah, I agree, it needs to be brighter.
Here’s the first pass on a new set of 20 shots:
Best wishes Dre to you and your new family member! All of your shots and color progress are looking great!
Just remember,“We are what they grow beyond.” Keep setting the bar high! 😃
Thanks so much! An update will follow later this week!
That video sample looks simply amazing, Dre. Job well done.
Also, didn’t know you recently had a baby until I read through your thread just now! Seriously, congratulations to you and your family. I’m sure you’ll have many sleepless nights ahead of you, but they’ll just be the beginning of countless cherished memories. Really happy for you!
Thanks a lot!!! 😊
Congratulations Dre! Being a Father really changes your outlook on life. Enjoy these moments. They grow too quickly…
Thanks!!! 😃
I love what you’re saying Rogue (not that I necessarily grasp all of it of course, but I like the vibe of it!) but I would add that attaining the ‘effortlessness’ implied in the Taoist way would (ironically) require effort. Think of it in terms of being a musician. It would take hours of blisters and finger-cramps and listening and learning for a guitarist to be in that zone. No-one’s going to pick up a guitar and nail it first time just because they had their baser thoughts in check. That’s the beautiful thing about the Karate Kid - he had to wash cars and stand like an Ostrich and go through all kinds of stuff to get to that place. Kershner famously said he wanted “something powerful going on in Luke’s soul” and within the (arguably) limited framework of a SW film he achieved that. The SE feels more like bullet points - ‘we need lightsaber fights, we need a Dark Lord, we need a cantina’ etc etc. Any depth to Rey’s experience seems (to me) to being created by the fans themselves rather than by anything JJ and/or Rian are doing.
Well, to use your Karate Kid example I think the idea in the ST is that Rey has essentially spent her whole life waxing cars (whereas Luke is mostly just any old kid, wasting time with his friends between chores at home).
I believe I have said much the same thing before.
As have I. We’re arguing in circles. The way the force works in the films is not narrowly defined so the interpretation that the ST takes is not a canon-betraying one, regardless of whatever Lucas may or may not have said outside of the movies (I was reading the Rinzler ESB book and at one point he suggested stating outright that Luke is a level 2 and he needs training to face the Emperor who’s a level 9 or something - that’s dumb as fuck and should be ignored as it’s not in the movie). The new films should be able to forge their own path.
Whether you like it or not is a different matter. But the approach is justified.
I disagree. I think Lucas’ words are clearly reflected in the six films he created both in the way he displayed the process of becoming a Jedi, and in the way things are shown to spin out of control once you stray from that path. So, in my view the ST is inconsistent, and offers only a flimsy explanation as to why that is.
Going back to the PT, the force is out of balance. The Jedi are diminished. Palpatine has started his plan. Anakin comes into the picture. Because they refuse to properly train him and because Palpatine becomes his non-Jedi mentor, Anakin’s fate is sealed. Yoda saw his future as clouded where Qui-gon was certain. Politics and tradition stopped them from training him properly. But I fear that the properly he needed did not exist due to how traditional the Jedi had become and how scared of the dark side they were. They weren’t seeking balance, only the light. So Palpatine spends years whispering in Anakin’s ear and when the time comes, Anakin follows Palpatine, not the Jedi. In the process, we get the twins - Luke and Leia. Luke grows up with his step-Uncle and Aunt and spends more time playing than working. Things catch up, he meets Obi-wan, Han, Leia, eventually Yoda. And again Luke is too old (older than Anakin), but Yoda breaks with tradition out of necessity and trains him. Luke goes on to face Vader twice and is not turned and passes the test. In the process he is the catalyst to get Anakin to turn back and destroy Palpatine at last. So the path of the PT was already broken by the path the OT took in the training of Luke vs. Anakin. Yoda broke with tradition, didn’t have much time, imparted the most important lessons, and it worked.
Coming back to Rey, if the old ways are broken (which is what I glean from the PT and OT), then it is time to find a new way. Luke uses that in how he teaches lessons to Rey (I think he was trying to discourage her but at the same time give her the tools to cope).
So I don’t see things spinning out of control if you stray off the path. I see that the old Jedi path was the issue (how many PT Jedi turned to the dark side?) and straying from the path and re-finding the pat they are supposed to be on is where this trilogy is headed.
Then why call Rey a Jedi, if Jedi-hood is the issue? TLJ works very hard to backtrack on any new direction it hinted at in its final act. This line of thought also ignores the fact that the Jedi guarded the peace for over a 1,000 generations. That’s just too good of a track record to ignore, or to state that their way is flawed based on how a small representation of them behaved in the PT era. The PT era Jedi may have strayed too far from the right path, seems a reasonable point of view, but that’s not what TLJ is saying, and only through the words of a very cynical Luke, I might add, who then later reverses his position by saying he will not be the last Jedi.
I love what you’re saying Rogue (not that I necessarily grasp all of it of course, but I like the vibe of it!) but I would add that attaining the ‘effortlessness’ implied in the Taoist way would (ironically) require effort. Think of it in terms of being a musician. It would take hours of blisters and finger-cramps and listening and learning for a guitarist to be in that zone. No-one’s going to pick up a guitar and nail it first time just because they had their baser thoughts in check. That’s the beautiful thing about the Karate Kid - he had to wash cars and stand like an Ostrich and go through all kinds of stuff to get to that place. Kershner famously said he wanted “something powerful going on in Luke’s soul” and within the (arguably) limited framework of a SW film he achieved that. The SE feels more like bullet points - ‘we need lightsaber fights, we need a Dark Lord, we need a cantina’ etc etc. Any depth to Rey’s experience seems (to me) to being created by the fans themselves rather than by anything JJ and/or Rian are doing.
Well, to use your Karate Kid example I think the idea in the ST is that Rey has essentially spent her whole life waxing cars (whereas Luke is mostly just any old kid, wasting time with his friends between chores at home).
I believe I have said much the same thing before.
As have I. We’re arguing in circles. The way the force works in the films is not narrowly defined so the interpretation that the ST takes is not a canon-betraying one, regardless of whatever Lucas may or may not have said outside of the movies (I was reading the Rinzler ESB book and at one point he suggested stating outright that Luke is a level 2 and he needs training to face the Emperor who’s a level 9 or something - that’s dumb as fuck and should be ignored as it’s not in the movie). The new films should be able to forge their own path.
Whether you like it or not is a different matter. But the approach is justified.
I disagree. I think Lucas’ words are clearly reflected in the six films he created both in the way he displayed the process of becoming a Jedi, and in the way things were shown to spin out of control once you stray from that path. So, in my view the ST is inconsistent, and offers only a flimsy explanation as to why that is, especially since neither Luke or Yoda acknowledge her special status in the story, or offer insight into what this might imply in the larger scheme of things. It’s just a plot device to justify the appearance of an instant-Jedi.
Why you are insisting that learning the force must be difficult is beyond me. That isn’t what we see with Luke. Why should we with Rey? For both characters, there are plenty of obstacles and successes and focusing on Luke’s obstacles while focusing on Rey’s successes is most definitely apples and oranges. Compare their successes (their goals and what they actually achieve) and their failures and both follow the same pattern - some wins, some losses, but generally more wins.
Because Lucas has made this very clear in his statements about how the Force works, which I’m not going to repeat. You have to study, to master it. It’s as simple as that. The entire premise of TESB is, that the Force doesn’t come easy for Luke, and he fails on numerous occasions, and where he succeeds, he rarely succeeds on a first try. Luke leaves Yoda with the clear message, that while he knows the Force, he cannot control it, and facing Vader in this condition is a danger to him physically, and spiritually. He subsequently gets his *** handed to him in his confrontation with Vader, and he ends up hanging on for his life battered hoping that his friends will save him. You don’t have to look hard to see, that Rey’s character gets a very different treatment in the ST. The OT and PT make it very clear, that learning the Force, and becoming a Jedi is very difficult, and just using it half cocked has terrible consequences.
I don’t think it is that different compared to the Force. Luke has always dreamed of the future. His mind was never on where he was or what he was doing. In Rey we have the opposite. Her mind was nearly always on where she was and what she was doing. She had to in order to survive. Everything about the two characters is opposite in terms of training for the Force. Rey has very much had the Miagi type training in life that prepared her to be a Jedi. She has the focus. She also heard the stories so when she sees Kylo do these things, she believes and knows they can be done. So Rey has none of Luke’s doubt - the thing that made him learning the force more difficult. Yet even so, he had no problem learning to deflect a blaster bolt (a full Jedi learns how to aim that as we saw in the PT), he is able to aim the proton torpedoes to destroy the Death Star. Out of desperation he picks up his lightsaber the first time he tries (it takes him a moment to focus and get it right). His training with Yoda was good enough that he can hold his own against Vader. Nothing about how he learned his force skills is hard except his belief and focus. What we do see is that practice, control, and great skill in using these powers takes practice. But learning them and using them comes easy.
What RogueLeader was talking about with being ‘in the zone’ takes years of practice, but once you learn how to do that with one thing you can apply it to something else. We do that with typing, driving, and a lot of things that we just don’t think about. It is learning to apply that to something new that is challenging and difficult. Lucas is right that becoming a Jedi takes a long time, but he has never said the skills needed are hard to learn. We see Rey pick them up from Kylo and then she seeks out Luke to help her channel these new powers. When that fails, she takes the books, hoping they have the answer. She knows she is not ready and needs training. We see her seek that out. The force awakened in her and she wants help understanding what happened and learning how to use it. There is a lot to being a Jedi besides just lifting rocks.
There’s a lot more to becoming a Jedi, and her development doesn’t reflect that either. Remember Obi-Wan’s line:
“This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force.”
This was after Luke recieved training. The entire saga up till the ST revolved around the idea of temptation, and control. Here again it comes easy for Rey, who is never tempted. So, as I stated, she gets her powers for free instantly without the temptation, that every Jedi had to face before her.
