Thanks! Glad to see that it’s been improved!
I’m going to make one more adjustment. I found out that I’ve been color grading on the SDR Rec. 709 color processing mode when DaVinci’s HDR Wide Gamut color processing mode is the way to go! I’m gonna work on correcting that mistake, and hopefully, it’ll be the cherry on top!
It’s been a couple days, and my brain is still a pile of mush. So I guesstimated, and raised the contrast a little more. I also decided to do away with the green tint from the previous grade. Things started to look a little too green anyway. Here is a screencap of what I did before:
Here is a screencap of my readjusted S-Curve. I hope it’s on the right track.
I’ve posted the rest of the screencaps in the spoiler tag below. Let me know if it’s better or worse!
I feel like somewhere between 25% to 50% (maybe 33%) S-Curve adjustment would be the sweet spot. Maybe a little more on scenes that are brighter or have a heavier red/orange tint and less on the ones that are already blu-ish green or more neutral.
But it’s getting closer!
This is all good advice, except that my editing program (DaVinci Resolve) doesn’t do percentages for curves, Google isn’t being helpful, and my brain has turned to mush since my high school days! 😆 I’ll see if I can figure this out, but 33% S-Curve is a bit of a foreign language for me at the moment.
It is also weird Luke referring to Ben as Obi-Wan for the first time in ROTJ. I wonder if that is a writing error as well, or is it something that happened production-wise. For the past 2 movies and 30 years of Luke’s life he’s always been Ben to him, and then a couple of years after his death and when he has seen Ben for only 2 times after that, he starts to call him Obi-Wan? It just doesn’t fit into the story.
It’s been a while since I watched the OT, but I’m willing to theorize that the events of Empire got Luke shaken up enough that he started to call him Obi-Wan instead of Ben, due to feeling somewhat betrayed. My memory is hazy for tiny details like this one, but if Luke calls him Obi-Wan during the Dagobah visit in ROTJ, it’s a possible idea.
I love it when I get things done sooner than planned! I gave the orange look the S-Curve. I think it got the results I wanted, but I’ll leave that for others to decide.
One thing I will mention about the S-Curve grade. I had to adjust the tint because some of the skin tones looked a little too red, especially on Tattooine (I’m beginning to think Tattooine is going to be nothing but trouble). This is why the S-Curve examples look greener than the previous grade. If it looks too green, let me know. I can go back and readjust it.
Here’s a screenshot of the orange film look grade from the previous comparison:
…And here’s that same grade but with an S-Curve adjustment:
This time around, I managed to get screencaps from all across the movie rather than just the opening action sequence. I hope I didn’t overdo it, but I think this will give a general idea of what the grade looks like. You can find the examples in the spoiler tag below.
If there’s one thing that bothers me about the OT (aside from what’s already been excluded from this topic), it would be how they handled Yoda’s line, “No, there is another.” It makes even less sense because Leia is already under threat when Yoda says it. Worse, he doesn’t know what the future holds on Cloud City, so why would this other person be Leia?
If you’re asking me, a new character should’ve been introduced to take the role. Yoda would meet up with him/her, Luke could run into this other person, they’d join forces, and if we’re gonna go with a rebel victory for the ending, this other person could lead the rebels while Luke confronts his father. I’m not saying that’s perfect, but it would be a better ending for ROTJ than what we got.
I love a lot of ideas here. Cutting the entire negotiation at the beginning does seem to be a common thing tho which I don’t think would be best since it’s the only thing that shows what the Jedi’s main job is supposed to be (diplomats that are meant to resolve conflicts, hence why Mace says they’re “keepers of the peace, not soldiers”). I don’t see why so many people dislike it since it basically just turns into an action sequence, it’s not like you actually see the negotiation. I understand cutting down the opening act a bit since I do agree it goes on for a bit too long but I think removing that they’re there to negotiate wouldn’t be best.
I’m on the same boat. I kept the scene in my edit, although I shortened it a lot. Most of what I cut was stuff involving the Gunrays. Stuff like the opening “This invasion is perfectly legal” speech, mentioning the Neimoidians being cowards, lines and shots demonstrating that cowardice, etc. I also ended the scene with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan deciding to take separate ships instead of Nute’s discussion with Amidala. Taking a lot of that stuff out makes things go by faster while also removing a lot of the weaknesses of that scene.
My kneejerk opinion is that I prefer the orange look screenshots to the kitchen-sink ones. I do like the greater contrast of the kitchen-sink screenshots and I think the color choices are good, I just get the urge to adjust the brightness or exposure on them because they look too dark to me in most cases. That is probably just me or something that wouldn’t be as obvious in-motion, I dunno.
No, I think your eyes are seeing it right. Because one grade is on a timeline, and the other is arranged by individual clips, it’s hard for me to make a clear comparison in the editing room without pressing a lot of buttons. Looking at them side by side in screencap form, though, I think you’ve hit the bullseye.
In defense of the kitchen sink, though, I do agree that the contrast is fantastic! The orange look and the kitchen sink grade used different techniques for the contrast. The orange utilized the secondary dials (Contrast and pivot), while the kitchen sink used what is known in the industry as an S-Curve. I think this test proves that the S-Curve is far superior.
I could get a best-of-both-worlds scenario by giving the orange look an S-Curve instead. I’ll play with that over the next few days and post screencaps of my findings.
Fun in Balloon Land is still the absolute worst movie I’ve ever seen (if it even qualifies as a movie) and probably will never be beaten, so it’s probably the worst movie I ever will see.
Oh God! I’ve only seen the Cinema Snob’s review, and even I can tell: That is one movie I don’t want to touch with a stick the size of a football field!
Ahhh… It’s good to go back after editing the sequel trilogy.
I continue to play around with the color grading yet again. This time, I’ve got two ideas, and I want to show some screencaps of both ideas.
The first idea is inspired by the work I did for color grading the sequel trilogy. A.K.A. the film look I keep talking about. For this movie, I had a toss-up between giving it an orange look and a faded purple look, and the orange look won out because Tattooine looked too reddish with the faded purple look. I’ll break down the process I used for the orange look in the spoiler tab below:
I will be using a shot of the droid control ship from the 2011 blu-ray to demonstrate what I’ve done.
Image 1: The 2011 Blu-Ray as is
Image 2: I adjust the printer lights
Image 3: I adjust the contrast and pivot controls
Image 4: I work on the saturation slightly
Image 5: I adjust the color wheels. This is where I create the orange film look, by the way.
Image 6: I crank up the midtone detail for a false 4k look. This is the final result.
The second idea is basically me throwing everything but the kitchen sink onto the grade. What it amounts to is me accumulating everything I know about color grading at this moment and throwing it into its own grade. This one takes longer and is a pain in the neck, but I do think it yielded some good results. Like the orange film look, the process I used for the kitchen sink idea is down in the spoiler tab below:
Much like the orange film look, I will also demonstrate with this shot of the droid control ship from the 2011 blu-ray.
Image 1: The 2011 Blu-Ray as is
Image 2: Same as the orange film look. I adjust the printer lights.
Image 3: I create an S-Curve to give the contrast a more cinematic feel.
Image 4: I adjust the exposure for the S-Curve.
Image 5: I add another node, and adjust the curves by color (A.K.A. Red, green and blue). Then, I try my best attempts at split-toning.
Image 6: I re-adjust using the color wheels this time.
Image 7: I adjust the secondary options surrounding the color wheels, including temperature, tint, midtone detail, saturation, color boost, etc. This is the final result.
Both looks are different and yield different results. I’m torn between the two, and I’d like to get some feedback from my fellow users. I’ve compiled some screencaps of the opening negotiations scene for now. This is the only scene that I’ve used the kitchen sink grade on. I have a long ways to go with it, and I’m not sure what some of the warmer scenes (such as Tattooine) are going to look like on the kitchen sink grade (Maybe I could get some screencaps when I have enough free time). It is what it is. Below are comparisons of the two grades. The top comparison is the orange film look. The bottom example is the kitchen sink grade. As always, you can see the comparisons in the spoiler tag below:
I like the Harry Potter movies, but I do agree that they’re not the best the fantasy genre has to offer (especially when compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy). I have a sister who is obsessed with the Harry Potter films. She even liked the painfully boring Crimes of Grindelwald. I’m not kidding! Excluding that movie, I think the Harry Potter films range from okay to good, but I still wouldn’t call them great.
My ranking is Crystal Skull at the bottom, followed by Temple of Doom. Raiders and Last Crusade are a toss-up. If you asked me ten years ago, I would’ve put Last Crusade on top. But since I’ve read Aristotle’s Poetics, I appreciate the structuring of Raiders enough to give it a slight edge to number 1.
Files have been released! Sending PM’s now.
I’ve released VII and VIII, and now it’s time to start releasing Episode IX! I should note that I struggled to get the links for Episode VIII last night. It might be a sign that I’ll get thrown into time out while uploading Episode IX. Just putting that out there in case releasing this takes longer than expected. As with the previous two, be patient. I’ll get it released sooner or later.
720p released!
Just a brief question: Why is the blue version 2 minutes longer than the normal version? Are there some alternate changes you made specifically for that version?
Nope, it’s the same! I added a text-heavy intro to the blue version giving my explanation for releasing it, hence the 2-minute expansion. I’ve given my sequel trilogy edits chapter selections, so it can be skipped if you wish (At least, I think you can. It worked when I played it on VLC, so I’m confident it works).
Aside from a few technical glitches, I think it looks great! I’m not sure what’s going on, but that’s probably my fault for not paying attention all the time. I trust that it’ll all come together when the project is complete!
Ha! That’s fair. The audience would have heard/seen Galen’s explanation about what the weapon actually does before this point. So what I’m trying to show here is:
- Hux is broadcasting his speech, as Samuel L Jackson once said, as some cold-blooded mess to say before you pop a cap in someone.
- Tarkin Base shoots the cannon, and the beam enters hyperspace on its way to Hosnian Prime. Which is essentially what Disney said was happening in TFA but they didn’t film any material to give the viewer that impression. I’m trying to rectify that.
- As it is in hyperspace, Leia’s people (and one would assume the inhabitants of Hosnian Prime as well) start getting readings of the hyperspace distortion this massive about of raging energy is causing as it prepares to fall back into regular space. Leia knows her Senate colleague Holdo was there voting on the Senate resolution to impose sanctions on the Empire (which we’ll kinda see before this), so we imply that she makes a desperate call to try and give Holdo & crew any warning, even tho Threepio confirms everyone there is screwed.
- Holdo was already about the leave the system anyway. so she escapes but stays long enough to see the beam coming in because I just love the visual of her staring it and the Empire down.
The red tinting, if I haven’t mentioned it before, is from the idea that in the B&W version, things that are connected to the Force are given color. So the Force Duels are in full color, and things like lightsabers, DS beams, hyperspace, and kyber crystals should have some tint to them.
Okay, that explains enough. All I have to say is that this looks like it’s going to be fun!
1080p and “In Glorious Blue!” are released! PM’s sent!
Starting work on releasing Episode VIII today! My internet is still running slow, so just like with Episode VII, this could take a while. Please be patient.
720p released!
Aside from a few technical glitches, I think it looks great! I’m not sure what’s going on, but that’s probably my fault for not paying attention all the time. I trust that it’ll all come together when the project is complete!
1080p released! Sending PM’s now.
Beginning work on releasing now! My internet connection has been slow over the last few days, so the download may take a while. Please be patient, and I’ll start sending PM’s when the file is released!
Just to clarify, I don’t mean just physical media, I also mean digital media that you own. Bandcamp is awesome in this regard. I can see why The Caretaker has refused to release his albums on Spotify or Apple Music.
I don’t consider digital media to be something that you ever really own, but if it works for you, it works for you. I just bought Quincy Jones’ “The Dude” off of eBay even though most of my listening will come from the rips for my iPod. I’ll mostly use the CD when I’m driving around in my Toyota, but at least I’ll have the disc in case Apple declares my tech “obsolete” with a simple update. That’s what works for me.
Ditto! I buy physical media for the stuff I want, even if it means going on eBay. I bought a used Playstation 2 because there is no way to experience ps1 or ps2 games from that era without owning the actual thing.
