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Harlock415

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Join date
14-Jun-2005
Last activity
7-May-2013
Posts
486

Post History

Post
#212797
Topic
The Official Lucasfilm Response
Time
Originally posted by: The Bizzle
lynne.hale@lucasfilm.com

This is the response I just sent back to her:

Subject: Hey Lynne. Read your email response.

And that part where you say “we could not put the extraordinary time and resources into this project as we did with the Special Editions?”

The extraordinary time and resources bit is a crock. You guys rushed Lowry for the 2004 editions, and no one's even asking for THAT level of dedication here, really. We just want new transfers. It can be done, and we know it can, we know the film elements DO EXIST, and that this transfer CAN be finished. No one’s talking pristine cleanup, dirt removal. Just a new master, not the old 93 laserdisc master. Which, by the way, made your publicity dept look a little foolish, since Jim Ward said Lucasfilm looked deep in the vaults for elements. How deep you gotta go to dig up the LD master?

If you simply JUST DON'T WANT TO DO THIS then say so, but don't hide behind some set of false mitigating circumstances designed to shift blame from this shoddy business decision. It costs money to make money, you've got 12 billion in merchandise sales over the past 30 years, you can cough up the relatively low price for someone along the lines of Robert Harris to go in and, using the film elements that ARE more than likely available, give the Star Wars movies some semblance of justice.

Dont' say you can't. Because that rings utterly, hollowly false.

If you're going to spend all that marketing money making these original versions the crown jewel of your campaign to get these discs out the door, you can spend a little bit more to polish that jewel instead of trying to shove a Crackerjack ring in a black velvet jewelry box and telling me how much fun I'm having for getting it. Because the focus of your marketing isn't "You can buy them separately for the first time ever." it's "BUY THE ORIGINALS FINALLY." So something seems a little incongruous that you're willing to spend on the advertising but not the picture itself.

It's well within your means and well within street date. License it out if you have to. If you can license out the right to make Jar Jar lollipops where 7 year olds suck on his tongue, you can license out the originals to a company like Criterion to do justice to the films where you won’t. You’ll still get the money and then some, without actually putting ANY of the cost in that way.

The options are sitting there, BEGGING for you to take one of them. And instead, you pick the worst possible option and then try to market it down our throats as a fun gift and the center of your campaign. That’s beyond dishonest.

Your company is better than this. Prove it. Please.



Yeah, time to send responses back to lynne.hale@lucasfilm.com. That is if we have any fight left. I see a lot of dejected "dammits' going around and fans seriously think it's not worth it. But man--if they're not going to even TRY, then they need to license this out to a company that will. they'll still profit, they'll still get their money. They won't have to put the effort in like they apparently can't be assed to do. Someone else can, and someone else will. You think Criterion is gonna turn this down? You got Robert Harris volunteering. They wanna do it--LET EM.

There's still time.


Maybe since the response was an auto response cut and past job, we should do the same to her. Is lynne.hale@lucasfilm.com a real working address though?
Post
#212792
Topic
Make your voices heard! (again) - re the 2006 GOUT DVD being in letterbox format
Time
Heck if we are getting nothing but auto responses, I may as well use all my email accts and flood them. The auto respose is an insult in its own. These are bonus discs, yada yada, we thought it would be fun, blah blah. Oh and fuck you guys we are never going to restore the originals.

And the irony is if you look at the ad "THESE ARE THE DVDS FANS HAVE BEEN DEMANDING"

Bullshit! We have not been demanding 2004 DVD's with the OT as bonus material. I have never heard of any company advertising their bonus material over the main movie.
Post
#212712
Topic
Make your voices heard! (again) - re the 2006 GOUT DVD being in letterbox format
Time
Originally posted by: Invader Jenny
Originally posted by: Harlock415
I’m an active member in the Star Wars community: a member of the 501st Legion and Fan Force...


*giggles* I understand what you are trying to do, but you might not want to reveal your nerd-ism too much in this letter.


The only reason I brought that up is because we've done so much free publicity shit for Lucas over the years. Those troopers in the AFI tribute were 501st. 01st and Fan Force organized midnight release parties for the damn 04 DVDs. We did promos for thier Battlefront games. Like somebody said in a post on TFN "I love Star Wars, but I don't think it loves me back."

Story of my life.
Post
#212695
Topic
Make your voices heard! (again) - re the 2006 GOUT DVD being in letterbox format
Time
It's still not too late. Nothing is over until they go to print on this. I'm sending out my hard copy letter in about 5 minutes. This is what it says:

Dear Mr. Ward

I am writing to you as a concerned Star Wars fan who has been a fan since 1977 when it was shown at the now closed Coronet Theater in San Francisco. I, like countless others, were ecstatic about the announcement of the upcoming Sept 12th releases of the Original Unaltered Trilogy. That ecstasy came down slightly when details were revealed that they would be packaged with the 2004 DVDs which most fans already had and that they would be in 2.0 Stereo. These I could deal with easily. Dolby 2.0 stereo can be processed into Surround sound though a decent audio system.

But my excitement quickly turned to anger when I heard rumors, later confirmed, that the films will not be of a restored type in any form but they will be from laserdisc masters which are not anamorphic widescreen but in fact letterboxed 4:3 pictures. This is a highly disappointing development. It is in fact below standards of any DVD released today. It is certainly below Lucasfilm standards.

I’m an active member in the Star Wars community: a member of the 501st Legion and Fan Force. I’ve done various promotions and events in celebration of Star Wars such as midnight premiers, charity events, and DVD launch events. But I can no longer see myself being enthusiastic about supporting a cause that does not support its fans in this manner.

These films in their original theatrical versions are an important part of cinema history as well as American history. They have inspired millions around the world and have influenced generations of filmmakers, writers, and artists. Yet disdain of these original films have been a sore point among fans for a long time. These are the film we grew up with, the ones that inspired us. These are the films that created a new mythology for the last 2 generations. Most of us understand that Mr. Lucas has a right and desire to improve upon his vision, but the fact is many people did fall in love with the originals in their unaltered form.

Please reconsider this upcoming release and give the Theatrical versions of the Star Wars Trilogy a proper presentation.


I doubt it may help at this point. But I had to say something. Perhaps if they get flooded enough, they may reconsider anything in the future. Or they may realize how pissed off people have finally gotten.
Post
#212456
Topic
HOLD ON a second...
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
You know, it's always annoyed me greatly in my DVDs how the subtitles are in mattes rather than in the picture. So that was a deliberate creative decision too? Damn!


Actually that never bothered me when I had a 4:3 TV I preferred it that way to see more of the pic. But it is now annoying on my 56" Widescreen when I use the zoom to fill the screen on letterboxed movies and now have the subs cut off.
Post
#211717
Topic
Info: a Big bust at the Motor City Comic Con - bootleg sellers
Time
Whoa, that is almost unheard of. With people from MPAA and RIAA there.I can only imagine that this whole operatio was planned from the start. The RIAA may be involved because they suspect bootleg CDs of movie soundtracks which I have seen at cons.

Okay, I'm a pirate, but I'm no bootlegger. Whatever edits I have I make copies of freely. I may charge a buck for the case, whic is more expensive then the DVDs but that's it. Of course these guys selling Fan edits and fan films at cons are not in the right either. At most they should sell for maybe $5 but they are charging $20-30 a pop for what the good people hear have worked hard on. And they are making money off of other people's hard work. When I used to staff cons, we had zero tolerance for bootlegs so we would just shut down their booth and kick them out of the con. This is pretty harsh.

And here's the thing, Lucas doesn't have to be part of the MPAA, they can do it to anybody selling movies of US movies I think. Hong Kong and Asian films they can't really touch unless an American studio has distribution rights like Columbia with some of Jackie Chan's movies. Even then, I think if it's a legitimate product, the sellers may get away with that since it's sold as a collectable import.

My details may be a little fuzzy, though.
Post
#211713
Topic
Dr. M's Reinventing The Wheel Edition (PAL to NTSC+) (Released)
Time
Originally posted by: starwarsfan8376
Could someone PM me and hook me up with this set? I can PIF to two people plus my buddies that don't frequent the forums here...

TIA

I'm in the same boat here. Since it looks like it's up to fan editors to do real work on the O-OT and Lucasfilm seems uninterested in presevation. PM me anybody. Okay, what does PIF mean? I know it's probably a stupid question.
Post
#211701
Topic
New DVDs NOT 16x9
Time
What eats away at me is that people are basically volunteering their services for restoration. People like Robert Harris who has done great work on really damaged films. I've read his postson the HT forums and he's eager to do it.

I remember how Criterion would do many of their releases by finding multiple versios of a film and editing it together for the best presentation possible. But i guess this is too much work for Lucasfilm and their slapdash policies.

Let the fan edits contiue!
Post
#211645
Topic
Who has now lost all respect.........
Time
Lucas and Lucasfilm have basically said "okay, you win, but we are doing a scorched earth tactic, so fuck you."

So we are getting our DVD's in unaltered form, but as a last gesture it's going to be a shit transfer that is no better than what has been done by fan editor, and actually may be worse.

I don't buy this whole idea that it can't be done. OCP made a nice transfer anamorphic using elements from the DVD and LD sets. Lucasfilm with all its resources couln't be bothered to make anything remotely like that.

I'm about done with Lucas, Star Wars and all of it. There comes a time when the abuse ends and it is time to move on.
Post
#211012
Topic
Star Wars DVD Covers
Time
Originally posted by: Coov
I guess while everyone is giving their opinion on the newly released cover art I should do the same.

As a professional in the field of Graphic Design I took into consideration color usage, color correction. I also looked at composition, fonts, image usage, image quality, image placement, photoshop shaping skills, erasing, blending, using layers and setting levels. I also had to take into consideration cropping, attention to detail, photography, use of filters, originality, ability to capture the movie, use of characters and the representation of them. It is unfair for me to comment on registration being that I do not have an original to go by. After taking into consideration all of these important facets of creating and being under the employment of such a prestigious film company I have came up the the conclusion that these just suck.

Thank You.


Sounds official enough for me and I think we are in agreement.