Nicholas J. Michalak

Yeah, I've tried that, but in no way does it allow me to drain the blues out.  It's just substituting one unwanted color cast for another.  I've tried all the effects I have without any different result.  And thinking about it now, I actually tried doing a similar thing with my feature film THE FIXER.  We shot a scene with warm amber light in the foreground, but a flourescent light in the back (which comes out as blue).  Spent MONTHS trying to balance or drain out one color or the other.  Never could get it right even after piling multiple effects on top of each other.

-NJM

My irritant with the scene is that the Emperor SOUNDS nothing like does in ROTJ.  In Jedi he speaks at a faster rhythm with more inflections in his voice.  This goes the same for Ian McDiarmid's prequel performances as Sidious.  They sound completely different.  There are very few brief moments where he's approaching that, but after he makes the full reveal in ROTS, he talks about one-quarter speed just to sound more intimidating (which I don't think he pulls off).

The Emperor just seems more devilish to me in Return of the Jedi.  He actually comes off as deceitful, manipulative, cunning, and sinister.  He personifies evil, and his presence alone is frightening.  I could see Anakin being more easily seduce to the Dark Side by the Emperor in ROTJ than the hammy, and often, cringably acted Palpatine we got in the prequels.

-NJM

Ady, mind if I ask a technical question?  How do you go about draining all those blue hues out of the film?  I've tried everything I have in Final Cut Pro.  Is it something that can be done in an NLE, or do you have to run through it a separate program?  I ask because I'd like to do this with my prequel edits.  Thanks much.

-NJM

I liked the original wide shot of the Federation bridge, but it made it appear as if Viceroy was speaking with TC-14 (who now has no purpose in the scene).  This new edit makes it look like the two Nemoidians are speaking to each other.  The downside is that the scene is a little shorter.  Both versions have their pros and cons.  I'd prefer to keep the wider establishing shot, but I'm trying to sway towards logical scene setups.  I also have a shot in TPM that I feel is poorly animated, as if they never finished rendering the shot.  It's in the Gungan/Droid battle after a billow of smoke clears and a group of the hover tanks apear.  Just looks like a video game graphic with zero detail.

Also, I get now what Lucas said about plot elements being too intertwined to be able to cut out any of the storylines in the climax.  I did cutout the Gungan/Droid battle entirely as just a sequence, but realized that if you remove the Gungans from the end battle, you also have to remove Padmé stepping forward to reveal herself as the true Queen when pleading to Boss Nass.

When compared to the quality in the following two films, much of the CGI in The Phantom Menace is not too good in a few areas.  I would not mind George updating it with more detail just so the vfx are more consistent from film-to-film.  I've also always been put off by the extra filmic look in TPM which seems to mute a lot of the colors throughout.

-NJM

The revised edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uad9i3Hu4k

Did a lot of footage manipulation with split screens and time remapping to achieve what I did here.  Also, it seems no matter what I do in ripping footage from the TPM DVD, there are artifacts and glitches in the video quality.  You can see it as early as the STAR WARS logo receeding if you look carefully.  I did not have this issue with either AOTC or ROTS.

-NJM

Ady did respond to that question a few pages back, eldiablosuizo, and essentially, the answer was "no."  He just did this because the 30th anniversary was approaching, and no one else's restoration projects were gonna make the date.  So, he jumped in, and did the finest job he could in the time he had.

-NJM

And Yoda dies, too.

-NJM

Kurgan said:

If he kills off Lando, who will be the template for the Clone Army?



Oops, I've said too much.

Ric Ollie, of course.  Can't have enough obvious exposition from your Clone Troopers.

-NJM

Kurgan, elbarto has made this available via a rapidshare download.  You just have to get the info from him.  You can download it for free off of RapidShare, but it'll take quite a long time to download.  If you get a 30 day RapidShare Premium account for about $10 US, it is a non-recurring charge.  The blazing fast speed is worthwhile.  You'll download the whole thing within two hours, depending on the speed of your connection.  I can understand not wanting to spread your credit card number around the 'net since I have suffered both credit card fraud and identity theft myself (thankfully, my bank and credit card company were very fast and sharp in assisting me).  I've had many shady websites screw me over with trial memberships.  So, I get your hesitations.  Though, RapidShare handles payments through PayPal who give you added security with your transaction, and you can transfer direct from a bank account, if you'd prefer.

Personally, I'm sick of torrents.  You can't count on them at all since it's totally dependent on someone else have a fast enough connection, and them staying online long enough for you to download it all.  And if the torrent is too old, there's no one sharing it, anymore.  I know jackshit about newsgroups, and so, I can't comment on them.  I am a Mac person, and so, I don't even know if there's proper software for me to get on one.  But fact is, an alternative has been made available, and soon, another one will be posted with the audio fix intact.  The wonderful people on this forum have come together to make this as easy as possible considering the grey area we're working in.

-NJM

To follow-up on my post a few days ago about the charity screenings of EMPIRE that were held a few weeks ago....it was the 2004 edition screened.  The following site states that, "I can report it was a digital copy of the special edition without the Luke scream.  If you’re a Star Wars fan…you know what I’m talking about."  Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film by screening the 2004 DVD edition?  I'd have griped, especially because of the replaced Fett voice.

http://www.collider.com/2010/05/19/the-empire-strikes-back-harrison-ford-q-and-a-charity-screening-lucasfilm/

-NJM

I think McQuarrie's art is the unsung gem of Star Wars.  Without his brilliant imagination, who knows how different the look of the saga would've been.  I only wish I could track down the rest of the books these days.  I cherish my "Art of The Empire Strikes Back" book.  Brought with me to jury duty once.  I remember the day very vividly since a friend of mine dropped a bomb on me that day telling me he got his girlfriend pregnant.  Made me totally forget that I was intent on watching ESB that night.

-NJM

Updated version #1:

And now, version #2:

BTW, you can just call me Nick.  I just use my full name for professional purposes.  Don't know why I chose to use it as my username here.

-NJM

In my film THE FIXER, I had to upscale 4x3 letterboxed standard definition video to match the resolution of 16x9 video (long story as to why).  That alone is about 134% upscale, and it immediately begins to show softness and grain since everything's been magnified.  You can add a sharpen filter, but you're basically making a choice to either have soft image or a grainy one.  To upscale 640x480 interlaced footage to 16x9 720p, that's gonna get ugly.

-NJM

I noticed something very minor today watching the '97 SE.  When they decide they need to close the Echo Station shield doors for the night, the door starts to slide shut in the close-up of Chewbacca, but then, when it cuts to the wide angle, the door is still for a moment before it starts to close, again.  I just checked, and this error has been in the GOUT, '97 SE, & 2004 DVD.

-NJM

Anyone have any Ralph McQuarrie EMPIRE STRIKES BACK concept art?  I'd prefer the resolution be comparabe to 1400 pixels wide.  I have "The Art of The Empire Strikes Back," but all the large spreads are across the spine.

-NJM

Hey, TESB is airing on SpikeTV right now.  Look at all those blue hues!  Ugh!

-NJM

I've made a revision to the scene adding in more dialogue from Obi-Wan & Qui-Gon.  I'll try to get it online today.

-NJM

If Ady doesn't mind, this is version one of my cover art to wrap his latest achievement in.  Might still make some changes.  Once I've finished all three versions, I'll make them available.

-NJM

Inspired by Ady's work here, I am working on some custom DVD cover art for those who want it.  Real classy stuff.  Two or three versions using different poster artwork.  Used to do this as a hobby a few years ago, so, count on it being excellent quality.

-NJM

And the Carbon Freezing Chamber scenes - ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!  That's how it always should've looked - solid, strong, vibrant, and powerful colors.  Peter Suschitzky, the film's DP, would likely be overjoyed at how marvelously you've put this lighting and cinematography in such striking quality.  Kersh' probably wouldn't be too modest about it, either.

-NJM

ImperialFighter said:

C3PO's head not knocking the red light off the Falcon

I'm soooo glad you fixed this.  It's one of those things I've always noticed, and the Falcon doesn't need another thing busted up or falling off of it, no matter how small.

-NJM

Ten minutes in, and I am STUNNED by the clarity of this.  I don't think the official DVDs look this sharp and clear.  Plus, it's bright!  I can actually SEE details now.  Simply said, it is AWESOME!  Thank you, Adywan!  This is a beautiful 30th anniversary gift.

-NJM

OH YEAH!!!!!  That's what I'm talking about!  Twenty files downloading at the same time!  About 900 KB/s!

-NJM

For about ten US Dollars, I think a premium RapidShare account for one month is worthwhile for this alone.  Gonna give it a try.

-NJM

After 12 hours of downloading, JDownloader is not even halfway finished.  Slow going.

-NJM