PJ

Here’s another glimpse at some more Technicolor/97 goodness.
https://youtu.be/KnOhJHBC2jI

Hey everybody. Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been busy lately. Long story short, aside from making fan edits, I also make my own short films, host a podcast and do all sorts of things involved with the industry. Since things are beginning to look up in terms of job opportunities in my profession, I’ve been putting most of my time into getting prepared for the summer. Naturally, working on this project has been booted to the very bottom of my priority list. Not because I don’t enjoy working on it, but simply because I have more important things to worry about. Thankfully, because I don’t wanna leave things unfinished, I’ve put together a schedule during the week to improve progress. Things may be subject to change, but I plan on getting it out within the year. For those who have followed the project, thank you for the patience and stay tuned.

Hey everybody. Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been busy lately. Long story short, aside from making fan edits, I also make my own short films, host a podcast and do all sorts of things involved with the industry. Since things are beginning to look up in terms of job opportunities in my profession, I’ve been putting most of my time into getting prepared for the summer. Naturally, working on this project has been booted to the very bottom of my priority list. Not because I don’t enjoy working on it, but simply because I have more important things to worry about. Thankfully, because I don’t wanna leave things unfinished, I’ve put together a schedule during the week to improve progress. Things may be subject to change, but I plan on getting it out within the year. For those who have followed the project, thank you for the patience and stay tuned.

Hey everybody. Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been busy lately. Long story short, aside from making fan edits, I also make my own short films, host a podcast and do all sorts of things involved with the industry. Since things are beginning to look up in terms of job opportunities in my profession, I’ve been putting most of my time into getting prepared for the summer. Naturally, working on this project has been booted to the very bottom of my priority list. Not because I don’t enjoy working on it, but simply because I have more important things to worry about. Thankfully, because I don’t wanna leave things unfinished, I’ve put together a schedule during the week to improve progress. Things may be subject to change, but I plan on getting it out within the year. For those who have followed the project, thank you for the patience and stay tuned.

Here’s a small glimpse at what version 3 of the death star attack is looking like right now. It’s still being worked on, but I’m close to locking this scene down.
https://youtu.be/5Wnvj2kCZjg

ZaneFlare92 said:

Sounds Awesome P.J, can’t wait!!! Did you get my message in regards to the Jabba Scene???

Oh my bad. I’ll respond in a jiffy.

So things are coming together and I have to say, this may be a helluva lot more accurate to the theatrical 97 release than I anticipated. Obviously not one for one, but i am confident 90% of it will be. On a side note, I also am working on a Dolby TrueHD version of the 97 DTS audio reels so that it is practically lossless. I just need to work on syncing it.

Howdy. After taking some time away and recently having a look at 4K97IV and more Technicolor samples, I wanted to return to this regrade and bring even closer to how the theatrical 97 release of ANH looks. I’m currently loading the footage up and retouching it. The two big differences are going to be the Death Star Interior and Battle of Yavin. I’ve realized those two sections really need further touch ups.

Version 2 is finished! Included with the film are two Dolby Digital tracks, one stereo and one 5.1, and an excellent sounding Dolby TrueHD track. I’ll PM previous users who asked for Version 1. PM me if you are a first time viewer. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Howdy! I’m in the middle of adding additional SFX and converting the audio into 5.1, so a version 2 is right around the corner. I also will be using the blu ray release as the footage source this time around, so no more pixelated dvd upscale.

Just added a sample of the Battle of Hoth if anyone’s interested.

Sorry for being so quiet on progress as of late. I actually need some help on this one. Shown below is a gif of one of the shots that I’m compositing the lightsaber effects onto.

https://imgur.com/a/vuAjQkB

I’m using a Plugin literally called “saber” and have it to apply to layers masks. The problem I’m having is masking out the areas of the lightsaber blade so it isn’t layered on top of the characters as they’re fighting. Problem is, the Saber plugin when set to layer masks applies to ALL masks that exist on the selected layer. Anyone with After effects experience know how I can achieve the proper blocking out of the blade? Here’s a link to a video covering the plugin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reSXGxkyr0k&t=1937s

Also, if anyone knows of a better method of upscaling, that would be great. This shot in particular is the best i can do with After Effects’ Detail Preserving Upscale.

Due to The Rocketeer being a throwback to an older time in cinema, I figured what would make for a great companion piece is to regrade the film with a look similar to the 3-Strip Technicolor process. What had me suddenly commit to this project was coming across a plugin for Final Cut Pro and Adobe Priemere/After Effects called “Vintage.” It’s a plugin made by Sheffield Softworks that simulates the coloring process of 2-Strip, 3-Strip, and Multicolor Technicolor looks. Here’s a link if you would like to check it out: https://www.sheffieldsoftworks.com/looks/vin/index.html

I’ll update the thread with some sample images once I have the time.

This is a very, very, very rough sample of the extended duel footage.
https://youtu.be/zo0dv7eYtLg

Here’s a sample of the ROTJ GAAT! This contains the Sarlacc Pitt battle, as well as some of Boba Fett’s Additional voice lines.
https://youtu.be/kjatWKBjxgw

Good news and bad news. The good news is I found a 1080p version of Evolution of The Lightsaber Duel and found some pretty neat ways to incorporate it into the duel. The extra footage is going to be added immediately after Luke tries attacking the Emperor. The bad news is that one shot that I needed to complete the sequence is low res and fuzzy. It’s a shot from the Making of ROTJ Ebook where Luke does a backflip. I tried using detail preserving upscale, but it’s still not the best. It’s only a few seconds, so maybe it won’t stick out too much. If anyone has suggestions or could possibly assit in cleaning it up, that would be appreciated The other bad news is that since this is unused production footage it’ll take a awhile to get the Lightsaber effects composited on every shot. I’ll render out a test clip to show how it looks soon.

I figured out where a good chunk of the unused footage comes from! It shows up in The Evolution of The Lightsaber Duel special ESPN hosted. Does anyone know where I can find the highest quality version of that special?

G&G-Fan said:

Oooooo, that’s really cool! It’s strange that I can’t find that anywhere, I searched all over YouTube for it. Is that the only video with the extended production footage you found?

Maybe attempt an AI upscale of the low res footage, and if you’re not able to do it maybe ask for help.

I think with some good editing (for your version I wouldn’t reuse the same exact audio for the extended parts that is used later so it doesn’t just sound like a weird loop) it would make for an awesome extended duel. I can’t believe George Lucas decided to restore the Jabba scene but not those clips. Then again, there are a billion edits that I can name that would be better then the Jabba scene.

There are others, but they’re all low res. That’s the only one that seems to use decent quality footage. I feel like the low res ones are just from people down scaling and compressing the footage.

If the footage is on a blur ray, can someone tell me which one? I have all three of the 2011 blu rays but they’re in the 3 in 1 pack that seems to lack the special features outside of audio commentaries.

Yes! Wouldn’t be complete without it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gEXVQ8i6Fc_1WWnibeg2Eeq1wTze6pcJ/view

Probably late January or mid February. I’m pretty much done with the color adjustments and remixing the throne room duel sound.
Which brings me to a question I have for anyone knowledgeable about the topic. Does anyone know where I can find the unused production footage for the throne room duel in good quality? I’ve found other people’s edits on Youtube that use it, but it either is too limited to repurpose or too low resolution.

Not a bad idea. I’ll look into it. I’m also completely re-designing the lightsaber sound design during the duel to give it a more prequel era flare.

I’ve decided to go into ROTJ next. I’ve been working so much on ANH I need a decent change of pace. I recolored and sound edited the sarlacc pit scene, so I’ll upload a preview of what it looks like soon.

Hello there. I would like to partake in the forums. Could I receive an invitation code please? Thank you.

Much like my 97 ANH Regrade (Link here if you’re interested in that: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/anh-1997-inspired-regrade-with-se-soundmix-version-2-released/id/80173), this is a regrade of Empire Strikes Back that is intended to be close as possible to the '97 version of the film. It’s been debatable as to what the original trilogy looked like in theaters when the 97 SE was released. This is mainly because the color timing for all three films were altered when they were released on VHS/Laserdisc, which makes it difficult to determine what the theatrical colors looked like. Because I haven’t been able to find any film scans of the '97 version of ESB, I decided to use the home releases color timing as a reference.

Along with the regraded colors, the 1997 Theatrical Audio will be included and the only SE alterations that will be present are the ones exclusive to the '97 version, which means the original emperor will remain in place. The only post 1997 change that will remain is the cropping effect applied to some of the Millenium Falcon cockpit shots.

Sources:
-2020 Disney 1080p Bluray
-Empire Strikes Back 1997 DVB (TB Release)
-Adywan’s 1080p 1997 ESB

Here’s some video samples of the cut so far:
-Battle of Hoth: https://youtu.be/tqNrUx2LlUQ

I’ll update this post once I have a rough cut available.