Spaced Ranger

Oh yes, that's right, Tasjo! Some sites do directly load .MP3 (or other formats) audio files into their webpage's general-purpose SWF player, rather than embedding each selection into it's own dedicated player.

This make things more easy! Just play the soundboard and save-out all those .MP3 files thereafter sitting in your browser cache ... and you're done. Most browsers have easy access to their cache or, as Tasjo suggests, there are browser plug-ins to do any heavy-lifting for you.

Life is easy in the year 2015 A.D.!

I tried tried the link on the computer I'm using but couldn't get it to work (this system is sort-of "Internet armored" so I'm not surprised). However I could divine that the Star Wars Soundboard uses .swf (ShockWave Flash) files -- typical for this sort of thing.

After playing all the sounds (or after playing each one), the .swf file(s) of the audio should be in your browser cache. Grab those files and extract the audio using anyone of a number of freeware programs that do that sort of thing. I've used "Fortop SWF Resources Extractor" on occasion, with success. If this new version doesn't allow "operational testing", there is an older freeware release available -- like on the Only Freewares website:
http://www.onlyfreewares.com/Web-Development/Graphics-Editors/Fortop-SWF-Resources-Extractor.php

Worse coming to worst, play the file and record it with your system's sound recorder (save as a .wav file for no additional compression artifacts).

Glad to help! As long as Avisynth works on your system --[ and some systems seem problematic (see the Colorized Classics thread), including my own in the Movies with the wrong color grading thread (never got that one working) ]-- there is still a learning-curve on it. I'm constantly referring to the Avisynth's docs (very helpful) to work through syntax/usage error messages.   :)

Always glad to help. Besides, I love these demonstrations. I really do! Like A certain Team leader once mused ... "I love it when a plan comes together." Me, too!  :D

Speaking of which, I looked back and noticed my procedure looked too much like voodoo without the actual, procedural splits and recombination. So here they are (where they should've been):

.

In a paint program ... the two now-equally-sized images were split into their Hue-Saturation-Luminance components. ..

.

.. The DVD's H-S was recombined with the 16mm's L. ..

.. After removing the mask, the resulting 16mm frame is amazing (!) considering there was no other corrective processing!

But we'll never find out because, while trying a quick search for that interview (which failed), I came across a pronouncement by Mr. George Lucas, himself ..

George Lucas said (Star Wars: The Last Battle, Vanity Fair, 2/2005):

"From now on, I’m going to make movies like THX that nobody wants to see, that aren’t successful, and everybody will say I’ve lost my touch."

This THX 1138 thread and all other THX 1138 threads, everywhere, are hereby disbanded. Everybody ... go home ...

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.

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.

.

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Still here? Good!   :D   I wanted to help poita allay SilverWook's concern over film fade.

Using the image comparison from page 71, I took the un-retouched 16mm pan&scan scan and the DVD screen-cap ..

.. and up-sized the DVD (with which to use the Hue and Saturation color components) to match the 16mm (with which to use the Luminance for it's resolution). Next, to work on just the 16mm's picture area, all it's junk/blank area was masked out (to black).

In a paint program (as I also easily accomplished in an Avisynth script for the Colorized Classics thread) the two now-equally-sized images were split into their Hue-Saturation-Luminance components. The DVD's H-S was recombined with the 16mm's L. After removing the mask, the resulting 16mm frame is amazing (!) considering there was no other corrective processing!

I normally would choose the Laserdisc over the DVD or Blu-ray for coloring. As the DVD and 16mm were already aligned in the previous image comparison, I just went with those as a proof-of-concept.

Anyone ever see Nineteen Eighty-Four ...

... and the Advanced Edit link for posts ... ? (Don't wait too long for The Internet to catch up.)

AntcuFaalb said:

The full chain is now: Runco LJR-II =(BNC)=> Leitch DPS-575 =(SDI)=> Blackmagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder =(Thunderbolt) => Late 2012 Mac mini. The 3D comb filter in the DPS-575 is amazing.

  
               [... pardon my drool ...]

If you have the time/inclination while working through this, it would be great if could you save snippets/screenshots that spotlight how the individual hardware/processes improve the final assembly ... for the thread, of course.  :)

This would be great to work on, but it would probably be only piecemeal with me.

Previously, I had to bow out of msycamore's original project when time constraints hit me after several months delay. Fortunately, AntcuFaalb was there to pick up the gauntlet and was ready with end-to-end improvements.

[@ AntcuFaalb - There's only so much that can be done with laserdisc, but I've been impressed at your approach tantalizingly revealed in assorted threads. When you've finished, I hope you will detail your finalized procedure and equipment chain for those of us who wish to duplicate your results. Seeing your raw cap(s) and finished capture would be awesome! Any time-frame on this?]

Anyway, as things haven't let up on my end, I can only do baby-steps. As a first step, I was thinking of interactive cataloging -- an idea from some guy dreaming of choco-lotta coffee (... oh, wait, that was me). Ah, the best ideas are from hunger. Stay hungry everybody!  :D

So this "THX-Vinegar Edition" ... it's pronounced "sexy"? ... in a Transylvanian lisp?

If we're talking vinegar, we should at least hope for a proper scan at first bite ... I mean, at first chance!

George beat them to it (in a sneaky little way) ...

  "You know, there's nothing supernatural or mystic about Duck.
                  He's just an ordinary, normal water fowl,
                          who keeps his nit-wit about him."

                             THAT  DOETH-H  IT !
Making  fun  of  a  fella  with-h  a  th-h-peach  impediment.
             Now  I  ueth-h  my  TH-H-HECRET  WEAPON !! ...

          ... TH-H-ALIVA !!!                

Spaced Ranger said:

... was this shot ever in color? Was this originally some kind of B&W test that they thought was too good not to use and "toned" it (RGB-contrast manipulation) to give it some color?

After some thought, I'm thinking it probably wasn't a B&W test. More likely the original negative was lost or destroyed and all they had left was the B&W dailies print of that shot. If this actually was the case, could I duplicate this scenario (you had to ask?) and would it prove my extrapolation?

First, I took an original screencap from this thread (saved before Imageshack's reorganization wiped out most of our pictures) and de-saturated it to B&W ..

original screencap de-saturated

Next -- how to color this with a one-time application to apply throughout the whole shot?
Ever notice in the original shot (see below) how there is odd coloring that splashes the walls? How about those elevator doorways ... same color as the child's skin? It was because the three primary colors, which compose even B&W film, were independently altered to accent differently parts of the (luminance only) spectrum with target colors ..

Is it really that easy? Well ... yes ... if you don't count all the twiddling that goes on to strengthen a color over here but not over there.

So let's see what we get ... surely not a color picture? YES, and a pretty good one at that ..

B&W screencap colorized

Now is that amazing or what! (I added special processing of 2 stationary strips, but those also are one-time applications.)

Finally, am I right about this whole scenario? Let's compare this to what they actually did ..

original US laserdisc screencap

Well, wat-da-ya-know. We must give George's boys their due credit on this one. They really saved the day with good ol' fashion ingenuity.     And knowing this should help with any restoration of faded film. 

@ Turisu

Yes, something like that would surely be rectified (in HD, all frame/picture edges should be clean & sharp). Now all I would need is the time to actually do it.  :)

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@ kaosjm

Thanks for that link info. That, like the LiveJournal article-link (on page 5), is always interesting. It would help if others could/would corroborated it. After all, there is no shortage of witnesses to Luke threw the grappling hook twice in the 1977, first theatrical run of Star Wars.

.

For those interested, while searching around for posting/reply information, I came across an insightful, in-depth analysis of 2001:ASO that's worth a skim-through at the very least ..

Underground Research Initiative blog - 2001: A Space Odyssey - Discerning Themes through Score and Imagery
http://undergroundresearchinitiative.blogspot.com/2013/07/2001-space-odyssey-evoking-theme-by.html

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@ PDB

Kudos! It's awesome that you're doing this (as time permits), especially from such an important source heretofor buried & forgotten! 

skoal said:

... I see lots of posts here and else where saying this version is bad because of black-crush or white-blow-outs, and that makes no sense.

 It's simple math ..

           CRUSH or BLOWOUT equals DAMAGE

.. and this is why:

In this shot from 2001: A Space Odyssey, you can see that the full spectrum is well within the limits of displayable area -- from above 0 (absolute black) to under 255 (absolute white). Within this range, we can manipulate it without damaging the makeup of the spectrum.

Above, I've moved the Low from it's default of 0 to 12 for absolute black and the High from it's default of 255 to 228 for absolute white. The before (left) and after (right) displays show that this increases the contrast of the original picture. The graph's red-shaded "flat" area indicates where are the absolute black and absolute white areas.

Notice that under the Low and High settings are % values of 0.000. That means 0% of the picture's spectrum is in those flat absolute areas. That means no picture damage has occurred. And that means no matter how we manipulate, as long as we don't cross into those absolute areas, the spectrum can be returned to it's original state. All the picture's detail information is still available for our de-manipulation (if we choose to do so).

However:

Above, I've forced (whether accidentally or deliberately) parts of the spectrum into those flat absolute areas. The after view looks to have more contrast than the previous settings (which may have been what was wanted), but otherwise the picture still seems to be okay. Only it isn't.

Notice that, with the newer Low and High settings, crush and blowout have increased to 5% of the picture, each. The graph shows that the varied detail of those areas of the spectrum have been flatten into the absolute areas. The picture has been damaged and there is no way to undo it -- all the original detail information has been lost.

So, what does all this really mean? It's the same as dripping black or white paint onto dark or light areas of the picture -- no detail, just a solid blob of maximum darkness or maximum lightness. Below, the crush and blowout damage is hi-lited by inverting the damage areas to prove it's really there, even if it's normally hard to see:

TOP - improperly adjusted picture caused crush & blowout damage
MIDDLE - crush damage hi-lited
BOTTOM - blowout damage hi-lited
[note: RGB hi-lites can mix to produce R-G, R-B, G-B, and R-G-B colors]

If you're referring to SilverWook's Announcement: New plot spoiler policy *please read* thread, note that applies to "With new Star Wars films coming out, the issue of spoilers has become relevant again." [emphasis mine]
I think 2001:ASO is safely out of that category. 

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Previously, it looked like you were citing the Underview article as not acknowledging a cut that you had found -- "the underview site doesn't mention the 'just what do you think you're doing, dave' edit/trim". I didn't know you were thinking of the LiveJournal article, which is the remembrance it's author without other corroboration -- "... as far as I can tell with the powers of Google, has never been described anywhere. By anybody." 

Of course, people who closely worked with Kubrick, like Special Effects Supervisor Doug Trumbull, would know. Too bad, when he was ramping up a presentation, the plug was pulled  on that whole thing.

@ skoal

Preservations are pretty simple ... just get those unique, out-of-print publications off their mostly inaccessible media (laserdisc, obsolete/old videotape), which is done anyway for restorations (or, as in my case, a rectification -- although that word doesn't really sing ... I must find a better label).

Anyway, I was thinking about your mention of the "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" edit/trim and was certain I heard that in the movie. Sure enough, I checked and it's still in there. At 1h:49m:31s, as Bowman angrily walks through the pod bay to disconnect HAL, HAL breaks the silence with those words ..

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@ PDB

Was the Apocalypse Now 1st showing a nationwide premiere or a main-theater sneak-peek (many films do that for final touch-up)? 2001:ASO not only was a premiere, but a simultaneous opening to the big Cinerama theaters across the country. When Kubrick made his famous final trims in/from New York, instructions were sent to those other theaters of where and what to cut for showings thereafter ... for the finalized film (credits untouched).

@ Turisu

Checking that scene on an early DVD (Warner 1999, just in case the 2007 Blu-ray fixed something) did not show damage, anywhere in the frame, throughout the scene. Three other scenes of ship/Earth communications also show nothing.

The only thing that may even come close is during the BBC interview scene. There is an thin and slight brightness at the extreme left edge of image, across multiple shots -- like optical-printer bleed. It is more noticeable against the bluish shots of the hibernation containers. If that's it, I wouldn't characterize it as "damage", but definitely something to be addressed if it still shows in the Blu-ray.

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@ kaosjm

I've never read of any "missing credits" on any showings of 2001:ASO (and that would be a pretty big thing, too). There were full-production program booklets like the very worn one you linked, which listed production credits, but that's normal practice. Here's some better looking photos ..

eBay: *RARE* 2001 A Space Odyssey. Promotional Movie Premier/Souvenir Book from 1968
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-2001-A-Space-Odyssey-Promotional-Movie-Premier-Souvenir-Book-from-1968-/261752286450

There was a full-production Survival In A Vacuum pamphlet (apparently included with the program booklet), which also listed production credits (again, nothing extraordinary there) ..

[pictures from eBay: orig 1968 Stanley Kubrick 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY movie Preview PROGRAM + TICKET
http://www.ebay.com/itm/orig-1968-Stanley-Kubrick-2001-A-SPACE-ODYSSEY-movie-Preview-PROGRAM-TICKET-/151592410275 ]

Oh, yes, YES! Thanks for that reminder!

The liquid-in-the-straw is one of things that one would never see in Standard Definition (or barely). We'd need the High-Definition (HD-DVD, HDTV broadcast, Blu-ray), the 70mm film, or a reading of The Making Of Kubrick's 2001 to know about that.

• stop liquid food in straw from draining back down

Which reminded me of another one ..

• change floating tray "swinging on strings" to zero-g motion

poita said:

The film scan is really, really magenta, so would take a lot of work to become useable ...

From some time ago, I noticed that certain shot(s) of THX 1138 looked devoid of color. Of course, a big deal was made over that artist design. But the color in this film was always saturated and distinctive. Back on page 53 is a screenshot-conglomeration of sources of one shot in particular ..
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/THX-1138-preservations-Italian-Cut-available-see-1st-post/post/626065/#TopicPost626065

I was thinking about restoration back then, but it is interesting to note that even the New And Improved releases of this shot actually looked like less color. I never did get to see SilverWook's 16mm scan of that particular shot to check it's color there.

Anyway, I made some R-G-B breakdowns, looking for clues about that shot ..

THX 1138 LD

THX 1138 DVD

THX 1138 Blu-ray

I'm beginning to wonder ... was this shot ever in color? Was this originally some kind of B&W test that they though was too good not to use and "toned" it (RGB-contrast manipulation) to give it some color? Those elevator door-way shadows are not natural -- they are in the same luminance range of the child's skin and so are the same color! Other robo-hallway shots do not look like that (skin-tones on the environment) ..

(I couldn't find a proper LD screenshot for comparison because of that plague of frogs "of Biblical proportions" from "missing images" - the result of Imageshack's website reorganization; here's an approximation comparison shot from the few surviving pictures in our thread .. )

I always thought your 16mm was cool. Now, if my theory proves correct and you have Lucas' original & finished cut of 1970/1978, that's very cool! I hope it can be tracked down. Should we call for three additional officers?  :D

Nice link! I had read about that post-Premiere edit Kubrick made after his viewing the 2001:ASO Premiere with an audience. (One sees his work with fresh eyes when watching for the first time with an audience.) There has always been overviews on the cuts, but this was the first I've read to actually nail-down specifics for his original Premiere viewing.

Unfortunately, we may never see these trims or other 2001:ASO out-takes. But remember that these cuts were part of Kubrick's final edit ... as much as any other edit he made up to this point. Still, those unused takes would make great extras on the next release.

This I just found is definitely interesting along those same lines ..

A Taste Of Blue Food In Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
http://www.underview.com/bhpalltrims.html

"Our in-depth examination of the subject, and correlation of first-hand reports of early viewings of the film with information published since 1968, resulted in the first edition of this paper: the first complete record of all known changes to the film that had ever been compiled. For this new edition, we have added even more information about scenes filmed and photographed by Kubrick and his aides, but never screened in any public cinema.
...
Almost immediately after the premiere, Kubrick retired to the basement of the MGM building in New York and trimmed the film by approximately 19 minutes. "Trimming commenced at four P.M. on April 5, 1968, and the first session did not end until seven A.M. the next day. Work continued at this pace until the trim was completed three days later." Instructions on what was to be cut were sent to the theatres then showing the film."

thxita said:

...aaaand the odd Italian edit (available on VHS, containing the extra shots of SEN and the narrated flashback edit) ...

...

Which versions of that list have we actually "seen"? Which one haven't emerged yet?

From it's date, the Italian edit would surely be from the Warner Bros. edit, which would've been in circulation from 1971 to 1977+. The "+" indicates that broadcast markets might keep their prints and broadcast those well beyond the date of any new release (with new fees?).

From what I've read and so conjecture, Warner Bros. had no confidence in that film student's new film. For international markets, they simple gave them the English language print to do with as they pleased. And the Italian broadcasters did just that, with re-edits and changing the movie into a flashback. Actually that was pretty inventive -- to keep the story tense right out of the gate. Poor George ... he don't get no respect.  :,(

But if that's right, then WB didn't trim the SEN helping the children scene. I have little clue of the differences between the two version 1's. There are "?" after those times for that reason. So I'm thinking it was Lucas who shortened that SEN scene in his version 2 (1983), probably for reasons I mentioned back on page 62 (the performances didn't work).

So, we haven't actually seen the unadulterated (official) version 1-WB-variant (the 1st theatrical release), but poita mentioned a scan of that version. I'd love to have documentation of the cut-by-cut, w/ frame-timecodes & lengths, accompanied by a representative screencap of each. And ... a choco-lotta coffee ... creamed and heavy on the dark chocolate ... super-sized.
  Mmmm...

SilverWook had a Pan & Scan of the released version 1 (yes, GL's original cut fresh back from WB control, according to my theory), which would've been in circulation from 1978 to 1982+. I never did find out what the run-time was on it. There was a sample scan, on which I worked up some of my proofs-of-concept back in this thread. It had the SEN scene complete. Was it ever given the promised, complete scan? Anybody?

For version 2 and onward, we have the laserdiscs, videotapes, DVD, Blu-ray, and their certifications. By then, Lucas was thinking about his original edit and was busy tinkering. That's when those SEN shots disappeared.

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[Initially, there was speculation that these significant changes in his movies, and his attempt to wipe the originals from the face of the Earth, was to limit alimony and/or royalties to his first wife. We're talkin' a big pocket of coins here.]  :O

SilverWook said:

An interesting historical artifact!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-THX-1138-US-Preview-PROGRAM-George-LUCAS-Francis-Ford-COPPOLA-Star-Wars-/161629861887

Note the original running time.

msycamore said:

Well, there's that 88 minute running time again. Been around from the beginning it seems, except for that very early promo ad which displayed 108 minutes.

I've noticed a couple of those (obviously?) faux run-times in the slushy accuracy, typo-ridden World Wide Web, like that "108 minutes" and another "98 minutes" I recently saw. At least, they get the last digit right.  :)  But the verifiable consensus is "88 minutes" and "86 minutes".

Those last two numbers match well in my theory The World, The Devil, And George Lucas (just kidding on that title, George ... not!**) starting back on page 62:

George               ver.1            ver.1.WB          ver.1             ver.2               ver.3               ver.4
 Lucas                1970              1971              1978             1983               2004               2010

  version 1 - 1970 (88m?)
     the Lucas original & finished cut of THX 1138
     (un-released when it was taken away from him by Warner)

  version 1.WB - 1971 (86m?)
     the Warner Bros.' re-edit
     (released to theaters - a flop)
     (cuts; sequence re-ordering?)

  version 1 - 1978 (88m?)
     back to Lucas' original & finished cut
     (released to theaters & TV broadcasts [16mm] under Lucas' terms after Star Wars success - a flop)

  version 2 - 1983 (86m)
     Lucas' next edit
     (re-edited for TV broadcasts & home video [LD, Beta, VHS, CED] - builds to cult status)
     (less some SEN shots; sequence re-ordering?)

  version 3 - 2004 (88m)
      Lucas' next edit
      (added Computer Graphics & re-coloring, sequence re-ordering, and out-takes for TV broadcasts & home video [DVD] - cult status)

  version 4 - 2010 (88m)
      Lucas' next edit
      (added tweaks of coloring, etc., for TV broadcasts & home video [Blu-ray] - cult status)

.

I'm in the process of tracking down photos of released media for copyright dates and run-times (again) -- previous research is buried somewhere.  :(

.

**

George Lucas said:

“I’m a ’60s, West Coast, liberal, radical, artsy, dyed-in-the-wool 99 percenter before there was such a thing.”
  -New York Times Magazine - George Lucas Is Ready to Roll the Credits, by Bryan Curtis [Jan. 17, 2012]

"I’m a 60’s radical, government unhappy, Wall Street-hating person from San Francisco"
  -The Funny Mon Blog - Exclusive George Lucas Interview For Upcoming Animated Film Strange Magic by Desiree Eaglin [Jan. 20, 2015]

@ larkofam

Just thought I'd check back and find out how you fared with those Avisynth problem(s).

I hope you're not referring to The Simpsons.  :)

Actually, I mis-typed. PDB may do a preservation (he hasn't mentioned it) for his LD restoration. But, after all, he must capture it to work on it.

As for me, I'd love to do a rectification if I had more time (which would automatically include preservations of no-longer-available sources). My rectification would do things like:

[CAUTION: SPOILERS ... that will ruin your movie-watching experience! Quick! Avert your eyes from the following ... oops ... too late.]
.

• using the Taschen The Stanley Kubrick Archives book for color reference where lightening our Kubrick approved laserdisc (as I've already demonstrated) would approximate the Archives's on-the-set photographs

• correcting effects shots that start early or late

• unsticking the pen in weightlessness

• fix the wrong memory-slab slide-out; align slab stop positions

• align some readout re-exposures misaligned onto main photography

• eliminate vertical vibration in camera tracking

And that's without more research on what others have spotted.  Sorry, Stanley.  :)

Jetrell Fo said:

OFFICER:   Okay. Out of the Y-Wing. You're flying an X-Wing today.
PORKINS:  Well that's just great. I've never been trained in an X-Wing. I'm a Y-Wing pilot through-and-through.
...
PORKINS:  Red 6 standing by ... I guess.
...
PORKINS:  Hey I've got a problem here.
BIGGS:       Eject.
PORKINS:  I can hold it.
BIGGS:       Pull up!
PORKINS:  No, no, never mind. Can't hold it. And ... EJECT BUTTON on the Y-Wing would be ... here! [pushes button] [X-Wing explodes] Doh! Do-o-o-oh!!

(from Star Wars Blu-Ray Changes - New Scenes! More Porkins!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32itsA81Ouw)