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THX

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Join date
21-Apr-2005
Last activity
11-Dec-2006
Posts
1,263

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Post
#182789
Topic
Info: Holiday Special on 16mm?
Time
It's certainly impossible to fit 97 mins on two reels - and even if there were two, why would he only show one in the pics? It's just such a weird choice for a scam - there are plenty of more valuable things you could pretend to have. BTW, the camera pointed at a TV showing the DVD idea is a no-go - it would cost him more for the stock, processing and printing than could be made on the auction.
Post
#182781
Topic
Evidence of OOT at Lucasfilm?
Time
Originally posted by: Guy Caballero
THX, could you explain what a "dye-sub print" means? Thanks.
It is the same as dye-transfer, which is explained in some detail in MBJ's posts above. Basically, it's a much more stable and true-colour way of making a film print than the standard (cheaper) release prints. I've seen some dye-sub prints compared to regular prints of the same movies and they blow them away.
Originally posted by: Darth Richard
That i doubt because GL is also a film historian and he would never do that even if it wasn't his vision. the original were restored and copied then the copies were made into the SE's.

I wish you were right, DR, but unfortunately it's known that the original negative was used to make the '97 SE.
Post
#182778
Topic
Info: Holiday Special on 16mm?
Time
Took a look at the pics. Definitely 16mm. It's a 14 inch reel, though not full - I'd say about 30 min. I was initially pleased with the Magic Marker as film cans are often labelled poorly like this and "Star Wars Holiday Media" had a strangely authentic ring to it. However, "97 mins" definitely looked like it could be adapted from "17 mins". But then, if you look closely, the word Media looks like it was there before (reddish blurring around letters) and the other words were added around it, then "Media" was gone over to make it match better. But if you were planning a rip-off why not have the OT in mint condition on 16mm? Look at the prices they got recently.
Post
#181994
Topic
questions about cropping/audio/bitrates
Time
Originally posted by: Tomland Flash
THX, OK...thank you. Another misconception I apparently had was that a 4:3 widescreen transfer from the ld's wouldn't involve any "manipulation" at all by my setup...it would just "play it" like a VHS tape.


Sorry if I confused you further - your setup would indeed not manipulate it but just "play it" kind of like a VHS tape. However, a VHS tape also loses some picture information all around (right and left only for "letterboxed" a.k.a. "4:3 widescreen") on any traditional TV set. My point was that the capture framing was less important than the video image quality overall.
Post
#181885
Topic
questions about cropping/audio/bitrates
Time
Tomland,

1) Although it is important, I wouldn't worry about viewable area as much as the other picture quality issues - you'll lose more due to the overscan of your ancient TV than the difference between any of the LD caps;

2) Both the TR47/Cowclops editions have PCM sound, I also remember hearing what Darth Mallwalker said about the clipping on v1 - I believe this was corrected on v2;

3) If you have a 4:3 TV, you definitely want a letterboxed transfer, not an anamorphised one - I'd still recommend the EditDroid in this category if you are in NTSC land;

4) Although bitrate is limited by the size of the media, Cowclops made the point that the source material, being soft analogue SD, is easily compressed and therefore DL media is not necessary, even if you want PCM sound. However, if you want to put together the best picture and sound on one disc from those that are already out there for 4:3 NTSC, you might look into combining the EditDroid picture with the Cowclops v2 sound, although this would probably push you into needing DL media. If you're not interested in or able to do re-authoring or DL burning, get TR47/Cowclops v1 or EditDroid for the best overall quality for your set-up (assuming you're NTSC and an OT purist).
Post
#181868
Topic
Evidence of OOT at Lucasfilm?
Time
Like everyone else, I don't know for sure - but I don't think Lucasfilm has the OT restored and on the shelf. So if one was looking for the ultimate source material, it would be a restoration job. Where does a film restoration job begin? With the negative.

The '97 SE was made for theatrical release, not from a digital intermediate, but from the original cut negatives which were pulled apart to create it. The negative segments used to create the new CGI scenes were no doubt saved and stored, but the negative as it once was, with it's original matting, wipes and dissolves, is as good as gone forever (just accept it).

Now the '04 SSE is a different story: as it is made from a DI, no changes were made to the '97 negatives, so in theory you could pull apart the '97 negative again, track down the removed segments in the Lucasfilm archive and reassemble it (not gonna happen).

So, with no realistic hope of the negative, what's the next best thing? Well, it's an interpositive (the stage between a cut negative and the internegative used to create release prints). There's a pretty good chance these exist in excellent condition at LFL for the OT ESB and ROTJ. If they do, they could be scanned in HD for any subsequent digital clean-up and colour restoration.

Why only ESB and ROTJ? Well, LFL or Fox probably have a good IP of SW as well, but there's an even better source, equally close to the negative (one step) for SW, which is the dye-sub prints Lucas is known to have. These are in some ways better than the negative, as they are not subject to the same colour fading over time as the negative stock used on SW. Which means they could also be used as a reference for the digital timing of ESB & ROTJ DIs.

So although I don't think Lucasfilm has the OT restored and on the shelf, I do think they have the capability to put it together relatively easily and for a reasonable cost.
Post
#179708
Topic
My Beatles Films DVD Cover Project
Time
Very nice! Like the clean, matching look. Much better set than the official ones.

Suggestions: the odd one out, if any, is Magical Mystery Tour, which is too obviously drawn from the 'album' cover (I know they all are, but somehow this one shows it more) - you might try excluding the song titles (at least the lower ones, which I believe are not from the film) and zooming in so that the clouds reach the edges. I like the one Beatle on each spine idea, but the "With The Beatles" pics are so early they don't seem apt for the later films, and the black boxes somewhat disrupt the colours of the spines. You could use the "Help!" semaphore figures or the "Abbey Road" crossing figures instead to make a better graphic link across the four spines. Also not sure about the drumskin logo across all the titles - it's a bit too homogenous and again reminiscent of the early years only - and there are different "The Beatles" logos for all these projects. Hope this all doesn't sound too picky - just thinking out loud about what I might change, but they're great as is.
Post
#173538
Topic
The legendary "Starkiller Ranch" Thread
Time
But it's necessary for Anakin to have a story arc across three movies (some would say six). If he's displaying his anger and using force powers now, he doesn't change a lot. We should see the potential for power and the potential for good that Qui-Gon sees. It all starts to go horribly wrong when Anakin meets Palpatine. The PT suffers from too much foreshadowing - remember the idea of this edit is to make TPM stand alone, and the sage play best in chronological order.
Post
#173409
Topic
The legendary "Starkiller Ranch" Thread
Time
Agreed. The force push is a trained Jedi ability, not an instinct. Luke didn't force push Vader's TIE away, he just flew well and fast and shot accurately without a targeting computer - we need the same kind of untrained power here. I could go either way on the telepathic communication between Amidala and Anakin - not sure if it should come into this scene, even if it's used, but could be convinced. Not crazy about the "are you an angel" dialogue - could this go? Also don't think too much development should happen here without MTH - he's worth waiting for (if he's coming back). BTW, TJ - the clips sure livened it up for me - keep 'em coming.