Took that LUT and applied to the ANH Blu-ray in Resolve, that is a most impressive improvement!
A helpful new starting point for the new project I’m working on…
Pfff, but by 2047 we’ll have 16K tho…which I’m sure is totally necessary for your home tv…
ROTJ:R sounds like a hell of a lot more work than ESB:R so yeah 10 years wouldn’t surprise me at all. I’ll wait it out. It’ll be worth it.
Yeah, it’s honestly just that this project tends to move at a very slow pace. Life is definitely far busier than when I initially started the project, even moreso than a year ago and I’ve given myself far more ambitious goals in terms of how to work with the footage.
So no I have never forgotten about the project, there’s just often very few updates to share.
The most recent thing I’ve been looking into, if anyone is interested, is how I might use this still in development avisynth-based software Video Artifact (formerly Windmotion) to further improving the quality of the BD source for the intensive color work. http://www.videoartifact.com/va/
I think it’s also good to mention, that I tend to have become quite perfectionist about this project. Which when you stare at sequences and shots from these films for long periods of time over and over you really do begin to realize just how awful these films really look.
In a short interview with Empire Magazine, Rian Johnson briefly teases about his work on The Last Jedi (edited for RO spoilers):
With Rogue One now safely rolled out across the world, we find ourselves less than a year away from the next Star Wars saga installment, this week revealed to be titled The Last Jedi. After filming in Skellig Michael (the island at the end of The Force Awakens), Pinewood, Dubrovnik, Croatia and County Cork, principal photography wrapped on 22 July 2016. Although deep in post-production — John Williams has already started recording the score — writer/director Rian Johnson took the time to answer Empire’s burning questions about the current state of play and the film’s influences.
How are things going on Episode VIII?
Great! We’re in the thick of editing, really digging into it. It’s taking shape and I’m very excited.
Name three non-Star Wars films you watched in preparation.
Twelve O’Clock High was a big touchstone, for the feel and look of the aerial combat as well as the dynamic between the pilots. Three Outlaw Samurai for the feel of the sword-fighting, and the general sense of pulpy fun. And To Catch A Thief was a great film to rewatch, for the romantic scale and grandeur.
What are your memories of the first day of shooting?
Our first day of shooting was actually several months before principal photography began: we had three days on Skellig Michael island. So not only was it day one of Star Wars on this incredible natural location, but because the island was so inaccessible it was a very stripped-down, run-and-gun crew. Pretty much the perfect start to the whole adventure.
What is the hardest thing about writing Star Wars dialogue?
I found myself constantly wanting to push modern idioms into the dialogue, and sometimes that can work, but you have to be very careful. If you go too far you can break that Star Wars spell. The other challenge is the tech talk, which has to be simultaneously complex enough to sound real and conceptually simple enough to follow. The original films were brilliant at that.
What surprised you most about directing a Star Wars film?
I guess the biggest surprise was the intimacy of the process. It’s huge, sure, and it’s filled with pressures great and small. But at the end of the day, it boils down to the same things as the smaller films we’ve made: telling a story we care about with a camera and some actors. And a Wookiee.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in cinemas worldwide on December 15.
Rian Johnson just keeps saying all the right things for me.
Dammit. I’m gonna cry at the end of Episode VIII, aren’t I?
I suspect the same for me. I went to another Rogue One showing and people couldn’t hold back the tears at the end tonight…
In a state of such surrealism still, it hasn’t quite hit me yet. My childhood…
How much I dearly hope we get proper deleted/alternate scenes on the Blu-ray. I’ll be disappointed if all this is just swept under the rug. TFA’s bonus material already felt too sterile compared to the Prequel’s DVD bonus material.
Ugh oh, almighty RLM has spoken. Does this mean everyone has to change their opinions on the movie now?
That awkward moment when you remember you go to the same movie theatre as these guys and have actually seen them there…
I think maybe these folks only saw TPM.
lol, really.
Like how the vast majority of every prequel practical fx argument, shows like 80% TPM stuff.
Okay…so hmmmmmm. Hesitant to get excited, because I know they can still mess up a 4K version in so many ways.
Just thought I’d take a quick non-purist stab at the clip in Davinci Resolve today. It’s admittedly a lot cooler in tone and less saturated. Might try doing one of those warmer grades later.
Pass: origin4kfe
Note: I didn’t do any shot specific tweaks yet.
Looks wonderful! The new wampa is what I’ve been looking forward to the most in this edit.
Hmm, interesting. Still this source still leaves A LOT to be desired in terms of the colors, but I can’t complain too much about a noticeable improvement over the current Blu-ray.
Just from what I’ve seen so far, it looks sexy AF! And I like the idea of a de-noised version, your method seems to be a nice balance in filtering out the grain without removing tons of detail.
Whether this is truly more detail or not (due to being sourced from theater prints), the colors look infinitely better and there’s this increased clarity to the image.
Count me as very intrigued.
Not exactly.
Hateful 8 was both shot on film AND finished photochemically, necessitating the rollout of the cinerama projectors for people to see the movie as Tarantino intended.
Rogue One used the same lenses but was shot on the 65mm-sized model of Alexa, at 6.5k resolution. This would no doubt look impressive in cinerama if they filmed it out at its native resolution, but the DI is only being done at 4k, and either way it’s still a digital movie to begin with.
It’s also worth noting that the Alexa 65’s sensor is slightly bigger and slightly taller shaped than an actual 65mm film frame. The aspect ratio is something like 2.11:1, so with the ultra panavision lenses’ 1.25x squeeze factor you’d get a 2.64:1 AR. They might’ve simply cropped this to 2.40:1 across all exhibition formats, framing everything accordingly.
Huh, I did know it had been shot digitally, but I totally overlooked the increased height of the Alexa’s sensor. So I guess with 2.76:1 you’d be gaining width but cropping some vertical. Since that would mess with the image distortion, I guess that would rule out the need for the Cinerama projectors.
That said, in certain circumstances I could still see a 70mm film print being a superior experience. Given they’d adjust the color grade accordingly, you might still get more information, assuming a truly lossless copy of the film is being printed onto the film. They still compress the films for digital cinema viewing, albeit at a very high bitrate, let alone possibly losing the extended color range that the Alexa 65 offers. Could be wrong though, maybe film prints of digital material always look worse.
You guys can come back from the dead. I’ve created what you crave, my own analysis of the new clip!
“Thank the maker!” I appreciate so much you making another of these.
Watched the trailer, but I am fully dedicated this time around to leaving the spoilers. With two months to go and no major leaks like TFA had, the third trailer is the last thing I intend to see. Showed me more than I probably wanted to see, considering I was satisfied just with the second trailer.
Already unsubscribed and unfollowed any possible people/channels/pages that would ruin things.
Must…stay…strong.
Will we be getting some of those useful comparison stills sometime soon after whenever this releases? The ones for ANH:R and earlier ESB:R clips were quite nice.
lol, your profile picture confused me for a sec. I thought you were Smithers.
Even better, on April Fools Day everyone’s profile pictures should just become the same as Frink’s.
lol, exactly my thoughts.
I am starting to think about tickets (no word on pre-sales yet?), and wondering if anyone has good information about any 70mm Film showings?
Probably a really dumb question, but do they even show digitally-shot movies on 70mm?
hm, well i guess i overly-quickly read the info about the filming, the camera used was indeed a digital camera, the Arri Alexa 65. I saw the mention of 70mm lenses and jumped to film in my head.
Well darn. I guess i will have to stick with the digital IMAX 3D, since i doubt there will be any other way to see this in large format.
Yes, for some reason I too was for a long while under the impression that RO would be shot on film. However it seems that only the ST trilogy will be on film while the standalone ones will be shot digitally.
(Unless of course the future director of the third anthology movie prefers film.)
While most of VIII is film, Steve Yedlin, the DOP, confirmed there are parts shot digitally with the ARRI Alexa.
The only point of having a 70mm showing would be to have the traditional wider 2.76:1 aspect ratio. If they wanted to do that though, they’d have to work out licensing with Weienstein Company who owns the necessary refurbished Cinerama projectors used for the Hateful 8 roadshow.
Oh that cinematography…I’m loving this new style.
I haven’t heard anything about this…Exactly what day do the tickets go on pre-sale?
The final Rogue One trailer is most likely tomorrow or Friday, so if this is like TFA, tickets will go on sale the same day.
Me this week.
