emanswfan

Bingowings said:

One shot that still sticks out for me is this one:

which appears largely unchanged in the sequence as it stands.

If you could possibly add a hint of the interior (you wouldn't see much) it would create a greater impression of scale.

Something like :

Maybe changing the background could also help since currently it's just a blur and screams out minature.  Also brightening the dark might help.

Rough Mockup:

Guspaz said:

 

I'm not so sure about the colour correction in the speederbike shot. Overall, I like the change in colour in the shot, but there are a bunch of details that are changed/removed:

- The buildings (the triangular ones on either side of the frame) are badly rusting in the original, but the rust is turned into slight dirt smudges in the colour-corrected version

- All the red aircraft warning lights have been entirely removed

- The flames on the left-hand part of the frame appear unnaturally blue in the colour-corrected version

So, the problem with the shot is that the general change in colour cast is nice, but it damaged/removed a bunch of the detailed stuff that shouldn't have been colour corrected (or at least not as much). When you take all this as a whole, these sorts of changes can change the audience's impression when viewing the scene. Different implications about the context and state of the city.

 

You have good points, there I did notice things you had mentioned.  None of the images are no where near final, more of a first pass or draft.  However overall, I am trying to reduce the complexity of coruscant, which would include colour correcting some details out, but maybe not as much you mention.  Thanks for the comments.

NeverarGreat said:

This is all well and good (in fact, the last one is quite cool) but what of the skin tones? These last three have been suspiciously free of faces. ;)

I can assure you skin tones are intact, I was already going to post some more images showing off skin tones tommorow actually.

Speeder Chase on Coruscant:

Just amazing again aalenfae.  Your PT videos never cease to amaze me.  I really just can't wait for this.

Hal 9000 said:

Are you planning to give all of the prequel footage this treatment, for potential use in fan edits? (As opposed to cutting the film, then only working on the bits you keep.)

All the uncut bluray versions and all dvd deleted scenes (upscaled to 1080p, but does look better with the added grain), along with a few bluray deleted scenes, ones that weren't missing major fx atleast.

So it's sort of going to be released in s system of folders containing each movie and subsequent deleted scenes.

And, yes the purpose is mainly for fan editors looking for a better look to the PT.  I'll be using this for my edits, but will not be cutting anything.

Brooks said:

Me too, they're looking much more natural and less "cartoony" than t he originals.  I'd like to see if you can do something to the naboo battle scenes to make the grass look less like a cartoon.

Naboo will look much better.  The lake and sky in the "i don't like sand" II scene will be absolutely beautiful.  I'm giving that scene a more tealish, technicolor appearence.  All Naboo scenes' colours will vary a little, since Naboo should be much more like Earth.

The Naboo battle scenes, I'm thinking might look more like Endor.

Another note, I should say is that the above images don't involve the curve adjustments or added grain to give it a more filmic texture.

Geonosis:            (I appologize for after effects rendering error, I keep getting the mainconcept logo?!)

So Geonosis might not look exactly the same in this edit,  (I appologize for after effects rendering error, I keep getting the mainconcept logo?!)

Anyhow, the first trailer for my Ep. II edit is coming very soon!

One thing I didn't get to say about this flm was the quality.  To me, it seemed a lot better in technical quality than TRM and the plot was also much easier to follow.  Hope the same continues for the third installment.

Watching this current Ahsoka arc, it seems these episodes are so much better than any previous episodes I've ever seen.  It would be great to include this one.

Plus, anyone else notcing major OT look? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4muv9bMOrXI

Finally, I can't wait anymore for this!  I'll finally have something worthwhile to spend time on on Saturday night!

New clip time, Mace/Sidious duel:

http://vimeo.com/58947927

I did this video two months ago so it's kind of rough around the edges.  Also there are some odd compression artifacts in this one, that I'm not sure what are.

And if you're looking for any new VFX, I'm not done yet as there are several ways to remove lightning from the scene.

peter_pan said:

Hi emanswfan I have read through the many posts on these forums for the last few years, but this is my first time posting.

Really excited about your project, try as we all do to forget the PT they are still there and many of us here seem to have a huge desire to see watchable versions.

Out of the 3 films which one has been the most challenging to edit in your opinion?

I can't really figure that out entirely at the moment.  TPM requires some attention to detail and the pacing.  Once you cut out the crap, you have a really good film, but still not OT quality, it takes an extra amount of thinking to figure out what is still holding it back.  At the same time though, it was shot on 35mm and has a lot of practical fx, so visually there's not much to do.  ATOC requires a new drastically changed plot so it requires more planning and the ability to push what you remembered into a new film.  There's also some vfx work that TPM doesn't need.  ROTS is hard still though.  The acting is top notch, I'd say nearly all the acting from the theatrical and deleted scenes is OT quality.  The issue with the third film though are things such as Anakin's fall and a whole slue of revelations ruined by this film.  VFX work is needed even more since it is extremely heavy on CGI.  But just like TPM, you can get it really good, but there's an extra push needed to get it to OT quality.

In a way, they're all equally hard, but if I had to say one, it would be ATOC.  The new plot and colour correction is extensive work and is probably why I'm doing it first.  In regards to canon changes, I won't be doing anything that should ruin The Clone Wars, as I really like the show.

ben_danger said:

The opening of Ep2 really interests me. I'd be interested in seeing the sort of plot points too, so how we get to the battle etc.

SSWR did a cool mockup once, where windu is in the crowd in the arena, and jumps into save anakin and obi-wan, as oppose to chatting to dooku first. Did you ever see that? It was quite reminiscent of the barge scene in ROTJ.

No, I haven't ever seen that. Sounds interesting. It wouldn't be a stretch for me, because I'm getting really good with the rotobrush now, which I've already started to plan new ideas. You mention ROTJ, and that's an interesting comparison. I've actually been thinking of mirroring the original films in a lot more ways than just "cutting out the bad stuff". I am mirroring the editing and structure of the original films. Doing this is not so hard in TPM, which is the only prequel that feels STar Warsy, regardless of the horrible stuff left in it. Episode II and III just feel plain stupid, and need a lot more work.

Random thing about these edits is that I will redo all the laser blasts and lightsabers, and some other fx, since a lot of the colour correction and "filmizing" requires a heavy amount of processing, that can ruin the lokk of certain objects.

So I just got a new 3tb HDD and can finally start real work on the preservation.  However, I'm going to post several videos showing how certain parts of each edit will go.  If there's any scenes you're interested in seeing (any of the films), please reply below.  I am already going to show the new opening of Episode II and the Windu/Sidious duel.

Star Trek from 09 was great, and the sequel looks really nice too.  Between Michael Arndt writing and JJ Abrams directing, this has the potential to be what ANH and ESB were.  Note I said potential, because I still think there is a possibility of slip-up but not nearly to the degree of the PT.

As long as there are no stupid flares, I'm chill.

Warbler said:

btw, Does this thing have an intermission?   I think it's a long enough movie to justify one.

Would make sense for the original 4 hour runtime of the film, until Hooper murdered the film down.

Another colour correction test.  I stripped nearly all the colour out of this one. I removed the horrible pink haze and gave it a slight warmness to convince an old broken down look, like in the OT.  I also added some slight detail in certain areas. Mind the JPG artifacts again.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/2946

Thought I'd put this here for anyone interested.  Tom Hooper is considering doing an extended cut of the film but he isn't sure if there are the fans to support it.  I feel the movie needs more in certain areas, and signed this petition.  Anyone interested should take a couple seconds to sign this.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/les-miserables-2012-extended-edition/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=system&utm_campaign=Send%2Bto%2BFriend

doubleofive said:

Are you sure a fan didn't just upload Ady's version to the page? Because I'm sure that happens.

It was posted by the official Star Wars page, not a fan.  Might have been from some special or something.  I checked the ady's version, and it's not ady's.  Though in the still frame, it looks a little better than Ady's.

First attempt at color correction (no grain or aging added).  Note that this was worked off the avc-hd rip I have from my bluray set, which is why I have yet to yeild more highlight and shadow detail.  I attempted to give it a slightly more technicolor look, although that would requires additional work not shown here.  Sorry, the image was incorrectly resized (right click to see full images)

Original:

Color Corrected:

Q2's edit for Ep. II

Seciors' for Ep. I

and L8's or Q2's Ep. III edit (L8's is better, but Q2's retains the Vader twist from Ep. V)

Jetrell Fo said:

With the DTS audio available for these theatrical releases it could prove to be quite a nice set of creations for the fans.

Yes, these will be released with 6.1 DTS-MA tracks like the blurays.  I may age the audio a bit.  I'll probably add some warping, old tube compression, slight clipping from time to time, and some EQ to make the audio match the theatrical sound of ANH.  I'll also try to make the audio sound more on-set, as too many times voices sound dubbed.

My edit will do...

The mystery plot makes no sense.  Won't exist.

The plot structure dissolutes any possibility for tension, and is so jumbled and weird that it's hard to RE-structure into anything different at all.  It has a more straightfoward structure, but giving the film tension is going to be hard.  If there is any more tension, it may be stuck in the politics.

There isn't enough with the Lars Family.  Can't do anything about this.

The "forbidden love" subplot is too stupid to leave in, but too major to leave out.  I'm still debating on if they're love should be forbidden, it's more an issue in Episode III if it can be changed.

Seriously, the hell is with that mystery plot?  Again, won't exist.

The Seperatists and Dooku are the main villains, but they don't appear until the very end. And Dooku dies within the first few minutes of Episode III. He has no time to be a major villain.  While there isn't much new footage, their appearences will be spread about.

Seriously...the Clone Mystery Plot. SERIOUSLY.  Again, won't exist.

The effects are horrendous. Just horrendous. Even Episode I looks a million times better.  Hopefully, the intense colour correction and 35mm conversion of the film will help.

Those are the UNFIXABLE things IMO. So...fellow OT-Ians...

How would you fix these unfixable things in your respective (or theoretical) fan edits?   So I think most can be fixed, and at least others can still be drastically improved.