kk650

Lil Brutto said:

kk650 said:

I'm doing what I can working on this 4k remaster though, slowly improving (I hope) my settings.

 kingkong,

My apologies for the multiple requests but I'd really like to see how your regrade affects the greenish background of the 4K screenshot:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80195

Thanks so much.

No worries, I'm happy to oblige. Here are some screencap comparisons that I posted on blu-ray.com between the 4k release and my latest regrade settings:

-

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80155

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80158

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80160

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80161

-

And here are three others I posted using the same settings:

-

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80074

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80083

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/80092

-

I'll find that frame you just posted and put up a comparison.

Thank you for your thoughts guys. You've given me a lot to think about. I'll put up clips for the classic settings for Hoth and the closing ceremony using both the older settings and  the latest settings so you can tell me what you think.

towne32, you're right that the older classic settings are very similar to the retro settings in terms of colour, the main difference is the saturation level which is a fair bit lower on the retro settings and the contrast is slightly lower as well.

TheHutt said:

Mike O said:

Why the fuck is it so hard to include mono? Why? Do they think we're stupid and won't notice a downmix? Seriously, it's like every fucking Hong Kong release. How hard can it be to include the mono?

It is outright incomprehensible. I do hate all of the new gunshots, they just feel wrong. As does the "mono track restoration" credit.

PS: my mono track project *for the 4K version is completed. After testing it by watching I will open a topic especially for it.

* Sourced from uncompressed PCM of the Theatrical LD, extended scenes from the MGM 4K mono downmix and the German DTS-HDMA with original sound effects from the same. Plus, some extensive synching.

That is fantastic news TheHutt, great job!

When I finish regrading the 4k remastered transfer and we add your mono track to the mix, we're going to make a lot of people very happy. :)

Okay, after taking a few days break from the Star Wars, i've had a look at the classic settings and felt that it was still a touch colder than i'd like so i've changed the colour settings again slightly, hopefully for the last time, making the colours warmer.

Guys, please check out these clips from two scenes, one clip with the old settings and one with my latest settings, and let me know which you prefer, the clips using the older settings or the latest settings:

Scene 1 - older settings

https://mega.co.nz/#!b0An3aDZ!Ekqm1WAicGhpagrQ3wvDiVXkN-CB8NW3i3WcMgjWXT0

Scene 1 - latest settings

https://mega.co.nz/#!C0A32YwL!W_lKWpAgDvdvmepk-uiOdA2V-3Ca8EM__T5_jDOGsjY

Scene 2 - older settings

https://mega.co.nz/#!DxImiAKB!mudGdT1Yn9iSkOiLMjrPb5Q4VvUqEFeb3tQmUzG27cc

Scene 2 - latest settings

https://mega.co.nz/#!3sQRxLoa!SEVyOLpBTQs3-fXrULMIWq6ESjl_piQ-QHmWMH2FHiA

towne32 said:

Will this have be surround sound or stereo?

The 8gb releases will all have the 2 channel pcm audio tracks that I created for my first Semi-Specialised Edition releases, based primarily off Belbucus's fantastic 1993 2 channel pcm audio tracks.

The 16gb releases should have both the 2 channel pcm audio track and Cinema DTS audio tracks.

towne32 said:

Thanks. It's strange, the screenshots you've got above actually look more green/yellow than the clip, and even more so than the V2 release (so, retro). The problem is probably on my end, but I've got them side-by-side so I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy. I like the look in the MKV.

This may be asking a lot, but do you have the ability to render short split-screen clips of all three? I just know I'm going to end up downloading more than one to figure out which I prefer, but maybe that kind of comparison would help avoid doing that.

Nice spot! You're right, imgur for some reason turns images that you upload onto it a little green, no idea why, its pretty annoying. I used to use imageshack that didn't have these colour issues but my trial ran out. The mkv is exactly how its going to look.

Unfortunately the program I use to grade these doesn't have the ability to create split screen videos. I would say that if you feel the Classic version is too saturated for you, check out the Retro release and if you think it's not colourful enough, check out the Technicolor release. I would personally check out all three of Star Wars myself, they all offer their own distinct 'feeling' and decide which I prefer from there and download the same one of the other two.

Here's a clip taken from the Star Wars Classic Semi-Specialised Edition:

https://mega.co.nz/#!z8J0zbAC!mudGdT1Yn9iSkOiLMjrPb5Q4VvUqEFeb3tQmUzG27cc

I'll put up a clip from the Empire Strikes Back Classic Semi-Specialised Edition and the Return of the Jedi Classic Semi-Specialised Edition as well soon.

towne32 said:

edit: went back and figured it out.

So, retro is similar to the V1 releases.

Technicolor is the more saturated version.

Classic is... somewhere in between?

It's nice to have options. Hopefully you're not having to do 12 releases of RoTJ (yubnub/new endings, 9gb and 16gb, 3 color gradings).

No, Retro has nothing to do with my first releases a year ago colourwise, none of these do. I completely redid the colour grading of all three OT films for these Version 2 releases to get more of a feeling of the theatrical prints.

The Retro release of Star Wars is actually already available on tehparadox and myspleen if you want to see how it looks.

It's difficult to distinguish between the three in words but i'll give it a try:

Retro is the release that most has the feeling of the Star Wars print frames that I've seen. It has a slightly desaturated matte feeling to it with a slight green fade that gives it an older more retro feel like the print.

Classic is the release that I would probably consider my prefered release and the one that I would recommend most people go with if they only check out one, its more colourful than the Retro release and it plays more to the strengths of the blu-ray transfer, with a more natural/balanced colour palette with less green fade.

The Technicolor release is the most experimental of the three, it shares the image dynamics and the more balanced/natural colour palette of the Classic release but with far punchier colours for that technicolor kick.

poita said:

I can try, but I don't think it will shift much.

I would say we could easily re-sell the print at the end of the process, although it is in Italian, which might limit the mainstream audience.

I don't know how much we would get back, but probably a reasonable amount, if not all. These things are hen's teeth.

Sorry poita, I can't help you out getting that print, money is tight and i'd never hear the end of it from my wife.

I'm doing what I can working on this 4k remaster though, slowly improving (I hope) my settings. Here are three screencomparisons with the latest settings:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78789

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78790

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78793

DoomBot said:

Mondo and spoRv

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78685

Very nice job you've done there Andrea.

I think it's definately worth doing, trying to recreate the look of the mondo release with the 4k remaster. I've been watching bits from my own copy again to remind myself of the look and it does look nice colourwise. Who knows, maybe that is how its meant to look, blanket orange tint and all?

I'll continue with my more balanced/natural colour scheme and Andrea can make a release more timed to the mondo colour scheme. The more choice the better for everybody I think.

Lil Brutto said:

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

Still thinking all of these color regrading discussion merit its own thread!

 Absolutely. Is it too late to start now after so much discussion here?

 haha probably.

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

I agree with You_Too; the Mondo BD seems to have the better balanced color grading.

Here you are my attempt of color regrading the 4K using the Mondo as color reference:

Original Mondo BD

ColourMatch'ed 4K

(full res: http://s17.postimg.org/ugli3ajjh/GBU_4k_Colour_Match_RGB.jpg)

Of course, final quality is not so high due to the fact that I used only screenshots; I'd like to test it with some test footage taken from both 4K and Mondo BDs...

Still thinking all of these color regrading discussion merit its own thread!

The mondo release looks nice undoubtedly but that doesn't change the fact that it has a blanket orange tint over the whole transfer, even turning night scenes orange. That's not really my cup of tea. I love the orangy fleshtones though, I think it really works for this film, which it why i've tried to get a similar look to the fleshtones on my regrade.

You planning to give recreating the mondo release colour timing using the 4k remaster a shot Andrea?

Lil Brutto said:

Mondo takes 1st place and a close second is kk's regraded shot.

kk, have you been using the same settings for all the screenshots you've regraded and posted on the net?

IB tech print vs KK650 regrade: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78678

Yes, pretty much, except for the very first screen comparison I posted here, where I removed all the yellow tint and made the 4k remaster look like the old us blu-ray release with a bluish tint throughout the whole film. The mondo release certainly whacks that one into space.

DoomBot said:

I agree, i still like the Mondo BD color timing best.

With the mondo release you're exchanging a blanket yellow tint for a blanket orange tint, albeit more subtle than the yellow tint on the 4k remaster. I personally prefer the more natural looking colour palette of the 4k remaster with the strength of the yellow tint reduced. Also the mondo release looks like video while the 4k remaster looks like film IMHO and has more detail and much better grain so its a no brainer for me.

Thanks guys!

PDB, thanks for those comparisons of the different home releases, very fascinating, I wasn't using any of those sources as a guide, just going with what felt 'right' to me in terms of fleshtones, the sky, sunlight, etc. looks like I didn't do too bad a job getting the blue of the sky roughly right in my regrade

My regraded shot at the end though looks a little dark in your comparisons, it should actually be a bit brighter than the 4k remaster, as you can see in the screencap comparison I posted.

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

kk650 said:

Here's a comparison between the blu-ray and my regraded version removing the blanket blue tint:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78520

Good job! And don't forget we have blue snow also on Earth - take a look at The Thing Blu(e)-ray... (^^,)

Cheers Andrea! :)

A quick little update on how these Semi-Specialised Editions are progressing:

The Retro, Classic and Technicolour settings have now been finalised on Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, each film is colour consistant with the others of the same setting, ie. the three Retro releases are consistant with each other, the Classic releases are consistant with each other, the Technicolor releases are consistant with each other. I'm very satisfied with how they look now. I hope you also like what i've done with these. These releases should start coming out very soon.

One last thing, the Retro release currently available on myspleen looks exactly the same as the new Retro release coming out soon, apart from one or two colour inconsistencies in a shot or two I missed the first time which i've now corrected and many distracting coloured dots and one big error I posted a screencap of above that appear throughout the film that have been removed. So if you liked what I did with the Retro release, you should like this new Retro release even more.

Turisu said:

Isn't that white/green R2 unit seen later being lowered into one of the X-wings before the assault on the Death Star?

I feel that removing him from Tattooine undermines his personal journey somewhat. The least George could have done is replace him with a dinosaur in that scene as well. In fact, replacing all the X-wing droids with dinosaurs would add so much more awesome to the Battle of Yavin!

Dinos during the Battle of Yavin, scary thought haha

Don't be surprised if you see some of those dinos on tattoine in episode VII though, if only to keep the fans of the prequels happy, I don't think we've seen the last of them.

towne32 said:

kk650 said:

 

Yes I agree, it looks like GL was experimenting with CG at the time and CG Jabba was nowhere near the level that it should have been to actually be included in the film, irrespective of all the narrative problems it creates.

On the other hand I felt all the CG additions in Mos Eisley were of a much better visual quality overall. Excluding the droid slamming the other one and the swinging jawas, I really like the additions that were made to Mos Eisley, making it feel more like a lived in city rather than a set, I felt it was one of the things where GL really improved on the UOT and one of the reasons why I made these Semi-Specialised Editions.

What are your thoughts on the Sarlacc CGI? I think it looks terribly dated, especially the "beak" part. Again, it reminds me of 1990's video games and ruins the mystery and absurdity of the monster. Since you say your V2 of RoTJ is in final colorizing stages, you have probably already decided whether or not to deal with the Sarlacc?

I've never had any problem with the CG of the Sarlacc pit, I thought it was fairly well done. That said though, I've always been one to believe that when it comes to making something frightening on screen, less is more, so in that sense I prefer the original sarlacc that had a lot more mystery to it and was scarier without all the beak IMHO.

The problem is that there isn't blu-ray level quality footage of the original sarlacc pit, so if I wanted to include the original sarlacc I would have to be constantly cutting between SD footage and HD footage. I tried it in the past when I was first creating these Semi-Specialised releases and the results were not satisfactory, the difference in image quality between the two sources kept jarring me out of the film. For the time being i'm going to go with the SE sarlacc until a high enough quality source with the original sarlacc pit appears so the changes between the SE blu-ray footage and the original theatrical footage are not jarring, then i'll most likely switch back to the original beakless sarlacc.

For those interested, here's how that scene looks with my current regrade settings:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78644

Lil Brutto said:

kk650, I'm happy to break it down for you but it depends on what cut you wish to use for your project. US/International, Italian or English Extended? This info will make it easier to advise on what audio/video sources will be required.

I don't think the goal should be to recreate the colours of Mondo; rather the focus, as you said, should be on removing the blanket yellow and optimizing image dynamics so that it looks...good. The regrade settings you used for your screenshots are already a big step in the right direction.

On page 1 of this thread is a description of my project that I posted on the Sergio Leone Web Board in late 2013. I put my project on hold until the release of the 4K BD. If you're intending to recreate the International cut, then this should help clarify things.

Well my initial plan was to regrade whatever cut is on the new 4k remaster which I believe is the US extended cut right? The lack of mono track with original sound effects and the different cuts of this film has complicated matters though.

There have been those on my The Good, the Bad and the Ugly release thread on tehparadox asking for a regraded release for the US theatrical cut as well and mono with the original sound effects for both cuts. I would love to be able to make them happy by including a high quality mono track with original sound effects that fits with the US extended cut with the regrade and then see if I can work out how to recreate the US theatrical cut from the 4k transfer and get a mono track with original sound effects that fits that.

It seems that you and TheHutt are the experts on this film, would either of you be interested in working with me to create a regraded US theatrical cut and US extended cut with mono tracks to make everybody currently angry about the official release having the strong blanket yellow tint and lacking mono with original sound effects happy again?

towne32 said:

kk650 said:

towne32 said:

Thanks for all the detailed explanations! 

It's easy enough for me to glance at these things and think of alternatives, but it's quite another to try them out and see how they work. I do feel the opposite way about the dino vs. droid, but to each their own. The dino makes me feel like I'm back in 1997 and CGI cut scenes in video games are just starting to become a thing, but are not very good yet.

But it's just a personal preference. Obviously, as someone posting in this thread, I am not 100% anti-SE. I think there's nothing wrong with getting a bit crazy with a 20th anniversary theater re-release! So long as you don't try to wish away history after that. For just about anything *living* that has been done with CGI (Dinos, Jedi Rocks sequence, Sarlac*, Jar Jar ;) ) itjust misses the mark on a technical level. There are other flaws on top of those, in many cases. But if they spliced a Jabba prop into ANH well instead of a terribly anachronistic model, I wouldn't mind it sticking around despite the other faults with it (re-used dialog, breaking the Jabba reveal).

*on that note, I'm crossing my fingers that you can make this particular edit work. :)

It seems that we all have different tolerances for different changes in the SE, which is why its pretty much impossible for anybody to make a version that combines the two which will make everybody happy. You clearly really dislike the dinos but the dinos have never been an issue for me. That bit with the stormtroopers riding on those CG animals looking for the droids in the desert has never been an issue with me for the same reason.

By contrast though, you wouldn't be too bothered by keeping that Jabba scene in Star Wars so long as they used a decent prop while I absolutely HATE that scene and it has little to do with the CG Jabba. It's probably the change I hate the most out of all the SE changes throughout the OT, closely followed by Greedo shooting first and Hayden Christenson replacing Sebastian Shaw in the Jedi Ghosts scene in Return of the Jedi. I hate the Jabba scene in Star Wars for three main reasons:

1) Its simply repeating all the information we were already told during the Han Solo/Greedo scene

2) It makes Jabba look like a clown, a buffoon that nobody in their right mind would be afraid of, certainly not like Han is in Empire Strikes Back

3) It ruins the surprise and final brilliant reveal in Return of the Jedi of this villain that has been a menace hanging over Han and the others, a dark shadow looming over them throughout the entire trilogy, with people thinking 'Oh, its that clown from Star Wars again'.

Everybody has a different opinion on what should be kept/what should stay. The only sane thing for me to do is go with what works for me. Hopefully others will agree with a lot of my choices and be able to enjoy these Semi-Specialised Editions as well.

 Oh, I fully agree with all of those reasons, and I think it has no place in an *ideal* version of the movie. I simply mean that, while watching it, the thing that takes me out of the movie the most is that it feels like I'm watching a youtube video on "how to do CGI in maya" or something. It was a neat little bonus to show off unused footage in the '97 release, but I think it honestly should never be shown aside from a DVD/bluray easter egg section.

Yes I agree, it looks like GL was experimenting with CG at the time and CG Jabba was nowhere near the level that it should have been to actually be included in the film, irrespective of all the narrative problems it creates.

On the other hand I felt all the CG additions in Mos Eisley were of a much better visual quality overall. Excluding the droid slamming the other one and the swinging jawas, I really like the additions that were made to Mos Eisley, making it feel more like a lived in city rather than a set, I felt it was one of the things where GL really improved on the UOT and one of the reasons why I made these Semi-Specialised Editions.

BuddhaMaster said:

Thanks for the words. Still I'm under the impression that you can really simply reduce the blue's by some 10-15% for the special editions to get rid of the tint. It really is THAT severe

You can simply remove as much blue's as until Hoth becomes basically white. It will look instantly gratified. At least for me it looks right.

If you set Blue to 89% and Green to 93% the snow parts look about right

Thats what I usually do in my media player, because I can't stop playing with the controls. And I really can't stand the BLUE ;)

I'm already removing the blanket blue tint with these Semi-Specialised Editions. Looking at that nighttime scene with my latest regraded settings though, it looks like that scene is meant to be bluish, which would make sense because its in the evening/at night so the sun isn't out. Also that scene is meant to feel very cold I think so we are more worried that Luke is going to freeze to death. During the daytime the snow should certainly look more white though, which is what my regraded settings achieve I believe. Here's a comparison between the blu-ray and my regraded version removing the blanket blue tint:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78520

towne32 said:

Thanks for all the detailed explanations! 

It's easy enough for me to glance at these things and think of alternatives, but it's quite another to try them out and see how they work. I do feel the opposite way about the dino vs. droid, but to each their own. The dino makes me feel like I'm back in 1997 and CGI cut scenes in video games are just starting to become a thing, but are not very good yet.

But it's just a personal preference. Obviously, as someone posting in this thread, I am not 100% anti-SE. I think there's nothing wrong with getting a bit crazy with a 20th anniversary theater re-release! So long as you don't try to wish away history after that. For just about anything *living* that has been done with CGI (Dinos, Jedi Rocks sequence, Sarlac*, Jar Jar ;) ) itjust misses the mark on a technical level. There are other flaws on top of those, in many cases. But if they spliced a Jabba prop into ANH well instead of a terribly anachronistic model, I wouldn't mind it sticking around despite the other faults with it (re-used dialog, breaking the Jabba reveal).

*on that note, I'm crossing my fingers that you can make this particular edit work. :)

It seems that we all have different tolerances for different changes in the SE, which is why its pretty much impossible for anybody to make a version that combines the two which will make everybody happy. You clearly really dislike the dinos but the dinos have never been an issue for me. That bit with the stormtroopers riding on those CG animals looking for the droids in the desert has never been an issue with me for the same reason.

By contrast though, you wouldn't be too bothered by keeping that Jabba scene in Star Wars so long as they used a decent prop while I absolutely HATE that scene and it has little to do with the CG Jabba. It's probably the change I hate the most out of all the SE changes throughout the OT, closely followed by Greedo shooting first and Hayden Christenson replacing Sebastian Shaw in the Jedi Ghosts scene in Return of the Jedi. I hate the Jabba scene in Star Wars for three main reasons:

1) Its simply repeating all the information we were already told during the Han Solo/Greedo scene

2) It makes Jabba look like a clown, a buffoon that nobody in their right mind would be afraid of, certainly not like Han is in Empire Strikes Back

3) It ruins the surprise and final brilliant reveal in Return of the Jedi of this villain that has been a menace hanging over Han and the others, a dark shadow looming over them throughout the entire trilogy, with people thinking 'Oh, its that clown from Star Wars again'.

Everybody has a different opinion on what should be kept/what should stay. The only sane thing for me to do is go with what works for me. Hopefully others will agree with a lot of my choices and be able to enjoy these Semi-Specialised Editions as well.

djchaseb said:

So are there any ongoing projects working to regrade the 4K version?  Original mono audio as well?

Currently watching the Mondo and it looks great in my opinion, the 4K has nice detail but I'm really having a hard time with the overly yellow look.

I'm planning to regrade the 4k release.

Am I the only one getting confused by all the different versions of this film and all the different mono tracks out there? Can somebody that knows about all these different releases post a quick summary of what versions have what changes to them and how the mono tracks differ for these different versions and where they can be found? All this talk of different cuts/different audio tracks is doing my head in...

From what i've seen of the transfer, a lot of that yellow is meant to be there. The problem is not so much the yellow tint itself but the strength of the yellow tint. This 4k master seems to have a very different colour scheme to the mondo release so short of regrading on a shot by shot basis to recreate the colours of the mondo release, simply removing the excess yellow and correcting the image dynamics with one setting is not going to get it looking exactly like the mondo release, this 4k master has its own look and colours which, not taking into account the extra detail and lovely grain of the 4k remaster, is arguably more natural looking and better overall than the mondo release IMHO.

towne32 said:

kk650 said:

towne32 said:

kk650 said:

towne32 said:

I think it looks great. I think the main flaw is the somewhat obvious sound cuts that we've discussed a bit already, so no need to dwell on that more. It would be lovely to see that fix in the 16gb version, though.

As far as other editing decisions go, as you've said, everyone would probably create a slightly different version for themselves. I personally would love a copy with *no* CGI 'dinosaurs' at all (or flying droids) in addition to the rest of your changes. But, different strokes for different folks.

And I did notice the grey line in that shot. Is it only a single frame with this?

If I had access to blu-ray level HD footage of the shots you're talking about without the 'dinosaurs', I'd certainly consider removing the one that walks accross Luke and Ben when they're in the speeder about to talk to the storm troopers. 

 I agree that the flying droids aren't the end of the world.

Would you consider asking Harmy/team negative1 to use their 35mm scan to get rid of the giant dino blocking the camera? It would probably need a lot of color alteration. Given that a lot of that has probably already been done on the shot, I'm not sure how much a clip can be changed back and forth before it starts getting... odd.

I don't necessarily like the 'dino' that they pass *after* the stormtroopers. But, the landspeeder was a mess in that shot as it was originally done. (I recall reading that it was processed and blurred repeatedly, and it shows). So, short of some rotoscoping to keep the speeder and lose the creature, it's probably fine for semi-specialized as is.

There is the shot when they're first pulling into the city, specific to the SE, where there are exact duplicate stormtroopers on both sides, making the exact same motions. I like the shot (for SE purposes), but the identically moving stormtroopers make it look like a 90's video game. Again, probably not an easy fix by any means.

Hmm, it's fascinating because i'm looking at althor1138's incredibly useful Star Wars COLD release to quickly compare the SE to the GOUT and it seems like that dino walking across was put there on purpose to hide the cheap looking half painted white and green R2D2 unit that passes by. Which is the lesser of two evils is the question, GL thinks the dino it seems. I'm 50/50 to be honest.

The shot when they pass the dino after the stormtroopers, I have no preference whether the dino is there or not, both are fine to me, though the GOUT and Japanese laserdisc release have a lot more deadspace below the R2D2 droid with the red top than the SE releases, making the GOUT/laserdisc shot look more like a set and a bit fake compared to the SE releases IMHO. In this case I would definately choose the SE shot because of the reduced amount of deadspace, making for better frame composition and making the set look more real, a definate improvement in my book.

The third thing you mentioned is something i've never noticed (nice spot, though you probably wish you hadn't noticed it now haha) so its not really an issue for me. As you say though, even if it was, I don't think there's that much I could do about it.

 I never really thought of the up close dino-skin as an attempt to block the green droid. Just had another look, and I don't think the droid looks too bad (surely he would have blocked the ugly yellow one instead?).

You're right about the other points.

I also compared the sound changes (as the shot switches) in your version, the SE, and the original. I think you're mostly right, that you found pretty good spots to cut. 

I think what's problematic for you is the very brief look at the first dino, after the dupli-troopers shot. I see why you have it there. Before the shenanigans, it's a prototypical example of what the SE is trying to do in expanding mos eisley, and you're *not* making a despecialized. But more importantly, the up-close dino skin in the next shot would be so much worse without the viewer having been exposed to what that creature *even is*. But the shot is so quick the way you've got it. It's a bit awkward in both the video and your sound cut. Have you considered cutting when the dino's feet hit the ground? The ridiculous part, honestly, is the swinging jawa.

In conclusion: Mos Eisley is a mess and it's difficult to strike a good balance.

How bad the droid is is definately something everybody will have a different opinion on. That droid does look pretty cheap to me and it looks cheaper and cheaper each time I look at him to be honest, I can understand why GL would want to get rid of him so bad, it looks like the sort of cheap prop that would have expected to see in a low budget 70's sci-fi TV series or something like that. You don't expect to see something of such lazy workmanship in a film classic like Star Wars.

Is he cheap enough to break the fourth wall for me now that i've noticed him and take me out of the film each time I watch that scene? Probably. Has the CG dino crossing ever taken me out of the film? Honestly, no, never. That's the only thing that's important to me so I prefer the dino, even if I had the UOT footage in blu-ray quality I'd choose the dino over the cheap looking R2D2 unit I think. I just wish that GL had come up with a more subtle way to hide that drioid.

I see what you've saying about cutting when the dino puts his foot down but there was a very good reason why I cut where I did. There is another speeder coming in from the bottom of the frame. I tried cutting when the speeder luke and ben fully cross the frame but then the other speeder coming from the bottom is fully in the frame and I found it very jarring to cut there because the shot suggests that your eyes should follow the second speeder, which is of course is what you're meant to do when watching the SE because it causes the Jawas to fall off and swing from side to side. Ones eyes not being able to follow the second speeder and see what happens due to the cut was very jarring for me, taking me out of the film.

I tried many cut points and settled on this one because I felt it struck a good compromise between letting the speeder ben and luke are on get most of the way across the frame so you know where they're going while not allowing that speeder coming in from the bottom to come into the frame enough to catch the viewers eye and thereby jarr the viewer out the film when you cut away from the second speeder. I tried all the different cut points I could and felt that this one was the one that jarred me the least, so that's the one I went for. That that cut point happened to work really nicely as an audio cut point as well IHMO was just serendipity.