Congrats on finally finishing this NeverarGreat! Very interested in seeing what colour choices you’ve made in certain scenes.
Do you have any plans to work on The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi?
What with tehparadox down for good it seems like a good time to resurrect this thread. I haven’t been idle these last fews days since coming back from my holidays (mostly to get my mind off tehparadox having gone down) and I’m happy to share the fruits of my labour with you guys.
My latest release is a regraded IMAX version of Titanic to mark the 20th Anniversary of this great film. I removed a strong blanket yellow tint that has been added to the whole film on the Titanic 3D blu-ray. The release is 22.8 GB and includes the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track from the blu-ray. I’ve put it up of Myspleen for those that are interested in checking it out. If there is interest, I can also put up the 46GB version of this release that I created to have as good image quality as possible.
Here are some screencap comparisons:
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Regraded 6:
Blu-ray 7:
Regraded 7:
Blu-ray 8:
Regraded 8:
Blu-ray 9:
Regraded 9:
I should hopefully be able to start uploading V2.6 of Star Wars to Myspleen next week, with V2.6 of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi following soon after.
KK what changes are you making to TESB? Just colours or edit too?
The edit stays the same as V2.2 with the original theatrical Emperor but the change in colour from V2.2 is significant, the fleshtones in particular are more red. Here are some screencap comparisons between the blu-ray and the latest The Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6:
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Regraded 5:
Is there any chance you might be able to upload this latest version on my spleen?
I haven’t forgotten about you guys, just got my hands full with other releases right now like Rogue One, Moana and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
I should hopefully be able to start uploading V2.6 of Star Wars to Myspleen next week, with V2.6 of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi following soon after.
To everybody that’s asked a question, apologies for the delay in getting back to you, its been a tough last few months with my father in and out of hospital with a heart condition. I’ll answer all your questions when I start uploading the latest Star Wars V2.6 release to Myspleen.
It’s interesting to note, that the 1977 bootleg recording shows a very similar color palette to the photo of the frame I have in my possession:
For comparison, here’s how that same shot looks on V2.6:
And here’s the photo of the frame you posted before:
The technicolor print frame in the photo is certainly very green like Swazzy said, turning the walls green and leaving no space for the blues.
It’ll be very interesting to see how this frame in particular looks colourwise when you get it scanned, finding out how the fleshtones look and the colour of the walls, how much blue and green are in this shot and which colour is more predominant.
This grading is beautiful! Especially the one with Han is like the perfect example of
everything that’s wrong with the Bluray. Really nice 70’ vibe!
Great job on the regrade, to bad there’s some SE stuff in there though… 😉Blu-ray 6:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 6:
Very kind of you to say that Memorex, I really appreciate it.
Those Battle of Yavin X-Wing updates make the compromise of having a few CG droids flying around in Mos Eisley completely worth it for me. I really love that Biggs moment with Luke before the Battle of Yavin as well, adds pathos to his sacrifice protecting Luke during the battle.
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
It will be interesting to compare your regrade (and others) to the calibrated frame scans, once I’ve digitized them. I have a number of frames of this exact shot. I will also be getting a number of shots of the entry to Mos Eisley scene next week. I’m very interested what that scene looks like. Particulary the color of R5-A2 (orange or yellow?). Once I’ve started the scanning process I will create a separate thread for color references.
I have around 100-200 Star Wars technicolor print frames as well from different parts of the film, I bought them from an ebayer a while back when I was researching the colours for the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5, perhaps from the same person you did. They’re lovely to look at but as NeverarGreat said before, the colours can often be inconsistant from shot to shot, meaning every frame can’t be taken as exact colour references unless you plan to replicate those shot by shot colour inconsistancies. I have a feeling that every Star Wars technicolor print also looked a little different from each other colourwise as well.
I’m curious, are you planning to catalog these print scans just as a reference for everybody here to get a better feel for the colours of a Star Wars technicolor print or do you plan on creating a Star Wars release graded to a technicolor print similar to what NeverarGreat has been working on?
It is true that technicolor prints vary in color. However, the original grading itself also suffers from inconsistencies, as poita also noted in the past. I personally feel these need to be replicated for a print restoration project. Of course in color grading a semi-specialised edition the goals are somewhat different, and I would go with what’s aesthetically appealing. I plan to catalogue them as a reference for everybody, but I’m also working on another project, which involves golor grading a print scan. However, to know more about that I advice you to contact williarob.
If I was doing such a print restoration project I would choose the technicolor frame with the best colour that I had from a certain scene and regrade the whole scene to be consistant with that frame. I know that the original Star Wars prints were supposed to be notoriously inconsistant colourwise from shot to shot but I think people watching films now have certain expectations when it comes to consistant colours in a scene on home releases. It’s an option that I think you and williarob should consider.
In my view that would be going into special edition teritory. The color inconsistencies are part of the original viewing experience, just like matte lines, the orange blob, etc. So, for a print restoration I would not try to improve the original presentation. I believe, the goal of a print restoration should be to restore the print to it’s original state.
Hmm, when I think of Special Editions, I think of Jabba in A New Hope, Greedo shooting first and Hayden Christenssen at the end of Return of the Jedi, I think of changed content, not consistant colour grading. I think trying to make the original unaltered theatrical cut of Star Wars more appealing to modern audiences is a worthwhile endevour and doesn’t make it a Special Edition. Does anybody here actually believe that if Disney does release the unaltered Original Trilogy, that they won’t make sure that they maintain colour/fleshtone consistency on a scene by scene basis, even if its not 100% accurate to the theatrical prints?
I think creating an appealing colour consistant version of the original unaltered Star Wars that becomes popular with the mainstream general public could actually be a great way of showing Disney that there’s real interest in these unaltered releases and make it that much more likely that they’ll be released as well when the inevitable 4k remastered Original Trilogy Special Editions come out.
Restoring a print and preparing an official release are two different things in my view. First of all contrast and saturation are different for a print than for a home video release. Secondly the color grading for home video releases are generally somewhat different from the theatrical release, and optimized for home view. This is not the objective of restoring a print. I’m of the opinion it’s oke for the person restoring the print to interpret the colors in the absence of accurate references, but if accurate color references are available, I don’t think it’s the restorer’s job to attempt to improve the colors, which is generally a pretty subjective endeavour. Also, having examined the frames themselves, I don’t believe the color imbalances are such, that anyone watching the films would notice. Consider the fact that home video releases such as the JSC suffer from color imbalances as well, and I only noticed those, when I directly compared frames from different shots.
Ps. I really like the v2.6 grading. It’s a great improvement over the previous version. Great job!
I respect where you’re coming from here DrDre, it reminds me of the debate that’s happening at this very moment about the new Italian 4k remastered Suspiria blu-ray that just came out, the German guy that restored that release said something very similar in defence of colours of his release, the upcoming Synapse release has far more appealing and balanced colours from screencaps they’ve posted on their site and many are attacking the Italian release, saying the colours look muted and dull by comparison. What’s more important, respecting the colours as they originally looked theatrically, warts and all, (assuming of course the German guy is telling the truth about basing his release’s colours on accurate references) or being more pragmatic and creating a more visually appealing, colour balanced released? It’s certainly an interesting question and i’m sure many other 4k remastered releases in future will create similar debates.
I’m very glad you prefer this latest V2.6 release, it required me backtracking on certain assumptions i’d made in the past about how Star Wars was meant to look but that’s all part of the learning experience. Even after all the releases i’ve done I still feel like i’m learning something new with each new regrade.
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
The blue highlights on Threepio are the reflection of the sky. This last image also lacks the reds that should be in the faces in the exterior Tatooine shots. The image has been over adjusted to make their skin tones look good when all the on set photos I’ve come across also show very red tones. Basically it has been over corrected. Though my one issue with DrDre’s new scan is that the darker areas seem over saturated to the point where detail is lost, but that could be the print itself. But the colors seem on the money to me. His color sense is excellent and he is using very good equipment to scan the frames.
I’m not exactly sure what you think over corrected means Yotsuya. When I think of over corrected, I think of a frame that had a blanket blue tint like in the second frame and too much is removed in correction, making it too yellow, or a frame that is too contrasty and too much contrast is removed and the frame ends up looking flat and washed out. The first frame has a blanket red tint and the second has a blanket blue tint, both are oversaturated, with too much contrast for home viewing. You are aware that set photos are not 100% reliable when it comes to deciding what the colours/image dynamics in a film should be right? Those set photos get manipulated for publication and the original film footage also gets regraded in post.
It doesn’t matter how red the fleshtones are in set photos, what matters is getting as balanced colours as possible with the frame/transfer you’re working with and that for me means getting the contrast and saturation within normal levels for home viewing, getting fleshtones looking fairly natural relative to the light sources they’re exposed to and getting rid of any blanket tints like the blanket red tint in the first frame and blanket blue tint in the second frame, from the OT films we know the daytime sunlight on tatooine is supposed to be normal for a hot desert country, a warm yellowish colour, not tinted red or blue.
I’m confident that there is no blanket tint in that frame I posted and that the brightness/contrast/saturation settings are correct in the context of the blu-ray’s colour scheme because a single setting was used to grade the vast majority of the film, including this whole scene with Ben. White scenes on Tantive IV and other scenes from the film like the ones below were used to carefully calibrate that single overall setting and remove any blanket tints on the blu-ray and get the best balance of colours possible:
Blu-ray 1:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 6:
Blu-ray 7:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 7:
Blu-ray 8:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 8:
Blu-ray 9:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 9:
Blu-ray 10:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 10:
Blu-ray 1:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 2:
By over correcting I mean that there is a problem with the source and in the process of correcting the problem you take it too far the other way. So the above frames correct the magenta of the BR but leave the frames far yellower than our most accurate sources would indicate. In essence, exchanging one bad color for another (though the yellow is less offensive to the eye). DrDre has posted some awesome color corrections that are generally agreed to be the best the posters to this thread have ever seen the colors. When you overlay the original BR with the above correction, you get something far more pleasing and I feel more accurate.
I do not see a blanket yellow tint in any of my corrected shots Yotsuya and I have a great deal of experience removing blanket yellow tints over many many releases. Check out my releases on tehparadox for many recent examples of removing blanket yellow tints like the recent Arrival blu-ray and The Magnificent Seven remake.
Look at the first comparison, thats where a blanket yellow tint would be most clearly visible and I do not see it, the colours are balanced, the blues are there and accounted for in all the corrected shots and the yellow that is there is meant to be there, at least on the blu-ray.
I know I won’t be able to convince you otherwise, I was much the same in the past with unshakable assumptions about how much red was supposed to be in the fleshtones of Star Wars and I would always make them more yellow/green to avoid them looking too red and sunburnt. Now after a lot of experience regrading I know better and no longer make assumptions about how films are supposed to look and let the colours do the talking. You should take DrDre’s approach and keep an open mind when it comes to how the Original Trilogy is supposed to look.
I look forward to what NeverarGreat and DrDre come up with but will make no conclusions on which of our three releases look the most ‘correct’ colourwise until I can see both their releases in their entirety rather than single frames or in the case of NeverarGreat a short clip or two. You should consider doing the same. I do agree with you that what i’ve seen from both projects look very promising. At least we agree there.
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
The blue highlights on Threepio are the reflection of the sky. This last image also lacks the reds that should be in the faces in the exterior Tatooine shots. The image has been over adjusted to make their skin tones look good when all the on set photos I’ve come across also show very red tones. Basically it has been over corrected. Though my one issue with DrDre’s new scan is that the darker areas seem over saturated to the point where detail is lost, but that could be the print itself. But the colors seem on the money to me. His color sense is excellent and he is using very good equipment to scan the frames.
I’m not exactly sure what you think over corrected means Yotsuya. When I think of over corrected, I think of a frame that had a blanket blue tint like in the second frame and too much is removed in correction, making it too yellow, or a frame that is too contrasty and too much contrast is removed and the frame ends up looking flat and washed out. The first frame has a blanket red tint and the second has a blanket blue tint, both are oversaturated, with too much contrast for home viewing. You are aware that set photos are not 100% reliable when it comes to deciding what the colours/image dynamics in a film should be right? Those set photos get manipulated for publication and the original film footage also gets regraded in post.
It doesn’t matter how red the fleshtones are in set photos, what matters is getting as balanced colours as possible with the frame/transfer you’re working with and that for me means getting the contrast and saturation within normal levels for home viewing, getting fleshtones looking fairly natural relative to the light sources they’re exposed to and getting rid of any blanket tints like the blanket red tint in the first frame and blanket blue tint in the second frame, from the OT films we know the daytime sunlight on tatooine is supposed to be normal for a hot desert country, a warm yellowish colour, not tinted red or blue.
I’m confident that there is no blanket tint in that frame I posted and that the brightness/contrast/saturation settings are correct in the context of the blu-ray’s colour scheme because a single setting was used to grade the vast majority of the film, including this whole scene with Ben. White scenes on Tantive IV and other scenes from the film like the ones below were used to carefully calibrate that single overall setting and remove any blanket tints on the blu-ray and get the best balance of colours possible:
Blu-ray 1:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 6:
Blu-ray 7:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 7:
Blu-ray 8:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 8:
Blu-ray 9:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 9:
Blu-ray 10:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 10:
Blu-ray 1:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 Regraded 2:
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
It will be interesting to compare your regrade (and others) to the calibrated frame scans, once I’ve digitized them. I have a number of frames of this exact shot. I will also be getting a number of shots of the entry to Mos Eisley scene next week. I’m very interested what that scene looks like. Particulary the color of R5-A2 (orange or yellow?). Once I’ve started the scanning process I will create a separate thread for color references.
I have around 100-200 Star Wars technicolor print frames as well from different parts of the film, I bought them from an ebayer a while back when I was researching the colours for the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5, perhaps from the same person you did. They’re lovely to look at but as NeverarGreat said before, the colours can often be inconsistant from shot to shot, meaning every frame can’t be taken as exact colour references unless you plan to replicate those shot by shot colour inconsistancies. I have a feeling that every Star Wars technicolor print also looked a little different from each other colourwise as well.
I’m curious, are you planning to catalog these print scans just as a reference for everybody here to get a better feel for the colours of a Star Wars technicolor print or do you plan on creating a Star Wars release graded to a technicolor print similar to what NeverarGreat has been working on?
It is true that technicolor prints vary in color. However, the original grading itself also suffers from inconsistencies, as poita also noted in the past. I personally feel these need to be replicated for a print restoration project. Of course in color grading a semi-specialised edition the goals are somewhat different, and I would go with what’s aesthetically appealing. I plan to catalogue them as a reference for everybody, but I’m also working on another project, which involves golor grading a print scan. However, to know more about that I advice you to contact williarob.
If I was doing such a print restoration project I would choose the technicolor frame with the best colour that I had from a certain scene and regrade the whole scene to be consistant with that frame. I know that the original Star Wars prints were supposed to be notoriously inconsistant colourwise from shot to shot but I think people watching films now have certain expectations when it comes to consistant colours in a scene on home releases. It’s an option that I think you and williarob should consider.
In my view that would be going into special edition teritory. The color inconsistencies are part of the original viewing experience, just like matte lines, the orange blob, etc. So, for a print restoration I would not try to improve the original presentation. I believe, the goal of a print restoration should be to restore the print to it’s original state.
Hmm, when I think of Special Editions, I think of Jabba in A New Hope, Greedo shooting first and Hayden Christenssen at the end of Return of the Jedi, I think of changed content, not consistant colour grading. I think trying to make the original unaltered theatrical cut of Star Wars more appealing to modern audiences is a worthwhile endevour and doesn’t make it a Special Edition. Does anybody here actually believe that if Disney does release the unaltered Original Trilogy, that they won’t make sure that they maintain colour/fleshtone consistency on a scene by scene basis, even if its not 100% accurate to the theatrical prints?
I think creating an appealing colour consistant version of the original unaltered Star Wars that becomes popular with the mainstream general public could actually be a great way of showing Disney that there’s real interest in these unaltered releases and make it that much more likely that they’ll be released as well when the inevitable 4k remastered Original Trilogy Special Editions come out.
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
It will be interesting to compare your regrade (and others) to the calibrated frame scans, once I’ve digitized them. I have a number of frames of this exact shot. I will also be getting a number of shots of the entry to Mos Eisley scene next week. I’m very interested what that scene looks like. Particulary the color of R5-A2 (orange or yellow?). Once I’ve started the scanning process I will create a separate thread for color references.
I have around 100-200 Star Wars technicolor print frames as well from different parts of the film, I bought them from an ebayer a while back when I was researching the colours for the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5, perhaps from the same person you did. They’re lovely to look at but as NeverarGreat said before, the colours can often be inconsistant from shot to shot, meaning every frame can’t be taken as exact colour references unless you plan to replicate those shot by shot colour inconsistancies. I have a feeling that every Star Wars technicolor print also looked a little different from each other colourwise as well.
I’m curious, are you planning to catalog these print scans just as a reference for everybody here to get a better feel for the colours of a Star Wars technicolor print or do you plan on creating a Star Wars release graded to a technicolor print similar to what NeverarGreat has been working on?
It is true that technicolor prints vary in color. However, the original grading itself also suffers from inconsistencies, as poita also noted in the past. I personally feel these need to be replicated for a print restoration project. Of course in color grading a semi-specialised edition the goals are somewhat different, and I would go with what’s aesthetically appealing. I plan to catalogue them as a reference for everybody, but I’m also working on another project, which involves golor grading a print scan. However, to know more about that I advice you to contact williarob.
If I was doing such a print restoration project I would choose the technicolor frame with the best colour that I had from a certain scene and regrade the whole scene to be consistant with that frame. I know that the original Star Wars prints were supposed to be notoriously inconsistant colourwise from shot to shot but I think people watching films now have certain expectations when it comes to consistant colours in a scene on home releases. It’s an option that I think you and williarob should consider.
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
It will be interesting to compare your regrade (and others) to the calibrated frame scans, once I’ve digitized them. I have a number of frames of this exact shot. I will also be getting a number of shots of the entry to Mos Eisley scene next week. I’m very interested what that scene looks like. Particulary the color of R5-A2 (orange or yellow?). Once I’ve started the scanning process I will create a separate thread for color references.
I have around 100-200 Star Wars technicolor print frames as well from different parts of the film, I bought them from an ebayer a while back when I was researching the colours for the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5, perhaps from the same person you did. They’re lovely to look at but as NeverarGreat said before, the colours can often be inconsistant from shot to shot, meaning every frame can’t be taken as exact colour references unless you plan to replicate those shot by shot colour inconsistancies. I have a feeling that every Star Wars technicolor print also looked a little different from each other colourwise as well.
I’m curious, are you planning to catalog these print scans just as a reference for everybody here to get a better feel for the colours of a Star Wars technicolor print or do you plan on creating a Star Wars release graded to a technicolor print similar to what NeverarGreat has been working on?
This is a very rough approximation, and is definitely not an accurate color reference, but the Mike Verta scans look something like this:
…whereas the print itself looks something like this:
On my main monitor the top image looks too red and the bottom image looks too blue, you can see it in the highlights on C3PO. There’s a very noticable difference in colour between those two frames, at least to my eyes. Both are oversaturated as well IMHO.
For those interested in comparing, here’s roughly that frame from the new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.6 I just uploaded to tehparadox:
The new release is Star Wars, my favourite of the Original Trilogy. I don’t think i’ll ever get tired of trying to improve this amazing film 😃
The Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 is now up on myspleen and tehparadox. Here are updated screencap comparisons for all seven Star Wars regrades:
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5:
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Regraded 6:
Blu-ray 7:
Regraded 7:
Blu-ray 8:
Regraded 8:
Blu-ray 9:
Regraded 9:
Blu-ray 10:
Regraded 10:
And here are some screencap comparisons between the offical blu-ray and the two replaced shots in the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 release:
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2:
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Regraded 6:
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Semi-Specialised Edition V2.15:
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Regraded 6:
Regraded Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Regrained Edition V2
Official Blu-ray 1:
Regraded and Regrained Edition 1:
Official Blu-ray 2:
Regraded and Regrained Edition 2:
Official Blu-ray 3:
Regraded and Regrained Edition 3:
Regraded Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones V2
Official Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Official Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Official Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Regraded Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith V2
Official Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Official Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Official Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Regraded Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Blu-ray 1:
Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Regraded IMAX 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Regraded 6:
Blu-ray 7:
Regraded 7:
Blu-ray 8:
Regraded 8:
Merry Christmas to you too, kk650! It’s so cool that you posted this today — I came here just to check on some technical details of the 2.2 release and saw that you’ve brought this out.
One quick question for you (or anyone else who knows) — what’s the difference between the two DTS HD-MA 5.1 audio tracks? If I’m to listen to one, should I be listening to the upmix of the PCM mix or the one labelled ‘Cinema DTS-HD MA 5.1’?
Anyway, thanks again for v2.5, and I second your good wishes regarding Carrie Fisher.
The main difference is that the PCM upmix is based off Belbucus’s '93 2 channel PCM audio track so it doesn’t have all the directional sound effects and flourishes that were added to the later 5.1 audio mixes like the Cinema DTS tracks. I personally love Belbucus’s '93 2 channel PCM audio track the most, the music has the prominence it deserves while later Star Wars surround sound audio mixes gave more prominence to the sound effects to the detriment of the music.
Merry Christmas to you too towne32.
I’m glad you like the colours more. I actually used both 1.5 and 1.6, 1.5 for the dino replacement shot and 1.6 for the stormtrooper dead end replacement shot. I think I checked out 1.0 at one point a while back when I was just considering replacing those two shots but decided the quality wasn’t sufficient to fit in seamlessly with the blu-ray footage, so I shelved the whole idea. When I first saw 1.5 and 1.6 though, I was confident I could make it work.
Merry Christmas everyone!
For the last two weeks i’ve been working on a little Christmas present for everybody, a new Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 with updated colour timing and a few other little changes. I know that a few of of you felt that Leia’s fleshtones in my previous V2.2 release needed a bit more warmth to look natural so I have taken that feedback to heart with this V2.5 release and adjusted the colour grading accordingly.
I have also made two other changes to V2.5 compared to previous releases, I have replaced two specialised shots that I have always found distracting when watching previous versions of the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition.
The first shot is where the CG dino creature walks across the frame covering the whole screen as Luke and Ben are being stopped by Stormtroopers in Mos Eisley.
The second shot is a very silly over the top scene where Han is chasing the stormtroopers in the deathstar and in the Special Edition he comes round the corner and there are hundreds of CG stormtroopers in a docking bay waiting for him, while in the theatrical release it was just a dead end with the six stormtroopers he’d been chasing waiting for him, a very funny scene in the theatrical release that just looks very silly and fake in the Special Edition.
I used TeamNegative1’s Silver Screen Edition as my video source to reinsert these two scenes into this V2.5 (thank you so much TeamNegative1 for creating this wonderful release). I also adjusted the colour grading of the two replaced shots taken from the Silver Screen Edition to make them more seemlessly match the colour grading of the rest of V2.5 and also removed the more distracting spots and dirt that appeared here and there.
Also included in this release is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 upmix upmix of Belbucus’s fantastic Star Wars '93 PCM two channel audio track and the Cinema DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track created to fit this Semi-Specialised Edition. The video bitrate has also been boosted compared to the previous V2.2 to use up all the space available on a bd-25 disc. English and Spanish subtitles are also included.
Here are some screencap comparisons between the offical blu-ray and this Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 release:
Blu-ray 1:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 2:
Blu-ray 3:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 3:
Blu-ray 4:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 4:
Blu-ray 5:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 5:
Blu-ray 6:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 6:
Blu-ray 7:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 7:
Blu-ray 8:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 8:
Blu-ray 9:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 9:
Blu-ray 10:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 10:
And here are some screencap comparisons between the offical blu-ray and the two replaced shots in this Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 release:
Blu-ray 1:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 1:
Blu-ray 2:
Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.5 Regraded 2:
I’ll have this release up on tehparadox later on today and then put it up on myspleen, with freeleech right now its the perfect time for everybody interested in checking this release out.
Finally I’m sure most of you have heard about the heart attack Carrie Fisher suffered on her flight from London to LA and that she is currently in intensive care. I feel that it would be only right to dedicate this V2.5 release to the amazing Carrie Fisher. The Star Wars Original Trilogy would not have been the same without her. My prayers go out to her and her loved ones who must be suffering a great deal right now. I hope she ends up being okay and makes a swift recovery.
PMs sent
I’ve been enjoying following the progress on this project. Count me in.
Then to give the image back the ‘soft glow’ that they were going for on the film
Although the skintones are a little brighter all up, (and as I said I have pushed the effect much more than usual just to illustrate the concept) the real difference is in the range of tones in the face, the nose, lips and eyes now have more depth with stronger highlights to differentiate themselves from the rest of the face.
The idea is to make the subject look more alive, and less ‘pancake’.
I came across this discussion, and I thought I would share my Technicolor version:
I’d say you’ve got a touch too much red there, turning some of the highlights on the stormtrooper armour a little orange, but apart from that it looks nice. Great image dynamics as well to my eye, brightness and contrast look just about right.
It has been a tough day at work, my apologies everybody if that came out before, real life gets to the best of us and i’m human like everybody else. My releases are actually called the ‘Semi-Specialised Editions’, always have been. The Aluminum Falcon started this thread with the incorrect title and I never got round to asking him to change it. I have no problem with people here refering to them as the ‘Semi-Specialized Editions’ if they find that easier to remember but I would prefer it if they were refered to by their actual name, the ‘Semi-Specialised Editions’.
Possessed’s post caught me at a bad moment and I most likely read more into it than there was.
I don’t want anybody to feel like they can’t post negative opinions or feedback about any of my releases, I respect all feedback, whether good or bad and from past experience negative feedback has often been the most helpful in getting better as a regrader and improving my releases.
@Possessed: If you were not trolling before and it was a misunderstanding then I apologise for how I reacted before. I hope that with the answer I posted to your question you now have a better understanding of why I do not consider the fleshtones of my Star Wars regrades to be ‘jaundiced’ and why I consider them greatly preferable to overly reddish sunburnt fleshtones.
@Possessed: The mispelling of ‘semi-specialization’ instead of the correct spelling that would be ‘semi-specialisation’ in the case of my releases does not suggest much respect on your part. Neither does previous comments of ‘jaundiced fleshtones’ about my semi-specialised releases that i’ve seen from you in other threads.
That said, assuming you’re not trolling, which I think you are, i’ll bite and ask you this: what do you think happens to a Star Wars print with normal looking fleshtones that is projected using a warmer 70’s projection bulb? Do you think the fleshtones on the cinema screen end up looking more red or more yellow than on the print? As far as i’m aware, when you project a film with a warm yellow 70’s projection bulb like i’ve heard Star Wars was shown with in cinemas, that makes the fleshtones more yellow, not more red.
That in a nutshell is why its okay for Leia, Luke, Han etc to look more yellow than normal, because it fits the look of the time the film was released in. The only way to get reddish sunburnt fleshtones you like would have been to shoot Star Wars through a red projection bulb when showing it theatrically. As far as I’m aware that didn’t happen so that’s why sunburnt fleshtones in Star Wars look so wrong for me, there’s no reason for a film from that time projected with a warm yellow 70’s projection bulb to look like that.
@darthrush: That’s cool darthrush. I disagree of course, shifting the fleshtones any further towards red while maintaining saturation will leave the fleshtones looking sunburnt IMHO, you would have to desaturate the colours to create space to shift towards red but I like the saturation level where it is with my Star Wars regrades. Of course I respect that you have a different opinion to mine, I imagine there are quite a few people here that would prefer a more desaturated look for Star Wars and the other six films as well. Everybody has an opinion and nobody’s right or wrong but when posters start to declare their opinions as fact, that just leads to problems.
@yotsuya: I didn’t take your comments personally but I would suggest in future that you give your opinions in a less direct manner and to show a bit more humility and awareness that your opinion is just that, an opinion. Most important of all, try to remember to show respect for the work that goes into creating these releases, seven releases in this case that took me more than 4 years working on them on and off, even if you don’t particularly like the end result. This is something that I personally learnt helping out as a volunteer on film shoots in my younger years, a crazy amount of work goes into making films regardless of whether you personally consider it good or bad, so show respect for the work that went into making it even if you don’t respect the end result. The same applies for releases.
I think the end result of all seven is great, especially TFA that has been very popular and many agree with me. I have an opinion, the many people that agree with me have an opinion, you of course have your own different opinion. Your opinion has no more greater value than mine or those that agree with me that my Star Wars regrades are a big improvement on the blu-rays. Many would argue that my opinion has a great deal more weight than yours because I have almost 200 regraded releases available online to my name, but I don’t agree with that viewpoint because I believe that regrading, like art, is completely subjective and nobody is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, regardless of the difference in regrading experience.
I don’t know if english is not your native tongue or not, if its not that would give you a bit of an excuse, but you need to try to come across as less patronising. Comments like
‘You are far from the only one to take the skintones too far to the yellow. I’ve noticed it is a common problem. I did the same thing myself on my first few attemps at color correction.’
comes across as very arrogant and superior, like you have the divine right to declare what Star Wars should look like for everybody else because it is ‘your preference’ and you came to a definitive conclusion about how Star Wars should look based on your ‘first few attempts at color correction’. How many attempts do you think i’ve done colour correcting Star Wars over the last four years? Hundreds if not thousands. Do you see me placing my own opinion of what Star Wars should look like over others because of those four years experimenting with the colours of SW, TESB and ROTJ? No.
From where i’m standing, ‘your preference’ would be Star Wars with ugly reddish sunburnt fleshtones if you maintain the same saturation level or a very desaturated Star Wars, to get the reddish sunburnt fleshtones under control, that looks nothing like the Technicolor prints with punchy colours I have access to, both options would look very unappealing to me but I would never say that they looked just as unnatural as the blu-rays because that would be BS. We’re just going to have to agree to disagree about how Star Wars ‘should’ look.
