mcfly89

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

mcfly89 said:

I'm very excited about this, but we have to find a way to capture in HD. Can't we swap an HDV camera for the DV one in the workprinter?

It is possible to upgrade the Workprinter for HD, but it would take hundreds if not thousands of $ in equipment.  A new video card, something called a "velocity box", and several software upgrades.  And of course a good HD camera with manual adjustments.  And if you're going to do that, you might as well get the RGB upgrade too.  Considering this isn't an actual scope scan (it's faked in software), and that there is likely to be cropping like in the PG, and it's not a wetgate transfer, I'm not sure it's worth the cost and effort.

It is hard for me to believe that any 16mm scan, even from the most pristine of prints, could possibly come anywhere close to the corrected GOUTs.  I think of the PG and other similar captures as reference material for people researching what was printed on the films back in the years they were made. That reason is enough for me to get excited about transferring them. But you can always make it a little better, and once you start down, there's practically no end.

Perhaps there's a low-cost way to determine how much information is in this print. In theory, 16mm film is 1920x1080 resolution or better, so under ideal conditions, it would blow the GOUT away. Real life is unfortunately unkind to "theory."

Here's what I propose: if you can pause the film in the workprinter and take one still with a DSLR (similar to what's been posted, except with careful manual focus and several different exposures which could be combined using the HDR technique to get the full dynamic range of the print), then we can hold that high resolution image up against the GOUT and do a little color correction, and see how it holds up. Wouldn't be expensive or take a lot of time, because we're just talking about one or a couple stills.

I'm very excited about this, but we have to find a way to capture in HD. Can't we swap an HDV camera for the DV one in the workprinter?

I have acquired a bootleg for the unreleased documentary “Age 7 in America,” which was America’s 1991 answer to Great Britain’s 1964 documentary series “7 Up,” which interviews seven year old children from various social classes and follows the developments of their lives every seven years, with “14 Up,” “21 Up,” and so on. The latest was “49 Up,” in which the original seven year olds are 49 years old, many of which with children and grandchildren.

This format has been aped in many countries, as you can see from this wiki list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series#Similar_documentaries

While the British Up Series is widely available on DVD, others are hard to find, often only seen on broadcast TV. I’d be interested in seeing any of these, and would like it if any one can post links to websites where they can be viewed or purchased, or even TV guide listings if any airing is upcoming. I think it’s an amazing project. Condensing entire lives into such a short span of time forcesus to reflect on the decisions we have made and will make in our own lives, and where our habits come from and lead to.

“Show me a child at the age of seven, and I will show you the man.”

I’ve posted Age 7 in America here: http://vimeo.com/12687896

First of all, I love this preservation. It looks great and makes me very nostalgic. That said, I have a crazy idea:

I'm wondering if there is more dynamic range in the shadows and highlights than could be captured in your telecine. In the same way that photographers expose landscapes for three different exposures (shadow, midtones, highlights) and then combine in post as an HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image), would it be possible to do that when you telecine the 16mm print? If we could see more of the highlight and shadow detail, this might be the basis for the best transfer of Star Wars yet.

Plus, it wouldn't be difficult to do a test on just a few frames from the film before committing to it!

Is this available as an AC3 or MP3 download? My connection isn't too great right now and all I need is the commentary to play back with my DVD.

We've heard this before, BUT:

CS: Are you looking at any of your older films for Blu-ray releases now?
Rodriguez: Oh, yeah. The Mexico series is coming out, "Desperado," "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "El Mariachi." "Grindhouse" should come out. We just finished the ten-minute cooking school. "Roadracers," we're doing... I love that one. I did a ten-minute film school for that, too. That was shot in 13 days so it shows how I did it in just 13 days. It's crazy now. I like that one a lot.

ReverendBeastly said:

THANKS! I'm really psyched to read this. Wish I knew someone with a copy of the laserdisc.

EDIT: I'm gonna try to OCR these pages and make this thinger into a PDF.

Great!

Anyone out there have access to the Roadracers laserdisc?

I just scanned the book: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OYE3ZSC2

Who's down for doing the laserdisc with commentary?

Another one I forgot: Back to the Future!

Someone must have taped these?

P.S. We only have two days before the auction's up!

ANYONE IN THE UK?

Here's a laserdisc LOT on eBay, which includes ROADRACERS:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LASER-DISC-JOB-LOT---14-DISCS---PAL-&-NTSC-_W0QQitemZ220426892907QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090603?IMSfp=TL090603164004r6517

Some comments I found on the web:

"The laser disk version has a great feature of audio commentary during the movie or just the commentary without the movie soundtrack. His Rodriguez's commentary is very insightful and inspiring for anyone interested in film. He is truly a Jack of all trades in this film."

"The film's good, but RR's commentary makes it MUCH better. Hearing how he ended up getting this gig, what exactly he was given to work with and how he ended up with the film you're watching, is another great story for fans of the director or just film-making in general. On the comment track he alludes to lots of other material that he has from this project, like videos made during production, and makes an offhand comment to the effect that 'someday if this ever comes out on DVD....' Well, I for one would stand in line for a copy. If you enjoy the 10 minute film school features & other extras on RR's DVDs, you too should petition the powers that be to release RoadRacers on DVD - along with the original (&/or new) commentary track & extras."

"Roadracers isn't for everyone but you can tell I sure liked it. I really like the audio commentary. Rodrigeuz likes to talk and he keeps up a constant and interesting commentary. He's very enjoyable to my ears, I have enjoyed all of his commentaries.  He usually has something interesting and fun to say. He's very autobiographical and I like that. More than anything his commentaries show the evolution of his film making and that's pretty fascinating."

THE FILM

Roadracers has been released officially on DVD, but I think only in Australia and without special features (namely, the commentary track from the OOP laserdisc). Anyone have the laserdisc and interested in preserving it?

THE BOOK

Even more sought after, the sequel to the highly successful making-of diary “Rebel Without a Crew,” “Roadracers: the Making of a Degenerate Hot Rod Flick,” is now OOP and was only released in England. Copies sell in the $100-300 range. Scans, anyone?

This may be a little early, but I didn’t think the pretty much direct translation worked, pacing-wise. And man, that was a lot of slow motion. I’d like to see a stripped down 90 minute version with only the scenes Rorschach is in. He is the narrator, after all. And his scenes were the most enjoyable.

Anyone have any bootlegs of AMC's DVD_TV? I don't think AMC is doing this anymore, so they're becoming rarities.

M.A.N.T.I.S. has been officially released! I'm enjoying it very much.

InvisibleWolfMan said:

Would love this version...someone got it?

I'm still seeding. I'd love to see Darrell Kaiser's HD version, when he releases it.

I just watched Godfather 2 last night. I think when arranged in chronological order ("Novel for Television"), the story of Vito coming up in New York becomes its own movie, which I like because it's much more interesting than Michael's story. The overall story grows less interesting as it progresses. I want to see every deleted scrap from Vito's story, and from Godfather 1.

I'm not sure that the films were matted--anyone with full and wide frames for comparison?

I don't have a dual-layer burner, and I'd love if anyone's willing to trade/PIF with me for a dual-layer version of this. Can't wait to see it!

Edit: I've recieved a number of generous offers. Thanks guys!

Faustus said:

I stand corrected. I haven't bought the Remastered release yet.

Is somebody working on this? I think the DVD is the best source for the extended scenes, and the VHS/Laserdisc can be used as a guide to show where to replace them and perhaps fill in any holes. If the deleted scenes are Pan and Scan only, the edit can go from widescreen theatrical to Pan and Scan extended. I'd love to see this done.

v-ger06 said:

mcfly89 said:

NeonBible said:

And McFly's cut contains all the violence from the theatrical right?

 

That's correct! Though I'm sure someone will re-cut my version using the superior sources.

 

someone ?

who would be the best person to do it besides you ?

The Uncanny Antman, for one. He said he'd be "splicing before long." I've spent enough time with Waterworld, but I was sure to outline the changes in my subtitle track so that it would be easy for someone to follow in my footsteps.

NeonBible said:

And McFly's cut contains all the violence from the theatrical right?

That's correct! Though I'm sure someone will re-cut my version using the superior sources.

Looks good! It's a shame they didn't take the time to cut in the obscene content from the theatrical, and some special features would have been nice... but at least we've got something of much better quality than mine.

And, for those interested in adding the R-Rated content back in, my version has subtitle tracks detailing all the spots where it goes (with the exception of audio-only edits, although you can pick those dubs out pretty easily).

drfsupercenter said:

 

You wouldn't notice that the chroma resolution is lower, since MiniDV, DVD, and HDV also have hi-res luma and low-res chroma channels--and most viewers have no idea. Is this possible?

 

 

Why wouldn't it have the same resolution?  If you record a VHS to a DVD it'll be 480i... just like the official DVD.  Unless you meant somehow ripping the 1080p Blu-Ray transfer?

 

Either way, I'd love to get a copy if someone could record it... and then worry about that later.  I mean, why restore what isn't even the original? LOL

I just don't want it looking like a VCD or something...

Hey now, you're the one who said it looked blurry! I think the VHS capture that jedi_jra posted looks good. I'd be happy with it, but I couldn't help but think of how pristine the new DVD is--it's clearly of higher resolution than an aged VHS bootleg. And if you could swap the luma channel from the VHS for the one on the DVD, you'd probably have something that looks better than the original colorized master. In theory.

drfsupercenter said:

Wow, that's really blurry!

You know how digital video has separate channels for chroma and luma? I think it's possible to throw out the chroma channel, but can you scrap the luma and keep the chroma? If so, you could use the crisp, newest B&W DVD as the "luma" base and add the VHS chroma channel to it. A little bit of cropping and BAM! a pristine color transfer. You wouldn't notice that the chroma resolution is lower, since MiniDV, DVD, and HDV also have hi-res luma and low-res chroma channels--and most viewers have no idea. Is this possible?

I'm particularly interested in Casablanca, as it's one of my Dad's favorites.

Awesome!