mverta

You guys checked the SPAM folder of your registered emails?  I see both as having been dispatched.

For sure, people putting actual money down is a very cool thing.  A lot of Legacy has happened by people doing essentially that, when they provide services for free, like print cleaning or whatever.  Star Wars has a funny way of bringing out the best (and worst, it seems) in people.

Also, quick reminder to people signing up - be sure to check your email for confirmation!

I'm sure people have spent lots of money; that's nothing special. You've seen the video; you know the context I mentioned it in. :)

Legacy Secrets

I do not, however, own my own house. You know, priorities.

I will try to put up a lower bandwidth version when I get home as well! 

For the haters and lovers alike! :

http://www.mikeverta.com/Posts/Legacy_Secrets.mp4

I've said a billion times, we have no idea what the future holds.  Who could've predicted, even a few years ago, that Lucas would cash out, sell Star Wars to Disney, and JJ Abrams would be making Star Wars movies?  It's a crazy world.

But the elements to restore Star Wars are still degrading, day-by-day, and so we'd better get to preserving them, asap, to be ready for any future opportunities, should they arise.  If I was releasing Legacy, there would be no Legacy, period.  It has the resources it has PRECISELY BECAUSE I don't release it.  So what do you want?  Find out in the future that an opportunity exists to release it, but not have it?  Or do it, do what it takes to do it right, and learn patience?  You're welcome to the forum anytime to watch the process, enjoy the process, learn from the process, do your own restoration, whatever.  But the difference between you and I in this argument is I care about Star Wars, and you care about yourself; what you're getting from the deal.  If you personally don't get to see it, you could give an f.  You'd rather I not even talk about it.  Well, first of all, tough shit; I'm talking about it.  Second of all, think about the future; the long game.  Because if Legacy gets released one day, you'll be the first one in line, and nobody likes a fair-weather friend.

_Mike

You are absolutely right about the apostrophe and it has always bothered me, though it works better, graphically.  Admittedly, not bothered enough to actually fix it, but since it's been called out...

Feallan -

Who do think helps projects like Harmy's with resources and information?  You're welcome.

_Mike

Crawl update, sportsfans.  Go check out the video in the Legacy forums!

Without defending compression, I still think people should realize that Star Wars is much softer than images we're used to today, and was NOT particularly sharp even by 1977 standards.  They shot the film on Bausch & Lomb lenses which were not even top tier then, and there's no getting around that.  The Lowry restoration was highly sharpened.  You will never find a print approaching that level of sharpness, and that includes Tech prints, which are only 1 step from the original negative (O-Neg>Dye Master>Print).  Even at 4K, when the grain becomes the size of nail heads and is razor sharp, the film is just softer than we're used to.  What's interesting is that when you project it, it never feels soft.  In fact, it "feels" sharper than scrutiny of any individual frame would suggest.  

_Mike

There is, all-in-all, accurate information in this thread :)

IB's are exceedingly rare; pristine IB's essentially extinct.  Fading on a pristine print is essentially negligible at this point.  Scanning is a big deal. At 4k, scanning multiple passes also requires 30-40TB of storage.  In Star Wars' case, absent the negative, absent complete color sep masters, a combination of scans from IB prints and low-fade Eastman prints would yield a fantastic restoration.

_Mike

It hasn't started yet - will in 1 hour.  You haven't missed it, and you'll be glad :P

_Mike

Hey there forcefans -

The site's gotten a lot of new members of late, so I'm doing a last-minute, live, and completely uncensored chat TONIGHT! (2/21) at 9pm PST. 

Unlike previous chats, which are literally that, this will be broadcast live on my USTREAM channel.  All the same interactivity, more info! :)

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mike-verta

THE PASSWORD IS:  Yavin

_Mike

The original photography of the Tantive sequence had a lot of blue/cyan in the image, which was graded out later.  This dialing back of the cyan/blue in that sequence is why many of us remember the corridor as being sort of bright, almost yellow-ish, and the floor tan, and it's also why so many of the trooper's blue uniforms were reduced to a sort of gray.  

_Mike

Moth3r said:

That frame on the '77 telecine:

All other flashes I checked in the duel are amber/yellow.

Exactly; this.  I mean, more or less... :)

_Mike

You_Too said:

mverta said:

In 1977, the flashes were a pale amber/yellow.  At the outermost edges of the flashes, where the yellowish flash combines with the blue-ish walls, it creates a pale sort of green, but it's subtle.

Interesting. But what about that cyan flash frame I posted?

Well, first of all, the saber colors themselves have been grossly up-saturated.  The original saber colors were no where near that colorful.  They were more photographic; tinted glows.  Vader's in particular was always a sort of pink with a slightly-more-reddish-outer edge.  

Since you can't globally push the blues and reds that high to get that look without corrupting the rest of the scene, these elements were treated separately, and the impact flashes were, as well.  That particular flash is easily the "whitest" of the flashes, which again highlights the blueish tint to the walls at its edges, but again the whole thing has been super-saturated way beyond what's on the negative.

This is all part of the cartoon-i-fication of Star Wars which began with Empire, where suddenly we see the droids are all shiny and repainted, and Vader's all clean and showroom new instead of interesting, historied, and weathered. It's just been a steady downhill trend of "bigger, brighter, shinier, more colorful," since then.  Gritty realism more or less ended with the first film.

_Mike

In 1977, the flashes were a pale amber/yellow.  At the outermost edges of the flashes, where the yellowish flash combines with the blue-ish walls, it creates a pale sort of green, but it's subtle.

So let it be written.

_Mike

What. Fucking. Ever.

When it comes to Star Wars '77, those of us in the serious restoration community lapped Lucasfilm and anything Disney could ever hope to do in terms of restoration of the original long ago.  This affects nothing.

Other than that, the prequels were shitty abortions that should have never been made.  If they manage to do a decent Star Wars film, now, I'll go see it - who wouldn't.  But good films in ANY genre are as rare as a three-legged ballerina these days, so forgive me if I'm not holding my breath.  Hey, here's some Nostradamus for you: The new Star Wars films will feature a lot of greenscreen.  Fucking yay.

_Mike

Just to clarify, Harmy is actually referencing two fade-free Tech IB prints, which agree with one another.  A subtle but telling tidbit.

_Mike

Harmy, I haven't been following what you're doing at the assembly/encoding stage, but since this sort of thing is my specialty, if you need any advice or help, hit me up.  I've done a depressing amount of asset prep and authoring for commercial releases.

_Mike

Reminder: Chat at 7pm PST tonight. Be there or be square.

I am not notified until a user has confirmed his/her email. Check that first.  Also, some users try to put in bullcrap temporary emails during registration, which then get kicked back to me at the first mass emailing, and then the user is deleted.  So heads up, in case.

Registered forum members just show up at the appointed time and click the word Chat on the navigation bar.  All there is to it...!

Okay, poll added.