fallenorder0392 said:
…
and…
fallenorder0392 said:
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And very well put too, mate. Especially these sections of your two posts…
fallenorder0392 said:
Ultimately, it’s a bit saddenning for us because we didn’t want this to leak out the way that it did, and now the people who were involved in this effort (their names were literally on some of the clips) would now be at risk of being blacklisted by the industry even though they weren’t even part of the reason why this was leaked in the first place.
and…
fallenorder0392 said:
It absolutely sucks that the leaker got their 15 minutes of fame trying to get reddit karma over this restoration leak, and now the talented people and minds who were deeply involved in this project and took great care in restoring the trilogy is going to suffer from it.
💯
Though obviously many of us hope that won’t be the case - and that’s not just because these are some impressively accomplished and dedicated people who have done some truly breath-taking work with this stunning restoration so far.
Now that the cat is well and truly out of the bag due to the leaks on the OOT Restoration, this ‘Info Post’ below may be of some help…
The Aurora Light Imageworks (ALI) OOT Restoration Leak : An Introduction…
• An Introduction / Overview
• Image Screenshots & Comparisons
• Video Clips
• Media Coverage & Content
• FAQs
• News & Updates (tba; for when we hopefully get an official announcement on the ALI OOT restoration for the 50th anniversary)
An Introduction / Overview…
Around June of this year, Member X had a recommendation pop up in their youtube feed for a relatively obscure Aurora Light Imageworks channel - featuring some videos which appear to be snippets of restoration work being undertaken on the unaltered theatrical cut of the Original Trilogy…
Impressed by the quality of the featured work - and that the clips featured were seemingly beyond the reach of even the most talented fan preservationists (as dedicated and innovative as they are) - Member X then shared this info with a few preservationists and other members from both here and like-minded sister sites. The authenticity, quality and detail of the content displayed over time on this ALI channel… leads many of us to believe this is indeed a genuine and high quality restoration for the OOT.
Members pooled all their knowledge and experience together… and created scripts to download the clips, organised them, and shared the files with other researchers, fact-checked all the data in the text, collected the pastebin texts, provided screenshots, crop comparisons, and other analysis etc. As a wise member recently said: it took a village to do all the above, and more.
In an effort to protect the individuals involved with the ALI OOT restoration, the discussion became private with an understanding that spreading the word at this point could potentially cause harm to the restoration team. Despite promises made that nobody would leak this info kindly provided by Member X… someone broke that trust and promise… and information did indeed leak out to the likes of reddit, Eckharts Ladder, and a quickly deleted thread earlier here in mid-June. There is now a further leak (as of 12th October) on the Star Wars Leaks reddit 👎… The cat now being well and truly out of the bag.
Sometimes the ALI youtube channel is ‘down’ / unavailable, then occasionally set to ‘private’, and whilst videos pop up… they also then disappear. Member X also learnt that Vimeo is being used by ALI to host some restoration work for ‘deleted scenes’ & ‘raw elements’ of the OOT… which likely means the ALI restoration is for a physical media / streaming / archival project - and not just for theatrical screenings (DCPs). The status of the ALI restoration is that it is still ongoing - a Work In Progress (WIP).
Note: Such a restoration of the OOT does NOT necessarily mean there will ever be a release of this project.
Yes, of course there is the 50th anniversary in 2027, the announcement from Lucasfilm having around a theatrical re-run for that 50th anniversary… and Kathy Kennedy’s comments at the BFI IB screening for Star Wars… and yes, we are all obviously hopeful it will lead to a physical media release (or even made available on Disney+)… yet we should also caution this project could also be an internal archival restoration that will end up sitting in the vaults of Lucasfilm for a good few years.
The use of AI for this ALI restoration has also been ruled out - along with this being shenanigans, a ruse, or trolling. We believe the content from the ALI youtube channel is being used to share progress with certain individuals across the globe associated with Lucasfilm & this restoration. It is unknown if these ALI youtube & vimeo channels are… an intentional or accidental leak… especially as using an unlisted youtube channel to share updates is quite rare (though not unheard of for restoration projects).
The ALI videos uploaded to youtube are from restoration work taken using a 6K scan undertaken in 2022 (6144x2570) from the OCN (Original Camera Negative). Sometimes other high quality sources are used when required (CSMs, CRIs, VVIs, IPs, etc). The video uploads to the ALI youtube channel were then rescaled to 3840x2160 for youtube - so along with the usual youtube compressions… the comparison images below from ALI are not shown in their fullest quality.
For more information please read the two clear and concise posts made by fallenorder0392 above - or here, and here. 👍
As it stands, there has been no comment or official announcement from Lucasfilm or Disney…
Edit: It is also worth highlighting… even IF this ALI restoration project does see a release (theatrical re-run, physical media, Disney+ etc) it does not necessarily mean all of the Original Trilogy films would be released / made available in 2027… it could just be Star Wars for 2027, Empire for 2030, and Jedi for 2033… staggered releases to ‘maximise the return on investment’ (ROI) for the 50th anniversaries of the Original Trilogy. Followed by a deluxe boxset in 2034 etc (just a possibility worth consideration).
A Key…
OCN: Original Camera Negative
CSM: Colour Separation Master
VVI: Vista Vision Intermediate
CRI: Colour Reversal Intermediate (sometimes aka Colour Reversal InterPositive)
IP: InterPositive
IN: InterNegative
IB / IBT: IB Technicolor
^ Wikipedia or film preservation channels are your friend for looking for more information on the above terms. 👍
