Thanks.
Yeah, that sudden frame reversion is a glitch.
Also ignore the bottom and top edges as the framing is open way past the crop area, and the edges will be rough.
You are right though, those two frames are the glue frames, I’ll have to handle those manually.
Looks like it will be Resilio Sync, just trialling it with a small group at the moment to see how well it works.
Here are a few seconds though, would like feedback on if any problems have been introduced during the cleanup.
I’ve tried Resilio, but my ISP throttles uploads with it, so it takes about a week to upload 10GB unfortunately.
Damnit, Infinit is closing down and deleting all the files 😦
I just tried filehosting.org, but it just hangs at the end of the upload and I don’t get sent a link.
Frustrating.
Thanks.
Trying it now, not sure if it is working.
Unfortunately Infinit has closed down, so I need another way to upload 10+GB files.
I’ve seen several 35mm prints projected in the last couple of years Mav, as I live closeby to a cinema that screens them quite regularly. The most recent 35mm print I saw was Thunderdome and it didn’t look grainy at all for the most part (some comp shots did). It is my understanding, and I could be wrong, that most film grain is in the camera negative because it has to be fast-exposure film - i.e. shot at 24fps or faster if you want slow motion. Later generations of film, including prints, used longer exposures and more sensitive dyes with finer grain fidelity.
I am genuinely surprised there is such a difference between Star Wars and Empire
If you have an extremely fine grain print film stock, or an IB Tech print, then yes the grain is mostly in the negative. However the difference between an IB Tech print, and 1980 Eastman is staggering, a lot of the grain is on the print stock. Check out ESB on Fuji sometime, it is even grainier.
Anyway, if we could discuss it in the other thread, I would like to keep this on track to be specific feedback on specific scenes/frames of the film.
I am re-rendering reel1 with a bunch of changes fixed, and will upload it in the morning when it is done, so you all might want to hold off on feedback until it is up as I have re-done about 800 frames or so.
<grin>
Love means never having to say you are sorry.
Love means never having to say you are sorry.
The less compressed version is now up. It has 7x the bitrate so compression artifacts should be greatly reduced.
https://infinit.io/_/34Eyh4J
That is a 38 layer comp vs a three layer comp, plus the Empire scene is considerably darker. The Star Wars shot looks grainer and more contrasty to me looking at those two shots. The bright lighting makes quite a difference though.
If you want to compare like with like, look at a well lit interior shot from both films. IB prints have almost no grain, whereas the Kodak stock is considerably grainier. An IB will always look considerably less grainy.
But Star Wars has way less grain than that! Did they use a particularly grainy film in the camera negative?
IB Techs are made a very different way, which has less grain. Also Star Wars is for the most part, a pretty ‘bright’ film, shot with plenty of light, which allows for finer grained film stocks, and the amount of layers in composites are way, way less than in Empire, which had much deeper composites (some of the asteroid scenes went through the optical printer 75 times!), and is for the most part a dark film, shot with less light and grainier stock, and was never released as an IB tech.
There are some finer grain scenes in Empire, but mostly the stage scenes which are better lit.
It had considerably more grain when projected in 1980, and still does 😃 This sample has had the grain markedly reduced.
However, he opening fox logo is extremely grainy as it is a stock piece that was used and reprinted over and over again for every Fox release from the late 70s through to most of the 80s.
It is by far the grainiest part of the whole thing, so don’t take it as an example of the rest of the film.
Any of the scenes with multiple elements composited are also grainier as they have multiple layers each with its own grain pattern.
If you project this sample, onto a reasonable sized screen, it will also look less grainy than on a computer monitor. It will also look a bit less so once the contrast is balanced a little.
However, people are becoming more and more sensitive to grain as we see current movies shot without it or on ultra-fine grain film stocks, which is why so many older films are scrubbed clean for BD release.
You will notice some shots where done on different stock, you can see some fine grain scenes followed by very grainy scenes.
I will probably reduce the grain on the grainer sections to try and get a more consistent look on the ‘next’ version, but will be keeping it as to the print (with all its varying grain) for the first version.
Less compressed version uploading now: https://infinit.io/_/34Eyh4J. it should be up in about a hour or so.
I can render a less compressed version if there is interest.
The hair in the fox logo is in every fox film from that era, so I am leaving it in. The blue under the logo is in a ton of prints, but not all of them, so I will be taking it out.
The highlight clipping is a result of the colour space conversion, they won’t be clipped in the final. I’m also looking for feedback on anywhere where the cleanup may have caused problems. I have a list of a dozen or so frames I have noticed that I need to redo.
Here is Reel1 of the UK print, about 75% restored.
https://infinit.io/_/jQdcNqd
I’d like some feedback if people have any to offer, there are still a bunch of scenes that have only been lightly repaired, anything with threepio in it requires completely manual frame by frame touch up, and there are still a few frames with large blobs that will need some more time consuming attention.
I also need to deflicker some of the more flickery scenes. I am working in P3, so it may look a lot darker on your screens.
Other than that though, this is roughly the level I want to restore to, i.e. that of a print you might see in the cinema in the first few weeks of release, that only has some very minor blemishes.
The original scans are archived, so any version from a grindhouse to a super-scrubbed grain free version could be created in the future, but this reel is somewhat close to the ‘theatrical’ version I would like to create.
Any feedback appreciated, please quote frame numbers, and use screen shots when possible as it makes it easier.
The thread for feedback is here:
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Empire-Strikes-back-35mm-restoration-feedback-thread-POUT/id/54346
This thread is intended for feedback on the ESB restoration from 35mm. The intention is to restore to a pretty clean print, the kind you would see in the first few weeks of the print run.
For the most part, compositing dirt and other foibles of the 1980 35mm release are going to be left in, including cue-dots, splicing glue and dirt in the elements that are common to all prints, variations in black levels and grain (during comps particularly) yet maintaining the level of grain that would be visible during projection.
The intention is to have the experience of viewing the print in 1980, as close to possible as it was.
I will likely be creating a slightly cleaner version with comp dirt and glue splices removed, and levels adjusted scene by scenes to remove the pink ships and brownish composites and varying black levels, and having a consistent grain, but that will be once this is done.
The samples posted so far have not been colour adjusted, and I am working in P3, so they may look a lot darker to you if you are viewing in Windows/OSX on a standard monitor or TV.
Please keep this thread to feedback, the other thread is for general discussion.
Reel1 is here https://infinit.io/_/jQdcNqd, it is around 75% restored, it still has some large blobs, flicker, missing frames and threepio hasn’t been done yet, but otherwise it is a reasonable indication of what I am shooting for.
Let the feedback commence!
Which scan?
Oh and if anyone is going to Celebration this year, I would love it if they could buy me one of these:
I will reimburse with interest 😃
Ok.
My machine is finally all back together, and has a functioning RAID again, I am transferring the files up to it now.
First up I am making a version with place-holder frames for all of the missing frames, then I am going to trial a ‘community’ based restoration. More news soon, if we can get it to work 😃
Regarding the young man struck by lightning, I found this news story, that is pretty sad!
Yeah, he was very well known, the family goes all the way back to the founding of the town. We all went to the funeral yesterday, I think pretty much the entire town was there.
Unfortunately the lightning killed a young local guy, and the short storm started more fires, the choppers are water bombing now.
Looking on the bright side, we are fine and safe currently here, and in happier news, the kangaroos are taking refuge in our yard.
Oops, he spotted me.
And he’s off!
Home again safe, now it is hailing outside. This country is messed up.
Otherwise, download cliptoolz and transcode it to a non long-GOP codec (like ProRes) and import from there.
(Free version here)
http://www.mudgee.net/ClipToolz-Convert-V2.msi