see you auntie

Harmy said:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/restoring-star-wars/6994818

I came here to post the same thing and say congratulations Harmy. I got a bit of a shock when reading the morning news and came across the link/article. That’s pretty big exposure here in Australia, I guess the journalist is a fan and contacted you for an interview?

Before I even clicked on the artlcie I knew it was about the despecialized editions and Harmy.

edit: do you care to elaborate on your job and change of profession? Congratulations on that too by the way. Someone was bound to snap you up given your ‘work experience’.

russ2246 said:

It appears that tehparadox is down (yet again), does anyone have the uloz.to links listed there for the MKVs of ESB and/or ROTJ? I have a bunch of download credits on there.

Silly me for not copying them all down earlier today when the site was still up and running :/

Piratebay and tehparadox in the same week! Yikes.

No uloz.to links but see PM.

Speaking of uloz it appears I've been IP banned by them for half downloading v2.5 with jdownloader, if I try to access the site I get 404 not found but I can access the site from another internet connection ie my phone. Anybody had this happen?

Harmy said:

I'm currently working on v2.1 of SW and I'll start on ESB as sson as it's done bt that may be a month or two, since it's exams now and I'm also taking quite an active part in the presidential campaign for the upcoming election here.

Are you voting for Darth Maul?

jero32 said:

Are you reffering to indie or the other project?
(btw sorry yes I did miss it)

Well tbh for the other project I haven't seen enough footage to make a definitive conclusive answer to that. (however based on screenshots, I'd say its just the desert probably)

As far as indie goes, without owning the blu-ray (stil gonna buy it) It does seem the whole movie is more yellow tinted, but that could be because its mostly set in a desert.

Thanks, and yes I was referring to Raiders.

Sorry to be a pain Jero, you might not be unable to answer this, but I was hoping you didn't miss my question.

see you auntie said:

jero32 said:

Sorry for bumping this, but I had an interesting observation.

I've been watching a film project that I'm sure some of you are familair with.

Some scenes of that project DO seem to have a bit of a yellow tint to them, in fact one might even say it resembles some of these rotla screenshots.

I figured I'd mention it cause it does suggest that maybe rotla did look like this.

Is that "yellow tint" in the whole film or say specific to the desert parts of the film?

Of course, they're the worst thing to be ever be authored on DVD. But I'm not sure what you're saying.

Lucasfilm has never given a shit. Their idea of a release seems to be wait a while, put the films on a disc, put them in an overpriced box set, watch the money come rolling in.

But as for Spielberg and Paramount or whoever wanted to get this release so right, what hole in the ground did they have their head stuck in when it was time to put out the DVD boxset?

The Star Wars DVDs and blu-rays are deliberate 'creative decisions', I think they'll freely admit to that. So which Raiders release was the creative decision?

jero32 said:

Sorry for bumping this, but I had an interesting observation.

I've been watching a film project that I'm sure some of you are familair with.

Some scenes of that project DO seem to have a bit of a yellow tint to them, in fact one might even say it resembles some of these rotla screenshots.

I figured I'd mention it cause it does suggest that maybe rotla did look like this.

Is that "yellow tint" in the whole film or say specific to the desert parts of the film?

I will say that my stance on the Raiders blu-ray has softened somewhat, I will totally buy it someday when it gets an individual release. There's problems with the HD captures compared to the Blu-ray in my eyes. It's just so jarring to me to see so much yellow in the opening jungle scenes and the university too.

And if the blu-ray colour timing is indeed the way it always was, how did they mess up the DVD release so badly? If you're going to go to the effort and 'fix' the film by removing production errors you think you'd spend at least a moment going hey the colour timing is completely different from the original film but let's digitally remove a wire that no one ever notices.

It's seems in the HD age people seem to forget that DVD wasn't a nothing format and people put out some amazing DVDs, only limited by the amount of data they could fit on a disc.

So now why is something like colour timing such a problem now that needs to be fixed? If you can notice the problem now you could notice it then.

An interesting development none the less. 

Ha ha.

Yeah, buy this screen used model it was totally in the movie!... well it's on laserdisc.

see you auntie said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the arguments/complaints/criticisms being made by people (not me) was not that the scene was too bright just that the colours colars were inconsistent from one shot to the next?

That could very well be the case on the IB print, but with out access to the reference material how are we to know ;)

I had a chance to skim read over the last 40 pages and while there has obviously been a lot of discussion about the scene in questions brightness I ignored that because a consensus had been reached, but I may have been misremembering the importance of the talk about the shifting colour variances.

Harmy said:

In other news, I was working on reel 2 and I set out to darken the Luke meets Obi-Wan scene but having compared it to the IB Print scan again, I decided to keep it the way it is in v2.0, because darkening it a bit just made it look worse (and less faithfull to the IB Print) and I don't want to rework the colors from scratch and give the scene a totally different look, because I want to keep the look it has on the IB Print.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the arguments/complaints/criticisms being made by people (not me) was not that the scene was too bright just that the colours colars were inconsistent from one shot to the next?

That could very well be the case on the IB print, but with out access to the reference material how are we to know ;)

push3r said:

Harmy,

Sorry for the wall of text.

I was fortunate enough to see Star Wars in the theater during it's original run. Darth Vader's first appearance is burned into my memory, and the fear evoked by the sound of his breathing that first time in the theater is something I will never forget. When it was announced that it would be on HBO, I couldn't have been more excited. I did nothing but watch it every time it was on for the first weeks it was available. I'm sure I watched it dozens and dozens of times. I had all of the original toys and spent endless hours playing Star Wars with my friends.

When they announced the special edition I was thrilled. No more re-recorded VHS tapes. Finally a high quality home viewing experience.

I didn't even make it through a single viewing. I wasn't quite sure what I was watching, I just knew that it wasn't Star Wars.

At that moment my fandom died. I tried to rekindle it when the prequels were announced, but my excitement died an even harder death for the obvious reasons.

Since that time, the only enjoyment I've gathered from the Star Wars universe were the prequel deconstructions by RedLetterMedia. I've watched them over and over. Even though they're a critique on everything that went wrong with the prequels, it's easy to feel the genuine passion for the original films and characters underlying the disdain for Episodes 1-3. Those reviews let me know that deep down inside my fandom was still alive, though dormant.

I was led to your project by a chance post in a completely unrelated forum. I've spent the last few weeks reading every single post in this 275 page thread. Even though I've come so late to the game, reading through the posts made me feel a part of it. I felt the joy when the first version was completed, the pain of the problems and personality conflicts. Above all I felt and was infected by the surge of optimism and excitement everyone felt. If my passion for Star Wars was a tiny ember, this thread has fanned it back to a raging flame (and no, that's not a reference to Rob...... or was it?)

I registered just to offer my most sincere gratitude. The thousands of hours that you've spent couldn't have been more valuable to me and I'm sure many others like me.

While I'm sure there are many who appreciate your effort for it's value to cinematic history, to me your effort is far more personal. All your time, effort, and frustration have not only served to resurrect a film, they've effectively served to rebuild a precious part of my childhood. What were once simple memories, rapidly fading, are now a reality that I can share with all five of my own children.

Due to the economy and various other factors, I'm going through quite a difficult time. The anticipation of watching the despecialized Trilogy is a rare bright moment in a very dark time in my life.

Please understand that it's not my intent to be over-dramatic. Believe me when I say that you have literally given me back a part of my life I had thought long lost. It's impossible to overstate the value of this great gift at this particular time in my life.

Having read the thread, I know it has at times been hard. At the risk of being completely over the top corny, please know that your work has brought New Hope to me. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Thanks also to You_Too, 005, Puggo, h_h, msycamore, catbus, chewtobacca, zombie, dark_jedi, adywan, -1, and especially mverta for all the technical assistance. Thank you also to the many others who contributed feedback or otherwise assisted Harmy with his efforts even if it was mostly comic relief (I'm looking at you, Frink & Stinky). I know I'm forgetting people, and there are surely some I don't know about. Just understand that if you've contributed in any way I consider myself in your debt.

Harmy,

THANK YOU.

That's a great post.

...And a well formatted wall of text.

Harmy said:

Here is a preliminary comparison gallery:

http://uloz.to/xCAaaEE/compar-gallery-rar

It's taken from a compressed render of the video comparison. I'd like you to report any mistakes, typos or mislabels you may find, so that I can perfect it for the BD release. Thanks.

I'm only 1/4 of the way through and holy shit balls is this amazing.

You were right when you said v2.0 blows away v1.0 let alone the blu-ray.

The film cell scans were truly invaluable to this project. And of course the hard work you put into it.

I'm now eagerly anticipating the v2.1 AVCHD.

DuracellEnergizer said:

 

I'm sorry, but nothing can excuse the abomination that is The Day the Earth Stood Still remake ;-)

 

I haven't seen it. I'm not a glutton for punishment.

DominicCobb said:

Before I watch I must know what type of camera it was shot on.

Spoilers ;)

Digital.

Reeves seems to prefer film and the fact the doco is being shot on digital is brought up in one of the interviews.

I don't think it's close to an ad for cameras, it seemed balanced to me. Considering film cameras are no longer produced you have to buy digital and I think all the big companies got equal face time.

And Keanu is pretty great, say what you will about his acting, I've always liked him and he's great in this, a really affable guy. Really passionate about film, knowledgeable and really interested in the changing climate in the industry.

I didn't really want to bring up Lucas but the fact that he surrounds himself with concept art, story boards and monitors like he's self promoting is such a douchey move. And you can see it's not just the room he was in, it was set up that way for the interview, while every other filmmaker is just sitting in a nondescript room.

It's like he has to promote Star Wars at every opportunity and always portray the aura of this creative genius and grand visionary. "OK Keanu I'll do your documentary, but only if I can remind the world I'm the genius that created Star Wars, might sell a few more blu-rays"

Wow thanks for the link.

I've always wanted Tartokovsky to comment on the new clone wars series since its inception. Because it's clear they've aped his designs even though as he says, they're George's characters.

I'm not saying he's owed anything but it is sort of shameless what they've done.

I never even knew the new series (having never seen it) took the place of the old one. I always just assumed the 3D animated version was an expansion of the story of the 2D animated one.

Looks like Lucasfilm is rewriting history once again. Removing reference to them from their encyclopaedias is a bit of bullshit.

It seems more and more apparent Genndy didn't toe the company line there at Lucasfilm. And he made a pretty neat series, the best thing to happen to Star Wars since Lawrence Kasdan.

The guys that work at Lucasfilm are there for one reason, their love of Star Wars.

They probably fucking love Harmy and his despecialized editions.

I watched this a couple of days ago available through itunes.

Directed by Chris Kenneally and produced by and starring Keanu Reeves it's a discussion of the merits of Film vs Digital featuring James Cameron, Martin Scorsese,  George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, The Wachowskis, the newly ex-head of Fox and a whole bunch of cinematographers.

It doesn't go super in-depth where it gets bogged down in techno babble but just enough for the layman to still enjoy it and enjoy it I did. I thought I'd recommend it as I know some folks here will find value in it.

It also goes into the D.I process, digital colour grading, the rise of the use of the Red and Arri digital cameras, the growth of digital projection and the archiving of movies on film vs digital storage.

If any one has seen it already, your thoughts?

Wow this is really bumming me out. I've said before that I wasn't buying this set but the look of Raiders is a further setback.

I'm not saying the colour palette is wrong, just to my eyes Spielberg (so much for no changes) went a bit too far. The frame cropping doesn't help either.

Thanks to those posting the links and caps.

This set is overpriced to begin with so the wait for the eventual separate releases isn't a problem and I'll definitely pick up Temple and Crusade when that occurs.

In all likelihood I'll get Raiders too, to complete the trilogy, and make the HDTV rips less immoral.

[redacted] - thanks guys.

Harmy said:

Oh, yeah, there will definitely not be another MKV. Now that I think about it, I'd consider doing the v2.1 AVCHD if there's demand (it only took like 10 hours to render and an hour to upload, so it would be no biggie).

+1 for me regarding the demand.

I'm yet to DL the AVCHD (I'm in no rush) and going by the current talk I was planning on downloading the eventual blu 2.1 release and make my own AVCHD (no blu-ray burner). Not that I know what I'm doing.

If this is something you decide to do it'll save some effort. I don't think it's a big deal regarding the difference but there is a bit of obsessive compulsive in me that likes having the best possible version.

I downloaded this last week. I haven't watched it all yet just a few select scenes.

Many thanks Harmy, your work is outstanding. And your time and effort is appreciated. Good luck with your exams.

And a big thanks to those who uploaded the links on teh, much appreciated.

jabbo5150 said:

Harmy said:

Yes, 15GB video stream is the plan.

I have an Oppo BDP-93. Would this be something I could dump onto a flash drive and play that way? Would it be fast enough to handle it or will I need to use a hard drive?

I have the same player, the answer is yes.

Or you can burn the AVCHD to dual layer DVD.

Apparently the list of features.

Google translated source:

On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark:

• From Jungle to Desert From Jungle to Desert
• From Adventure to Legend From Adventure to Legend

- Making The Films: - Making the film:

• The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark
• The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark
• The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• The Making of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade The Making of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• The Making of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull The Making of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

- Behind The Scenes: - Behind the Scenes:

• The Stunts of Indiana Jones The Stunts of Indiana Jones
• The Sound of Indiana Jones The Sound of Indiana Jones
• The Music of Indiana Jones The Music of Indiana Jones
• The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones

- Raiders: - Raiders:

• The Melting Face! The Melting Face!
• The Creepy Crawlies (optional pop-ups) The Creepy Crawlies (optional pop-ups)

- Travel with Indiana Jones: - Travel with Indiana Jones

• Locations (optional pop-ups) Locations (optional pop-ups)

- Indy's Women: - Indy's Women:

• The American Film Institute Tribute The American Film Institute Tribute

- Indy's Friends and Enemies - Indy's Friends and Enemies
- Iconic Props - Iconic Props
- The Effects of Indy - The Effects of Indy
- Adventures in Post Production - Adventures in Post Production

And updated with run times:

 

• Adventures Of Post-Production (12:43 minutes)
•  Iconic Props (9:58)
•  Indie's Friends and Enemies (10:09 minutes)
•  Indie's Women (9:20 minutes)
•  The Effects Of Indy (22:40 minutes)
•  The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones (12:19 minutes)
•  The Making Of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (2003) (35:00 minutes)
•  The Making Of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (2003) (41:06 minutes)
•  The making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (2003) (50:48 minutes)
• The Melting Face! (8:12 minutes)
•  The Music of Indiana Jones (12:20 minutes)
•  The Sounds Of Indiana Jones (13:17 minutes)
•  The Stunts Of Indiana Jones (10:53 minutes)
•  Vintage: The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (58:08 minutes)

I thought if anyone knew of any missing documentaries it would be you guys.

Here's some info on the extended cut although Ridley's sort of vague:

Here’s the exact quotes from Scott on what will be on the Blu-ray and the deleted scenes:

SCOTT: This is fundamentally the director’s cut.  But there will be half an hour of stuff on the menu because people are so into films—how they’re made, how they’re set up, and the rejections in it.  That’s why it’s fascinating.  So this will all go on to the menu.

You’re going to do an extended cut on the Blu-ray/DVD.  Is it a lot longer?

SCOTT: Twenty minutes.

So there’s, like, twenty minutes that will be added back in for a longer version?

SCOTT: Maybe.  But I’m so happy with this engine, the way it is right now.  I think it’s fine.  I think it works.  It can go in a section where, if you really want to tap in, look at the menu.  To see how things are long, and it’s too long.  Dramatically, I’m about putting bums on seats.  For me to separate my idea of commerce from art—I’d be a fool.  You can’t do that.  I wouldn’t be allowed to do the films I do.  So I’m very user friendly as far as the studios are concerned.  To a certain extent, I’m a businessman.  I’m aware that’s what I have to do.  It’s my job.  To say, “Screw the audience.”  You can’t do that.  “Am I communicating?” is the question.  Am I communicating?  Because if I’m not, I need to address it.

But the pre-order for the blu-ray is already on amazon.com and there's no mention of a extended cut so who knows?

I saw this yesterday. I'm glad I'd heard the word before hand that it wasn't great so my expectations were much lower.

I'm still some what disappointed. There were some good things to enjoy and it's already been said that the visuals and the acting, for the most part, were pretty great. But yeah the script was trash.

I was on board with the overall idea Scott was presenting and themes with in but the characterisation and some of the dialogue left a lot to be desired.

If you're Anchorhead or share his concerns do not see this movie. I'm just putting that out there. Like I said I like the premise of the movie and Alien is no way affected by the failures of this film but I could see others having a problem with it.

I'm not the biggest Alien fan but I feel I could right 10,000 words on just my initial thoughts of Prometheus, it certainly has my mind churning, but I won't. There was a lot of potential here and a lot that went wrong.

I think there might be a few things that I need to get off my chest so I'm going to say spoilers from now on.

-

-

-

-

-

-

People are saying the beginning of the movie was pretty great and devolved from there, really? The very beginning was good but once there out of stasis that briefing/exposition scene was awful. In addition to the introduction to the surgical machine and lifeboat, it had Chehkov's gun written all over it, so much so that I spent the whole time waiting for those proverbial guns to go off. It was very poorly set up but ultimately I did love the emergency c-section.

Not to mention the fucking trailers. Jesus Christ. I rewatched the teaser and the UK and US theatrical trailers afterward and man, the former were ok but the later (the US theatrical) was horrendous. I'd previously not seen any more footage than that.

There was no question in my mind what Idris Elba (the Captain) was going to do and succeed in the third act because I'd seen it already. Not to mention the Engineer going for Shaw afterward.

I'm short on time so I might revisit this in regards to questionable character motivations, editing, leaps in logic and the like but I'll quickly say I squealed with delight when David had his neck broken and head ripped off.

I'm not sure I want to give Prometheus a second viewing, I think I got all there was to get, but I'm pretty sure I'm buying the blu-ray if it comes with (I'm sure it will) a commentary track from Scott. His commentaries are pretty great and I'd love to hear his thoughts and reasoning on the minutia of this film. It's deeply flawed but I'm fascinated with what he has to say about it and the decisions he made.

One last thing, what did people think of the final scene? I felt insulted by its inclusion and thought it should be on the editing room floor.

Oh and the reason Guy Pearce is in the film and not an older actor is because apparently there was a scene in the script where David is viewing Weyland dreaming and Weyland is a much younger man. The sequence was never filmed but Pearce remained. It wasn't until after they cut that scene did they think up the viral TED video. So all was not lost casting Pearce.

I had the same thoughts before I knew this, my not cast someone like Max Von Sydow, Christopher Plummer or Peter O'Toole... oh wait not him he's already in the movie, that would be weird.

I don't think I want to see a sequel to this film no matter who writes or directs it.

Tobar said:

Ewan McGregor describes filming his final scene in ROTS

I believe Ewan says Uncle Owen and Aunt Peru - I can't say I've heard that before, Hilarious!