Great, thanks! Sadly, this is just a nice idea for the moment, because, even if I could be able to recreate some shots, they will be not enough I think to justify a whole project… unless someone shows interest anyway, or would like to help with other ways to “fill” the missing parts.
Still, some shots could “maybe” used for the extended edition.
Yep, of course - as it was stated in the video, “open matte creation”; I used avisynth to clone existing parts to fill the blanks, and carefully choose the best part (of all frame) to use as “mask” to add to the black borders; it will work (almost?) perfectly just for few shots perfectly (where there are sky, space, desert, snow, rocks etc.) and somehow good for other static shots, depending one each one.
Don’t know how many footage is possible to use for recreation, but a quick estimation could be around few minutes for each movie; there are of course other possible techniques to use, but let this discussion for another post for the moment… 😉
Thanks! If you think I did all during an afternoon, it’s not that bad!
I wonder if someone crazy enough would like to even think about a project like this…
The Deleted Magic intro is fan made
Oh, didn’t know that… thanks for the info! Experts like you and benduwan are really needed here 😄
Discuss! 😄
Thanks for all the inputs; they will be investigated!
Fred’s avisynth script: yes, I’m using (also) this to clean scenes, and it works well in the vast majority of the cases; probably a professional software (and a more skilled editor) could do better; so, if there are some available restored deleted scenes/shots that could be used for this project, please PM me with links.
Just discovered that Deleted Magic Revisited has a nice preview crawl, never seen before (by me, of course…); another great find!
Thanks for the input benduwan!
Today I tested further the RaiTre regrading, and I discovered some things… first, as noted before, its contrast is off, but not for every shots; some are perfect, many are not; so, using the HD luma is the best compromise. Meanwhile, I worked a lot at the color matching script, and now the revised one should render around 90/95% of the scenes almost exactly; in the other cases, I should switch to another type - which works bad in the previous cases, but it’s optimal for the few exceptions.
An example of the last version - top new regrade (type 2), bottom HDTV:
I worked also to a “patched” version, where the HD luma is merged with RaiTre chroma; it is the perfect solution, because the colors are not recreated, but they are the original ones; it’s a pity RaiTre is missing images all around the borders… so, when I overlay the HD luma/RaiTre chroma on the regraded version, the borders have different colors… I spent many hours testing this option, just to decide to not use it: I prefer to have a, let’s say, 98% matching regrade on the 100% of the image, instead 100% matching on 90% of the image, and 90% match on the borders, where the difference can be easily spotted.
I started also to work to scene cleaning, desert storm, in particular: it’s really difficult to get rid of all those big scratches without losing details… I must find the right compromise, not an easy task. Treadwell is worst, the first shot is really hard; but I guess it could be easy to reuse previous/next frames (or part of them) to remove residual dirt. Now, if someone has cleaned some deleted scenes, and would like to share them, it will be a great help for the project!
A bit better than before, but magenta is still there… 😦
The scene by scene (or, worst, shot by shot) color grading is beyond the mission of this project; I just want to have a “set-and-forget” setting for the whole trilogy, and, using RaiTre as color reference, the results are good in almost all the shots… I mean, I could live with some magenta-ridden shots during explosions or laser blasts, if the other shots look like good; at the contrary, I can’t stand with green or yellow snow to get good colors on explosions shots - plus, even if explosion itself has better color, the other colors shift too much…
What I used for my regrading is the HDTV (and/or BD) luma, and color matched RaiTre chroma; this is because RaiTre brightness and contrast are off, and, using its luma will lead to worst results, due to both brightness/contrast issue, and the fact that aspect ratio is different and the color match script often is prone to artifacts.
If someone took time to read the article whose link I posted before, the RaiTre and DVD menus have very similar color grading, and different from all the other known versions; I think this is a nice grading; is it the “proper” one? Maybe, probably… who knows!?!
Another test I made, to be sure at least that RaiTre are not just an “auto whited” version of another grade (at least on Hoth, where the snow shots are almost all really white-ish), I compared (in a 2x2 grid) the HDTV-RaiTre regraded, the HDTV, and their respective autowhite’d counterparts; well, the RaiTre is definitely not autowhite’d; sometime both autowhite’d versions are similar, but often the HDTV is way worst than HDTV-RaiTre; in the latter, there is that touch of blue on Hoth shots that works… not too much, just not exagerated like in the HDTV (BD).
And, RaiTre is not lacking saturation in comparison to HDTV/BD, well, not always… I do love blue Executor and its red-glowing engines!
Top, HDTV-RaiTre regraded, bottom HDTV:
MWilson, thanks for the function; sadly, it doesn’t replicate Ronster’s one…
Top ColorBalance, bottom Ronster:
still too magenta.
Thanks Ronster! I’m aware there is still something to correct, but as a preliminary color test, I think it shows the great potential of this particular version, color wise. Of course, any help is appreciated! But, if someone would chime in with some AviSynth script, I’ll be more than happy to make some tests.
Meanwhile, I invite everyone to read this short article about Rai Tre and something more… you will find some interesting info there!
http://blog.sporv.com/the-strange-case-of-star-wars-rai-tre-broadcast
Waiting for your feedbacks!
Ronster, please post the settings you have used, thanks!
There is this extended edition project: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-saga-Extra-Extended-Edition-1080p/id/52131
Still not begun to clean up scenes, but we will do for sure. How good the result will be, I still do not know, though…
Not too much blue, at least! 😄
So, if the “too much yellow or pink” will be corrected, do you like them, or not?
Another test clip - this time is 100MB! https://fs11n4.sendspace.com/dl/b15b9cb51a9a18560339bea08d80c31e/585594b51adc219e/bk4uqp/HDTV_Vs_RAITRE_2.mkv
You could note that there are color “jumps” around some shot changes; this is due to the fact the two sources are not perfectly aligned temporally, so disregard this fact.
Even if nobody seems to be interested, I’ve just finished the fist test clip: https://fs03n4.sendspace.com/dl/0f3336501c02f18110e0bddda175a881/58556961332a536b/rfeeww/HDTV_Vs_RAITRE.mkv
Watched on my PDP, it seems to have just little bit of dithering problems, but I’m pretty sure it’s the display inherent nature; so, I need someone with an LCD (LED, OLED, or a superior PDP) that would watch and see if the problem is real; further test clip is in progress right now.
Some random considerations:
Further comparisons:
I used just the first part of EP5, because the rest should still be put in sync; color wise, difference of the regraded and the original varies usually from null to small; this is due to the fact RaiTre AR is around 2.0:1, so the automatic color matching script can’t be always 100% accurate; but it does a pretty good job, IMHO.
If there is some interest, I could manage to make a test clip - who knows, maybe also a new project with just color regrading… 😉
Just posted some comparison screenshots using RaiTre as color reference: originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-saga-Extra-Extended-Edition-1080p/id/52131/page/5#1020238
Color grading preliminary test - top HDTV regraded using RaiTre as reference, bottom HDTV untouched:
(Blu-ray will look like almost the same, by the way)
benduwan said:
i think Jambe Davdar aka Jamie Benning would be a great help with this.
maybe he is the biggest fan with incredible knowledge of star wars.
Do you think he could be interested in this project? If so, please contact him.
that sounds good…😃
but i´m only a help with the OT (thats always the best parts) 😃.
Always a precious help. Indeed, it seems (almost) nobody loves the prequels, but hey, we are on OriginalTrilogy after all! 😄
Swift S. Lawliet said:
The “Russian anonymous” is called “martokc”, and can you please add me there? I gave you the info on the Russian Extended Editions. Also, you misspelled Adywan’s name.
Added and corrected, thanks!
About his versions: they are just one of the many “options” I have received for the OT - the others from benduwan, pittrek, darth_ender - so I have to study them all (literally) and decide where to put a certain scene; for example, in one a given scene is put here, in another there… which is the “right” one? I must admit it’s a question much easier to answer IMHO than “which is the right color grading?” 😄
For other episodes: I have watched EP 7 just once (shame on me!) but I HAVE to watch it again (and again); for now, I’m using martokc’s version for guidelines; for EP 1 2 3, I’m following ADigitalMan, but I have to decide where to put further scenes/shots - in particular, there are A LOT of small shots found on trailers to put back in the movies…
About OT two versions: I thought also of this possibility; but, as I wrote before, I thought to use BD as main version, and replace most offending scenes with GOUT ones, because, I think, there are some nice corrections made during the years, in 1997SE, 2004 and 2011 - but not many others; to make a “proper” version is beyond the mission of this project. The fact that there will be different versions of this project is still uncertain, but plausible.
A question for everybody: what do you think about the idea of using RaiTre color grading as reference for the OT version? http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-color-grading-thoughts/id/52432#1018988
Final version will have better colors, less dull and more vibrant, and improved contrast and brightness; as alternative, I thought about GOUT, slightly corrected. For EP 1 2 3, just a slight correction to get rid of pink blanket; for EP 7, I thought to reduce teal&orange.
Opinions?
I remember this discussion about DVD menus, and how it resemble (to the poster) Mike Verta’s version: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-2004-DVD-Interactive-Menus-vs-Movie/id/15265
Don’t know if all (or some) DVD menus have the “right” color grading; what I know is that RaiTre is really close: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/193879 - and actually the only two versions with the yellow lower sun… my PAL VHS capture is close, but the lower sun is orange.
If someone is interested, I could post a complete comparison of the binary sunset.
I just realized that WOWOW version of EP 5 and 6 (probably also for the other episodes) used not the 2011 BD master, but the 2015 digital download; as far as I can tell, differences are only in missing Fox logo and new fanfare; color grading of EP 5 and 6 (and 7, too) is the same of the Blu-ray - I checked a lot of frames to confirm that. BUT…
EP 4 (still unsure if the master used is 2015 digital download, but it’s really plausible), at the contrary, DO HAVE a different color grading… not so drastic like the one between previous versions, but it’s there; don’t know if the difference just lie only in brightness and/or contrast and/or gamma; to me, colors also are affected - seems WOWOW has not that pink blanket found on BD.
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/193837
I would like to make a comparison of the Mos Eisley added shots, like the last one in the previous post, but I have not found them.
BD screenshots taken here: http://www.darkrealmfox.com/film_reviews/blu-ray-screencaps-star-wars-episode-4-a-new-hope
WOWOW screenshots taken directly from the broadcast .ts file
benduwan, thanks for the help, you are our “deleted scene” guru here! 😄
MWilson, you surely will take good care of the color reference; hope you could achieve good results.
Also, I can announce that MWilson is our official audio editor! Another little step toward the goal of this project!
I’m stuck with the color grading affaire… which one should I use? Take in account also that I discovered that EP 4 WOWOW has a different color grading than BD (more info here: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-color-grading-thoughts/id/52432/page/1#1019458)
At the beginning, I thought to release at least EP1 for Xmas, but I’m not so sure I can do it in time… day after day I discover new shots, I have new ideas… at the end, I’m completely devoted to this project that will take a lot of time and energies!
Now I’m investigating which color grading to use. It’s the most important task, because deleted scenes should be color corrected to follow a given grading, so it’s the first thing to decide, before everything else; then, as I’m going to use the 2011 as main version, which parts should be replaced with 2004, 1997 or GOUT version; for example, I’m NOT going to use the young Anakin ghost, or R2 beyond the rocks…
Scenes cleanup: I’ll do that by myself for the most parts, I think I could do it.
Colorization of b&w scenes: this is A LOT tougher than what I thought at the beginning; MWilson did some test clips, but result are not so satisfactory; there are three choices here:
Audio editor: here the project is still waiting to find someone, skilled enough, to help with deleted scenes…
Another thing to do, is to find the best parts of the Editdroid laserdisc to use for the project - so, a devoted person who will write down every timecode for start and end of each needed shot.
German version: sorry, but I will NOT do any foreign crawl; for audio, I want to use just English; for subs, I’m still thinking how to properly handle the English subs, for both main movie (that will be literally divided in small chuncks) and deleted scenes; once found the way, further languages could be added - the best choice here will be to add the main european languages, French, German, Italian, Spanish.
Time to buy a new computer just for this project, because the old one is becoming too slow for this… and HDD space is almost over!
So, even if there are no updates in the last days, I’m not sleeping (well, not so much!), and a lot of testing and mind numbing are going on…
Last thing: would you like to get an episode release when it’s ready, and wait for the next one, or keep waiting until everything is ready? This is because lately I’ve seen a lot of movie sagas, and, if I think I should wait months between one part and the following, I’d prefer to wait some time more, and watch every part at the same time!
Of course, any idea, suggestion, critic is welcome!
I compared RaiTre Vs Flunk (but G’kar and TB could be used instead); even if RaiTre has lower saturation and brightness, it is not plagued by the pink blanket (and also blue blanket found on some scenes) present in Flunk (and other DVB as well).
Just few examples (top Flunk, bottom RaiTre):
Is RaiTre grading “right”? Don’t know - probably not - but it’s surely different from the other DVBs! I recall also that the italian VHS I captured for my old SET project have similar grading; not 100% sure, I should find the file and make a direct comparison.
(Please, focus just on the color grading; I know RaiTre quality is bad, as it’s recorded from a DVB decoder connected via Scart cable to a DVD recorder, and its aspect ratio is wrong.)
I like to have more image than less… 😄
Found an old color regrading script I retrieved online years ago; tweaked a bit to get rid of the pinkish tone of EP2; here you are few screenshots: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/193686
Maybe faces are too saturated?