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zxthehedgehog

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Join date
27-Mar-2016
Last activity
29-Feb-2024
Posts
82

Post History

Post
#1419181
Topic
Zack Snyder's Justice League: Redux Ideas thread
Time

I think I’d cut a lot of the introduction and most of the epilogue. Just off the top of my head:

-Cut out the terrorist attack where Wonder Woman comes and saves the kids, unless you’re going to return that sequence as the intro. Otherwise, it basically has nothing to do with the rest of the plot in this version, and we get another introduction with her in both the revised intro and the museum.

-Focus more on the Amazons throughout the introduction, minimizing the cutaways away from them until after the Steppenwolf attack & arrow launch. This likely means cutting the sailor rescue and moving around the placement of Batman’s attempted recruiting of Aquaman to where his scene with the Atlanteans takes place.

-From there, follow Diana & later Bruce until we meet Cyborg. If possible, move the flashbacks forward for Cyborg until the grave scene when he’s looking at the photo of his mother, only revealing before that his strained relationship with his father and that he owns a Mother Box. From there, continue on with Cyborg’s story, until he buries the Mother Box.

-Remove all the chapter stops, and replace with an intermission around the 1hr30 mark. After the intermission, we get the scene with Flash and the girl, introducing Flash. We follow him through the prison scene and Batman meets him in the warehouse.

-Split the conversation between Martha and Lois into two, one in which they talk about her losing the farm and how much they miss Clark and a second where Martha exclusively talks about the Daily Planet and Lois needing to get back to her life. (Use the Snyder Cut footage for both of these.) Use the door and the transformation sequence of Martian Manhunter on the second conversation to imply he was specifically trying to manipulate her into doing this.

-Move the Knightmare and Martian Manhunter reveal sequences to credit stingers, possibly leaving it with three if you also want to add the Lex Luthor/Deathstroke reveal in there as well.

Post
#1293249
Topic
Idea: AVATAR (2009) - Cinemascope Aspect Ratio
Time

Like most modern films, Avatar was shot digitally in 16:9 with safety protection in most shots for several different aspect ratios. It was released in either 1.85:1 or 1.77:1 in 3D, apparently depending on the theater.

However, Cameron has stated in at least one interview that he prefers the 2.39 aspect ratio for 2D projection:

For Avatar we’re shooting in a 16:9 ratio, we’re extracting a cinemascope ratio from that for 2D theatrical exhibition, and for 3D theatrical exhibition we will do, in the theaters that can, we’ll be in the 16:9 format and the theaters that can’t we’ll be in the scope format. Because I actually think that the extra screen height really works well in 3D. It really pulls you through the screen. So I’m actually going back on years of kind of eschewing the kind of 1.85 format, now saying 1.85 – or actually, it’s 1.78:1 – actually works really well in 3D. But only in 3D. I still like the scope ratio compositionally for flat projection.

And I have to agree that, if nothing else, the Blu-ray version looks off. There’s too much space on the top and bottom of the picture in general, and it looks more like an open matte version than something that the cinematographer would intentionally shoot for such an AR.

Post
#1279172
Topic
Hateful 8 Roadshow Cut (Released)
Time

It’s a shame a DCP has never surfaced of this cut. The idea that this was a roadshow exclusive was a bit of a misnomer - several theaters which only projected digital showed the extended “roadshow” cut.

It’s how I saw it, at least. I’m not positive how prevalent it was, but I saw it at a second-run theater for about $3. It was by far the superior version.

Post
#1279168
Topic
SpongeBob SquarePants - 1997 Pilot Debut Reconstruction (* unfinished project *)
Time

I have a 90% complete edition almost ready. It uses a higher-quality source for the edited version, features some fine-tuned cleanup, and utilizes the new title card sources.

While the colors of the pilot are more desaturated than much of Spongebob’s original broadcast, cross-referencing with the original frame paintings uploaded to Twitter tells me that the faded look is accurate to the original elements.

That, on top of the issues inherent with this transfer, tells me that the bright colors of the VHS are likely inaccurate. Therefore, this current version will be corrected to the Season 1 HD master.

If color correction is to be done in the future, it will also be easier to have a master which matches in color over the entire transfer. Since the majority of this restoration is sourced from the edited HD version, it is easier to correct the VHS footage to that version rather than the other way around.

Post
#1271421
Topic
Info Wanted: Has anyone tried up-scaling '28 Days Later'?
Time

Excluding its ending, the film was shot on DV tape at 480p. There’s not much more detail that you could pull out of the source in a new upscale, and though the transfer has issues most of them are stylistic choices by the director.

Besides, the film was already upscaled to HD in an official Blu-ray release. Currently $6 on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/28-Days-Later-Blu-ray/dp/B000VDDWEC

Post
#1269790
Topic
Idea & Help Wanted: The cartoon 'Kidd Video' will never be on DVD or Blu Ray, who will save it?
Time

I appear to have found these; they have a couple of issues. For one, they are sped up to PAL, so they have a noticeable pitch shift in the original files, as well as some minor combing in other scenes. Still, great to use as reference, and once those problems are addressed they could be a definite improvement.

Things are in the works on this. Expect more news soon…

Post
#1263957
Topic
Peanuts Specials: Coca-Cola Product Placement Restorations (Released)
Time

This project was already completed by another user, using a HD 16mm element. If similar quality elements show up for Great Pumpkin or All-Stars, I may consider putting a project together with those elements.

However, what that version demonstrated is that there are more changes than just the introductions. To create a release-accurate version, a complete element would probably be for the best. Given only intros through the releases online, it seems like waiting for a high quality scan will be best for this project.

Post
#1138778
Topic
Peanuts Specials: Coca-Cola Product Placement Restorations (Released)
Time

captainsolo said:

Fantastic. Count me in as well. I’ve wanted to find the LD for years and watch my original issue vhs copy every year.

Also for those who love the soundtrack as much as I do the 200gram Kevin Gray mastered LP is still available and in some ways I think even better than the Analogue Productions 45rpm version. Definitely get the 200g before it’s gone as it will go sky high in price.

Take a look on eBay for the laserdisc. It comes up every once and a while, and the prices of common discs aren’t too bad. That’s how I got my copy, at least.

Post
#1081299
Topic
Ghostbusters - Criterion PCM Track (see Jonno's post; plus lots more info) (Released)
Time

00shevin said:

for some reason that PCM track doesn’t sync up to my blu ray despite having the same duration and is at 23.976 a shame cause it’ sounds pretty good also had to convert it to PCM for it to work in mkvtoolnix corrupt file perhaps?

Unfortunately, this is just a straight rip of the PCM audio from the laserdisc. It would have to be manually resynchronized to match alongside the BD footage.

Post
#1075894
Topic
Feedback Wanted: 'The Matrix' - 1 pass Blu-ray regrade. Based upon earlier 35mm release.
Time

2, 3, & 4 don’t look too bad, but there are some significant problems with 1.

You’ve got some color fringing with the lights, which tells me you either did a manual correction with them or the color manipulation blew them out.

There’s also a problem with the grain structure; there’s a lot of color blotching in many parts of the image. This is likely due to the very thick grain in this scene on the original print, but many walls and objects have very poorly resolved color.

It also is significantly darker, which crushes a lot of the facial details in the scene, Neo and the postman’s eyes being prime examples.

This isn’t to say your results are poor. I understand that these are supposed to be a source to reference for a proper Blu-ray color restoration, and that job is fulfilled pretty well in the later screenshots. But DrDre’s tool isn’t an end-all be-all solution for a single-pass regrade of a film. Scanning 35mm introduces its own biases, and some scenes like this one have heavy generational loss that will require their own tactics to resolve in a way that resembles the original material.