Bullet in the Head Superres upscale + Uncut reconstruction

[IcePrick]

This project will primarily focus on two things. First of all, upscaling the transfer found on the Scanbox and Worldwide Cinema DVDs, which is arguably the best transfer available for this film. There is an official Blu-ray release, but the transfer on that is itself an upscale from an SD transfer. Here's a comparison between the official blu-ray and my upscale: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparis.../picture:0

If nothing else, at least the colours are much better.

Secondly, reconstructing the extended version. As you may know, there was a version of this film, about five minutes longer, that played in film festivals before the general release. It includes the infamous "piss drinking scene". To the best of my knowledge, this version has never had an official home video release. I have a VHS rip which is reportedly from a bootleg tape. I will be reconstructing this version, using the available material.

I'm also hoping to be able to present the alternate ending via seamless branching.

Video
Scanbox DVD and Worldwide Cinema DVD as primary source. Hong Kong Blu-ray for the Chinese opening titles and credits.

Audio
The main source for the Cantonese and Mandarin tracks will be the Hong Kong Laserdisc. Although, the movie is actually edited on that release to fit on a singe LD, so missing segments will be sourced from DVD. The English dub will sourced from the Scanbox DVD, which has it in good quality. I'll also include the Bey Logan audio commentary from the HKL DVD.

Subtitles
Most likely the English subtitles from the HKL release.

Extras
TBD

[PDB]

Very nice. I am also a big fan of this film and its sad to see that it hasn't been treated with respect. Can't wait to see the results, especially since like you said the color is much better at a minimum (although there looks to be many improved details). I've also been upscaling some older HK DVDs also, sort of tide me over till proper transfers are done.

I'm also glad you are including both endings. The short one is more fitting and correct but the duel is pretty awesome.

[MrBrown]

There was a Hong Kong DVD release with some of the missing scenes via bad branching (not very seamless) into the rest of the movie. Quality also was not the best for the scenes.

[IcePrick]

There was a Hong Kong DVD release with some of the missing scenes via bad branching (not very seamless) into the rest of the movie. Quality also was not the best for the scenes.

I have that DVD. I'm trying to restore those scenes and match them to the main movie. The biggest problem is the lack of stabilization.

[Stamper]

Easy, do your project in fcpx or davinci resolve and use the stabilisers there. You can even in DaVinci automatically cut all shots at their changing points, which makes it easier to stabilise single shots.

[IcePrick]

Thanks. I'll check out Davinci Resolve.

[IcePrick]

I would like your opinion on something. I'm re-inserting this location burn-in that is missing from the main transfer I'm using. The HKL DVD has it, but I find it doesn't upscale very nicely. The text itself doesn't look too hot either. The burn-in is missing from the Joy Sales DVD and the Blu-ray (this seems to be a fairly common problem with HK movies). I'm wondering, should I use the upscaled HKL shot, or should I try to recreate the location card?

Here's a quick comparison:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/196541

Obviously, the font is wrong, but this is just a quick test. If someone could identify the font, that would be helpful.

[spoRv]

I'd go with the recreated one; but, as I suspect, there are other burn-in texts, you should try to match it to the others, at least for the text "boldness"; of course, a better match font should be found - it will not be that hard for latin alphabet, don't know for chinese, though...

[IcePrick]

The plot thickens!

Here's a location card that's not found on any of the DVDs.



It's only on the Laserdisc and VHS rip, both of which are sourced from subtitled prints. At this point, the only realistic option is recreating them. I suppose I have to scrub through the LD and VHS footage to see I if I spot more of these.

As for the font, I've settled on an extra bold variant of Times New Roman (I don't remember the exact name right now). It's not quite as bold as the text in the movie, but it's close enough I think.

[Elmo Oxygen]

I don't know if it's useful, but there's a composite cut of BITH that I put together several years ago. You can find it on a torrent site that begins with Cinema and ends with the name of a Michael Bay movie about an asteroid.

I included the piss drinking scene and used the boardroom ending. I re-wrote all of the subtitles, though the HKL DVD was the original source of said subtitles.