[Cancelled] Mad Max 2/Road Warrior Regrade (Warner 97 DVD and LD)

[spoRv]

PDB, now you have less than one and half month to finish this... because I think many (if not all) here would like to rewatch the first three chapters (including your MM2 version) before going to watch Fury Road...

[jerryshadoe]

Not to put any pressure on PDB, but I agree with Andrea that it would be nice to see this regrade before we see Fury Road. This project is moving along very nicely and am anticipating the "final" results.

From all the work I have done on audio over the years, I would choose the "94 version" audio as well based on those images that you posted of it.

[PDB]

Funny how its graded to look like the MM2 DVD/LD with its desert reds/oranges/yellow but also that blue I saw in the night scenes. Its like Miller was watching the DVD of MM2.

Agree! I think it could be an interesting action movie, even if I noted several similarities to other movies (the mask similar to latest Batman, the white men etc.) but this is the curse of us, movie lovers, who watched thousand (literally!) movies! That's why (I think) youngster likes movies more than me... all movies seem fresh and new, while often they contain "recalls" to older movies, but they don't know it (yet!)

Too true about the similarties but then I recall how many times Road Warrior/MM2 was ripped off and copied so I can cut George Miller a break on this one

As far as the new movie coming, here's a nice encode of trailer 2 from a Prores HQ file for those who are interested.
New upload with the correct -120ms delay needed. https://mega.co.nz/#!FN9DBIqL!bDFlNjcfeV...jyTuURhcdM
So if anyone downloaded the other file, just remux the file adding -120ms

Thanks for the link Doombot and thanks for posting that poster, that's pretty cool.

Ok, it's looking like the 1994 is the way to go. I'm going to use Andrea's frame-matching method this time, which should be a great deal quicker than syncing by ear (and should help make sense of the slight differences in the BD and LD cuts). First I have to find my BD copy, mind, which hasn't reappeared yet since the house move  :-/

BTW I have to say I'm pretty darned excited about Fury Road. If it even slightly recaptures the exhilaration of watching the original films on VHS as a 14-year-old, it will have done its job!

[Image: mad-max-2-15600l.jpg]

And again thanks for working on soundtrack Jonno

Yeah I'm hopeful about Fury Road too. So far it looks pretty great. But a movie that is one long car chase? It could go either way. Brilliant or boring. Anyway, can't wait to see, regardless.

And speaking of cool posters, I like that vintage VHS cover there Jonno. Funny, I don't think of MM2 as warranting a 18 rating but I guess it is R in the US also. Outside of one scene I doubt it would get an R today.

PDB, now you have less than one and half month to finish this... because I think many (if not all) here would like to rewatch the first three chapters (including your MM2 version) before going to watch Fury Road...

Not to put any pressure on PDB, but I agree with Andrea that it would be nice to see this regrade before we see Fury Road. This project is moving along very nicely and am anticipating the "final" results.

I'd hate to disappoint but I think I'm going to disappoint. I wanted to get it out before Fury Road but its a harder grade then I initially thought. The main reason being is when I grade scene by scene the hardest thing I find to do are dissolves (or swipes) from one scene to another. Since they change colors, exposure, etc I can't just grade the beginning and the end of a dissolve and have them work. I end up having to grade the dissolve frame by frame which takes a long time and MM2 has a ton of them. More then Alien and Blade Runner combined.

Also, I find myself running through a movie grading the whole thing to about 80-85% correct to the source and then running through it a couple more times. Each time tweaking the colors to get right. In this case I have to go through and really look at the reds and yellows of each scene. So as of right now, MM2 is graded up to when the interceptor gets destroyed and the end chase. All graded to the DVD with a little LD mixed in since I just started adding it to the mix.

I mean if people really want this I can finish the 1st go around on the grade and send it out to people as a test copy (with the 94 mix) with the understanding that a final version would be coming and that this is about 80% there (relative to the DVD which could change).

[jerryshadoe]

Don't rush things just to make people happy. I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say we'd rather wait for a quality release than to have something "Frankenstein'ed" together just to be able to see it before Fury Road.

I am not surprised that you are having to invest more time into it due to those dissolves. Just keep in mind that even if it looks right on a particular frame (like you matched it properly) it will look different "in-motion" which gives you a little extra work as you have to verify that it looks right in both cases.

The fact that you are going through the footage more than once when doing the regrade speaks to your devotion to the project, but also to the fact that you are trying to do it right. It's funny how many times I thought I had something edited/modified properly, only to discover in later viewings all the errors that needed to be corrected.

As far as you releasing a "test copy" before you have a final version, IMHO there are two ways of looking at it:
a) this could be a complete waste of your time which could be used to finish the color-grading

OR

b) this could be a great way for you to get some constructive feedback from people here (and yes, I'm volunteering) as to how your re-grade looks so far. Like I mentioned earlier, there might be something that you overlooked that can be caught by one of us when we are viewing the test copy.

Ultimately, this is your project and decision - just trying to help

[jonno]

Take your time and do it right, PDB - if it's done right this will be a version we can watch for years, never mind 6 weeks.

As for the multitude of dissolves and wipes, it'll probably come as no surprise that George Miller was enormously influenced by a certain Mr Lucas in his making of the Mad Maxes (2 in particular). The photography, editing and orchestral scores (not an obvious choice, when you think about it) were all designed to evoke a specific mythological quality that he felt Lucas had captured in Star Wars. If anything, Mad Max is an even more direct take on The Hero with a Thousand Faces (a fact I spent several thousand words wittering on about when I wrote my dissertation   )

Here's another classic image from the days when film posters weren't obligated to be accurate:

[Image: MadMax_doublebillquad_TomBeauvais.jpg]

[jerryshadoe]

That is an awesome poster

[PDB]

Don't rush things just to make people happy. I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say we'd rather wait for a quality release than to have something "Frankenstein'ed" together just to be able to see it before Fury Road.

I am not surprised that you are having to invest more time into it due to those dissolves. Just keep in mind that even if it looks right on a particular frame (like you matched it properly) it will look different "in-motion" which gives you a little extra work as you have to verify that it looks right in both cases.

The fact that you are going through the footage more than once when doing the regrade speaks to your devotion to the project, but also to the fact that you are trying to do it right. It's funny how many times I thought I had something edited/modified properly, only to discover in later viewings all the errors that needed to be corrected.

As far as you releasing a "test copy" before you have a final version, IMHO there are two ways of looking at it:
a) this could be a complete waste of your time which could be used to finish the color-grading

OR

b) this could be a great way for you to get some constructive feedback from people here (and yes, I'm volunteering) as to how your re-grade looks so far. Like I mentioned earlier, there might be something that you overlooked that can be caught by one of us when we are viewing the test copy.

Ultimately, this is your project and decision - just trying to help

Yeah dissolves are a pain. I've tried several ways to grade them faster including automatically and just can't get it to work right. Always have to grade the beginning and the end and then grade the actually dissolve part frame by frame till I get it right. And towards the end Miller uses dissolve over dissolve. I was trucking along pretty well till that started happening. Its why I skipped ahead to the final chase just for a break from dissolves.

And going through it more then once may be more a tribute to my OCD and novice skills then dedication.  :-/ I can never get it 100% but I want to get as close as I possibly can.

That's actually a really, good idea. The letting people preview it before I release. And some people here have helped me in the past. I was thinking about doing that with Alien and Blade Runner (of which the video part is nearing completion) so MM2 would make sense too. Maybe an easy to download mkv before I build the Blu-ray. After all I haven't release anything so feedback would help.

Take your time and do it right, PDB - if it's done right this will be a version we can watch for years, never mind 6 weeks.

As for the multitude of dissolves and wipes, it'll probably come as no surprise that George Miller was enormously influenced by a certain Mr Lucas in his making of the Mad Maxes (2 in particular). The photography, editing and orchestral scores (not an obvious choice, when you think about it) were all designed to evoke a specific mythological quality that he felt Lucas had captured in Star Wars. If anything, Mad Max is an even more direct take on The Hero with a Thousand Faces (a fact I spent several thousand words wittering on about when I wrote my dissertation   )

Agreed, cool poster. Its funny, I do get a Star Wars vibe anytime I see those swipes on screen. I also get a "Man With No Name" vibe from the whole movie too. But of course that was intentional too. You probably know better then me Jonno, but I remember reading in Sergio Leone's biography that Miller was a big fan and for a time (serious or not) considered using the title "For a Few Gallons More". Never knew if that was true or not.


Anyway, hopefully people will like my work but if I fail, there's always version 2 or I can always help the next guy.

[DoomBot]

Just added a link above for 5.1 audio - Mad Max Fury Road trailer 2

[PDB]

Just added a link above for 5.1 audio - Mad Max Fury Road trailer 2

Sweet thanks, Doombot. It makes that trailer all the sweeter.

[DoomBot]

It sure does make it better, i just watched it in the theater tonight before my movie an after . So much better then the 2.0 for sure.