True Lies HDTV (Film4 HD) Preservation

[Beber]

Beber you're right, Here yes, right. The print is a bit dark. I think it should be color matched to the DVHS or your NRJ12 recording. The right colors might be not far off maybe a hybrid of both.

Since the current official HD master is plagued with our usual red push nemesis, I don't think the print shoud be color matched to it. Overall, the 35mm color are probably the proper ones (maybe too much blue where other colors might want to have a chance to pop up in there), but I seriously believe that the 35mm has too low brightness in the opening scenes. I'd say that the current HD master should be color matched to the print with a few adjustments to let other colors than blue to show up, and keeping its brightness so that we can see something for Christ sake!

[Stamper]

In HDR you need a superior to 12 bits capture, in camera DNG. The extended color range HDR offers is I think from 256 colors to millions colors including the black and highlights. So if your capture is in DNG, 4K, 12bits or more, then HDR ensure faithful reproduction of all the colors. Switching to Rec709 for output just produce the same picture as HDR only clearly having been gone through HDR it looks better than regular HD just like a DVD picture gone through HD looks way better than direct 1/1 SD in the colors.

I read that here. https://www.mysterybox.us/blog/2016/10/2...vering-hdr

It's a bit headache inducing at first, but it makes sense. Having camera DNG instead of tiff, ensure in resolve you have access to features you don't have in tiff, like higher contrast, colors etc.

[Valeyard]

Since the current official HD master is plagued with our usual red push nemesis, I don't think the print shoud be color matched to it. Overall, the 35mm color are probably the proper ones (maybe too much blue where other colors might want to have a chance to pop up in there), but I seriously believe that the 35mm has too low brightness in the opening scenes. I'd say that the current HD master should be color matched to the print with a few adjustments to let other colors than blue to show up, and keeping its brightness so that we can see something for Christ sake!

Okay, after reviewing the release I must say I disagree with your assessment. You seem to have clipped the blacks with your screenshots somehow. If those shots are too dark what about these ones?






The thing about prints is that they don't have much dynamic range in the dark areas. Detail in the negative is lost, so this is an accurate representation of what you would see in the cinema.

[Beber]

These one don't look as dark, sure, but nothing is black however. I notice you have conviniently cropped the black bars. Are you sure you haven't tweaked these screens and cropped the bars that would've appeared grey? Also, I specifically mentionned the opening scenes being too dark. The rest is not as dark as the beginning. What about the revealing shot of Arnie emerging out from the ice pool? Make us a screen of that shot. The same as I did. Will you see his face? Will you identify who it is without tampering the shot?

[Valeyard]

Those are screenshots taken directly from MPC with no adjustments. Here are the uncropped files:

https://s13.postimg.cc/c5juz0q79/True.Li...shot_1.png
https://s13.postimg.cc/sgjyvcaet/True.Li...shot_2.png

And here is the opening scene:


https://s13.postimg.cc/6u4yeejl1/True.Li...shot_3.png

You can barely make out his face that's correct, but that's how the print is.

[Beber]

This is what I get when doing screens of the same shots as yours. My black bars are blacker:




I find hard to believe that Cameron made a revealing shot that introduces his main character, the movie star, so dark that the audience cannot even identify who it is. I mean, why even bother make Arnie turning his head to face the camera if nobody can see for sure that it's him?

[Valeyard]

Okay I see the option, go to Render Setting, Output Range and change to 0-255. You can use 16-235 if you calibrate your display first, but computer monitors are not generally calibrated with correct contrast and black level for video so best to leave output range as 0-255.

Cameron is obsessed with every detail of his films, if he wanted the scene 4-6 stops brighter he would have done that, but he didn't the scene is dark with little detail in 35mm.

[Beber]

I am set to 0-255. I know about Cameron's anal character, so that's why it doesn't make sense to me for the scene to be so dark. And what about inside the mansion? The ballroom. How come it's so dark in there? Sure, the diamond necklace that wears Tia Carrere pops out, but that's not a plot point, like the thing Arnie would have come to steal, so, you know, why not put some lights inside the house?

[Valeyard]

All I can tell you is what I see when I watch 35mm films and compare them to home video. Almost always home video transfer are brightened up considerably. And dark scenes projected from LPP in a cinema look exactly like what I posted from the file - i.e. LPP does not have rich blacks the way that IB Tech prints did and appears grey. When they scan the negative they can extract the full dynamic range missing in LPP prints and that gives you more information in the dark areas to play with, and you can reveal detail that isn't present on any LPP print of the movie. Prints did get better by the late 90's, but it's also mixed and depends on the lab where a film was struck. Some had richer blacks, others didn't.

Also the yellowing has definitely been tuned down in their release, in Titanic for example from the print I saw projected last year most of the indoor daylight scenes had yellow skintones, the scan as it is looks a little colder and will need some adjustment.

Why did Cameron make the scene so dark? Who knows, but he did. Like I said if he wanted it 6 stops brighter as you're suggesting he would have ordered it that way and difference in the scan would reflect that and be obvious.

[Beber]

I know 35mm prints look darker. That's something I noticed, too. But for this specific example, I'm not convinced it should be sooooo dark. I'll have to wait and knock on wood for a 35mm screening to be announced in my area in order to see for myself.