The Matrix - regraded, v2.0

[deleted user]

TomArrow found the workprint; sure, it's cropped, and very dark, but it could be used as color reference; so, I've decided to give it a go, and compare the workprint regrade with the film and DVD ones, and at the end a median of the three - which is the most balanced to me: https://diff.pics/Z_XCpll54XFD/1

WARNING! Only DVD is in sync, while both film and workprint are not, so the automated script failed in many shots; this is just the usual quick'n'dirt version; if there will be any interest, more advanced tests would eventually follow.

Very cool!

Well, you already know what I am going to say [Oracle's voice] ... I think the absolute best out of all worlds would be the 35mm regraded to the workprint, which is my wet dream. If that's a no-no, I'd opt for the BD-to-workprint, because I love the hell out of that intense green in the interrogation scene. Looks "right" to me. It's also less punchy in some places than the 35mm, more filmic imo.

I am tempted to say the Median looks interesting, but I don't want to encourage you to do that too much, because I think preserving the Workprint colors in their purity is something that simply should be done and the Median is more a kind of experimental creative Frankengrade thing, not really faithful to anything.

Edit: Some of the scenes in the real-world also look very blue-ish in both the 35mm and the median whereas they are almost completely neutral in the Workprint regrade, and I love that.

[iguanaclerk]

I'm only really interested in the 35mm's colors. It's how the film looked in theaters and has a real nice look. I don't really see the aim of averaging the colors of 3 very different sources.

[deleted user]

I'm only really interested in the 35mm's colors. It's how the film looked in theaters and has a real nice look. I don't really see the aim of averaging the colors of 3 very different sources.

How sure can we be about that though? They did quite an amount of per-scene color correction on that one. And while that may seem a little arrogant, I don't 100% trust them to have done this without introducing some error. After all they did release a v2.0 after the first one had some errors, whatever that means.

[Beber]

I'd opt for the BD-to-workprint, because I love the hell out of that intense green in the interrogation scene. Looks "right" to me. It's also less punchy in some places than the 35mm, more filmic imo.

Intense green in the interrogation scene is definitely NOT the way it looked on the 35mm print I saw a few months ago. It was actually one of these scenes that, even if taking place in the Matrix, don't look that green. The back wall was a tad greenish but mostly grey.

[deleted user]

I'd opt for the BD-to-workprint, because I love the hell out of that intense green in the interrogation scene. Looks "right" to me. It's also less punchy in some places than the 35mm, more filmic imo.

Intense green in the interrogation scene is definitely NOT the way it looked on the 35mm print I saw a few months ago. It was actually one of these scenes that, even if taking place in the Matrix, don't look that green. The back wall was a tad greenish but mostly grey.

Mh, okay I believe you. Then maybe it's just a workprint-thing. Either way, I love it and would like to see it preserved. The 35mm colors already have a watchable version in the 35mm scan, whereas the workprint colors just have a rather poor cam.

[iguanaclerk]

How sure can we be about that though? They did quite an amount of per-scene color correction on that one. And while that may seem a little arrogant, I don't 100% trust them to have done this without introducing some error. After all they did release a v2.0 after the first one had some errors, whatever that means.

They didn't do a shot-to-shot correction, just set levels for the contrast. The original release mistakenly set the white-balance wrong and made everything look yellow, which the 2.0 corrects. The person who scanned the print said this is what it generally looks like when projected. The idea of matching the bluray to the 35mm is to preserve the nice looking theatrical colors without the print damage present in the scan.

[ilovewaterslides]

It looks green on that old CAMrip that I still have though which is pretty close to some samples that they used to show on the news when the movie came out.

Here's a comparison between these "news samples" screenshots and my custom BD regrade: https://imgur.com/a/F1k1W

[deleted user]

Because of a huge misunderstanding between team members, our previous version of "The Matrix" (v1.0) has the wrong color grading. The main problem is a yellow tint in many scenes, which has varying degrees of intensity. Some of the scenes were indeed supposed to be yellow, but others were not, e.g. Neo's interrogation scene. We went back to the print and color corrected the scan, basically from scratch. All color errors should be fixed now, and this release is (finally) accurate to the theatrical print.

This is from the .nfo of the 35mm scan. Maybe I'm wrong, but to me this paragraph very clearly suggests that there was a scene-by-scene correction. 

Here's another part:

This release uses a very high quality scan of an original theatrical film print, properly color corrected. It had to be done, because all "The Matrix" prints have intentional color "errors", that get neutralized when projected with a xenon bulb. This release accurately represents the projected print's look.

Color errors? Wish there were more details on that. And do they know all there is to know about color grading and the physics of light and whatnot to correct properly? Did they use calibrated displays? All stuff we don't know.

Also, looking at spoRv's BD->35mm regrade screens, the saturation seems to vary from shot to shot, and sometimes the 35mm regrade is ridiculously strongly saturated imho, compare it to either the Workprint regrade or the Blu Ray or the DVD, none of those have these extreme popping colors, which I personally find irritating and almost cartoonish.

[CSchmidlapp]

It looks green on that old CAMrip that I still have though which is pretty close to some samples that they used to show on the news when the movie came out.

Here's a comparison between these "news samples" screenshots and my custom BD regrade: https://imgur.com/a/F1k1W

Looks great.
Have you made your custom available?

[deleted user]

Does anyone own the DVD screener by any chance? I'm not 100% sure it exists, but there are some torrents of an English and I think Swedish version. (the uncertainty comes from the fact that sometimes people spread fake files)