[Idea] Resident Evil saga - open matte & color grading

[Stamper]

I'm a big fan of this series, have you checked the french DVDs? Because the french company who releases the DVD is the one from the producer, and they have a habit of using different, custom masters on many releases.

[spoRv]

I'm a big fan of this series, have you checked the french DVDs? Because the french company who releases the DVD is the one from the producer, and they have a habit of using different, custom masters on many releases.

Really? No, haven't checked them (yet); if you may help me somehow, do not exitate to drop me a PM if needed!

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UPDATE

RE4: I worked on color grading; the (loose) reference was the IMAX trailer

original


regraded


comparison: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/130440
(note: I've rised a bit brightness to avoid complete black crush in some shots; but I've left some white clipping here and there, should watch the whole movie to judge if they are "bearable" or not!)

Then, I've found a 1.78:1 open matte trailer

(if someone has a better version, please let me know!)
Take a look, it's very interesting; there are parts that should still be fixed, timecodes, cropped CGI - a really nice little discovery indeed.

The shots are all trimmed, as expected, exept one (only 8 frames long) that, of course, would be used!

BD

trailer

final (including regrading)


Now, I tried to integrate trimmed shots; the color grading is quite different, and the quality is low as the bitrate, so result is far from perfect... noticeable seam, imperfect color grading, clipping artefacts... luckily, each shot lasts few frames!
Still, I think the idea is nice, because, adding YAO subtitles, when they are switched on, the whole shot would be letterbox, while without them, there is a VAR in the middle of the shot - that could be awesome, or a punch in the eye, it's up to the viewer!

BD


trailer


final (regraded to BD)


EDIT: do note that IMAX trailers (2.10:1) use different CGI, while the latter Italian one (1.78:1), albeit if sometimes cropped, seems to use final ones.

[spoRv]

RE4 DVD Vs BD Vs AAP:

(yes, the hand is a bit too green... but c'mon, we are talking about a zombie movie here, after all! )

Thanks to babouin, I have now the open matte shots in great quality; sadly, they have burnt-id (burned-in, UK vs US English ) subtitles, as HDTV recordings, so I managed to use the latter to eliminate them, and result is perfect, even if HDTV quality is lower, EXCEPT for the "grid lines" representation of the underground Umbrella center - for that, I've decided to use HDTV instead.

Right now the first scene is rendering, should be ready in an hour; others will follow.

[spoRv]

RE4: all the seven "official" open matte shots are ready - I used the auto-align plugin to get an AAP-AR version; the release will contain a YAO sub track to mask added parts.

An eighth shot would be added, too; taken from trailer, it is the only one complete (so far), even if it's only 8 frames long! You can find it in the second post ("axe smash"), along with other two clips ("axe throw" and "slide", revised version).

Still thinking about the chance of including these shots in the final version... the color grading isn't perfect, but close enough, so, masking the added parts for the "purists", it would appear as a "simple" letterbox version - even if I can't understand why one would get it, and do not watch it for what it was created for...

My idea is this: create two YAO tracks, one forced, that would cover all the extra parts in the brief shots taken from trailers (except "axe smash", and eventually other full shots if found); the other would cover also the AAP-AR shots, to get a "vanilla" letterbox edition - again, don't know why, but it's better to have and do not use it, instead of the contrary!

EDIT: working on RE1 AAP-AR, I noted that the 1.33:1 source, despite it's SD, has a better quality than the famous Arab recording... yep, the latter has a bit more image on both sides (maybe 1 or 2%), but resolution lacks, and there are the title text on top left, the TV logo on top right, and Arab hardsubs on bottom... so, I can definitely live without it - even if I'd like to get the RE4 Arab recording, though, to get the first five minutes in open matte!

[deblock]

Hi, very few RE1 releases have a DTS audio track and was wondering if the DTS mix is better?

Did RE1 play in theatres with DTS audio? Thanks.