Koopa Luath's test/demo releases

[Koopa Luath]

While the first volume of The Three Stooges is going to be fairly easy, the second one is going to be a quite bit more challenging owing to certain circumstances involving different versions from different years. As I already have the original CPHE release in a later CPHE box with RCA/Columbia labels of the first volume and the later release by Columbia TriStar Home Video, I only have the later release of the second volume, the CPHE release of which has been rather difficult to definitively spot on VHS. Only thing remotely close to that I've seen online at all is an RCA/Columbia box with a hi-fi stereo marking, and even I'm not 100% that that's the copy I want.

Oh, and I want to thank XeTe for providing materials in Castilian Spanish for a future project I might do once I firmly establish myself. Now, if only someone had access to the Latino HBO...

[BronzeTitan]

Are you planning on individual threads for individual projects? It would make it easier to follow each's developments when documenting it's progress. Oh ... and with lots of pictures (you know .. before-after, this test, that test)! 

[Koopa Luath]

I'm planning on it, if only I can clear it with Feallan.

[BronzeTitan]

I'm planning on it, if only I can clear it with Feallan.

Well, if that's all, then pick one of your projects that looks like a quick finish, present your schedule for it to Admin & Project maker spoRv, and he'll have Feallan give you the "OK". That should get the ball rolling!  

[Koopa Luath]

The progress report may not come for some time, but for now The Three Stooges Vol. 1 looks to be the quicker finish out of all of my Summer Quickies. Meantime, I shall look into what else, out of those announced, I'll be able to do (my best capturing VCR, with which I plan to capture the older copy of The Three Stooges Vol. 1 to use as my new reference, is inaccessible at present, but luckily there's plenty other projects among those announced I can access easily without a VCR).

BTW I might try using DVDFab Blu-ray Creator to author the Blus for my projects, and I'm still planning to use DVDStyler for DVD authoring barring the possibility of something more professional coming my way. VHS and Beta simulations will be produced entirely in Resolve and/or Blender. 4K UHD I might do, as soon as I find a free solution for that (which, mind you, may not be for some time; only this year did anywhere near consumer-grade come out, after all).

[BronzeTitan]

Freeware DVDStyler is excellent! With it, you can do almost anything a professional DVD does. You design it any way you like, although they have some samples to use or follow. Here's a designed-from-scratch example (simpliicity is genius) of motion menus (you choose any movies scenes to loop in whatever length you specify) ... playing in the computer's media player . .

[Koopa Luath]

I'm thinking of dabbling in colorization at some point in the future. Below is the initial stage of a test still from A Bird in the Head. For this first stage, I simply colored certain portions of the Stooges' clothes per a simple color-coding scheme: red for Curly, yellow for Larry, and blue for Moe.



What do you think?

[BronzeTitan]

I hope you will use some kind of tracking program to do this, going frame-to-frame. Otherwise, it's a huge (and boring) undertaking. But, that said, it's cool to add color! 

Also, it helps to work from an actual color photo (generally hard to find; but if you can't find something with the actors on set, find something with other actors on their set). Otherwise, I've noticed that the color scheme goes all over the place (that is, it looks colorized).

Here's an example for what to search (granted it's an outdoor shot):

I think this above shot could use a little more saturation, but you can always do that before you use a picture as a guide. For example, if you de-saturate (or "greyscale") this picture to B&W and compare it to your film . .

. . you can see that the contrast of the film might be better (with color in mind) if a little softer here.


But, as this is a test anyway, try the full frame and see how it comes out.

[Koopa Luath]

Sadly, due to technical issues and scarcity issues regarding source materials, I might have to cut down on my initial plans or, worse, delay yet again. Either way, you won't be seeing much, if anything, of me for at least a while until I get those issues worked out. Only when I have my first release, likely to be The Three Stooges Vol. 1, ready will I be ready to show my face around here again.

So, goodbye for now.

[BronzeTitan]

Looking forward toward seeing progress on your projects! (I've got a bunch of mine in a "to do" list, too.) Remember that FanRes is an open forum so be sure to keep up on what goes here anyway, and always feel free to chime-in with any ideas and comments. (That's just as important as project making.)