[In progress] Hellraiser (1987) [Project: Celluloid]

[spoRv]

Too much saturation, are you crazy?!?

Seriosly, just try to leave the laserdisc saturation as is, use it as color reference, and AT THE END increase saturation (I'd say something around 10 to 20%); it *should* be better!

[MrBrown]

Regarding DVD versions of Hellraiser: It will take some while, they are stored at my place, where I am just every second weekend.
But, if I don't forget next time I am home ill get at least the Poland version and one of the others prepared.

[Turisu]

I wondered if the original trailers might help provide a guide for some scenes for which there may not be a reference. Most of the trailers on YouTube have a more neutral timing except for this one which looks a lot more blue in the (brief) hospital shots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGQiiNzF84

[LucasGodzilla]

I wondered if the original trailers might help provide a guide for some scenes for which there may not be a reference. Most of the trailers on YouTube have a more neutral timing except for this one which looks a lot more blue in the (brief) hospital shots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGQiiNzF84

Honestly, I do agree with the statement that this seems to be a decent guide. There are many moments that emphasizes blue far more than seen in the transfers I came across. I also noticed that the colors seemed somewhat in-line with the few stills I have of the print (such as the windows in the attic being neutrally white). I don't plan on color matching caps from it, but I will certainly keep it in mind. I think I may have the trailer as a part of the Arrow disc so I'll also check to see if I have a higher-quality version of it.

Having checked my Arrow disc, I didn't find that trailer. Side note: I'm surprised no one attempted to splice in the two brief censored shots that have surfaced of Frank's head splitting (which although was added in Hellraiser II it was never reinstated in the first one) and the impact of the hammer hitting that one guy's head from the trailer even in its crappy state.

[MrBrown]

...

Having checked my Arrow disc, I didn't find that trailer. Side note: I'm surprised no one attempted to splice in the two brief censored shots that have surfaced of Frank's head splitting (which although was added in Hellraiser II it was never reinstated in the first one) and the impact of the hammer hitting that one guy's head from the trailer even in its crappy state.

At least the splitting of Frank's head was reinserted on the German Hellraiser BluRay from turbine. It is 6 frames long. And they have 1 frame more at the end of the splitting scene.

[Turisu]

I agree with what Barker said on the DVD commentary. Violent scenes are often more effective when the more graphic shots are taken out. Too much and it can feel almost comical. The DC of Robocop is a prime example of this.

[LucasGodzilla]

I agree with what Barker said on the DVD commentary. Violent scenes are often more effective when the more graphic shots are taken out. Too much and it can feel almost comical. The DC of Robocop is a prime example of this.

I do actually agree that some of the cuts are better. I think the hammer bit doesn't work with the added (fake looking) shot and if some of the gore shots that were trimmed were left extended, it'd probably wouldn't have the same effect. The only bit I think should be reinstated is the head tear shot since the cut that's in the movie without it is noticeably abrupt and definitely feels like something is missing.

[LucasGodzilla]

So bit of a status report...

I made a rough cut of the movie and did some color grading work on the scenes and general settings where I have the specific color grades of. However, things are a bit of a different story in the scenes without any sort of accurate reference. As you can see in the scene previewed above, the "Compilation Grade" I made from the five stills merged into one picture as problems. It seems that as a result of the inconsistency between stills, the grade seemed to have increased in brightness to an umpteenth level. I do have a possible fix in mind for this right now, but I'm holding off on that due to a message I got from the provider of the stills himself, JohnCarpenterFan.

I shall have to do some searching, I believe I have a lot of other scans stored away although I don't have access to the drive at the moment.

I do like how the colors look on your regrade although the Arrow master has very noisy and unnatural grain which looks to be accentuated in the regrade due to the limitations of what you're working with. Sony Vegas Pro allows you to adjust luminance curves which can result in a more diffuse and filmic look so that may be worth looking into if you haven't already done so.

So for now, I am going to wait until he can get me the other scans to utilize for the project. Hopefully, those extra scans shall fix some of these gaps in the movie where there's a complete lack of any color grading to base off of. With the added scans I will also hope to make a newer, more accurate compilation grade whilst regrading the specific scanned scenes with their independent grade counterpart.

Also, I want to point out now that I do agree with what he's said about how noisy the Arrow master is (and it's something I definitely recall noticing when I first ripped it). I actually think the noise on it is actually interfering with the color grade but it could just be me. What I do know to be true is that the grade, unfortunately, does heighten and contrasts with the grain making it all even noisier than before. I don't suppose anyone's got any tips (apart from Carpenter's luminance one which I haven 't messed with yet) to help with this issue?

[Turisu]

DNR and then regrain?

I believe this what williarob did with the DNR release of 4K77 and, to my eyes, it looks amazing considering how grainy the original scan was. I believe poita mentioned that the 4K77 scan had far more grain than was visible in the print when projected which sounds almost exactly like what's happening here.

[LucasGodzilla]

Further Update...

I just got a PM back from JohnCarpenterFan and he's shared some further stills of the movie. Now, unfortunately, these don't really help me in the daylight sections of the house and outdoor moments, but these will certainly help me in making an improved grade for certain scenes and settings. These will also be helpful in fixing the composite grade (where I will wisely leave out the more uniquely colored shots out to make something more consistent) which will hopefully help on some of the wonkier segments.

Anyways, I am currently searching for the specific Arrow counterpart frames and aligning them in Photoshop for processing with the Dr. Dre tool.