John Woo's The Killer - Looking For Some Help...

[jrodefeld]

I'm working on a new custom project for John Woo's The Killer.  I'm very nearly finished, but I am looking for a couple of DVDs.

I'm looking for the Scanbox DVD of The Killer and also the Fox Lorber DVD.

I know a couple of members of this forum have the Scanbox DVD.  In fact, somebody on here actually sent me a link to it a while ago.  Unfortunately, it somehow got deleted before I had a chance to use it.  I'm hoping someone could upload it again for me.  Dropbox or MEGA are preferable, but any cloud service is fine as long as I can download the files okay.

The Scanbox DVD is probably the best looking of the DVDs, but I'm not intending to use the video.  I'm using the Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray as the basis for my custom.  However, I recall the Cantonese audio on the Scanbox DVD sounding excellent and I want to compare it with the audio tracks I already have.

For the Fox Lorber DVD, I believe it has an alternate commentary with John Woo that is different from the one on the Criterion DVD.  I'm not positive of this, but I believe it is the case.

Also, I'm interested in the subtitles on that DVD.  I believe in that translation Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee's characters refer to each other as "Dumbo" and "Mickey Mouse".  A few people have requested that my custom include this particular translation as an option.


If I had to pick between the two, I'd say the Scanbox DVD is more important simply for the fact that it would be very expensive to import, shipping times would be very long, etc.  I can get the Fox Lorber DVD on Ebay really cheap.  Still, I wanted to put it out here first to see if anyone has it.


I'm happy to send a copy of the completed custom to anyone who helps out.  I also have a number of other customs I've done that I'd be willing to trade.


Thanks!

[tonecapone]

i only have the HKL version and HK Video
Edition Collector Limitée

[jrodefeld]

i only have the HKL version and HK Video
Edition Collector Limitée

Thanks anyway.  I have both those versions.  In fact, I've got nearly every release out there including the extended Taiwanese version on VHS.  I'm just missing the two that I mentioned.

Just a little more information on what our custom will include:

The video is based on the Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray.  I first had to fix the field-blending 1080i encode to restore a proper 24fps 1080p transfer.

Then I used Digital Vision Phoenix and PFClean to remove dirt, dust, scratches, broken frames to achieve a very clean image.

I fully restored the original Chinese opening titles using a complex method of blending different sources together in a way that looks totally seamless.  I did the same with the ending credits.

Then I used a custom AviSynth script I created with the help of a bunch of people to denoise the video in a way that removes or reduces the unnatural grain / noise in the image.

Then I took the clean image and upscaled it to 4K using the latest version of Topaz's Video Enhance AI.

Then I used a low setting on Topaz's Sharpen AI.  This is not a typical sharpening filter.  It's a "smart" sharpen tool that, when used with low settings, will take an image from looking slightly out of focus to looking in focus.  And without any haloing, artifacts or any other negative effects whatsoever.  It's subtle but it actually makes a pretty substantial difference.

Then I used a high quality 4K scan of 35mm film grain overlaid on top of the project.  I tried to match the grain look to our release of Hard Boiled, which used the high quality Japanese Paramount transfer.  Both films came out around the same time and probably were shot similarly, so I figured that gave the best example of what a hypothetical new, high quality scan of The Killer might look like.

Finally, I did some color correction using the Criterion version as a reference.  I tweaked the black levels and contrast slightly and modified the white balance.

What I found is that if you first upscale your video to 4K, and then apply effects such as sharpening or adding grain, then you finally encode it back down to 1080p, the results look better and more subtitle with better perceptual detail than if I kept everything at 1080p the whole time.


I really think this is going to be the best-looking version of The Killer ever.  I've been working on this for quite a few months at this point.

[tonecapone]

i have just asked on a site that im a member on has anyone there got the versions your looking for

[jrodefeld]

i have just asked on a site that im a member on has anyone there got the versions your looking for

Thanks!  Let me know if anything turns up.

[Stamper]

Hi, I think there was a preserv already released of the Killer using the same encode, back to 23.976 with Laserdiscs tracks and more.
Check it out on the forum, it may help you gain some time.

[jrodefeld]

Hi, I think there was a preserv already released of the Killer using the same encode, back to 23.976 with Laserdiscs tracks and more.
Check it out on the forum, it may help you gain some time.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'm aware of that custom.

It was very well done, but what I'm doing is a little more involved.

I don't usually like working with assets that other people have worked with, simply because I never know whether they've been altered or re-encoded in some way.

Someone was able to send me a copy of the Fox Lorber DVD of The Killer, so the only one I'm looking for is the Scanbox DVD.

I PM'd two members of this forum who I know for sure have it, but I don't know how active they currently are.  I'd still appreciate anyone contacting me who happen to own this particular DVD and are willing to share it with me.

Thanks.

[zoidberg]

I see this has been released, did everyone who helped jrodefeld with materials get their copy? If so how is it

[Stamper]

I have not seen it. There was the HK legends Blu-ray which very much round it up, in addition to conforming the colors to the Criterion.

[zoidberg]

I have not seen it. There was the HK legends Blu-ray which very much round it up, in addition to conforming the colors to the Criterion.

Do you mean Hong Kong Rescue