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The MST-HD Remaster Project Vol. 001:
Episode 213 – Godzilla vs The Sea Monster
Pretty straightforward idea here: put the MST3K silhouettes in front of the latest HD version of the movie being riffed. The host segments remain, but when we move into the theater the film is playing in the best possible quality and in the original aspect ratio.
I plan on doing three MST episodes and posting a how-to package with project files for anyone who wants to keep the series going. I’ve chosen Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster to begin the series since it’s probably my favorite episode of the show. And since there's such a gorgeous print of the film in the Criterion collection I though it'd be the perfect candidate to bump up to HD.
The gist:
-First it’s a matter of lining the HD movie up with the movie in the episode. Most movies on MST3K were cut down either by the show or by the distributor they licensed the movie from (or some combination). I used Criterion’s version of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep from the Godzilla Showa Era box set.
-Next the silhouettes from the episode are isolated (no easy task nailing this 100% of the time) and more theater seats are added to fill out both sides of the screen. For the countdown doors I’ve composited out the hole in the last door so I can have it open on the new HD theater.
-The only other big issue is working around the fact that Joel and the bots walk in and out of the theater through an invisible door in the middle of my new wider frame:
I’ve employed a few workarounds without actually trying to keyframe their movement yet. First is to let the last countdown door cover them up until they’re all through “the invisible door”. When there’s no countdown door as they enter/exit I’ve added a greenscreen red curtain effect that opens/closes to start/end the segment.
I have two other episodes in the works as well (a Mike and another Joel) but I don’t want to reveal them yet since I want the focus to be on Vol. 001 and celebrating this episode.