Blade Runner: The Penultimate Cut (TM2YC)

[Moe_Syzlak]

1 day before TM2YC completes his work, Ridley Scott announces an official re-grading/re-release:

Reveal message

Seriously, from what I’ve seen from both parties, I know I’d definitely choose TM2YC’s

 

[TM2YC]

That'd be just my luck, although I would genuinely welcome a new official scan of the film that had the original look.

 

[Jrzag42]

Where was this announced?

 

[TM2YC]

Where was this announced?

I think it's a joke.

 

[Jrzag42]

Ohhh, okay. I was confused. Both because I couldn't find any info on it, and also because I didn't think you were that far along. I thought he was saying what was happening, not what will happen. Makes much more sense.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

^^^ I presented a hypothetical, for the sake of a joke - sorry if that wasn't clear.

I didn't mean to cause any alarm... nor did I mean any disrespect to TM2YC, who is obviously doing excellent work.

 

[TM2YC]

^ I thought it was funny .

Bit of a problem. I've spent the last few days working on one very difficult 2-minute section, when I thought it was near perfect I previewed it in VLC next to the DVD, tweaked it, rendered it again, still not right? tweaked it again, still not right and repeat etc. Somehow VLC was still playing the original render, even though it had been replaced with the new renders (and it no longer existed on my hardrive???). So I've ended up systematically screwing up all my work on that section before I figured out VLC was failing to refresh the visuals for some unfathomable reason. Sigh, back to the drawing board.

From now on I shall make sure to render out to a different filename, to prevent VLC from ever doing this seemingly impossible thing.

 

[TM2YC]

After a month of not doing much on this project, here is another 4 minutes completed. Pris and JF talking and then Roy arriving. It was a tricky section because the blu-ray in this scene is low on saturation, high on contrast and graded with a consistent grey/green hue, where as the DVD was highly saturated, relatively low on contrast (as it should be in a smoky room) and with much colour variation between camera angles:

(Password: fanedit.org)

 

[TM2YC]

The 2nd half of the scene at JF's was much easier/quicker:

(Password: fanedit.org)

I think the next scene at Tyrell's bedchamber will be difficult with all that candle light but hopefully not. Then it's into the showdown between Deckard and Roy.

 

[TM2YC]

IIRC this is the only shot I've found on the Director's Cut blu-ray (during the lift scene with JF and Roy) that has been altered and not just graded differently:

They did a botched job of converting the sky from the original blue, to orange to better match the preceding orange shot of the Tyrell complex. So I've matted the sky and turned it blue again. If it was wrong on the DC-DVD it will be wrong again in HD!

When I do my ideal cut, I'll probably switch it back to orange. I'm still considering titles for that project but...

Blade Runner: The Final Cut... Re-finalized

...amuses me.

 

[TM2YC]

The Tyrell bedroom scene wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, most shots were consistent with each other. Some shots were way off on the blu-ray though. This one in particular:



(^ Click image to see fullsize version)

 

[Last Impressions]

How about Blade Runner - The inexpugnable cut 

or the terminal cut

or the ultimate cut 

or the definitive cut

or the retirement cut

 

[TM2YC]

How about Blade Runner - The inexpugnable cut 

or the terminal cut

or the ultimate cut 

or the definitive cut

or the retirement cut

I'm not really digging any of those, sorry. Thanks for the suggestions though .

Roy and JF visiting Tyrell is complete. It's a 7-min clip, so I don't expect many to be interested but here it is anyway:

(Password: fanedit.org)

The final showdown at JF's apartment next.

 

[TM2YC]

A shorter clip of Deckard parked up is completed. The colours look great in this scene when it's not over brightened, over saturated and tinted green:

(Password: fanedit.org)

 

[Gatos]

This thread is amazing, just as a record of your dedication and an example of the work involved in doing color regrading. You continue to impress!

 

[TM2YC]

This thread is amazing, just as a record of your dedication and an example of the work involved in doing color regrading. You continue to impress!

Welcome back Gatos and thanks.

 

[Siliconmaster]

This truly is an amazing project to watch develop. The Final Cut is the version I'm most familiar with, so the idea of a full regrade plus the FC fixes is the holy grail of Blade Runner fan editing. I just hope you don't lose motivation to add the FC fixes once you finish the grading part!

Edit: I forgot to ask (and sorry if this has been answered somewhere in the thread): Are you planning on using the full remastered FC audio track? The press releases say it was redone from the original recordings, but do we know if it's actually an improvement over the other versions, aside from some fixes like the audio sync issue mentioned previously?

 

[TM2YC]

I just hope you don't lose motivation to add the FC fixes once you finish the grading part!

Unlikely, that's the easy part that I'm looking forward to .

Edit: I forgot to ask (and sorry if this has been answered somewhere in the thread): Are you planning on using the full remastered FC audio track? The press releases say it was redone from the original recordings, but do we know if it's actually an improvement over the other versions, aside from some fixes like the audio sync issue mentioned previously?

I'll probably be using the Final Cut audio unchanged as the main track. Some other tracks I'm considering are:

- FC but with the "father" line' (because I much prefer it)
- DC audio tweaked to match FC runtime (if that's feasible)
- Ultra TC audio track. The TC voiceover track plus all the deleted voiceover material, so Deckard never stops yapping .
- Isolated score (somebody else has probably done this already. Need to look into that)

I'd also like to edit the workprint commentaries to match the FC runtime, so that's available to switch to as well.

 

[Last Impressions]

I'm not really digging any of those, sorry. Thanks for the suggestions though 

No worries - they are pretty generic ...i kind of liked "the retirement cut" as your version will be the final version i will ever need and also references the retirement of replicants.

Anyway this is my most anticipated release of the year   I'm grateful that you are giving us this gift.

 

[Siliconmaster]

Your info about the changes and audio sound great!

See if you can spot the subtle difference between the DVD colours and blu-ray colours during the unicorn dream :

I had a two-part question to pose about the unicorn footage that hadn't occurred to me before.

First, consistency-wise: in most areas, you're making the grading warmer and more naturalistic. Here, the Blu Ray (while washed out for sure) has actual green leaves and what just sort of appears to be a neutral background palette. The DVD/Regrading, while accurate to the original, seems to heavily push into the sepia, and it loses any color in the greenery.

Which leads to point two, which is really about effectiveness, rather than accuracy or intent. If this is an implanted dream, as implied by the origami later, should it be more natural and nature looking, or should it be just as polluted looking as the world Deckard lives in? The heavy sepia tint to me feels like the unicorn is in some amalgamation of nature and the urban hell that exists around Deckard. The clearer Blu Ray shot feels like it fits more in a dream, with elements of hope in the green. In the end I think it's more personal preference, but something to consider.

Personally, I wonder if there's some in-between. A more saturated version of the Blu Ray, keeping the greens, but perhaps still pushing the colors toward the DVD sepia. Or likewise, just bringing back some of the green tones under the sepia version.