Marvel Cinematic Universe: Regraded

[Bobson Dugnutt]

A while back, there was a video essay about Marvel's colour grading and why it's mostly terrible, so I thought I'd fix it. KK650 has done some, but they don't fully satisfy me, so fine, I'll do it myself. Currently, Civil War is already done and uploaded, so PM me if you want it. The rest of these are still ITW. 

Haven't started
In The Works
LUT Available
MP4 Available

Iron Man 
The Incredible Hulk 
Iron Man 2 
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor: The Dark World
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther

A folder of LUTs that can be applied to the films is avilable here

Captain America: Civil War

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And what it looked like before for comparison, except not in IMAX

Guardians of the Galaxy

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

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Iron Man 3

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[Nic]

These all look great (except the color correction in Civil War makes Tony's cgi armor a little more obvious), would love to have these on DVD or Blu-Ray.

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

The armour does look a little askew, but the rest of the movie looks great. 

The regrades will be available once they are completed, and currently only CW has been uploaded although AOU has been completed. Speaking of AOU;

Age of Ultron

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 http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/134514/

I upped the saturation, removed the blanket yellow tint and fixed the contrast among other things. Its currently rendered, but not uploaded. I'll watch it tonight to see how it looks.

 

[TM2YC]

All these regrades look like improvements to me for sure (good job!) but I don't think they alter the look enough to be listed as fanedits on ifdb, if submitting them to ifdb was your intention? You can still offer them privately and discuss them here of course. I just wanted to make that clear before you go any further .

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

I didn't have any intention to put them in the database, just like your BvS Commentary Archive or Blade Runner Regrade. That's why I put them here in the Special Projects section, it the perfect spot for them.

 

[hbenthow]

KK650's goal is usually to remove the blanket tints, although he sometimes makes a few other mild adjustments as well. Your regrades appear (judging from the sample that you provided) to be made with a different intention than merely removing tints, although I can't pinpoint exactly what it is.

Is making them more colorful your main goal? Are you trying to make them look more like film and less digital? Also, do you plan on giving them all a similar grade, or do you approach each movie differently?

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

It's mainly just to make them look better, more colourful and all around more pleasing to the eye. It depends on what each movie looks like. Guardians doesn't need much work but say Age of Ultron needs quite a bit of work done. They'll probably mostly somewhat similar though.

 

[Problem Eliminator]

Based on your screenshots, your work so far is quite subtle. I wonder if the same effect could be achieved simply by monkeying with the display settings when you watch the movies.

 

[hbenthow]

It's mainly just to make them look better, more colourful and all around more pleasing to the eye. It depends on what each movie looks like. Guardians doesn't need much work but say Age of Ultron needs quite a bit of work done. They'll probably mostly somewhat similar though.

Do you have any interest in making adjustments beyond just color, contrast, and saturation changes (such as adding film grain)? I ask because "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "The Avengers" would both possibly benefit from some grain (to add to the period feel for the former, and to take away from the "made for TV" look that people have complained about for the latter).

Also, approximately what do you want to make "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Thor: The Dark World" look like, colorwise? I've always felt that "Captain America: The First Avenger" would benefit from a richly saturated, Technicolor-esque look to add to the 1940s feel, and that "Thor: The Dark World" is in desperate need of some color and de-tinting to liven up its drab visuals and bring it more in line with the look of the first Thor movie.

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Also, approximately what do you want to make "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Thor: The Dark World" look like, colorwise? I've always felt that "Captain America: The First Avenger" would benefit from a richly saturated, Technicolor-esque look to add to the 1940s feel, and that "Thor: The Dark World" is in desperate need of some color and de-tinting to liven up its drab visuals and bring it more in line with the look of the first Thor movie.

That's one thing I've always felt about TFA, is that it should have that technicolour feel to it as it just looks mostly dreary. I've also thought about cropping The Avengers down to 2.35:1 or 2.39:1 as well. Thor 2 has a blanket green tint that needs removing and the brightness and contrast IIRC

 

[hbenthow]

I've also thought about cropping The Avengers down to 2.35:1 or 2.39:1 as well.

@"Gieferg" created a version of "The Avengers" that was regraded, cropped to 2.35:1, and had film grain. Looking at his version might be useful for you in the process of creating yours. In case you're interested in seeing what his version was like, I put a link to his thread below. The thread also contains some discussion about whether the aspect ratio was to blame for the "TV look" that it has. (My own two cents is that it might add slightly to it, but that it's the visuals themselves that really cause it; as someone mentioned in the thread, "Jurassic Park" has a 1:85:1 aspect ratio but doesn't look like a television show.)

Marvel's The Avengers - Reframed & Recoloured

If you do crop "The Avengers", do you plan on only releasing the cropped version, or an uncropped one as well? I think that the movie could use some work on the visuals, but I prefer the original 1:85:1 aspect ratio.

 

[Zamros]

Ho damn! These look great (aside from highlighting the sub-par CG Iron Man suit in civil war)

I'll keep an eye out for when you regrade Phase 1

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

I've also thought about cropping The Avengers down to 2.35:1 or 2.39:1 as well.

@"Gieferg" created a version of "The Avengers" that was regraded, cropped to 2.35:1, and had film grain. Looking at his version might be useful for you in the process of creating yours. In case you're interested in seeing what his version was like, I put a link to his thread below.

He hasn't been active in a while, so I don't know if I could even get my hands on his version. 

If I do make a cropped version, I'll also make an uncropped one too

Ho damn! These look great (aside from highlighting the sub-par CG Iron Man suit in civil war)

I'll keep an eye out for when you regrade Phase 1

Yeah, I guess the grey filter kind of hid the CGI, but everything else still looks great. Phase One for the most part doesn't need much work, only Captain America and The Avengers. That's when the kinda grey look started. Iron Man 1&2, Hulk and Thor were all shot on film, so they have that crisp feel to them

 

[hbenthow]

Phase One for the most part doesn't need much work, only Captain America and The Avengers. That's when the kinda grey look started. Iron Man 1&2, Hulk and Thor were all shot on film, so they have that crisp feel to them

I think that "The Incredible Hulk" needs to have the green tint removed. I've always found it rather dumb that they tinted the whole movie green just because the title character is green, plus the tint just plain looks bad to me.

Is there any chance that you could add the alternate opening with Bruce Banner trying to kill himself back into the movie? It's a great scene that should never have been cut, and was even referenced in "The Avengers".

By the way, what software are you using? Does it have the option to export color settings so that other people working on edits of the same movies could apply your color settings to their edits? And if so, would you be willing to share your settings with other faneditors?

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

I think that "The Incredible Hulk" needs to have the green tint removed. I've always found it rather dumb that they tinted the whole movie green just because the title character is green, plus the tint just plain looks bad to me.

Sure, I'll note that down for when I get around to it

Is there any chance that you could add the alternate opening with Bruce Banner trying to kill himself back into the movie? It's a great scene that should never have been cut, and was even referenced in "The Avengers".

This project is more about regrading the film, but leaving it intact, but sure, I can do that

By the way, what software are you using? Does it have the option to export color settings so that other people working on edits of the same movies could apply your color settings to their edits? And if so, would you be willing to share your settings with other faneditors?

Premiere Pro, I don't think it has the ability to export a LUT, but I could share the project files

 

[hbenthow]

Premiere Pro, I don't think it has the ability to export a LUT, but I could share the project files

I'm not well-acquainted with Premiere, so I don't know for certain how effective the method in the article linked to below is, but the article appears to show how to export LUTs in Premiere Pro. Would the method outlined in the article be an option for you (in addition to the option to share the project files)?

How To Create a LUT in Premiere Pro - Motion Array

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Alright, I've uploaded LUTs for Iron Man 3, Age of Ultron, Civil War (might only work with kk650's, not sure), and GotG Vol. 2 to Google Drive. You can download them and apply them to your own Blu-Rays, which is easier for me. I might upload them as full downloads at some point, but for now, only the LUTs. 

Link to the folder here

Note: This is not a download to the full movies, only for the Regraded LUTs that can be applied to the film in programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro and probably others.

 

[hbenthow]

Link to the folder here

When I clicked that link, I get a message saying, "You need permission. Want in? Ask for access, or switch to an account with permission."

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Whoops, I had the permissions set to only me, now its set to whoever has the link. Should be good now.

 

[darthrush]

This is a great idea. The color grading of Marvel movies often feels quite dull and your regrades look fantastic.