BORING DETAILS....(but I'm really enjoying it...call me odd).
So Here's a thing; I laid a grid over the screen grabs of all the title cards for the AMC version. Only Brando and Pacino's credits are perfect. The remainder all have issues, and those issues vary. Diane Keaton's last 3 letters are low, Sterling Haydens spacing is inconsistent with Brando and Pacino, and the list goes on. All this will be fixed.
Next, I decided to check IMDB for cast spellings...they do go wrong sometimes. Well, sure enough, Robert De Niro is credited as such BUT, IN THE THEATRICAL release, he was credited as Robert DeNiro...(no space)....this was changed for DVD and blu Ray, but the VHS has DeNiro. Since this was how he was originally credited, I am reverting to the credit at original release. Two other cast members have similar issues. This will also be fixed.
The opening credit roll has 14 slots. As I mentioned previously, there are two "and" slots which will be replaced by John Cazale and Gaston Moschin as Don Fanucci....he was credited as such but in DVD and blu Ray, the updated credit is Moschine.... I will revert to 1970s. For the second movie, additional credits will be created for other cast members too.
I also noticed differences even on the same letters from other parts of the credit roll. Some letters were also not on a true verticle, for instance the lower case p has a slight 2-3 degree tilt, which is especially noticeable when you flip it vertically to create a b. This is probably due to the fact that these would have been designed and drawn for the movie and back in 70s they most likely would have been photographed on an animation stand, probably set by hand, and then either rotoscope Onto the plate or rephotographed and combined via an optical printer leading to differential registration issues for the two layers. Even using a stabilisation function in my software does not resolve the problem; in fact, it makes it worse in that portions of the image lock, while other shift and stop. This create that effect you will have seen on TV when foreground and background appear to move out of sync during panning shots. This too will be fixed.
So....why do I bother? Why not just use AMCs opening or the HD versions of the blu Ray. Well, the official HD versions have no credit roll at the open, only the 4 chronological versions do...and they differ from eachother. The Epic, uses much smaller fonts and are centred aligned, the rest are left side justified in a larger font, except Michael Grazzo's credit which inexplicably shifts further left, presumably coz Frankie Pantangeli is a long name, but there is enough room on the right to accommodate this. Must be a 4:3 safe area thing I guess. This too will be corrected.... Oh yea, why bother? Well it's simple. I know I can fix it, it takes time, but if I don't, every time I watch this I will wish I had fixed and it will annoy me ! So there! That why I took forever to release The Hobbit....even 2 years after I locked it, I've gone back and removed more Martin Freeman twitches, and double takes and strange looks, which may need an update being made available at some point if it carries on.
So, that's it for today....probably be quiet now till this phase is over but then again, who knows... I mean, I re-did all the subtitles for Part III coz the font and color were off, and ended up adding text for missing dialogue that was not subtitled....I have a bad feeling about this for Parts I & II.....
Molto bene
W