With "Rarescope" no more, what happens to "Showdown at the Cottonmill"?

[thedirtytiger]

How do you define restore ? There is a BIG difference between a simple colour adjustment on your computer and properly restoring a film. It costs a lot of money to properly restore as Celestial et al. did. Thousands to do it properly.

[spannick]

run it through an automated Restoration Filter called "Arc Angel" or something.(makes old battered reels look fine, but does not remove every little thing)

this is done by a Studio, not someone with a home Computer System like the ones talking above me

with additional Cleaning it would sum up to approx 1500 (that's what THE INVINCIBLE did cost), which now has not any specks and Dirt etc at all.

sums above 2000E are nonsense or a rip-off. and NOBODY needs a superperfect Celestial Restoration. (which includes excessive cutting of frames to save cost *yawn*)

[Fang Shih-yu]

Not to rush, but any progress on "Cottonmill" screencaps, Diagoro?...

[Daigoro]

Spannick and dirtytiger; Ancient chinese secret.

Not to rush, but any progress on "Cotton mill" screencaps, Diagoro?...

You spelled my name wrong. It's not uncommon. Fang Shih-yu, you started this thread. You will be the first to get a copy. I

am busy with other things right now. I'll get back to this when i can. Wont be long. I may or not make a separate thread covering

what i have done (along with comparative caps). I have also found some useful information about the title from a friend in china.

[crazedjustice888]

This would be a dream come true for me...Chi Kuan Chun is my favorite HK actor...PERIOD!!! Daigoro, if you can do this...YOU ARE MY HERO!!!

[Fang Shih-yu]

Sorry about the "ia" instead of the "ai", Daigoro! Feel free to mis-spell my screen name anytime! A special THANKS for giving me first crack at your "Cottonmill" reworking! I look forward to it! Whenever it's ready, post a message on this thread, please. Thank you, again! Brother Fang.

[WaverBoy]

I restored Showdown with cotton mill. I also added removable subtitles. When i first saw that print, i thought they had released

the film in black and white. It was seriously washed of color. If they worked on it, then i would not like to have seen what they

had to work with in the beginning. I'll post comparative sceencaps soon. Might start a new thread as i would like people to see

my work without it being de-railed. I noticed that print released (by rarescope), was interlaced, which made it worse. Even more

it was letter-boxed. I deinterlaced it, and i also made a true 16x9 (1:85.1) aspect. Im not sure who they hired to fix the print,

if i know you i apologize in advance.., but it seemed like this person had hardly any knowledge of correcting or restoring prints.

The print, though far from ideal, I can live with; it's the encoding that is the real problem. This DVD could have been perfectly watchable if the files on it had been encoded properly, and it's a real shame. It really does look like you're watching it through a piece of fiberglass, and makes the worst VCD you've ever seen look like Blu-ray. I still want to know what the hell went wrong here. The best that can be said of Rarescope's "DVD" of this title is that it has an outer sleeve made of very good quality paper.

I'd love to see your screencaps; I'm not sure how those files could have possibly been made watchable, but if you did it, you're a genius of the multiverse.

[Daigoro]

Hu Hui-Chien, Fierce Battle at Shaolin temple.

Some very quick details before i get into the screenshots of the new print. I read Showdown at Cotton mill was Chang Cheh's

sequel to Shaolin avengers. I am not sure if this is true or not, but if so then it would explain how the film appears to start

from event's previous. I talked to a friend in china and he had shed some interesting light on the title. The original title which

in cantonese is "胡惠乾血戰西幝寺", has absolutely nothing to do with a cotton mill. He broke it down all the way.

The 胡惠乾 *first three characters*, means Hu Hui-Chen. Which is Chi Kuan-Chun's name in that film. The 血戰 *fourth, fifth*

characters meana Fierce battle. The 西幝寺 *7th, 8th, and 9th characters mean at Shi-chin temple. Which i am guessing

roughly means Shaolin temple. In essence the real name of the movie is Hu Hui-Chien, Fierce Battle at Shaolin temple.

Right click view images for full size (firefox). They are much larger than shown.

[HAZ]

That looks cool, Daigoro. Does your version still have the "jaggies"? Its hard for me to tell. That was the thing I disliked most about "Showdown".

[Fang Shih-yu]

Daigoro, your screencaps definitely improve over the original presentation, and that includes the subtitles! Even if the sprocket damage couldn't be dealt with, what's left to be seen should look better with anamorphic presentation. (If YOU worked for "Rarescope", maybe they'd still be in business! ) The information from your Chinese connection feels solid and substantial; the REVISED title makes more sense than "Cottonmill" ever did! I happily await a copy of it! When you're ready, post it on this thread, and I can give you a mailing address. Thanks again for your screencaps and the detective work!

[Daigoro]

It is a little dark, but then again i enjoy a theatrical dramatic look. The type of tone a film like this needed. I deinterlaced it which

took care of the crossfading. The color matrix was destroyed, so being as it were, it took a lot more than simply adding color.

Included expansion drops, then worked from the inside out. If you look at those images you can see the images (on the new print)

zing / POP right off the mat, as if it were 3D. That was not easy. It took four complete (authored DVDS) before i actually understood

what was best for the print on the 5th.

The reason is, when i started to elevate / enhance certain scenes it would detract from others. I had to work on a double scale

and find the median. What i mean by that is this. Example; if i adjusted the light in a dark scene so it would be perfect, then other

scenes with light would disappear (mostly detail). And vice versa. Scenes which (glaringly white ones), made all the detail disappear

in scenes that had no light.

The rarescope print i was working on for what reason i cannot imagine was letterboxed. Who would turn a 35mm print that had a

wide scope into a letterboxed print for a DVD release. IMHO amateurs. It has a true ar (aspect ratio) now. Also i added custom

Removable subtitles. Never really changed any of the words unless they were spelled wrong because i wanted to stay true to

the original release. Making the new subtitles flash on and off precisely as the hard coded was something i just decided to do

while in the trench. Im very thorough.

I noticed the audio bitrate was actually 192 kbps? Why?? I upscaled it to 382kbps. No idea as to why this print was released so

carelessly. If people did it right in the first time then i would not have to come and correct all the mistakes. Sounds egotistical

but I actually do not like doing this. It happens too often. Sometimes if i want to see a film like this then it has to be done.

To all the Companies out there; please hire someone who really knows what they are doing. Rarescope had very good films. But

then they never even took time to add custom subtitles or correct the prints. The artwork and menu's to me looked like a 14yr

olds school project. Fang ok. Haz, print has a considerable amount of damage. Fade outs from the damaged 35mm reel.

[HAZ]

This is really something! Daigoro, that is one heck of a job. You deserve some applause for putting this one together. I can imagine it was a ton of work.

[Yang Wu Liang]

Good work Daigoro, really looking froward to watching this now!!!!

[Fang Shih-yu]

Nice further elaboration on your work, Daigoro! If the circumstances were right, some major company (Media Blasters?) could be interested in your handiwork! Again, thanks for remembering Brother Fang! I eagerly (but calmly) await your posting!...

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

Looks good. Have you tried putting the subs in a black box so they cover the burnt in ones?

[niro]

That is damn good stuff there Daigoro and I like your constructive criticism. Companies would probably shell out big cash money to get that sort of info on how to improve their work.

[prinnysquad]

That does indeed look most excellent.

[Knockabout]

Very thoroughly done Daigoro, now where can we sign up to buy a copy and list the other releases we would like you to do?

Just kidding of course, but out of curiosity how long time did this whole process take you? And how long would it take to do another movie (same type of damage, but still different from Cottonmill), now that you know the process?

Daigoro is it possible to obtain a copy of your work?

Cheers

[northern b]

That really does look excellent- and would happily pay for a copy!

[crazedjustice888]

That was AWESOME!!! I would gladly buy a copy. If you did make and sell some, any estimate on a price?

[Daigoro]

That was AWESOME!!! I would gladly buy a copy. If you did make and sell some, any estimate on a price?

I'm not going to accept money for copies, i rather give it out free. I want to practice giving without asking for anything in return.

It did take me a week to finish, but it's not like i was working on it 24/7. Just here and there. I should mention, there are still

scenes with noticeable damage that i was not able to correct. Damage caused by improper storage of the reel found in taiwan.

Not sure how i will do it yet, perhaps i will use the tree system... i first wrote of in the massacre survivor thread. In short the

names of all the people who want a copy will be collected and it would be the persons above the next's obligation to send it to the

next, until everyone had it. This would help me a lot because i would only have to send out 2 copies, one in the US one in the UK.

[bigrogie]

I'm not going to accept money for copies, i rather give it out free. I want to practice giving without asking for anything in return.

It did take me a week to finish, but it's not like i was working on it 24/7. Just here and there. I should mention, there are still

scenes with noticeable damage that i was not able to correct. Damage caused by improper storage of the reel found in taiwan.

Not sure how i will do it yet, perhaps i will use the tree system... i first wrote of in the massacre survivor thread. In short the

names of all the people who want a copy will be collected and it would be the persons above the next's obligation to send it to the

next, until everyone had it. This would help me a lot because i would only have to send out 2 copies, one in the US one in the UK.

Hi Daigoro.

If you send me one copy, I undertake in return to send one copy to 5 members of the USA or Canada.

[Knockabout]

I think it is most kind of you Daigoro, to not want anything in return.. It is not often that people take the time to do these things and not ask something in return. Hopefully more fan based projects would be destributed like this in the future.

Sadly i've just relocated to california to further my studies, and wont be home (and near a DVD burner) until september. However, i would gladly pay (via paypal) the costs of disc+shipping if anyone would help me out once this one gets rolling.

It would be very cool, if we could make a new forum (or subforum here) just about fan projects. Where everyone could sign up, listing which languages they know (for translation/subtitling) and if they know about DVD authoring, digital restoration, photoshop, etc. And everythime a new project is finished, it only costs the price of a disc and shipping to receive it.

[LittleDragon]

Daigoro.....Well done,thats a great peice of work youve done there on Cotton Mill,it looks really great compared to the original....the picture is much sharper and clearer with much better color definition.....excellent work youve done!!!.....I'd love to have a copy of this one if possible,cheers.

[Fang Shih-yu]

Daigoro, I read your latest about spreading your remastered "Hu Hui-Chien, Fierce Battle at Shaolin Temple" like a chain letter, to put it another way! As I am to be the first recipient of a copy, I can say I should have no problem making a copy and passing it on to someone else if you do go the "tree" way! Awaiting your next posting....