New MST-HD Remaster project

[RowsdowerRevenge]

The curtain effect is cool. Well done. Excited to see how this goes.

[Riffling]

I love the idea of this and attempted it myself with one episode completed: https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-Introdu...Remastered

https://mega.nz/file/OLZQHZYb#qFPNEMqKZB...rG2cuVT-6M

Isolating the shadowrama is the most difficult piece, in that episode, I ultimately ended up using a lumen key filter. I also trained an AI model using CycleGAN to do the same thing, but as I only used ~150 images for training, it's about on-par with the lumen keying. I did learn that it's easier to key after the upscale and the upscaling method does make a difference. Topaz AI did the best with upscaling. Also, from my poll, the vast majority of the community wanted the host segments left in, which Topaz is the best solution for. I'll volunteer my GPU processing time to help with this, and have already upscaled a couple dozen episodes. 

I also hope you're using a full BD-Remux for the editing process, and encoding for the community as the last step, so you have options for encoding at various quality levels (I prefer as close to original quality as possible, but this community seems to prefer ~2GB filesizes). Keep in mind, that most of the Criterion Godzilla transfers have been superseded by others. For Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, the Section 23 Region A transfer is better, I can get you the full BD-Remux if you'd like (Criterion's prints and coloring has gone downhill over the recent years - you can't assume they're the best anymore): http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_r...lu-ray.htm

Using the curtains was a clever solution and looks great. In the episode I did, I animated a weird tube thing to come and grab them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anarchemist]

I'm gonna keep editing this post till I get it right:

In both MST's This Island Earth as well as the recent seasons 11-13 (all widescreen) the host and bots are less centered and have 6 empty seats to their left and 1 (or 1 and half for Island Earth) on their right. I have been wondering about this since yours and I think Riffling's both have a more centered 4 seats to left and 2 or 2.5 on right.
I know NOTHING about video editing, but I know photoshop and so I think in terms of a single image. So, were it just a frame I was dealing with, I would use a static image of the theater seats taken from any current, therefore widescreen episode and run that along the bottom. on a layer over the movie and, in photoshop in another layer, I could place the host and bots and use the "Free Transform" tool to resize until they--the host and bots--lined up correctly with the seats on the layer below--6 on the left and one on the right. I have a feeling it isn't as easy with video?

[NexusWraith]

An ambitious project. I look forward to seeing it!

[Meat Trademark]

Truly Awe-inspiring, Seacom!! Love it!

[Seacom]

First, thank you all for the kind words of encouragement. I can’t wait for you to see this! It's coming along nicely and the footage looks great.

Thank you @Riffling for your groundbreaking work. I've been a big fan of a lot of your stuff on here and absolutely loved what you did with Zombie Nightmare, which I nabbed before I finally made an account. What program did you use with the lumen key filter? In Vegas I mostly used brightness and contrast to blow out the movie and keep the silhouettes, resulting in a black and white image, from which I then keyed out the white. This worked surprisingly well. My bigger issue has been dealing with all the tracking bumps, since this episode is sourced from a VHS. The AI modelling stuff is a bit above my head, but I can appreciate what you're going for. It'd be so nice not to have to address each little splotch and spec that shows up around the silhouettes.

As for the source, I am using a full BD rip, converted to Lagarith lossless for editing. I’m aware of the Section 23 transfer, but I'm really happy with the Criterion. The Section 23 colors do pop a little more, but the Criterion has a more organic, film-like quality to it. It looks great projected on my wall. Section 23 looks a bit waxy or artificially sharpened to my eyes and I'm not crazy about the subtle blue tint and slight cropping going on. For the episode, my source has been the DAP VHS recording, but I'm close to getting ahold of the Shout! Vol 39 DVD set that has the host segments for all the "lost" episodes. I appreciate your offer to upscale the footage. I'll reach out via PM to discuss more.

And yes, I will be able to output in multiple formats directly from Vegas when I'm done.

BTW I really enjoyed the tube effect you came up with. It felt very MST3K. I'll have to take another look at it and consider.

I'm gonna keep editing this post till I get it right:

In both MST's This Island Earth as well as the recent seasons 11-13 (all widescreen) the host and bots are less centered and have 6 empty seats to their left and 1 (or 1 and half for Island Earth) on their right.  I have been wondering about this since yours and I think Riffling's both have a more centered 4 seats to left and 2 or 2.5 on right.
I know NOTHING about video editing, but I know photoshop and so I think in terms of a single image. So, were it just a frame I was dealing with, I would use a static image of the theater seats taken from any current, therefore widescreen episode and run that along the bottom. on a layer over the movie and, in photoshop in another layer, I could place the host and bots and use the "Free Transform" tool to resize until they--the host and bots--lined up correctly with the seats on the layer below--6 on the left and one on the right. I have a feeling it isn't as easy with video?

Thanks for the enthusiasm @Anarchemist! I was very deliberate as I decided on seating placement. I tested having the crew sit one seat to the right, but ultimately decided on the more centered seating because of how often Joel (and to a lesser extent the bots) interacts with the screen. It's not spot-on every time, but it's a much closer match where I have it. This episode doesn't have a ton, but the next episode I have planned sure does. As for the Photoshop method you described, that's essentially what I've done, except I re-created each seat individually based on the shapes from the original episode.

[Anarchemist]

I'm gonna keep editing this post till I get it right:

In both MST's This Island Earth as well as the recent seasons 11-13 (all widescreen) the host and bots are less centered and have 6 empty seats to their left and 1 (or 1 and half for Island Earth) on their right.  I have been wondering about this since yours and I think Riffling's both have a more centered 4 seats to left and 2 or 2.5 on right.
I know NOTHING about video editing, but I know photoshop and so I think in terms of a single image. So, were it just a frame I was dealing with, I would use a static image of the theater seats taken from any current, therefore widescreen episode and run that along the bottom. on a layer over the movie and, in photoshop in another layer, I could place the host and bots and use the "Free Transform" tool to resize until they--the host and bots--lined up correctly with the seats on the layer below--6 on the left and one on the right. I have a feeling it isn't as easy with video?

Thanks for the enthusiasm @Anarchemist! I was very deliberate as I decided on seating placement. I tested having the crew sit one seat to the right, but ultimately decided on the more centered seating because of how often Joel (and to a lesser extent the bots) interacts with the screen. It's not spot-on every time, but it's a much closer match where I have it. This episode doesn't have a ton, but the next episode I have planned sure does. As for the Photoshop method you described, that's essentially what I've done, except I re-created each seat individually based on the shapes from the original episode.

Ah! Thank you for the response!  In one of the many edits of my question, I mentioned that this might be a consideration. Makes sense :-)
REALLY looking forward to this one! (And will be watching it as a double feature with Rifftrax's Mothra!)

[Seacom]

Does anyone know where I can find a quality source for the "Turn Your Lights Down (Where Applicable)" animation with the light bulbs that opens the show? I only have it from a VHS-rip and I'm not seeing it on any of my DVD's. If there's a disc that has it, please let me know. Thanks!

[Seacom]

Someone suggested a different color for the curtains that maybe fits the show better than red. They said purple. I said green perhaps. Still not sure if either beats red, though.

What do you guys think??

---

Forgot I tacked on a sample of the door effects at the end, too.

Also, I got the Satellite Dishes DVD, so all host segments will be DVD quality, not just from the VHS recording.

[RowsdowerRevenge]

The execution was great on all of it. My preference is the green curtains because they are the most muted and least distracting. The door effects were very smooth. Well done.