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Friedkin DISOWNS "French Connection" BR 1.0 !!! - Page 2

post #31 of 51
7/30/12 at 2:00pm
Over the weekend, I took a closer look at the "Color Timing" featurette on the original Blu-ray, and compared the movie clips in it against the full movie on Disc 1. Some interesting results:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/french-connection-bluray-controversy/

The transfer on Disc 1 appears to have had additional contrast boosting beyond the clips in the featurette. Whites are crushed even worse. So, in that respect, Friedkin may be telling the truth that there was an authoring error at some point after he approved the master.

However, he's still full of it, in that his "pastel" transfer still looks pretty crummy, and the later "corrected" disc doesn't look anything like the clips from his master seen in the featurette.
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post #32 of 51
7/30/12 at 2:39pm
The new disc looks astoundingly good on my LG plasma. That plasma is dead and going back to LG and I am replacing it with a new 73 inch Mits DLP. The first Blu-Ray I'll stick in is this one, sine I have yet to finish it.

I do wonder if the colors were punched up just a tad, so that it clearly looks different than the other transfer. It's just so vibrant.
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post #33 of 51
7/31/12 at 10:12am
The colors on the remastered disc are oversaturated. (The French Connection II Blu-ray has the same problem. They were probably scanned at the same time.) In that Color Timing featurette, Friedkin explicitly said that he didn't want vibrant colors in the movie. He specifically cited orange flesh tones as something he wanted to get rid of. The whole point of his "pastel" nonsense was to give the movie more of a monochromatic look. Clearly, the "corrected" disc doesn't do that. For the new disc, he didn't just fix an authoring error that somebody else made. He backed off his "pastel" scheme entirely.

The remastered disc also has a teal push. There's a teal tinge to most whites, including eyeballs and teeth. It's certainly an improvement over the original Blu-ray, but I don't think it rates better than mediocre.
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post #34 of 51
7/31/12 at 10:23am
There was no authoring error. Friedkin is a known sociopath.
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post #35 of 51
7/31/12 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NagysAudio View Post

There was no authoring error. Friedkin is a know sociopath.

As I said above, the movie on Disc 1 of the original release has additional contrast boosting and detail clipping beyond the before/after comparisons in the Color Timing featurette on Disc 2. So, I think it's possible that there was some authoring error. However, Friedkin is passing the blame for everything to that, when most of the problems with the transfer were his own fault.
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post #36 of 51
7/31/12 at 10:33am
Friedkin supervises a bad version of French Connection, people bitch. Friedkin supervises a good version of French Connection, people bitch. Welcome to the internet :sigh:
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post #37 of 51
7/31/12 at 10:45am
Friedkin never supervised any good version, only the atrocious one. I guarantee you it was all Roizman. He probably threatened Friedkin with a lawsuit or to have his name removed. All speculation of course. I cannot believe that some of you would be defending this guy. Every other word that comes out if his mouth is a lie. He is basically treating his fans as if they were stupid. The guy deserves to be bashed every possible chance.
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post #38 of 51
7/31/12 at 11:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NagysAudio View Post

There was no authoring error. Friedkin is a known sociopath.

What on Earth does sociopathy have to do with passing off blame on a bad Blu-ray release?
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post #39 of 51
7/31/12 at 11:14am
Sociopath - A sociopath is typically defined as someone who lies incessantly to get their way and does so with little concern for others. A sociopath is often goal-oriented (i.e., lying is focused - it is done to get one's way). Sociopaths have little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of others. Sociopaths are often charming and charismatic, but they use their talented social skills in manipulative and self-centered ways (see, lovefraud, for more on sociopaths).
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post #40 of 51
7/31/12 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z View Post

The colors on the remastered disc are oversaturated. (The French Connection II Blu-ray has the same problem. They were probably scanned at the same time.) In that Color Timing featurette, Friedkin explicitly said that he didn't want vibrant colors in the movie. He specifically cited orange flesh tones as something he wanted to get rid of. The whole point of his "pastel" nonsense was to give the movie more of a monochromatic look. Clearly, the "corrected" disc doesn't do that. For the new disc, he didn't just fix an authoring error that somebody else made. He backed off his "pastel" scheme entirely.
The remastered disc also has a teal push. There's a teal tinge to most whites, including eyeballs and teeth. It's certainly an improvement over the original Blu-ray, but I don't think it rates better than mediocre.
The whole "Moby Dick"-style desaturated thing, regardless of Friedkin's intent, is not how it was printed originally so I don't think it's fair to call the new one oversaturated.

Personally I see nothing revisionist about my remastered copy. It looks very much like an analog Eastman color print made from an early 70s negative... which does not see color as the eye does and readily picks up green color casts from the fluorescent and mercury-vapor lights of the time if not shot with the appropriate filters.
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post #41 of 51
8/2/12 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 42041 View Post

Friedkin supervises a bad version of French Connection, people bitch. Friedkin supervises a good version of French Connection, people bitch. Welcome to the internet :sigh:

Friedkin supervises a bad version of French Connection, people bitch. Friedkin supervises a better (not "good," but better) version of French Connection and lies about his involvement in the first one, people call him out for his lying.
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post #42 of 51
8/2/12 at 11:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 42041 View Post

The whole "Moby Dick"-style desaturated thing, regardless of Friedkin's intent, is not how it was printed originally so I don't think it's fair to call the new one oversaturated.

Just judging by eye, colors are clearly oversaturated, regardless of what Friedkin says about his intent. Flesh tones are too orange, and the grass on the Washinton Mall is way too vibrantly green for a scene that's supposed to take place in winter. The color timing is definitely off.

As I said, French Connection II has the same problem, and that movie has a completely different director.
Quote:
Personally I see nothing revisionist about my remastered copy. It looks very much like an analog Eastman color print made from an early 70s negative... which does not see color as the eye does and readily picks up green color casts from the fluorescent and mercury-vapor lights of the time if not shot with the appropriate filters.

The teal looks digital to me, not like the green cast you're talking about (which I am well familiar with). Also, it's not just present in indoor scenes with flourescent light. It's also present in outdoor scenes, including in the sky.
Edited by Josh Z - 8/2/12 at 11:21am
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post #43 of 51
8/2/12 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z View Post

Flesh tones are too orange, and the grass on the Washinton Mall is way too vibrantly green for a scene that's supposed to take place in winter. The color timing is definitely off.

Since when is 'the real world' our reference standard for motion picture cinematography? It's a work of art, not an educational text.
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post #44 of 51
8/2/12 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by spectator View Post

Since when is 'the real world' our reference standard for motion picture cinematography? It's a work of art, not an educational text.

A work of art must set a tone that's appropriate for the subject matter and content. Bright green grass in the middle of winter is not appropriate.
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post #45 of 51
8/2/12 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z View Post

A work of art must set a tone that's appropriate for the subject matter and content. Bright green grass in the middle of winter is not appropriate.

... in the opinion of one Joshua Zyber, who is not one of the creators of this artwork.

The only thing a work of art "must" do is say what the artists want it to say.
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post #46 of 51
8/2/12 at 12:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by spectator View Post

... in the opinion of one Joshua Zyber, who is not one of the creators of this artwork.
The only thing a work of art "must" do is say what the artists want it to say.

In this case, what the artist wanted to say is clouded by the artist changing his mind and lying about what he wanted to say. What we have to judge by are:

1) What the movie looked like in the past. (I have seen it in 35mm and don't recall it being so oversaturated, though admittedly that was a long time ago.)
2) Our technical knowledge of the difference between natural film colors and boosted video colors. (The Blu-ray looks like the latter to me.)
3) Common sense (i.e. grass shouldn't be so green in winter).
and
4) Our understanding of storytelling and basic film grammar. (The French Connection is not a Surrealist work of art in which the artist might want to present exaggerated colors in the context of this scene.)
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post #47 of 51
12/21/12 at 9:21am
Friedkin is still pushing his story about how the original BR release of French Connection was screwed up in the mastering process:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/60117
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post #48 of 51
12/21/12 at 10:42am
Spin that PR!
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post #49 of 51
12/21/12 at 12:32pm
So, the featurette where Friedkin is literally eviscerating the colour from the movie - producing the same dreadful colour in the finished blu-ray - was some sort of mass hallucination, was it? What a **** that Friedkin is. Just man up and say you got it wrong, Billy.
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post #50 of 51
12/22/12 at 4:53pm
I thought we were getting a re-release on this?
A non Best Buy version.
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post #51 of 51
12/23/12 at 10:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bokes View Post

I thought we were getting a re-release on this?
A non Best Buy version.
Hmmm? It's available if you look for it.
http://www.amazon.com/French-Connection-Blu-ray-Gene-Hackman/dp/B008YAPRPG/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1356329985&sr=1-1
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-french-connection-gene-hackman/3631421?ean=24543793144
http://www.foxconnect.com/french-connection-the-filmmaker-signature-series-13658.html
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