8 1/2 (Fellini)

[Dan8700]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/8-Blu-ray/97226/

Finally, this masterpiece will see its definitve (?) release on May 6, and hopefully it will be featuring the 50th anniversary restoration, i.e. not the lousy one with blown-out whites used in the UK. The company is Mustang (see their recent "La dolce vita"), so it's possible this will have Eng subs.

[Jesse_James]

...These are the Technical details of the New Italian Restoration carried out in 2013 for its 50 Anniversary by the CINETECA NAZIONALE - CENTRO SPERIMENTALE DI CINEMATOGRAFIA , and World premiered November 27, 2013, in the Turin Film Festival .

The restoration of Fellini's 8 1/2 marks the beginning of a collaboration between the National Film Archive and RTI-Mediaset Group, which owns one of the most important Italian film library, for the preservation and development of the National Italian film heritage .

...The New Italian BD Edition , will have this new 2K Italian Restoration ...:


""Otto and mezzo - Federico Fellini (1963)

Fifty years after the Italian cinemas CSC-National Film Archive, RTI-Mediaset Group and Medusa Film have carried out the restoration of Fellini's masterpiece, which were no longer available copies in circulation in film good condition .

The film was already in his time preserved by analogy, creating duplicates of conservation and reproduction of 35mm film .

The digital restoration is divided, however, by the original negatives held by Mediaset: the scene was acquired on 2K resolution scanner and then subjected to digital post-production and the restoration image for grading; the column was transcribed and processed digitally too, respecting the original character and morphology, the new digital files sound stage and was made a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) .

The processes were carried out at the laboratory of Rome Deluxe"".




...Anyway, I'm already very happy and satisfied with the STUNNING BD Edition Released by the French Gaumont in the 2011, which she also uses a Magnificent Restoration at 2K Resolution .

...On the contrary, the recent UK edition released by the Argent Films, I do not even get consideration , because I really think the Argent Films took the Supeb and Perfectly Calibrated French Master and manipulated first by firing up the white even more, and then as if that were not enough has exacerbated the contrast and black level with a boost, according to me their intention was to create a middle hybrid between the old (and really bad...) Criterion master and the Perfect New Gaumont, and instead they have messed up more or less obvious enough, in my opinion .

...Anyway, unless you do not have the opportunity to see the actual yield of BD French Gaumont is difficult to notice , and maybe for some eyes the UK Transfer is good, but I can assure you that the yeld of the BD Gaumont is of an entirely and different Magnificent Quality .

...Anyway, I'm very curious to see as will be this new 2K Italian Restoration !

[nitin]

looking forward to this, I have the Criterion which is the best english friendly release despite being an older master. But if the new restorationi s worthwhile, I dont mind upgrading.

[Jesse_James]

Originally Posted by Dan8700

The company is Mustang (see their recent "La dolce vita"), so it's possible this will have Eng subs.

...These are (for now) the information that I could find, and if they are correct, unfortunately there are no subtitles in English .

...In any case, in the next few days I will try to inform better, to be sure at 100% ...:


Original Title
8 1/2

Video
HD 1080 24p 16/9 1.78:1

Audio
Italian LPCM 2.0

Subtitles
Italian for the hearing impaired

Extra
A film that always surprises, Interview with Giuseppe Tornatore
Fellini's masterpiece, Interview with Gian Luigi Rondi
In search of authenticity, Interview with Fabio psychoanalyst Castriota

[McCrutchy]

Perhaps this is the information Jesse James refers to above, but the distributor's web site listing also lists only Italian SDH subtitles:

http://www.cghv.it/film-dvd/8-12/f36123

[Dan8700]

Sooo, I received the new release this morning... bad news and good news (for Italians, good news only ).
1. NO ENG SUBS (only Italian HoH) and B-locked.
2. This is indeed the 50th anniversary restoration and it dramatically improves over the other releases: no more hideous grain structure (sorry, Criterion...), and long live healthy grain! Black levels are great, and no more blown-out whites (sorry, Gaumont )! Some scenes feature a slightly different composition (see #4). The only """"flaw"""" of the Italian release, is the 1.78:1 AR rather than 1.85, so you can see more info in the upper side.

I'll watch this in its entirety in the next few days, but I tested several parts and didn't notice encoding errors... finally, this movie gets the transfer it deserves.

Here's a detailed comparison between the releases.

Criterion (left) vs Mustang (right)







In the following comparison, only one is a perfect match, but the other two are virtually identical.

Argent vs Criterion vs Mustang (from left to right)

[MifuneFan]

I'm not crazy about it from those screens. It looks too dark and sharpened. It makes all the skintones look unnatural to me. I don't think the others are perfect either. I think they all have their pros and cons. Somewhere between the Criterion and the Mustang release would be ideal I'd say. I will just add that I think it will look fine in motion it's just in comparison to the others that the skintones in some shots look more dark than I feel they should be (particularly the last comparsion shown, and the one of him in the bathroom).

[mcgg]

why this release is 1.78? I think original AR is 1.85.

[nitin]

I'm with Mifunefan, contrast in the new blu ray doesnt look right.

[barrett75]

i don't see any black crush in the new italian release actually and it blows the previous ones away, IMHO! looks like the same difference between new Touch of Evil from Universal and the old one from Eureka...

[Dan8700]

Sorry, not to be defensive, and to each his own, but... "doesn't look right" maybe for an eye grown accustomed to the CC look, or any other previous attempt to present the film. The Criterion team had to start from a mere, old-generation positive (which was created from a negative years ago).
The Cineteca di Bologna wanted to screen 8 1/2 in early 2013 in occasion of the anniversary but couldn't, because the positives available at the time could "not be used for projection anymore. We need to start from the original negative and proceed with a new restoration" (report from the National Cinematèque, June 2013). So, in short, the positive used by CC was already worn-out... and it shows.
4-5 groups were involved in the new resto (that would be screened), taking into account the previous attempts, and they did a great work indeed, giving new life (and sure, a new look) to the film - this is obviously the best looking release. I can understand to a certain extent one preferring one look rather than another, while comparing frames from different sources, but being "darker" or "more contrasty" doesn't mean "less accurate"; in this case, it's the other way around!
That said, it's a pity they couldn't include English subs, like they did for La Dolce Vita, since I doubt CC will re-release it. Maybe Germany...?

EDIT: agreed with barrett, it's more or less the same with the two recent Universal noirs.

[edcresdee]

Originally Posted by Dan8700

Sorry, not to be defensive, and to each his own, but... "doesn't look right" maybe for an eye grown accustomed to the CC look, or any other previous attempt to present the film. The Criterion team had to start from a mere, old-generation positive (which was created from a negative years ago).
The Cineteca di Bologna wanted to screen 8 1/2 in early 2013 in occasion of the anniversary but couldn't, because the positives available at the time could "not be used for projection anymore. We need to start from the original negative and proceed with a new restoration" (report from the National Cinematèque, June 2013). So, in short, the positive used by CC was already worn-out... and it shows.
4-5 groups were involved in the new resto (that would be screened), taking into account the previous attempts, and they did a great work indeed, giving new life (and sure, a new look) to the film - this is obviously the best looking release. I can understand to a certain extent one preferring one look rather than another, while comparing frames from different sources, but being "darker" or "more contrasty" doesn't mean "less accurate"; in this case, it's the other way around!
That said, it's a pity they couldn't include English subs, like they did for La Dolce Vita, since I doubt CC will re-release it. Maybe Germany...?

EDIT: agreed with barrett, it's more or less the same with the two recent Universal noirs.

I think the aspect ratio also contributes to it not "looking right". That's certainly more of an issue for me with this release anyway, as well as the no english subs

[Dan8700]

Originally Posted by edcresdee

I think the aspect ratio also contributes to it not "looking right". That's certainly more of an issue for me with this release anyway, as well as the no english subs

If a 0.07 is an issue... ok. It's like saying the US disc of The Conversation and several Warner/Paramount titles with slightly opened-up frame are problematic. Really doesn't change a thing. They could have been a tad more accurate there, but that's it.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Dan8700

Sorry, not to be defensive, and to each his own, but... "doesn't look right" maybe for an eye grown accustomed to the CC look, or any other previous attempt to present the film. The Criterion team had to start from a mere, old-generation positive (which was created from a negative years ago).
The Cineteca di Bologna wanted to screen 8 1/2 in early 2013 in occasion of the anniversary but couldn't, because the positives available at the time could "not be used for projection anymore. We need to start from the original negative and proceed with a new restoration" (report from the National Cinematèque, June 2013). So, in short, the positive used by CC was already worn-out... and it shows.
4-5 groups were involved in the new resto (that would be screened), taking into account the previous attempts, and they did a great work indeed, giving new life (and sure, a new look) to the film - this is obviously the best looking release. I can understand to a certain extent one preferring one look rather than another, while comparing frames from different sources, but being "darker" or "more contrasty" doesn't mean "less accurate"; in this case, it's the other way around!
That said, it's a pity they couldn't include English subs, like they did for La Dolce Vita, since I doubt CC will re-release it. Maybe Germany...?

EDIT: agreed with barrett, it's more or less the same with the two recent Universal noirs.

I was going plainly off the screencaps, not necessarily comparing with CC edition. Also, it may well look better in motion obviously.

[MifuneFan]

I brightened it slightly, and turned down contrast just a hair, and to me it looks much better. The problem is evident in the original when you look at his pants, socks, and shoes. It's all so black with very little contrast between them. You can hardly tell when one begins, and the other ends. In the edited version you can see more shades of gray and black in those areas, with the shoes being distinguishable from the rest. Skintones are also better in the modded version in my opinion. He looks way to dark in the original. The modified version looks more like film to me, and very likely what it looked like originally. I have no doubt that the scan provides better detail than previous releases, but I feel in some instances that the restoration team might have upped contrast just a bit too much.

Original


Modified

[Dubliner1]

...so sad this does not have English subs

[Andrew-Kenneth]

Originally Posted by Dan8700

(...) 2. This is indeed the 50th anniversary restoration and it dramatically improves over the other releases: no more hideous grain structure (sorry, Criterion...), and long live healthy grain! Black levels are great, and no more blown-out whites (sorry, Gaumont )! (...)

I've just watched the 8 1/2 Gaumont blu-ray. I've also noticed the blown-out whites present on this disc. (most noticeable during the "ride of the valkyries"-scene)

The Gaumont disc also contains a 34 minute HD documentary/interview with legendary director of photography Darius Khondji (Seven, Midnight in Paris).
In this very informative docu mr. Khondji explains at length that a number of scenes in 8 1/2 were intentionally over-exposed resulting in... "blown-out whites".

So, whilst these over-exposed scenes might jar with the sensibilities of current HD-enthousiasts they were apparently intended by the filmmaker.

[billyearle]

Anyone checked the Australian 2014 release? Not optimistic, but at least it would be english-friendly. The UK one looks terrible, so for now CC seems to be the best English-friendly version. Tempted to get this Italian one, but have a feeling patience will pay off eventually. The aspect ratio is also a concern for me, since the film was so carefully composed.