The Matrix 4K UHD (1999)

[ergumat]

Look forward to getting this!

[LoSouL]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Still seems like an asinine thing to do in this day and age. They're literally remastering it for 4K so if they have do a new transfer - and they do, even the greeny retimed one dates from 2004 - then why on Earth wouldn't they do it in 4K?

Besides, they already did this exact thing for Harry Potter 1 and 2, so again with those pesky precedents. We get a lot of rain down here.

Ok, and the Nolan collection is what? Not precedent for just slapping things on a disc?

Seems to be raining everywhere these days. Must be global warming.

[Geoff D]

What are you talking about? The Nolan collection IS from new 4K scans. But they're scans of interpositives and NOT negatives which is at Nolan's request, so that cuts down on detail big time from what we might have expected and the contentious colour timing is also Nolan trying to emulate what he sees on the prints. Always reasons there are...

[LoSouL]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

What are you talking about? The Nolan collection IS from new 4K scans. But they're scans of interpositives and NOT negatives which is at Nolan's request, so that cuts down on detail big time from what we might have expected and the contentious colour timing is also Nolan trying to emulate what he sees on the prints. Always reasons there are...

Oh, the wrong decision can be made with UHD releases. Wow. Isn't that something? Whod'a thunk.

You think the same people who green'd up the Matrix to match the rest would never, ever do something "asinine" right? Totally.

[Pyoko]

This is probably a bit odd but the earthy brown look of The Matrix is something of a totem for me, I get nostalgic whenever I think about it, and I'd really like to see it return.

Original grade for the single release.

Greenified grade for the eventual trilogy box set.

Make it happen.

[ROSS.T.G.]

We knew this was coming. Warner is bringin’ the pain!

[OutOfBoose]

I hope UHD brings back these colors:

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by LoSouL

Oh, the wrong decision can be made with UHD releases. Wow. Isn't that something? Whod'a thunk.

You think the same people who green'd up the Matrix to match the rest would never, ever do something "asinine" right? Totally.

Hah! The colour is a totally different thing than doing a 4K scan or not. Let's get that out of the way first, then argue about the colour when the UHD arrives.

[Nothing371]

Originally Posted by Poya

You ever get the feeling Nic Cage isn’t really acting in his films and is really that crazy?

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

This is probably a bit odd but the earthy brown look of The Matrix is something of a totem for me, I get nostalgic whenever I think about it, and I'd really like to see it return.

Original grade for the single release.

Greenified grade for the eventual trilogy box set.

Make it happen.

Warner giving Fellowship of the Ring similar treatment would be nice as well; original color timing on the theatrical cut (you know, since it won an Academy Award for Cinematography), and they can go to town on the Extended for all I care. But after seeing what they did with Batman Begins, I have a feeling FOTR theatrical will be treated more like that

[Thread_Astaire]

Originally Posted by Poya

You ever get the feeling Nic Cage isn’t really acting in his films and is really that crazy?

I watched Army of One, earlier. Dude's not right.

[Pyoko]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Warner giving Fellowship of the Ring similar treatment would be nice as well

It's wishful thinking and I don't expect anything like that to happen, still, the fact that The Matrix seems to have appeared separately before a trilogy release (unlike with the BDs) gives me an infinitesimal, microscopic, teensy-weensy bit of hope that we'll get something different.

[brian9229]

Countdown to thread unravel in 3....2....

[worldchmps]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

What are you talking about? The Nolan collection IS from new 4K scans. But they're scans of interpositives and NOT negatives which is at Nolan's request, so that cuts down on detail big time from what we might have expected and the contentious colour timing is also Nolan trying to emulate what he sees on the prints. Always reasons there are...

What’s the difference between an interpositive and a negative?

[DJJez]

Word on the street is they wil only release the first one in 4k. There will be no complete boxset just the 1st one for now

this movie is in my top 10 of all time

[testmon112]

Originally Posted by worldchmps

What’s the difference between an interpositive and a negative?

Interpositive = Ong Bak
Negative = A Few Good Men

[worldchmps]

I have the four movie collection. For me to upgrade the price has to be under $20 per movie. Otherwise it’ll get very expensive! And since I have the four in a standard BD case having four separate movies takes up a lot of room. I have no doubt they’ll do a great job. People expect no less. But I don’t need this to be a day one. Only got the Batman movies in the 3 for $50 deal. If the Matrix movies were there that’d be a good price. Also have the Tomb Raider movies coming out. So many movies! My wallet will need time to recover!

[worldchmps]

Originally Posted by testmon112

Interpositive = Ong Bak
Negative = A Few Good Men

But why is one better than the other?

[DJJez]

I wonder if this will get an atmos upgrade . Majority of their catalogue 4ks never got upgraded apart from the original blade runner

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by worldchmps

What’s the difference between an interpositive and a negative?

Originally Posted by worldchmps

But why is one better than the other?

I assume by negative you mean the camera negative, right? The camera negative, also called the original camera negative (OCN) is the piece of film that originally ran through the camera, when the movie was shot. It is therefore the highest quality version of the movie.

Movie film is a negative film. If you make a copy of the OCN, you get a positive print as a negative copy of a negative makes a positive. This is called an interpositive (IP). While positive prints for theatrical viewing can be made right off the negative for the highest quality positive print possible, repeated copying of the negative can damage it so this is rarely done.

So the IP is copied again, creating an internegative (IN). The INs are then copied in order to make the positive prints that you would typically get in a movie theater. Every time you make a copy, you lose quality in the analog world. This is called generation loss. However this way the negative is spared from wear and tear which is a good thing especially considering that big name films once had several thousand 35mm theatrical prints made for viewing. One can make new INs if they get worn out, but you can't replace the OCN.

So the copying process goes like this:

OCN->IP->IN->Theatrical print

Each generation loses quality. If one can't find the OCN, the IP would be the highest quality source available. Remember, each step is a copy of the previous step. The theatrical print is a copy of the IN which is a copy of the IP which is a copy of the OCN. Think of using a photocopier to make a copy of a photograph. If I make a copy of a copy of a copy, that wouldn't look as good as the original photo, would it?

There is one final film element called a separation master which is a duplicate negative of the OCN, but that is a bit beyond this particular discussion. It is a fascinating read, though.

The Save Star Wars site also has a very extensive and easy to understand description of the various film elements that I learned a lot from when I was first trying to understand all of this stuff. I highly recommend it!

From Interpositives to Separation Masters: How Film Preservation Works