Oldboy 4K UHD (2003)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Synchg

i get what you were saying the entire time but i just don't buy it.
as you said yourself, this movie came out in 2003, not even 20 years old.
so why is the dupe footage this severe in quality drop? wouldn't at the very least, the level of grain be consistent or heavier? because it's non-existent with the optical shots.

loss of color and detail, i understand. but the brightness levels are unforgivable and felt like an easy fix to me, which leads me to believe THOSE were sourced from something other than the OCN as stated in the press release.
i'm pretty sure my suspicious will be proven correct.

anyways
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569...ef_=tt_dt_spec

okay mr, i never seen this movie before prior to UHD release, but i iz expert on all these oldboys

https://shotonwhat.com/oldeuboi-2003

Okay, I'll try it one more time: when they do effects, opticals, whatever, then by definition IT'S NO LONGER THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE, unless you think they do VFX in camera? No. It becomes a copy of a copy of a copy. So whenever you see something that says it was done from "the original camera negative" don't take it to literally mean every single frame of the film because that transfer will *also* include these bits that are a copy of a copy of a copy. They don't tell you that, and that's fine you don't know that, but it's actually what happens. Some studios have taken to digitally rebuilding things like titles, Universal and Paramount and StudioCanal in particular, but even then they usually end up using a clean dupe rather than the OG negative.

Thank you for the info on what Oldboy was finished on, I'd have thought it was way too early for a DI on a non-American feature but obviously I'm mistaken and the technology was more widespread. But, funnily enough, you actually now have your answer: all those bits you're moaning about were most likely lifted directly from the DI - it being an early one, so it wasn't amazing - while they transferred everything without VFX etc from the "original camera negative" hence the obvious visual disparity between 2003 tech vs 2019 tech. There's no conspiracy here, guy.

If anything it's very unusual that a movie finished to a DI gets a 4K rebuild from the OG negative at all, I'm surprised there wasn't way more more hoopla about it on Oldboy as it's practically unheard of outside of Sony having done it on a few movies e.g. Hellboy, Talladega Nights, Bad Boys II. And guess what? Sony ALSO upscale the titles, VFX etc from the 2K masters when doing these 4K rebuilds, it's just easier. In fact, if you go into the Bad Boys II thread you'll find someone else going off on one because they thought the whole movie was an upscale (not that you did, I'm just making a point). Why? Because the end credits look like junk compared to the rest of it...having been upscaled from the 2003 DI.