New Roger Christian Interview

Sofar nobody has mentioned the rattling of Roger's loose D-ring in that second video ... and we do know that Luke wiggles his lightsaber on one of his fingers however shortly that is visible and seen on screen :)



I know that Roger was given a role (yes when long enough it can bend and be roled up) of brown vintage T-track by Saberfreak (if my recollection is up-to-date) which he as mentioned in an online direct-interview, he intended to use to recreate the former 'T-strips' as he calls them on his own vintage G R A F L E X, whether or not let over from production back in 1976, ... so there's one mystery cleared as far as those T-tracks are concerned :)

As much as I love your debate of the tape on the clamp ... we still have to make the distinction what is seen on the silver screen and what is captured in still pictures after production finished ... so until one of you with a bluray or even better a laser disc (which has the original theatrical release from 1977) screen cap can prove once and for all that tape is used in the movie ... I remain skeptical and in doubt :behave

Chaïm
 
YUP!! i found that funny since that was a hot topic yesterday! lol


there ya go seth! i think thats enough proof to back you up! ;) :thumbsup

How old is the video? On a reddit AMA he mentioned the t-track possibly being from old car weather seals the day after we hypothesized it in a thread here - he was likely reading our theories to fill his memory gaps IMO :lol
 
How old is the video? On a reddit AMA he mentioned the t-track possibly being from old car weather seals the day after we hypothesized it in a thread here - he was likely reading our theories to fill his memory gaps IMO :lol
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3aa0bx/i_am_roger_christian_you_may_know_me_as_the_set/
That was me that asked him about the T-track.

He said concerning my ANH Obi, "its the best replica I've ever seen"
.http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=211064&p=3274217&viewfull=1#post3274217
Well, to be fair, Kalkamel's ANH Obi, ;)
 
As far as his memory potentially being hazy, there's not much to remember about this prop. It had to be one of the simplest he's ever made once he found the right object. Only three small additions were needed to make it a lightsaber, and he seems to remember more about it because it was so different and important to get right. I could see not remembering where the t-track came from, or any myriad of details about the Obi-Wan saber, but if tape was a fourth addition to the Graflex it seems straightforward enough.

I was pretty solidly in the no tape camp until now. I didn't see what Roy was seeing on page one but I could see it being possible now. Also how do you explain the "Luke peering into saber" photo? It's funny, that photo's been around forever and I never scrutinized the clamp on it before.
 
Yes, we were talking about a tape covering the entire clamp. The fact that the grooves and text are only just noticeable shows that to me. On any vintage clamp both logo letters and grooves are way more pronounced. If you cover it entirely with tape and handle it for a while, the embossed details will faintly show, just as in the image. I am not convinced at all that it's the light playing tricks here. Combined with Roger's recollection, it is very obvious to me.
The rectangular holes seem cut out from the tape.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170528/e58fe82facb16436d524a1ac4184c6cb.jpg

On the right side of the right rectangle, you can also see some of the tape being torn. And on the left side of clamp you can see some wrinkles in the tape. The X from GRAFLEX is barely noticeable, only faintly, which without the tape wouldn't be possible in my opinion.

I'm not at home right now (I'm in Paris), but when I'm back, I'll do some tests.

We were wondering if this is a newly released pic, but I just released it's a higher res version of the one that's been on partsofsw since the internet was invented. :)

Also-- I just spun the tape debate into a new thread...
 
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As far as his memory potentially being hazy, there's not much to remember about this prop. It had to be one of the simplest he's ever made once he found the right object. Only three small additions were needed to make it a lightsaber, and he seems to remember more about it because it was so different and important to get right. I could see not remembering where the t-track came from, or any myriad of details about the Obi-Wan saber, but if tape was a fourth addition to the Graflex it seems straightforward enough.

I was pretty solidly in the no tape camp until now. I didn't see what Roy was seeing on page one but I could see it being possible now. Also how do you explain the "Luke peering into saber" photo? It's funny, that photo's been around forever and I never scrutinized the clamp on it before.

Agreed. matty matt, I wonder how many folk here who are around 60 years old or above (like me) remember the precise details of things they did 40 years ago in a rushed, work environment and as Jedi Reali said, its a simple prop..
 
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No one blames him for being old (not around 60, he should be like my Dad, around 73), and not remembering correctly.
It's just stating that his memory is not as trustable as some would like.
 
Darn tootin' they weren't. They were shooting on 35mm film which captures more image detail than HD video.
In theory that may be possible, but the OT screen caps sure look more fuzzy, grainy, and are harder to see fine details than the more recent films.

I seriously doubt they were too worried about tiny details being visible on props that don't get close ups. But they may not have known if Luke's saber would get close ups or not when the props were first built. It's possible the one he built to show George had the tape, then they decided the rest did not need tape.

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That was a great article. He is the guy that got us to the RPF. If it was t for him the RPF may not exist. I would think he is well aware of us.

Didn't realize his book was out as I had been hearing about it for years!
 
In theory that may be possible, but the OT screen caps sure look more fuzzy, grainy, and are harder to see fine details than the more recent films.

I seriously doubt they were too worried about tiny details being visible on props that don't get close ups. But they may not have known if Luke's saber would get close ups or not when the props were first built. It's possible the one he built to show George had the tape, then they decided the rest did not need tape.

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That's more to do with the fact most screen caps are second or third generation. Most are likely pulled from presentation media like VHS, DVD, blue-ray, etc. As HD as blue ray may be, even a 4k presentation has been through coloring and other post processing. There's no such thing as a duplication that doesn't lose something.\

BTS stuff could be anything-- still 35, an instamatic, old school 610. None of which is lit properly for archiving.

But if we had the original unaltered film negatives, those would blow up very very well.
 
That's more to do with the fact most screen caps are second or third generation. Most are likely pulled from presentation media like VHS, DVD, blue-ray, etc. As HD as blue ray may be, even a 4k presentation has been through coloring and other post processing. There's no such thing as a duplication that doesn't lose something.\

BTS stuff could be anything-- still 35, an instamatic, old school 610. None of which is lit properly for archiving.

But if we had the original unaltered film negatives, those would blow up very very well.
From what I recall first run films when they actually used film in the theaters were noticably less sharp than current digital projection. Even first run films had several factors that could degrade the sharpness like the print, projector, screen, etc. I'm sure the film makers were aware of what level of detail was likely to be seen. I don't think they worried about anyone getting access to perfect copies of the negatives.

But then again they also put stunt and hero stormtrooper helmets next to each other in the same scene, so I don't think continuity and small details were high priorities.

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Presentation prints pre-digital are still a couple generations down. The movie stock would be negative film, which would have an inter-positive made for editing and optical work too be made. Sometimes copies were struck from that, or if there was time and money, the original negative would be edited, and from that a presentation master would be made. That would then be duped over and over again for distribution.

Digital certainly crushes film in terms of losing less quality over generations, but it still happens. That said, If we went back to the camera negative, the resolution would be better than HD.

Also, we should keep in mind that every iteration of the OT that's been released since 97 is from the scanning done for the special edition. I could be wrong, but I don't think they've re-scanned it for blue ray specifically. The 97 scan was good enough for 4k even if media at the time was not since they did it for theatrical. ALSO ALSO, I don't know how much of the original stock for ANH even exists these days.
 
All of the original stock for ANH still exists. Much of it had turned magenta, though, and has been replaced in the edited negative with either highly processed copies of that footage or from preservation materials made from it in 77. All the pieces are stored though.
 
Presentation prints pre-digital are still a couple generations down. The movie stock would be negative film, which would have an inter-positive made for editing and optical work too be made. Sometimes copies were struck from that, or if there was time and money, the original negative would be edited, and from that a presentation master would be made. That would then be duped over and over again for distribution.

Digital certainly crushes film in terms of losing less quality over generations, but it still happens. That said, If we went back to the camera negative, the resolution would be better than HD.

Also, we should keep in mind that every iteration of the OT that's been released since 97 is from the scanning done for the special edition. I could be wrong, but I don't think they've re-scanned it for blue ray specifically. The 97 scan was good enough for 4k even if media at the time was not since they did it for theatrical. ALSO ALSO, I don't know how much of the original stock for ANH even exists these days.
I agree with what we end up seeing on screen being degraded in the film days. Unfortunately that is pretty much the best we have available for those films. Based on that I disagree with people who say 35mm is higher resolution than current digital. It could be if you have access to the pristine original source, but we don't.

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Since we were talking about Roger Christian's Graflex replica in this thread I thought I'd add this photo I just found on the google. It seems to be the same one he's holding in the radio interview videos, and the photo is credited to him. I came across it here: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/15/entertainment/gallery/roger-christian-star-wars/index.html

roger-christian-lightsaber.jpeg
 
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