The Little Mermiad Restoration (Concerning Future Blu-ray)

[nomad2010]

So my little 2 year old brother is watching the little mermiad pe on our hd tv today. and ive noticed this before but the restoration is pitiful. the colors are so bland and the opening scene looks awful. im sure this has been discussed before but what is the reason for this (who is behind it) and could this possibly be how the blu-ray turns out to look? We know an hd master has been done because it was one of the first disney announced as coming to blu-ray.

[CampbellzSoup]

LOWRY Digital Restorations did not in fact do The Little Mermaid like they ahve for all other classic Disney films.

[nomad2010]

LOWRY Digital Restorations did not in fact do The Little Mermaid like they ahve for all other classic Disney films.

well why not?

[drfsupercenter]

Be glad Lowry didn't do it... it could have been far worse.

I actually liked the Platinum Edition's colors more than the Limited Issue... not sure how they stack up to the VHS/laserdisc. I should check sometime.

Though I tend to think most of the Platinum Editions have too new-looking colors and stray from the original, older-looking versions. I'm not a huge Mermaid fan, otherwise I'd have checked all the colors by now...

[gregmasciola]

The restoration is definitley much better than my old VHS, but I do have to say it is a bit grainy at times. It doesn't seem like it got quite as good a job as say The Jungle Book or Lady And The Tramp (and I'm talking about the picture quality, not colors or aspect ratio).

[2099net]

The restoration is definitley much better than my old VHS, but I do have to say it is a bit grainy at times. It doesn't seem like it got quite as good a job as say The Jungle Book or Lady And The Tramp (and I'm talking about the picture quality, not colors or aspect ratio).

The grain was present on the film stock that was used though. Take a look at the Limited Edition DVD - its the grainiest DVD I've ever seen! So the fact that the restored Little Mermaid features grain is not a mistake.

[Disney's Divinity]

Though I tend to think most of the Platinum Editions have too new-looking colors and stray from the original, older-looking versions. I'm not a huge Mermaid fan, otherwise I'd have checked all the colors by now...

Well, from what I've seen of the Platinum (and I have to make know the fact that I'm not an expert on how restorations are done and if this is really a problem or not), the only thing that really stood out to me the first time that I watched it was that Ariel's tail was really bright and the yellows (mostly for Triton's crown) were strange-looking/neon. Otherwise I was surprised at how close to the colors I'm used to it was (as compared to B&tB). But I wouldn't expect as drastic a difference for TLM as I would oldies like Cinderella anyway. I suppose where it's more recent, it's colors feel less "old" (for lack of a better word) in the first place.

As for the grain--I thought the purpose of a restoration was to remove it?

[bambi_nl]

As for the grain--I thought the purpose of a restoration was to remove it?

It depends. If you want to keep the feel of film, grain is not to be removed. It is part of physical film reels and therefore contributes to the look of film.

[2099net]

As for the grain--I thought the purpose of a restoration was to remove it?

Check this out
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=22991

Grain is part of film. Sometimes grain exists because the creators were forced to use cheaper film stock, but I would say in the vast majority of cases gain is part of the artistic presentation.

Take 300 for example. It's clear grain was added to the final film (you can see this if you watch the PiP on the HD DVD or see some of the greenscreen shots on the web, as the greenscreen footage is immaculate - I guess it was shot digitally). My guess is grain was added for two reasons: to make it appear more epic and to possibly hide some of the "fringing" around the actors that may have appeared due to the nature of the superimposed backgrounds. It would be wrong to remove the grain from 300.

[gregmasciola]

Grain is part of film. Sometimes grain exists because the creators were forced to use cheaper film stock, but I would say in the vast majority of cases gain is part of the artistic presentation.

I know that sometimes grain can be intended, but if the makers of Little Mermaid intended it, why is it only in some shots?
The grain in Little Mermaid doesn't bother me, really. Grain in certain movies only really bothers me if it becomes distracting. Like in some movies, in certain shots everything is clear except the sky, which has grain flickering and popping out everywhere, which takes the focus off of the actors.
Compare these two images:


The first image has just a little bit of grain, which can be natural, but the second is covered in grain, which would look awful in a movie.
The grainy shots in Little Mermaid are more like the first image, so really it's no big deal, but there are some sky shots in say The Muppet Movie and Caddyshack that look like the second one.

[2099net]

Yeah, like I said the Limited Edition of TLM is shocking. it does look like your second image. It's more like "snow" on a badly tuned TV than film grain. I'm sure its not intentional or reproducing what was on the theater screens when TLM was first shown.

However, I suspect it is right for TLM to have some grain in the image. I'm sure it didn't just appear on the 1st DVD transfer for no reason. "No smoke without fire" and all that. So I wouldn't want it removing - the Platinum Edition looks fine to me.

[Disney Duster]

Disney's Divinity, you forgot to mention that Ariel's tail is also green in some scenes, instead of the blue-green color named Ariel created newly just for the film when it was made.

As for removing the grain, you may have been thinking that restorations are supposed to remove the dirt.

Thank you 2099net for all that info! I heard Cinderella's grain was completely removed...and it looks like it.

I also heard The Little Mermaid on DVD has a case of lots of grain in some shots and almost no grain in other shots. That's really wrong as well as distracting.

[Ariel'sprince]

Wow,you just see a DVD colorful quality of a film and think it's bad?.
This is 2008,not 1950 and it's not VHS it's DVD.

[drfsupercenter]

Right... I think Disney is Lucasizing their films, in making them look "too new". The Little Mermaid didn't look that bad, actually... as I said I liked the colors a bit more than the Limited Issue. (A half-and-half would be the ultimate best... some scenes are better in one but some in the other.)

I mean, it's cool and all that they look like they were made just a year or two ago... but somehow I think that's less authentic than the older transfers that were made just from the film. I have no problem with cleaning up the film (like most of the Masterpiece VHS and laserdiscs), but when you start recoloring to make it look way bright and stunning, that's when you cross the line.

[rb_canadian181]

It depends. If you want to keep the feel of film, grain is not to be removed. It is part of physical film reels and therefore contributes to the look of film.

Agreed! The new movies that have no texture have no feeling of "classic" whatsoever. Some of the colour palettes in TLM are supposed to be sort of dull, because afterall it is supposedly at the bottom of the ocean.
I'm sure the directors approved the new look of the movie, but I can see why some of you are yearning for more of an improvement.

[Atlantica]

The problem that I have with Disney restorations is that they frequently say that their new restorations have ... "a colour and quality never seen before ..." , and quite often it feels that way to me. Sometimes I don't know what movie I'm watching; the Disney Classic or the movie's sequel ! The colours are "never seen before" as they did not exist before; at least to my untrained eye they didnt.

Some restorations have been amazing, and some feel as if they have been ripped of their identity. I WANT to see the grain and flaky sound on Cinderella, I want to see sketch lines etc, as that was how it was indended to be seen. Maybe they should include two versions of the movie on the disc. The restored, 21st centuary version, and the original, before version. Grain and all.

Of course I may be alone on this, but its just my opinion. I'm all for restoration, but not entire colour pallete changes.

[Ariel'sprince]

The problem that I have with Disney restorations is that they frequently say that their new restorations have ... "a colour and quality never seen before ..." , and quite often it feels that way to me. Sometimes I don't know what movie I'm watching; the Disney Classic or the movie's sequel ! The colours are "never seen before" as they did not exist before; at least to my untrained eye they didnt.

Some restorations have been amazing, and some feel as if they have been ripped of their identity. I WANT to see the grain and flaky sound on Cinderella, I want to see sketch lines etc, as that was how it was indended to be seen. Maybe they should include two versions of the movie on the disc. The restored, 21st centuary version, and the original, before version. Grain and all.

Of course I may be alone on this, but its just my opinion. I'm all for restoration, but not entire colour pallete changes.

I disagree with this whole thing.
It's DVD,not VHS,it's new,it's supposed to be bright and colorful,if you want old quality you can always watch the VHS version but that's DVD.
Well,I think it's just useless to want an old quality on a DVD version .

[Atlantica]

Because for me, that is part of the charm of the movie. The movies themselves are not 'bright and new'; some are around 60 years old !

I dont want an 'old quality' version. I want what it was like originally. That may be an odd, and impossible request, but thats just what I think.

Cinderella is one of my favourite films, and I was sad to see it treated in the way it was. And I am totally confused as to why Ariel's fin had to chnage colour !

[Ariel'sprince]

But still,it's DVD.
I think it's impossible to have the same colors,I do disagree when they re-drew things like The Lion King PE but colors?.
Yeah,Cinderella is also one of my favorite (It's my favorite after Nightmare Before Christmas) but I like the quality,maybe it seems for me that a clipart with gray dress and orange looks like a clipart from 1950 and Ariel's flipper looks better (In the series it's blue and her hair is pink!).
Maybe they can have VHS quality and DVD quality but still,I think that what restoration was made for,to make it looks bright and new and not old.

[drfsupercenter]

"VHS quality" is not what we're talking about.

VHSes can have colors just as bright. Brightening up colors I disagree with. Removing dirt and stuff from the film I do agree with... but completely removing the grain makes it look too new.