@PunkNinja @C.C. 95
Unfortunately the superb look of the criterion laserdisc will not be created on UHD blu due to the way lab techniques have changed. The look has to be done digitally now. With the original laserdisc and vhs it was scanned at 480 lines so for th anamorphic dvd back in 2000 a new master had to be struck. And for the blu, it was again. have a read. I am quite impressed with the look of the Italian blu Ray in the pictures above.
Se7en New Line Platinum Edition (2000 Remaster)
After finishing work on ‘Fight Club’ in 2000, Fincher returned to Se7en to do a fresh anamorphic DVD transfer. Once again, he wanted to work from a freshly struck print, however he found it impossible to get sufficient density in the print blaming changing lab practices. So he opted to have the negative scanned directly, and perform color-correction in the digital domain to restore the bleach bypass look.
A 1080i scan was made using a Spirit telecine machine, and recorded to D5 digital HD videotape. I believe this negative scan is the source for all subsequent home video releases. Fincher worked with colorist Stephen Nakamura, who had done timing work on video dallies during production of Se7en.
The New Line Platinum Edition DVD was released in 2000, and was positively reviewed, and included much of the supplemental material that was included in the Criterion Laserdisc set.
Overall the transfer is a little more ‘pushed’ looking than the earlier transfer, with a green tint throughout. It doesn’t look bad, but starts to look more like a 2000 film, with the use of Davinci ‘power windows’ allow manipulation of the image that wouldn’t have been possible. Secondary color corrections to the climax are apparent.
A film only DVD edition of the transfer was released 2004.
The Dutch Blu-ray released in 2009 appears to have used this transfer, as does the iTunes HD version.
HD Editions (2009 to present)
The following is largely speculation:
A large number of New Line titles have been released in Canada by Alliance (and vice versa), this leads me to believe that there was a standard licensing deal in place between the two. Licensing deals of this nature would typically be time bounded (say 10 years), and would include clauses such that the licensor would be obliged to provide the ‘best’ master materials reasonable available. After spending considerable money on New Line, Warner would have looked at the catalogue to determine how it could start monetizing it. Since Alliance licensed Se7en sometime in 2000 to release the Canadian version of the New Line Platinum edition, it seems probable that this license was due to expire in 2010.
Alliance wanting one last bite of the cherry decided to release Se7en on Blu-ray in 2009, and asked Warner for a HD transfer of Se7en. Warner recognized that providing them with a good HD 1080p copy of the director supervised 2000 transfer would diminish the value of the property when they came to renegotiate in 2010; so Warner provided them with the ‘Best’ transfer available, a copy of the unmatted, 1080i version. Alliance simply shrugged and released it.
As previously noted, the iTunes version and the Dutch Blu-ray also use the 2000 master, but are matted.
Another, possibly related transfer was used for the Italian 2009 Blu-ray, however this is appropriately matted, and appears to have very little in the way of color-correction applied. Looking at the bonus materials from the 2000 DVD, which include a demonstration of the Davinci color corrector in action, the Italian Blu-ray looks pretty close to the uncorrected master they are working from. Interestingly the Italian inter-titles appear to have been upscaled from an earlier DVD master.
Se7en Warner Blu-ray (2010)
Reading between the lines it appears that the most recent Blu-ray edition is the 2000 Datacine transfer with a new modern look color-correction. I’m not clear who was involved in the transfer, and if it was director approved or not.
I’m going to say this simply: It looks good, but it doesn’t look like a 1995 movie. Very strong secondary color corrections are pretty obviously applied, and the color begins to shift towards Orange and Teal. A lack of grain also implies the use of DVNR, though it’s hard to catch-it out.
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