4F News Archive

1998-09-01

The remastered 4F is complete and available! Overall, it's a sorely-needed improvement in video quality, and there are a few extra jokes thrown in, as well as the trimming of that one piece of dead space that always bothered me. Now for the known issues:

• The 2nd half of the opening shot of NIMH HQ was run at the wrong frame rate, causing it to stutter visibly, and doubling its length (which also caused the omission of the 1st half of the shot). I also intended it to fade in from black, but I forgot to mention that to Duane.
• There are a number of flash frames in the editing. That is, during the changing of some scenes, you may notice a single frame that shouldn't be there.
• I had intended to remove the extended arm on the MST3K overlay, but, again, I forgot to mention that to Duane. Thus, it makes the overlay look too static.
• The end credits roll too fast for half the time.

Duane no longer has access to the equipment he used to make this version, so the corrections will have to wait until I can make them myself. My new master is on VHS, so I'll have to find a frame-accurate VHS editing deck somewhere, and make the corrections the old-fashioned way.

This leads to the next issue: how to handle the distribution. Since I will also need that VHS editing deck in order to place the new 4F in context with the other goodies, any copies I make will be VHS to VHS, from two different sources. What it comes down to, is that on the copies I've made so far, I've taped the original version first, with the rest of the stuff following, and then added the new version afterward. Yes, even with two copies of 4F on the tape plus the extras, it's still under 2 hours.

So the choice is up to you. Do you want both versions, and if so, which do you want on the tape first? Please mention those preferences in your request.

1998-01-26

Okay, there have been a few plot twists. Duane Johnson, another fan video enthusiast, has decided he wants to takle the lion's share of the remastering of 4F itself. We're working out how to coordinate such a thing over the distance that would still ensure my ability to make the highest possible quality copies for people who request it.

1997-10-29

I have created a mailing list for anyone who wants to be informed of the latest developments regarding 4F and the possibility of a new parody dub in the not-too-distant future. To subscribe to it, just drop me a line (click the "E-mail Us" link in the navigation bar to the left. There's no bot handling this, so you don't have to be precise.

The remastering of 4F continues in the time I have left over from the other projects. The 4F2 trailer is now fully remastered as far as the video part goes, and a few shots of 4F itself are redone, although none of the changes in the main feature will be release until the whole thing's done. The remaster will have the addition of a few more visual jokes, but no new lines will be recorded.

1997-09-18

The first step has been taken in remastering 4F. I've tested the process on a small part -- the bogus 4F2 trailer at the end of the main feature. I finally had to do something, since the original master had degraded to the point of sporadically losing colour. This remaster isn't perfect (notably in the parts that used A-ko 3 footage) but it's a large improvement. In addition, the digitising process has automatically boosted the audio, which it needed badly. The next step will probably be Nagisa Bonita, although I've already begun collecting the footage for 4F itself.