The WCF conducts its own restoration, relying on the experience of the Cineteca of Bologna and its laboratory and collaborating with film archives belonging to the FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) or with the legally entitled parties.
Each restoration follows specific methods that correspond with shared experiences that have developed over the years at an international level.
Preliminary research and diagnosis of the materials
Film restoration is a process that breaks down into several phases covering a long period of time. Each restoration starts out with a search in archives around the world for prints of the film to be restored (census). Simultaneously, a study is made of printed materials (non-filmic) for information on the film’s history and details that may be useful for the actual restoration (such as the censor’s certificate with the list of captions or the original length). Once all the film copies, in whatever format, have been reviewed and information from printed materials has been gathered, the actual restoration begins.
The first step of evaluating and studying the prints helps to establish the relationship between the various versions, the oldest print, the most complete one, etc. Studying the non-filmic sources makes it possible to connect the prints found with particular versions and/or editions of the film. Detailed examination of the film’s physical qualities tells us whether it belongs to the first generation or is a later reprinting, the method used for its printing and editing, coloring process, film stock, if over the years any changes or insertions have been made, etc…
While the copies are analyzed an in-depth evaluation of the film’s preservation (physical and chemical) is compiled, and print tests are made if necessary. There are the same problems for each type of film base (breaks, tearing, etc.) but also particular ones connected to the film base used and the conditions in which the film was kept. The film type and photographic procedure (black and white, color, Technicolor or Eastmancolor, etc.) can influence its preservation. For example, cellulose nitrate tends to shrink and weaken so much that the image completely dissolves, and safety film risks suffering from vinegar syndrome.
Planning and methodology
Once the diagnosis is complete, a report is put together containing the materials’ examination
and the resulting restoration plan. During this phase which version and/or
edition of the film to be restored and the methodology to be used are decided.
Here the range is almost infinite and just like textual criticism the principle
that every text has a critical solution applies to film restoration.
The first objective of any restoration is to determine which version and/or
edition will be restored. The ethics of restoration require restoration work
to be transparent and impose the duty of informing the viewer about what he
will see; this concept takes its inspiration from the principle set down by
the great scholar of art restoration, Cesare Brandi (C. Brandi, Teoria del
restauro, Turin 1977), according to whom “any restoration operation should not inhibit future ones but facilitate them”.
Some art forms only require proper conservation. Film, however, requires more. A positive print of a restored film will be damaged by each showing. This explains why creating new elements specifically for preservation purposes (such as duplicates, lavender prints, duplicate negatives) is a fundamental part of the restoration process.
Analog restoration (photochemical restoration)
Once the procedure has been decided the films subject to restoration undergo
various phases. The first phase consists of repairing any physical damage:
ripped or removed perforations, open or faulty splices, tearing and ruptures.
Depending on the prints’ physical condition and their length, film repair can last anywhere from a few hours to several workdays. After reviving the film’s functionality, the film is washed in special machines (rejuvenator) with solvents that do not attack the emulsion in order to remove any dirt, dust, projector lubricant, etc… The copy is then ready for printing the first preservation element. There are two different types of film printers used for restoration: optical and contact. Film moves through the printer, whatever type it may be, either continuously or intermittently. In most cases, especially when restoring old films from prints in a critical state, wet-gate intermittent (adjustable) optical printing is used. Wet-gate printing can eliminate or reduce most of the scratches on the base and emulsion side because it uses a liquid with a refractive index similar to the film’s and light that passes through it is properly refracted on the unexposed film. Potential chemical problems regarding the image (such as the start of chemical decay) may be corrected or reduced by changing the film’s
development. If the restoration starts out with a positive print, the result
is a duplicate or an internegative. If a negative print is used, the printing
would produce a positive print (lavender print) or an interpositive. If the
film being restored is a sound film, the scene and sound track are restored
separately up until printing the final married print.
This operation is repeated for every copy to be used for the film’s
restoration. The new elements created (matrices) can be integrated or edited
according to the steps of the restoration plan. Captions can be substituted
or completed (in part or in whole), editing mistakes can be corrected, missing
sections can be added from another print, etc.
Once the editing and revision of these elements are complete, the new preservation elements and release prints can be printed.
Digital restoration
Even though digitally restoring sound has been a procedure used in most laboratories
for ten years, digitally restoring images is still in an experimental phase
and in the past two years it has made a real leap forward. In comparison
with the analog method, digital technologies can record and duplicate without
losing any information. The restoration procedure and equipment are different
from those used for analog restoration. Data files acquire the film images
using a film scanner or a telecine unit. In this way, the film’s images are transferred to a digital format (D5, D6, D7, Digibeta, DVC PRO, etc.) which can then be read by image modifying software. Some operations, such as scratch removal and frame steadiness, can be done automatically using modern workstations. Step by step the restored version of the film is recorded in a new file which will then be “downloaded” on a new 35mm negative for subsequent (photochemical) printing of the release prints. This is the proper procedure of digital film restoration because the end result of it is a negative on 35 mm film. The final “analog” step
is important because it allows us to have 35mm versions for preservation
purposes. In fact, while film conservation methods are well known, research
and experimentation are still underway for archiving, conserving and transferring
onto new supports. Restoration should imply proper preservation over time
and, as mentioned earlier, the best format is still 35mm film.
Restoration documentation
The restoration process, both analog and digital, includes not only repair
and duplication but also working directly on the film, modifying and/or completing
parts of it.
Each operation must be documented and should be reversible as well (cfr. above).
There are two types of film restoration documentation. The first kind consists
in adding at the film’s beginning or end a brief explanation of the original
materials and the restoration procedure used. The second type is the creation
of a restoration dossier that documents the decisions made and the processes
used. A detailed dossier will be compiled for every restoration made or promoted
by the WCF.
WCF restored film preservation and screening policy
The preservation elements of each WCF restored film will be filed at FIAF archives with storage that complies with the preservation rules approved by the FIAF’s Technical Commission.
The films will be presented at festivals and distributed to cinemas that want to show them in a 35mm format.
Digital formats that best preserve the original’s qualities will be made available to cinemas that are not equipped for showing 35mm.
In addition, the WCF will promote DVD and online distribution of the restored works so as to make them available to the public at large.
January 2008