By the 1980’s it became apparent that the worlds collections of motion picture heritage was at risk of becoming lost. Preservation of nitrate (flammable) stock was at risk and safety film, used as replacement, was beginning to be affected by a unique form of decay causing image fading.

Re-mastering involves scanning each film digitally frame by frame, usually to a quality of 4k, generating 12 terabytes of data from over 3000 frames before treatment. Next, Digital Restoration Operators use specialist software to remove scratches and dust and restoring each image to it’s original colour.

The Audio element is also re-mastered through software such as Pro-Tools, removing background noise and boosting dialogue volume where needed. Audio effects such as surround-sound can be added whereby sound is spread over multiple speakers for a more immersive experience.

Average cost $2million. Typically one year’s work.

We will make our first foray into this exciting classic material by offering a members choice in our next program. The titles on offer are THE THIRD MAN, SINGING IN THE RAIN, THE GODFATHER, CASABLANCA and MIDNIGHT COWBOY.