Restoration of 16mm Technicolor & Fujicolor Cartoons?

[Alex Landherr]

Hi,

I need help finding EU-based (or the UK) film restoration companies that can handle 16mm films.

Preferably they should be able to do digital restoration (and if possible make new prints of) 16mm film.

 

Film Condition:

Their condition is overall very good; very little color fade and not too much in terms of scratches and dirt. The sound tracks on the films all seem to be in quite good condition too.

If this is possible I would like to do it one film at a time to be in line with my budget.

 

Type of Restoration Desired:
If I decide to go through with doing the restoration with you I would be looking at digital restoration; that is scanning (frame-by-frame),
color correction & color grading, removal of scratches & dirt and if necessary clean-up of the transferred audio.

 

Video Resolution & Aspect Ratio:
The frame-by-frame scanning would be at a resolution which would respect the (approximate) 4:3 aspect ratio which the cartoons
were intended to be displayed at and not show frame or film edges. For this I desire that no black bars ("letter-boxing") be used.
A suitable resolution might be 2048 pixels wide by 1536 pixels high or some other higher resolution matching a 4:3 ratio depending on a future price quote.

 

Formats, Codecs & Color Spaces:
- Container format: .mov

- Video codec: Apple ProRes 422 HQ and Apple ProRes 4444 which means two files per film.

- Audio codec: whatever is deemed suitable on a per film basis. Since the sound is monaural when played on stereo headphones (or speakers) the audio stream should be duplicated equally to the left and right channels to avoid only one channel being utilized.

- Color spaces: the file using Apple ProRes 422 HQ should be color graded and corrected in Rec.709 for SDR and the file using Apple ProRes 4444 should be color graded and corrected in Rec.2100 for true HDR.

 

Companies I Have Contacted:

1. Analogue Image T/A On8mil: https://www.on8mil.com/product/16mm-film-archive-scan/ (A little on the simple side)
2. Cinelab: https://www.cinelab.co.uk/archive-restoration-services (provided a good (?) initial quote per film of about 362 GBP at 2K (2048x1536) with the above file specs)
3. Fixafilm: https://www.fixafilm.pl/en/services/ (Can do it for 600 to 700 EUR per film, film recording costs extra)
4. Haghefilm Digitaal: https://haghefilm.nl/restoration/ (Have contacted them but gotten no response in ~2 months)

 

Is this something anyone can recommend a good company for? And if the company in question also handles 8mm that would be a bonus as my family has tasked me with finding a company that can do similar things for 8mm what they do for 16mm.

[Tyler Purcell]

We do film restoration for a living here in Los Angeles California. We have a really nice automated process, which combined with a wet gate scan and very lightweight digital restoration, can give a pretty good result. We charge $.60 cents per foot for the picture and $.10 cents per foot for the sound for this process which includes full color restoration, picture cleanup (dirt scratches), sound sync and final Pro Res 4444 12 bit output files of any resolution you want. We normally do 4k workflows, but we can do 2k no problem. Turn around is quick, unless the film is damaged. Also if the scratches are deeper than our automated tools, we can use manual cleanup as well, but we charge per hour so that adds up a bit. 

In terms of making a new print, that's not a big deal. We have sources to achieve that no problem, including 16mm soundtrack. It's costly, around $350 per minute, but not difficult to do at all. 

Here is a sample of our automated service. It's not perfect, but it does a great job. 

 

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

OP, can't help. But why are 2 ProRes needed?

I didn't even know there were 2, here is what AI said...

AI Overview

Learn more

 

Apple ProRes 422 HQ and ProRes 4444 are both high-quality video codecs developed by Apple, but they cater to different needs. ProRes 422 HQ is designed for visually lossless preservation of professional HD video, while ProRes 4444 is optimized for color keying, VFX work, and motion graphics due to its full color bandwidth and optional alpha channel. 

 

Key Differences:

• Color Sampling:

  ProRes 422 HQ uses 4:2:2 color sampling, meaning it stores color information for every other pixel, while ProRes 4444 uses 4:4:4, meaning it stores color information for every pixel. 

   
• Color Depth:

  Both codecs can handle up to 10 bits per color, but ProRes 4444 can also handle 12 bits, offering more color information. 

   
• Alpha Channel:

  ProRes 4444 supports an optional alpha channel, which stores transparency information, making it suitable for compositing and visual effects. 

   
• Performance:

  ProRes 422 HQ is generally easier on computer resources compared to ProRes 4444, especially in non-native software, says an Adobe Community forum post. 

   
• Use Cases:

  • ProRes 422 HQ: Ideal for post-production workflows involving professional HD video, where you need high quality and visually lossless preservation, says Apple Support. 
     
  • ProRes 4444: Best for tasks like color keying, VFX work, and motion graphics where you need full color bandwidth and the ability to work with alpha channels. 
     

In summary: If you're working with professional HD video and need a balance between quality and ease of use, ProRes 422 HQ is a good choice. If you need the full color bandwidth and alpha channel for color keying, VFX, or motion graphics, ProRes 4444 is the better option. 

 

Tyler...

Do most scanners allow for 2 ProRes?

[Dirk DeJonghe]

Hello,

We are in Belgium and work for many international film archives.

We can scan the original print with optical soundtrack, do digital restauration picture and sound, colour grading, and make a new 16mm picture and sound negative, then print to 16mm print for projection. We can also do scans from 8mm or Super8.

It is hard to quote a digital restauration price without seeing the current state of the 16mm original print.

[Brian Drysdale]

In the UK Cinelab: https://www.cinelab.co.uk/   and R3store: https://r3storestudios.com/  do this type of work.

[Alex Landherr]

2 hours ago, Dirk DeJonghe said:

Hello,

We are in Belgium and work for many international film archives.

We can scan the original print with optical soundtrack, do digital restauration picture and sound, colour grading, and make a new 16mm picture and sound negative, then print to 16mm print for projection. We can also do scans from 8mm or Super8.

It is hard to quote a digital restauration price without seeing the current state of the 16mm original print.

Hi,

I might contact you later via the info on your website about the 8mm from my family as that is most urgent. For that I only need digital restoration (will give more details then like film amount etc.).

[Tyler Purcell]

17 hours ago, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

Do most scanners allow for 2 ProRes?

I scan to DPX and export Pro Res from there. 

Pro Res 4444, has full color data AND is 12 bit.
Pro Res 422, has half the blue and red color data and is 10 bit. 

So to retain the quality of the DPX files, we generally deliver Pro Res 4444.