Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/426326
www.postmagazine.com 29 POST NOVEMBER 2014 DI colorist Mark Griffi th performed the color grading for the new version, whose restoration was supervised by Twentieth Century Fox's Schawn Belston. Griffi th worked with a timed archival IP of Oklahoma!, which was scanned at 8K and downsampled to 4K for eventual delivery of 4K DCPs protected for UHD. Cinematographer Robert Surtees shot Oklahoma! at 30fps on 65mm 2.20:1, producer Mike Todd's theatrical Todd-AO format, and 35mm concurrently, says Griffi th. The 65mm Todd-AO version was scanned for restoration. Dirt, dust, scratch removal and de-fl icker were done off -site at the same time color grading began. Griffi th manned a DaVinci Resolve system, employing Power Windows and multiple nodes to repair badly-faded and discolored edges throughout the fi lm. He also fi xed color variances in the footage: Often the image would swing out into another color or fade from neutral to very green over the space of ten frames. "One of the opening scenes had so many color variations that I probably had 12 to 14 nodes going to get it to settle down and roll as one image," Griffi th recalls. Opticals also proved challenging. Audiences in the 1950s were accustomed to seeing dissolves that "bumped" up against each other but "today's technol- ogy highlights the sense of something odd" in those match cuts that don't quite match. "Some purists believe we should leave them the way they are, while others believe we should try to improve the match cuts to make them a bit more palatable for viewers," Griffi th explains. He strove to make the A and B sides of the cuts look "as seamless as possible" in the new restoration. To prepare for his work, Griffi th likes to research articles on the fi lm being re- stored and fi nd comments on the quality of prior restorations. The fi lmmakers of the Oklahoma! era "spent a lot of time art directing exposure and lighting — every- thing was so meticulous, nothing was left to fi x in post. So you always agonize over preserving their vision because they're not here to represent themselves. You want to maintain what they envisioned the fi lm to be." The bottom line, he says, is to use "color to make an older asset look like it was shot yesterday, while still main- taining the romanticism of the original time period it was shot in. You have to pay close attention to the intent of the original cinematographer, while making it an enjoyable and seamless experience for viewers today." HARBOR PICTURE COMPANY — THE ROSE Colorist Joe Gawler, a partner in New York City's Harbor Picture Company (www.harborpicturecompany.com), has a long-standing relationship with The Criterion Collection. Through his work on these pictures he's met many "amazing fi lmmakers" who have fl own in for ses- sions, and he's about to chalk up another when he partners with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond on The Rose. The Janis Joplin-inspired rock drama, directed by Mark Rydell, was Bette Midler's fi lm debut; it celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. "Criterion scanned the negative at 4K for better resolution and color fi delity. But a negative doesn't have the color timing as seen in the release print, so I will meet with Vilmos to screen the print then we'll go into the color suite to grade together," using Blackmagic Design Da- Vinci Resolve, says Gawler. The 4K scan's dirt and dust pass will rid the fi lm of a majority of the usual culprits and will be applied after the grading is complete. During Gawler's 10-plus years of restoration projects he's seen a continual progress of re-mastering fi lms fi rst to SD, then HD and now to 4K using previous masters as reference. "As digital scanning and grading technology has improved it's been great to reach inside the fi lm and pull out all the information hiding there to make re-releases that are more pristine than before." Instead of just rendering color correc- tion fi les for Criterion, Gawler typically passes on session fi les, too. "Then they can have access to that information as they complete their own restoration," he says. For The Rose, Gawler will encounter gritty scenes of rockers on the road: "lots of tour buses at night, dirty old bars, concerts with all sorts of colorful stage lighting." He plans to do his best to "rein in all those colors so nothing gets clipped or over-modulated. There are areas on the old master where highlights are completely clipped out and a lot of stage lighting is over-modulated and electronic feeling. With fl at log 4K scans we can create a nicer image than what's been previously released. DaVinci Re- solve is such an effi cient color correcting tool; it has everything to get me where I need to go." Recently, Gawler worked on a pair of Douglas Sirk classic 1950s romances, Written on the Wind and All That Heaven Allows for The Criterion Collection. Since no one associated with the production is still around, Edward Lachman, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer for Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, which was set in 1950s Connecticut, lent his ex- pertise to the grading sessions. "Ed is an incredible resource for fi lm history, and he sat with me for a couple of days to help establish the look of the Sirk fi lms," Gawler explains. Gawler believes his restoration work bolsters his career as a contemporary DI feature fi lm colorist. "It's a great way to recalibrate your brain and eye to the fi lm look," he says. "With so many projects shot digitally now, it's important to maintain that aesthetic from the older fi lms." DaVinci Resolve is such an effi cient color correcting tool; IT HAS EVERYTHING TO GET ME WHERE I NEED TO GO." — Gawler www.postmagazine.com FOR MORE RESTORATION, VISIT US AT Harbor Picture's colorist Joe Gawler recently worked on a pair of Douglas Sirk classics, including All That Heaven Allows. FILM RESTORATION