Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/4585
Preser ving and restoring classic motion pictures has long been essential to maintaining film archives for scholars and film enthusiasts and sharing the best of the entertainment industry with fans worldwide. Today digital film restoration has become wide- spread as post-war features and baby boomer fa- vorites become valuable content for HD broadcast and DVD and Blu-ray delivery, especially as landmark anniversaries near. N O RT H B Y N O RT H W E S T Having done the video mastering 10 years ago of the film Leonard Maltin called "quintessential Hitch- cock," Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) was well prepared when it came time to restore North By Northwest for 50th anniversary editions on Blu-ray and DVD, released by Warner Home Video this month. "We got a taste of the condition of the film ele- ments a decade ago," says senior colorist Jan Yarbrough. "DI equipment and peripherals have just exploded since then, so all the tools were now avail- able for the 50th anniversary restoration." During the previous video mastering,Yarbrough saw the beginning of the deterioration of the 8-perf (hori- zontal) VistaVision negative's top yellow/blue dye layer that has the greatest exposure to the air and the ele- ments. But during the recent restoration "less than 20 percent of the image in this layer was left on some reels," he repor ts. Highlight and lowlight detail had all but disappeared. The condition not only resulted in general image deterioration but also in uneven deteri- oration, or mottling, in the yellow/blue layer along with bacterial mold or fungi creeping in from the side edges. "There were still some density color layers but they had much Warner's MPI scanned the FilmLight's native 8K Northlight pled to 6K; the Northlight gave scan required for a VistaVision negative has twice the exposed 35mm Academy negative, making ing twice the amount of finite plains. "It was essential that we turing that resolution for the digital archive that reflected the MPI also referenced every for the restoration. Non-final ered during the search, which matte paintings in various stages Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) appears he has killed a diplomat, shot had him running across grass shows a sidewalk. One of the revelations discovered scan was detail never before seen dard definition transfers. In the chase scene where the plane tanker truck on the road, audiences been so engrossed in the story tice the segue from the live-action model plane crash. But such scenes Blu-ray viewers,Yarbrough says. resolution, monofiliment was glinting for the crash and explosion. We Hitch would have done if he could, ing the rigging so that it is less