Broadcast TECH Original Restored
Original
Restored
Battle Of The Ancre: restored footage revealed previously unseen details
BATTLE OF THE ANCRE DISCOVERY NETWORKS
Type of restoration Physical repair, grading and digital remastering for storage, editing and projection Duration Five months Facility Prime Focus Technologies Interviewee Martin Rogers, archive and restoration specialist System/software used Spirit 2K datacine, MTI Correct and Digital Vision Phoenix for restoration; Baselight for grading; Smoke.
Tell us about the project Martin Rogers Film for Battle Of The Ancre was shot in France in 1916 and contains the first images of tanks in battle, together with much unique World War I footage. We had to restore the film to a good standard and make the quality of the image suitable to a 21st century audience without losing the historical feel of the content.
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What was your main role in the process? MR To formulate the workflow and produc- tion manage the project. My role was super- visory and advisory, working closely with our restoration specialists and the client.
What were the key challenges? MR Much of the original footage had ‘printed in’ faults that required many hours of frame- by-frame repair.
What was the workflow? MR We carried out extensive physical examina- tion and cleaning of the film. It was scanned on a Spirit 2K datacine and the 2k log DPX files were ingested into Baselight for a preliminary grade. The material was exported to Phoenix for automated restoration and ingested into MTI for semi-automated dirt and scratch removal, manual picture fixes and blemish removal. Meanwhile, a missing inter-title was recre-
ated in our Smoke suite. It was then exported from MTI to Baselight for a final grade, and then out to a range of DPX sequence files for storage, digital projection, and for the two-
‘It is easy to go too far with some of the digital tools and create an
artificial look’ Martin Rogers
hour Discovery documentary with Dan Snow, Battle Of The Ancre. The viewing of the com- pleted film in its entirety at its approximate ‘true’ running speed of 18fps gave it a gravitas that was missing when the action was speeded up. Some clever grading has ‘pulled’ detail from the images that has not been seen in any of the unrestored material of this film held by the Imperial War Museum and other archives.
What are the key skills involved in restoration? MR An important skill is having the ability to interpret the client’s requirements with respect to the level of restoration, particularly on historical material. It is easy to go too far with some of the digital tools and create an ‘artificial’ look.
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