PHONOTONE
TECHNOLOGY BEHIND OUR SCANNING
AND RESTORATION OF MOTION PICTURES
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Our workhorse:
The Blackmagic Cintel G3 sprocketless scanner ready to scan 35mm positive film.
A 1939 film on a 16mm print, scanned with the sprocketless scanner. Sound pickup through an optical sound head. Uncompressed scan restored using AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.
A 1932 film on a 1930s 16mm print, film deteriorated. Scanned with the pin registered scanner due to warping. Sound pickup through an optical sound head. Uncompressed scan restored using AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.
FILM SCANNING
At Phonotone, we have created our own systems for scanning film.
We use two systems: Sprocketless scanners with open scan path, such as the Blackmagic Cintel G3 and pin registered scanners with traditional film gates.
As much as possible, we use sprocketless scanning, so as not to inflict any undue stress on old film. Due to the open film path, the film will only be handled on its sides. However, warped film may need to be scanned using the scanners with pin registration and a film gate with pressure plate.
The current scanning resolution available for all film formats is 4K and 2K. We do not perform scans with lossy compression. Only scans with all acquired image data are reasonably suited for image restoration. Any digital compression, such as MP4 (H.264), ProRes or MPEG2 to decrease the file size can be applied in the rendering process.
FILM RESTORATION
For film restoration, we apply the industry-leading film restoration suite AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.
AlgoSoft VIVA Pro, in expert hands, produces outstanding professional quality results, bringing the film image back to the quality it was when the film was new. See examples of our restorations in the video clips on this page.
A 9.5mm sound film print from 1937, brittle and warped, scanned in the correct aspect ratio of 1.17:1 for 9.5mm sound film. Sound pickup through AEO Light. Uncompressed scan restored using AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.
Motion picture film is made of a plastic film base (early films were made of nitrocellulose, later films of cellulose acetate and recent films of polyester) coated with a gelatin emulsion containing silver grains or color dyes. This composition makes film inherently fragile and prone to damage. However, properly cared for, motion picture film has a surprisingly long shelf life. But over time, as inevitable with all plastics and organic materials, film will degrade and decay, rendering the photographed content useless. Digital film scanning and image restoration preserves our motion pictures and makes them available for viewing on modern devices, including smartphones, and at the same time, allows many more people access to these film treasures.
A completely faded to pink 35mm Eastman color print, most likely from the late 60s to early 70s. Scanned on the sprocketless scanner. Sound pickup through AEO Light. Uncompressed scan restored using AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.
It is a well known fact that most Eastman color prints from the 1950s to the 1980s have faded in the yellow and cyan dye layers, with only the magenta layer retaining color. This means that there are hardly any blue and green colors left, a "pink" cast is all that remains of the once vibrant Eastman color. We offer specialty color restoration services for such prints, even if they are faded to red or pink. After a good amount of research and testing, we developed a digital restoration method that allows us to recover much of the color information still retained in a faded color print. As seen in this clip, the resulting restoration is very good, with greens and blues recovered.
Remark: This is the same print I am holding in my picture featured on the Welcome page. It is only a 2 minute fragment, nevertheless, it is quite entertaining.
SOUND REPRODUCTION AND RESTORATION
A fantastic excerpt from a 35mm print of "The Kid From Spain" from 1932, featuring the Goldwyn Girls, choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Scanned in 4K with the Cintel G3 Scanner, sound pickup through extraction using DaVinci Resolve. Uncompressed scan restored using AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.
Vintage sound tracks also pose unique playback and restoration challenges. Two types of optical sound tracks can be found on vintage film: Variable Area and Variable Density.
Variable Area sound tracks can be reproduced extremely well from a scanned film image using AEO Light (examples can be heard in our clips above). Variable Density tracks, however, may need to be reproduced using a high quality optical sound head. The image scan gray scale linearity is not sufficient for premiere quality sound reproduction of such tracks.
As a side note, Variable Density tracks from the mid 1930s on were often high fidelity.
NARROW GAUGE FILM
Standard 8mm film scanned with the pin registered scanner. Uncompressed scan restored using AlgoSoft VIVA Pro.