VISTAVISION TECH
SUPPORTING THE FORMAT
B ugonia was processed and scanned at Cinelab, who handled the original VistaVision negatives. “From the laboratory perspective, VistaVision fits very comfortably into an existing 35mm workflow,” says Thom Trigger, marketing manager at Cinelab. “The negative is processed using the same motion-picture film chemistry and lab systems as standard 35mm. Our role is then to scan that larger image area at a high resolution so that all of the detail captured on the negative is preserved as the material moves into editorial and colour finishing.”
In practical terms, the photochemical stage is identical to standard 35mm. “The negative is processed in exactly the same way as standard 35mm colour negative film,” explains Trigger. “That familiarity makes the format relatively straightforward to adopt.” While, as Trigger says, ‘processing remains identical to 35mm’, the main difference arises in scanning. “Because VistaVision exposes eight perforations per frame rather than four, the scanned image area is effectively doubled,” says Trigger. “This results in larger image files and slightly different handling in the
scanning stage. The scanned image needs to be rotated by 90° because the film runs horizontally through the camera.” Beyond that, it seamlessly integrates into established scanning workflows. “Once scanned, material moves through editorial, VFX and colour pipelines in much the same way as any other film-originated project,” he adds. Overall, VistaVision manages to offer a large format aesthetic without radically changing the workflow. “The files are bigger, of course, but once scanned it moves just like any other project.”
begins. Barker began questioning why the format got left behind. “I thought we should be prioritising Paramount’s premier format. I was initially told it’s too expensive to work on – which is true – but I was also told the movies weren’t really any good. Well, that is not at all true of course. “As soon as I took over the restoration team, I made it my priority to focus on the VistaVision films,” Barker states. At
the time, only three of them had been restored. Across the last seven years, the team have worked to restore 42, and there are around 20 more to go. Films currently being restored include Strategic Air Command (1955), War and Peace (1956) and a new HDR transfer of Funny Face (1957). The restoration process involves looking for what elements of the film exist and hoping to find the original
negative. Barker explains what happens after it is found. “Firstly, we inspect it to make sure there are no tears or damage. We also look for sections that have been replaced. Sometimes, if there was damage, they would cut out the negative and replace it with a dupe section, so we will look for and identify those. After that, we can try to find a more original piece than whatever dupe was cut in. Then we will scan it at 6K resolution.”
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DEFINITIONMAGS
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