GELATO VFX COLOUR RESTORATION
when you’re dealing with this other kind of footage,” he states. “We’ve got missing frames. We have to take out dust and scratches; things like that. Any kind of flickering or changes in luma values, we’ve also got to mitigate. “Effectively, we approach it like a modern rush,” Strickland continues. “We want to hand it over to a colourist so they can then treat it how they would treat any other shot. We want to give them everything in that plate that they can possibly use to get the most out of it.” RESTORE, RELEASE, REPEAT It’s no secret that Hollywood often opts for repetition, cashing in on existing IP to create ‘guaranteed hits’, Strickland describes. Remasters and rereleases are one way to do this, with The Lord of the Rings and Jaws restorations (the latter celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) being recent examples. But audiences can often be nitpicky when it comes to remasters, with some arguing that these processes separate a film from its era. Gelato’s dedication to historical accuracy avoids this complaint, maintaining the look and feel of each film’s vintage.
While the bulk of Strickland’s work is in factual documentaries, “we’ve actually had a massive array of different projects,” he shares. “We’ve done a lot for biopics, and a lot of war stuff because it sells. Perhaps at this point in time, it’s important to tell those stories again,” he suggests, “to remind everyone what happened and how to avoid things like that in the future.” Gelato’s latest projects include a true crime series ( Scary Tales of New York ) and a couple of D-Day retellings ( Liberation: D-Day to Berlin , for example). The VFX studio is also working on an upcoming biopic, colourising archival footage of the film’s subject, which will supposedly be placed in the end credits. Strickland has spent nearly 20 years in the industry, and demand for colourised archival content has yet to dwindle. In fact, it’s artistic expertise, combined with niche historical knowledge, that likely keeps Gelato VFX afloat. “There’s still a great interest,” Strickland says of the craft – and it’s his team’s goal to ‘make the footage look properly stunning’. To learn more about Gelato’s services and recent work, visit gelato-vfx.com
DEDICATION TO historical accuracy MAINTAINS THE FEEL OF EACH FILM'S vintage ”
FIGHTING FOR PHOTOREALISM Colourisation tasks can be challenging; Gelato tries to match the material’s original era closely
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