Classic British Movies Brought Back To Life

itfc has been chosen by Renown Films, the UK production and distribution company which specialises in the revival of British classic movies, to restore and archive a number of its vintage black and white films.
Many of Renown’s prints are stored at the British Film Institute’s state-of-the-art storage nitrate facility, and the BFI have been providing itfc with prints for the likes of The Glass Mountain and Out of the Fog, so they can be restored and upgraded to HD master tape and distributable SD DVD.
Each film consists of up to 12 reels and takes about two days to fully restore. Using Archangel Ph.C-HD, the advanced restoration kit from Snell, itfc’s team reviews the prints for grading before laying the film to HD tape, while simultaneously restoring it. The kit allows itfc to eliminate film scratches, blemishes, unsteadiness and poor joints in real-time. Once the process is complete, logos are added and up-scaled to HD before the final version is down-converted to a distributable SD DVD copy.
itfc’s purchase of the Archangel restoration kit, coupled with its expertise in this area played a pivotal role in Renown’s decision to have the work carried out now.
"I may not have decided to have the films restored at all at this stage if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew itfc had the best kit and team in place to do the job," explained Noel Cronin from Renown Films.
"Plus, I’ve collaborated with them in the past and I know their work is always of the highest quality."
The project wasn’t without its challenges. Some films came to itfc with separate sound files and didn’t have any sync marks on the optical sound tracks, meaning they needed to be synced manually. Also, the age and brittle nature of some of the prints required skilful and expert handling.
The project is expected to continue over the next few years as more prints become available from the BFI or other sources. To date, itfc have restored The Glass Mountain, Out of the Fog, Cloak Without Dagger and The Cuckoo Patrol.
"The collaboration between itfc, Renown Films and the BFI has been fantastic from all sides," said Tim Langley, itfc’s lead telecine colourist.
"Many of the prints stored at the BFI are in great condition. Being able to use our Archangel restoration kit on prints as excellent as these means we’ve been able to deliver the best quality work for Renown. On a more personal level, it’s been a real privilege to work on all these wonderful old films. It’s amazing to see how much film-making has developed over the decades and I’m so pleased to be part of the process of bringing them back to life and back to modern-day audiences."
(LB)