Is it "Restoration", or just "Color Grading"?
James Paterson
Australian Television Archive, Broadcast Film & Video Digitisation Services
There seems to be an increasing confusion when discussing the terms "restoration" and " color grading" when talking about film digitisation.
Generally, restoration is about repairing an image back to what it was originally, when technical aspects of it have been lost or no longer exist, such as color information/grayscale or physical damage has occured such as, defects like dirt, scratching or dust.
During digitisation, grading is generally when a normal film print (which may look fine to the eye or upon projection) is passed through a telecine device, using an "electronic" eye, of which (depending on the technology) "see's" the print in a different way to our own eyes. Usually the master file is created by scanning the print using a setting which offers a very wide dynamic range, and other features to obtain as much scope of information from the film itself. To view this original file "as is", it looks very colorless, faded and lacking any vibrance.. Later the file is then graded manually, and often by hand via software. Only then does it start to look like it should.
Unfortunately i am increasingly seeing high profile film archives and other service providers placing "before and after" videos online demonstrating how they are able to "restore" a film print.
"This is where the confusion comes in between what is considered "restoration" and what is "grading" when making a digital transfer."
Your not actually "restoring" anything, all the color information is still there, the dull faded and weirdly colored/looking original you see is just how film normally looks to an "electronic eye" before you grade it!
In the digital film making world, its common to shoot using a similair "flat" software picture profile programmed into the camera, which is later graded in editing to give the desired "look" depending on the scene. However you cant say thats "restoring" a film, rather its part of the production process.
Technically a "restoration" of a film print would be more the word for a print that for example was old and in this instance had one of the dyes faded, resulting in a overly magenta cast to the image. To restore, you would be adding something "back", that wasn't there to begin with, to make it back to what it "originally was".
Grading is not restoring, because its still all it ever was - its just temporarily in a different form to allow for the greatest scope of manipulation for the desired use or look intended.
So please, dont confuse normal grading, with "restoration" - the two are really both entirely seperate things.
Author: James Paterson - Australian Television Archive
www.austvarchive.com
Illustrator
8 年As far as proper terminologies go, a (film) restoration is a wide area that involves many processes such as, manually repairing the film, research, digitisation, and yes, colour grading. You are right that these words should not be confused or interchanged but they are not entirely separate things because a film restoration will more likely include grading even at its basic form due to the analog film's inevitable deterioration. A colour grading, however, is not a colour restoration--a term that is unfortunately being losely used today just because of uninformed marketing for "restored films". Also to restore (film) doesn't mean to add something back and bring it into its original form. What is an original film anyway? One is simply repairing what was destroyed due to chemical or mechanical process may it be the physical film or the faded dyes using numerous processes so that the final product of the entire restoration project would be acceptable to the intended audience. If film archivists or conservationists will join the argument, they would probably even prefer the word (colour) reconstruction than restoration. That's a whole different discussion but let's stop here.
Redactor Home Video en talky.it
8 年May be, but a good scanner technician, who is familiar with the whole machine (like the arriscan) and all his features must do a virtual color correction before scanning. Has to sign with extreme accuracy each scene change, each variation in the emulsion so to notice how to set the scanner in each sequence. Only after all he can send the dpxs to the color correction or color grading !
Producer at IridiumFilm
8 年Great article James. Sometimes we hear these conclusions as grading is the same as retoration. Now I have something to show them to confirm my thoughts.
Social media writer
9 年Very interesting, I thought restoration and colour grading only took place in the days of cinema film, such as Eastman Kodak, Fuji and so forth; where you could choose film depending on grain and contrast. I'm enlightened to find out this process takes place afterwards in Digital.
Yes, I see that a lot. I think in many peoples' brains, the idea of 'restore' is equated with 'make it look better'. Probably because many restorations do go on to include new colour timing as well. As you say, it's best to keep the terms accurate to avoid misunderstandings...