Bhaga Video Productions: Restoration

This is the same frame as shown
above but captured digitally. This is
exactly as it was digitally captured
from the film. You can see the shift in
color to red that has occurred over
the years (compare to the capture
above done 20 years earlier) . There
is also considerable grain and
although the film was been cleaned
the embedded mold cannot be
physically removed from the film.

This is the same image with phase 1
of the restoration complete. The
grain has been removed and the
color corrected to give a more
natural appearance. The shadows
were highlighted to improve the
picture without creating an
unpleasant appearance to the overall
image.

The final phase of restoration using
computer graphics has digitally
removed the mold and scratch marks
that have occurred over the years
and as a result of dozens of
projections. This is a labor intensive
process requiring hours of work for a
few seconds of film.

For digital capture the film
projector has been modified
to enlarge the gate so more
of the filmed image can be
seen. The the image is
projected directly onto the
camera CCD (not onto a
screen).

Notice there has been a slight
loss in sharpness as a result
of the correction process. This
will be gained back later in
the process.

Notice the sharpness of the
image has returned, the mold
and scratches have been
removed and nothing remains
in the image to distract the
viewer from the action taking
place.

This is a frame grab from a 1976
Super 8 film. This is exactly as it was
captured from the the old method of
projection onto a screen and video
taped on a VHS camcorder. This was
captured in the late 1980s.
Comparing it to the digital captures
below you will notice this image is
missing detail and has a smaller
image area (not all of the filmed
image has been captured).

For our example we are using
an image that is less than
perfect because this is more
likely to be an example of the
quality of your video.

It would be very expensive
and a lengthy process to fix
the entire film in this manor
so most people opt for repair
of extreme damage or an
important area of the film.

Using computer graphics
entire objects can be
removed or added to the
video.