MTI Film recently completed a 4K restoration of Time Piece, a 1965 short film written, directed and starring the late Jim Henson. The story of a man’s desperate attempt to escape the passage of time, the short received an Academy Award nomination and is a testament to Henson’s underappreciated work as an experimental filmmaker.
Restoring the film presented formidable technical hurdles. The original film negative had been lost. Searches conducted by The Jim Henson Company turned up several 35mm inter-positive and inter-negative prints, the best of which was an IP made in Germany during the 1960s. MTI Film technicians scanned that print in 16-bit 4K HDR using a Lasergraphics Director high-speed scanner, and used it as the basis for restoring the film’s live action scenes. The film’s colorful graphics elements were restored from scans made from inter-negatives.
All the original elements were compromised by the passage of time. “The problem with the print was that it had faded a lot,” recalls MTI Film Director of Restoration Wojtek Janio. “When you look at the raw scan, it’s completely red. But, thanks to the magic of modern grading technologies, we can draw a lot of information out of the picture that you can’t see and bring back the original color.”
MTI Film processed the film through two stages of color grading. An initial pre-grading stage was used to reestablish basic color balance, while a final color pass was used to hone the look and touch up details. Between the two grading passes, the film went through rigorous restoration processing. Technicians used MTI Film’s digital restoration software DRS™NOVA to remove dust and scratches, stabilize and fix warped frames, and eliminate flicker.
“The source elements were badly damaged in terms of dust particles and scratches,” notes Janio. “The flicker tool and other new features of DRS™NOVA proved very effective, allowing us to deal with problems quickly and effectively. The results are excellent. The film looks amazing.”
About MTI Film LLC
MTI Film is a leading provider of software and services to the entertainment industry. Its software division delivers ground-breaking tools for dailies processing, digital film restoration and other critical process. They include the CORTEX family of products, which offer comprehensive solutions for dailies processing, media management, deliverables and more, and DRS™ NOVA, the industry standard for digital film restoration.
In Hollywood, MTI Film operates a full-service post-production facility, providing dailies, editorial, visual effects, color correction and assembly for film, television and commercials.
For more information visit www.mtifilm.com.
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AICP’s Demographic Reporting Initiative Expands Categories To Reflect Client and Agency Requests
AICP has announced that an updated template for its Demographic Reporting Initiative is now available. Originally launched in October of 2021, the Demographic Reporting Initiative allows production companies to provide their advertiser and agency clients with insight into the demographic makeup of the people on the crews of their commercials and brand content. As with version 1.0, the 2.0 iteration was prepared in cooperation with a consortium of industry payroll companies. This updated version of the Demographic Reporting initiative has greatly expanded the listing of gender identity categories, and added the ability for production staff to include their veteran status in the U.S. Armed Forces. These reports will provide AICP member production companies with anonymous and voluntarily provided breakdowns on these demographic categories, which can in turn be shared with agencies and advertisers upon request. More information on the Demographic Reporting Initiative can be found on the AICP website here. The updated Demographic Reporting Initiative framework was revised as a result of a continued push from marketers for this information, noted Sheila R. Brown, AICP’s Vice President, Equity & Inclusion. “The demand for demographic information from marketers directly and their advertising agencies continues to grow,” Brown notes. “As our communities become more diverse, the yearning to know the make-up of the production crews increases. And in our continuing goal to be more inclusive, we also wanted to offer our production crews more options to self-identify. The addition of more gender identity options, and the option to indicate whether an individual is a veteran or... Read More