Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

L’auteur retrace les différentes étapes
de la restauration numérique de
Nanjin Zanbaken (L’Épée qui tuait les
hommes et les chevaux, 1929) de
Daisuke Ito.
Considéré perdu, le film fut
ultimement retrouvé en 2002 dans
une copie 9.5mm de 26 minutes (20%
du métrage d’origine) à 18 i.s.
D’abord gonflé en 35mm dans un
petit laboratoire de Tokyo, cette
première restauration comportait
tous les problèmes classiques :
rétrécissement de la pellicule,
instabilité de l’image, foyer
approximatif, etc.
Dans l’intervalle, une autre
restauration avait été faite à partir
d’une copie Edison 22mm. restaurée
par le George Eastman House chez
Haghefilm d’Amsterdam et projetée à
Pordenone. Suite à cette projection, il
fut décidé de confier l’original 9.5 à
Haghefilm qui entreprit
immédiatement une restauration
numérique dans laquelle la stabilité
de l’image fut grandement améliorée
et le scintillement réduit de façon
appréciable. C’est cette nouvelle copie
qui fut projetée à guichets fermés au
public de Tokyo durant « Cinema Lost
and Found 2003 ».
Cette expérience très réussie fut
déterminante dans la décision de la
Shochiku d’entreprendre, avec
Haghefilm (en collaboration avec un
laboratoire de Tokyo), la restauration
de Wasei Kenka Todomachi (1929) de
Ozu, dont la seule copie existante est
aussi en 9.5mm.
Suite à ces deux expériences positives,
la Kadokawa Pictures a décidé de
procéder à la restauration de Shin
Keike Monogatari (La Légende du clan
Taira, 1955) de Mizoguchi. Un projet
qui pose d’autres problèmes : le film
est en couleurs!
L’auteur conclut par des
considérations d’ordre plus général
sur la restauration numérique et par
un souhait : qu’à l’avenir les
archivistes du film aient des rapports
plus étroits avec les laboratoires et
des connaissances techniques qui leur
permettent une implication plus
grande dans les projets de
restauration.
made to remodel an Oxberry 16mm-to-35mm blow-up printer so it
could be adapted for 9.5mm prints.
Unfortunately, however, neither method produced satisfactory results.
As is often the case with the 9.5mm format, which has perforations in
the center instead of on both sides of the frame, our print was
extremely warped, especially at the beginning and the end of each reel.
Even though one puts registration pins at the top and bottom of a
frame to fix the vertical line, the horizontal warp still remains, resulting
in out-of-focus images.
Another problem was the instability of the images. As the 9.5mm
format was designed to be projected in a relatively small size onto the
wall of a household, its perforation was not very precise to begin with.
Therefore, once the source material was converted to 35mm film, and
projected onto a large screen, the instability of the images was
emphasized. In addition to the fact that the perforations were torn and
enlarged by wear, the distances between them varied depending on
the degree of shrinkage in different parts of the print. For all these
reasons, it seemed unrealistic to try to stabilize the images based on
perforations. Rather, it seemed better to rely on the images themselves.
It was clear that the photochemical process of copying the information
of 9.5mm film couldn’t solve this problem. “Digital restoration would be
the only way, but it is far too costly at this point, and we will have to
wait a few more decades,” I thought at the time.
The restoration of Zanjin Zanbaken was momentarily stalled when I
had a chance to see the successfully restored 22mm version at the
Pordenone Silent Film Festival. The 22mm format was produced and
marketed for home use by Edison for a short period of time. George
Eastman House did the restoration by commissioning Haghefilm. After
the screening I immediately spoke to the representatives of Haghefilm
outside the cinema, to learn that they were also capable of restoring
9.5mm film. Just by chance, I had to take a KLM flight for Tokyo the
following Monday after the festival, so I decided to take advantage of
the 6-hour transfer layover at Amsterdam airport, and visit Haghefilm.
I was deeply impressed to learn that the interface connecting film
materials and digital technology, which I had been vaguely imagining
in Japan, had already been put into practical use there. Haghefilm was
equipped to directly scan old materials (negative and positive), and also
had special gates for 9.5mm, 22mm, and 28mm, in addition to those for
35mm and 16mm films. In order to make it possible to scan materials
that are heavily shrunken, brittle, and warped, they are immersed in a
certain solvent for a few days to soften them. Then the film is set
between glass plates and scanned through a wet gate, to make them
flat and to make it possible to read the maximum information.
At that time we were not fully convinced if the maximum resolution
that was in practical use within the archival world, i.e., 2K, was good
enough to capture all the information on authentic 35mm film stock,
but there was no doubt that it was more than enough for the 9.5mm
format. For all these processes, the overall cost of digital restoration
quoted was quite low compared to Japanese standards. Upon my
return to Japan the first restoration project for the National Film Center
46 Journal of Film Preservation / 69 / 2005