• CURRENT PROGRESS •
Stabilization - 48%
De-flicker - 0%
Dirt and scratch removal - 0%
Color correction - 0%
Final checkup and polish - 0%
Hello!
After posting about this project on Twitter, I was directed here for a possible release hub, and I’m realizing now that it’d be a good place to centralize all updates and info on the restoration.
Basically, a friend and I got our hands on a 35mm print of Runaway Brain, after my frustration at not being able to find the short in anything other than DVD quality. There’s the Movies Anywhere release, but it is quite literally the DVD master with less MPEG2 compression.
My friend got the reel scanned last week, and the restoration efforts (which fall solely on me) have started.
Here are some captures from the raw scan:
Right now, I’m doing a 4 step process:
- Stabilize
- Remove dirt, dust and scratches
- De-flicker, using the lightest touch possible
- Color correct
This is very new territory for me, but I have a background in editing and light VFX, as well as having graded some Super 8 film that I shot and got scanned. If there’s any general guidance/tips or beginner traps to avoid, let me know!
I will post more tidbits as I advance through this project (such as the challenge of color correction and how this print seems to be a different “version” of the short than the one eventually released on home video), but for now, I hope this topic spreads the word more, as well as hopefully keeping me motivated to see this through.
Thanks for reading! Let’s get this beautiful short the release it deserves!
(PS, I was also advised to release this on myspleen, but I have no account nor an invite to it. Would it be worth seeking out? What exactly are the benefits of releasing thru a private tracker, I guess other than avoiding too much public attention?)