CatBus said:
... there was a user named snicker who had an interesting idea about clipping (with actual good results!). Basically because not all channels were boosted equally, not all channels clipped equally. For example, on a lot of clipped colored lights, the red channel is clipped, or possibly the blue channel, but the green channel retains some detail, which could be used in restoring the shot.
An excellent and creative use of a film's own resource. It might have been an original idea snicker had:
http://originaltrilogy.com/FORUM/topic.cfm/New-colormatching-script/topic/15002/
.. but I also saw the technique referenced in some movie restoration documentary (was it The Wizard Of Oz Blu-ray restoration?).
His version wasn't 100% effective because he didn't take the idea far enough -- to realize that the clipped channel (if only one or two of the R-G-B layers) first must be compressed to make room for information re-purposed from a remaining, non-blownout channel.