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Dark Knight - 35mm preservation project opportunity (a WIP)

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 (Edited)

An opportunity has arisen to scan and preserve The Dark Knight (2008) by Christopher Nolan. It’s a 7 reel scope print.

The total cost of the project - if funding succeeds - will be between $800 and $950, depending on circumstances that are hard to predict at this time.

For now I will only be collecting pledges to see if enough money can be raised. Only if and when enough pledges are made, the money will be collected and the project will commence.

The final preservation will/would be shared with donators.

Current pledge status: $770 / $800-$950
Current pledge status: $1160 / $1085-$1160
Current pledge status: $1110 / $1110

Pledges (Thanks!):
$500 - Gryfun - DONATION RECEIVED
$10 - FilmD00d - DONATION RECEIVED
$50 - Soupdrinker0 - DONATION RECEIVED
$30 - freedomland - DONATION RECEIVED
$30 - FunkySi - DONATION RECEIVED
$30 - 3Maters - DONATION RECEIVED
$10 - Avatar_Emil_Borg - DONATION RECEIVED
$10 - tomi - DONATION RECEIVED
$20 - kchrules - DONATION RECEIVED
$35 - Aluminium Falcon - DONATION RECEIVED
$35 - SpacemanDoug - DONATION RECEIVED
$20 - trillary dump - DONATION RECEIVED
$20 - sebkarlbjork - DONATION RECEIVED
$30 - Aphroticus - DONATION RECEIVED
-$30 - myself - DONATION SENT
$100 - TheEvilMayor - DONATION RECEIVED
$50 - shiftyeyes - DONATION RECEIVED
$20 - alleycat - DONATION RECEIVED
$15 - SpookyDollhouse - DONATION RECEIVED
$20 - Anonymous
$15 - craigbillet - DONATION RECEIVED
25 EUR - CMMAP - DONATION RECEIVED
AU$10 - Bobson Dugnutt - DONATION RECEIVED
$10 - desertfox - DONATION RECEIVED
$30 - salle
$15 - exile91

Update 15.05.2020:
I’m sorry, I made a mistake when calculating the costs. The scanning will cost more than I thought after all. However, when the funding was at $710 and the estimated cost was at a maximum of 950, I said I would pay the difference. Hence, I added a $240 pledge by myself, which means we only have about $150 more to raise and then the project can finally commence!

Edit: Since we’re really close now, I will start collecting the donations very soon to also see if everyone is still on board. Should we absolutely fail to raise those extra $150 in the end, I will somehow make it work, I promise it. However it would put quite a strain on me, so I hope we can manage to do it.

Second update, also 15.05.2020:
Well that was quick. Barely 2 hours have passed and we are now fully funded and the project is a go! Assuming all pledges come through of course. Any further donations at this point will otherwise just reduce my own pledge of currently $240.

A major Thank You to everyone who has pledged, no matter the amount! But specifically I also want to express a giant Thank You to Gryfun without whom this would not have been possible, or not have been possible anywhere as fast as it now is commencing.

Update 28.05.2020:
Final cost is now known, it’s gonna be $1110 in total. The counter has thusly been updated.

Update 29.07.2020:
Scanning is on its way. As it often happens, we had some technical difficulties, most of which have been solved. But there’s still one imperfection in the scanning process we’re working on. It’s not catastrophic, but worth eliminating if it can be done.
I’ve also received a few further donations, thanks a lot! With those we are now “overfunded”, meaning the original goal is exceeded, effectively putting my own contribution to -$15. I had however spendings related to this project that I didn’t include in the funding total, in particular a color target for color calibrating the scan which cost me around 80 EUR with shipping included, so any further donations will just go towards that.
If anything more should come in beyond that, we could get a hard drive for shipping the data. These are all non-essentiall things, hence not included in the total cost. The project’s success does not critically depend on them, but they make things a little smoother.

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3Maters said:

I am in!

Cool! How much would you give? Just so I can keep track of the total number and add the pledges to the main post.

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If this goes through, I’ll pledge $10. Not much but times aren’t great for most, I imagine!

Collector of digitally preserved 35mm feature film prints

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Amazing. Yes definitely $30 in… but happy to consider more if we’re struggling.

Thanks.

Film is not Dead

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TomArrow said:

3Maters said:

I am in!

Cool! How much would you give? Just so I can keep track of the total number and add the pledges to the main post.

Let’s say 30 for now! Most likely more but I do not want to overcommit with the current situation. Thank you!!

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@FunkySi
@3Maters

Awesome, thanks guys! Will note in OP.

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After seeing lots of discussion and complaints over the years about the Blu-Ray release of this film, I really hope this gets funded.

Also I’m just a sucker for Nolan, if you said you were doing a preservation for Dunkirk I’d probably pitch in.

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Didnt an imax preservation get released in the last few years? how would this one compare to that?

Fate is best Anime/Visual Novel.

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 (Edited)

Moiisty said:

Didnt an imax preservation get released in the last few years? how would this one compare to that?

Different thing. The IMAX preservation reintegrated some IMAX scenes into the movie in the normal aspect ratio instead of cropped in the top and bottom like in the official release. Those were sourced from Blu Ray extras and a fullscreen DVD.

This here would be a scan of a 35mm print as it was seen in cinemas back then, so you would get all the theatrical colors, grain etc.

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I’ll pledge $20

Hello, although I have uploaded many things in the past, my Mega account was taken down recently. If you are looking for something I’ve previously said I uploaded, I may not have it anymore or know where it is. I’m sorry

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Just a quick bump to see if more people would be interested in this. I’d love to see it happen!

Collector of digitally preserved 35mm feature film prints

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Raise my donation to $450, it could go higher (probably not much though) as I’ll continue to set aside money for scanning donations. This would put you at 89% of your goal of 800

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That’s amazing, Gryfun! I’ve already said it, but thank you very much! I’ll pay for the final difference myself. Will start asking people to send their pledges once I figure out the payment details.

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Gryfun said:

Raise my donation to $450, it could go higher (probably not much though) as I’ll continue to set aside money for scanning donations. This would put you at 89% of your goal of 800

That’s absolutely amazing! I’m so happy to see this project come together. Exciting times!

TomArrow, is there any other kind of help you might need once the film is scanned?

Collector of digitally preserved 35mm feature film prints

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That $450 is insanely generous! Mark me down for $20. The Dark Knight is one of my favorite movies and this looks like a great project!

The user formerly known as “Trillary Dump” (it was the 2016 election…)