“Forgotten Hollywood”- Criterion Keeps Classic Films Alive!

Posted on February 16, 2014 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…200px-The_Criterion_Collection_Logo_svg

   Thanks to Michelle Merker, my fellow producer of the Forgotten Hollywood documentary, for sending me a link to a Vimeo vid that spotlights the absolutely fascinating work at Criterion Collection. They have restored and re-released classic films for the past thirty years.

   There are few names that represent a commitment to the distribution of classic cinema like the Criterion Collection. Since the 1980s, they have remastered and released hundreds of movies on Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray. It’s noted that classic movies can easily get lost in the shuffle with regards to the restoration process. One particular obstacle these films have is the dated look that fails to compare to high-definition quality of contemporary cinema. Another issue is finding original prints to work on and remaster.

Foreign_Correspondent_trailer_29   For example, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 espionage thriller Foreign Correspondent was a challenging assignment. The first step was tracking down the negative, or a print, that’s in decent condition. In this case, that meant going to the Library of Congress, which obtained the original negative of the film. Criterion scanned frame-by-frame at 2K resolution into digital files. The digitized reels made the rounds to each department. Color was fixed; the dirt was eliminated and scratches were re-touched; the audio was upgraded. Their experts used a combo of automated software that detects and removes image flaws, and then, they manually reworked each frame.

   The Criterion Collection is dedicated to restoring countless screen classics, and provide a look that matches the level of their captivating plots. With each film Criterion remasters, the result is a beautifully packaged ode to movies. This is a company that constantly reinvents itself to adapt to the changing technology, and they have a coherent grasp on this essential task. The entire process can take from a few weeks to a couple of months for a single motion picture, based on the original condition. The obvious goal of these creative warriors is to pass down our celluloid history for generations to come.

   Below is the link below on the story that led to striking results on Foreign Correspondent:

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http://vimeo.com/84135659

   Advocates like Martin Scorsese and Ted Turner would be quite proud of the whole enterprise!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 16th, 2014 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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