Kino Producer Discusses The General and Silents on Blu-ray

Posted December 20, 2009 06:02 AM by Juan Calonge


Blu-ray review site Doblu has interviewed DVD and Blu-ray producer Bret Wood on the preparation of Buster Keaton's 'The General' for its Blu-ray edition, which was released November 10. In the interview, Wood discusses in depth the specific challenges transferring this movie and other classic films, as well as the digital tools used to that end. Silent and older films for Blu-ray Wood said this endeavor is proving to be “a daunting challenge,” because even the best surviving film elements “have considerably more grain and printed-in wear than one finds in a studio-preserved negative that is, say, twenty years old.” Wood's aim when restoring a film is “to bring the film to a pleasurable viewing experience in which the film element's natural signs of age are not a distraction from the story. That is the fine line I try to tread.” Kino's new policy is that films “should be released on Blu-ray without digital noise reduction, so that what the viewer gets is an accurate representation of what the 35mm film looks like, grain and all.” Wood hopes that a system will be developed that clarifies the image without reducing the sharpness or creating visual artifacts, “but so far we haven't seen it.” In Wood's opinion, “the DVNR technology of the DVD era is not subtle enough for the 1080 requirements of the Blu-ray age. In fact, when I look back at some silent films that were released on DVD, heavily treated with digital noise reduction, I cringe. I now recognize the degree to which the film's natural grain and sharpness have been glossed over for the sake of a smooth image.” Wood is concerned that this might have spoiled the consumer, and that he or she will now will now expect every film to look this way “when the actual film never looked that way to begin with!” Wood asks the question “whether or not Blu-ray users will be satisfied with an HD copy of a film that is not pristine, but looks like an 80-year-old film actually looks.” In his opinion, that question “is still to be answered.” If a film is retouched frame-by-frame, it won't suffer from the same kind of motion artifacts that come from applying a filtering device. Wood informs that his method was used for the “elaborate restorations” of 'Battleship Potemkin' and 'Metropolis', both of which will be released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in 2010. Wood states that, apart from age deterioration and film grain, the biggest issue with older films is “the scarcity of film elements to work from.” There were a lot of films that existed in fair condition but looked fine on DVD, but do not fare so well in HD. As a result, the pool from which to draw releases is much more shallow. “Kino only wants to release a film on Blu-ray if we are convinced that we have the best existing film element,” said Kino's curator. The General 'The General' was remastered specifically for the Blu-ray release. Initially, Kino was going to reuse the transfer used for the DVD release but decided against hat because “a minimal aumont” of grain reduction had been applied to that transfer. “Upon close inspection of the Blu-ray test discs, we found that even that small amount of digital noise reduction had created visual artifacting, a slight blurring and ghosting of the image. We brought the film element back to the lab [Crawford Communications] and re-transferred it specifically for Blu-ray, without DRS or any artificial grain reduction.” Wood clarifies that the element of 'The General' used from the transfer was actually not the highly fragile and flammable nitrate camera negative, but rather a 35mm fine grain master (FGM) that was struck from the original camera negative. “That this is the closest that a person could get to working from the camera neg,” said Wood. Although the FGM was in excellent condition, it wasn't flawless. The most significant work done was “the digital removal of a lot of nitrate damage to the edges of the frame” (in the scene in which Johnny goes to Annabelle's house to woo her). Tints were applied digitally since the camera neg (and the FGM derived from the camera neg) were monochrome. The question of tinting is something Kino “continually wrestles with.” Regarding the choice of Carl Davis's score as the one that got an uncompressd audio track, Wood replied that Davis “is held in higher regard than any other composer for silent film.” And that his score for The General had never been released on DVD, “so when we prepared the DVD/Blu-ray releases of the film, we wanted to give it special attention.” When told that there is some form of haloing or edge enhancement at work in 'The General', Wood candidly replies: “You nailed it. That's the problem with digital finishing. No matter how well you do it, it isn't going to be perfect. Whether a film is 'cleaned' by digital noise reduction or frame-by-frame retouching, it is slightly deviating from the actual content of the existing film. It's difficult to know how much is too much.”
Source: Doblu \| Permalink \|

News comments (12 comments)

Top reviewer

crey014

Dec 20, 2009

OMG!!!! Cannot wait for them to release some Haneke love!

Top reviewer

monkeyjb1988

Dec 20, 2009

I appreciate the work he and his team did. I can't wait to see the General. I heard good things about it. I can't wait for Metropolis.

I watched a (Kino?) restoration of the Chaplin films on DVD. They eliminated scratches, frame jitter, and added a consistent frame-to-frame white balance (reduces flicker). All of the grain, dynamic range, and mid-tones (or lack thereof) were still there, appropriate to a film of that era.

Did it compromise the film or director's intent? No. Did it make watching the film a pleasure? Yes.

Top reviewer

blugojira

Dec 20, 2009

Its great some companies like kino know what we want and know what not to do to blu ray.

Top contributor

TTC1984

Dec 20, 2009

Looks like we'll see Battleship Potemkin and Metropolis on Blu next year - that's great news!

Kaiser

Dec 20, 2009

Having seen both Sunrise and the General, I'm certainly eager to see more silents released on Blu-ray. The difference can be subtle sometimes, but being able to see the little glint in Keaton's eye makes a double-dip quite worthwhile.

Top contributor

TTC1984

Dec 20, 2009

Let's just hope Metropolis doesn't get another delay - it was supposed to come out THIS year initially.

JHas

Dec 20, 2009

Kind of odd, what with their anti-DNR stance given their DVD's were usually ugly as hell and non-anamorphic.

CaptFuture

Dec 20, 2009

I bought The General based on the review here on this site. I was not disappointed. Thank you Kino and Mr. Wood for doing an excellent job. I do indeed hold Carl Davis in high regard and that was a primary reason for my purchase. But seeing the quality and extras on the General make this a "must-buy" purchase IMO. Everything mentioned in this article has worried me about many Blu Catalog titles to be released, not just silents. So take your time on Metropolis. You've earned it with The General.

pickfair

Dec 21, 2009

the blu-ray of The General is excellent!! I hope Kino does "Diary of a Lost Girl" next

Nathan Arizona

Dec 21, 2009

Wood seems to have a good understanding on what fans want in blu ray transfers. I can't wait to see these silent classics given a new life in HD.

On his blog, Bret Wood talked about the challenges of restoring Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice for HD release almost a year ago, but I haven't heard anything since; anybody know anything more?

jjh

Dec 21, 2009

Unfortunately "The General" BD suffers also from a digital look with exaggerated sharpening halos and harsh highlights. And this is very avoidable with current scanning and retouching technology, There is no technical excuse for this. Sunrise, another film from the 20s released on BD does not have this problem.