editing an old 8mm film and restoring some color to old film

jamcas wrote on 1/29/2004, 2:58 PM

Hi,

Thanks to a friend on this forum I now have some old family 8mm film in DV format for a DVD project. (yes a wedding from the 1970s)

The overall quality of the film is ok sometimes its a little dark and sometimes its lacking some color.

an example of the color situation im trying to correct/improve is a shot of the bridesmaids who wore a pink/lilac dress and in some parts of the flim its almost faded to white. increasing saturation brings up some of that color but it also slightly overdoes the skin tones. (Ive also tried color curves and only working with the red chanel)

the questions i have is ..

1. in color corrector I increase the saturation to say 1.1 and it brings up some color, is this the best way to go about it ? I dont understand the color wheels any tutorials around I should look at ?

some other generic questions I have are

2. what is the best way to make whites white and blacks black

3. What filters should I be looking at in general when working with old film like this ?

Im messing around with color curves, levels, median filter, sharpen, black restore (which doesnt seem to do anything) and im trying to figure out how to use the color wheels in color corrector.

4. is using the HSL level filter and increasing the gamma the same as the gamma option in the color corrector?

Thanks for your responses.

Jamcas

yes its a wedding from the 1970s and the situation i have is that

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 1/29/2004, 3:13 PM

Check out my little corner of the web:

http://www.wideopenwest.com/%7Ewvg/tutorial-menu.htm

I'd start with Color Corrector.

Set black and white points first, from within this filter. Try several points. If the movie is faded differently across the length your best result will be from first going through the entire movie and breaking in similar events that have the same degree of fading. Then one by one work each event dropping the Color Corrector on the EVENT, not the timeline or preview window.

Check out Tutorials 8 through 13. Probably 13 first.

jamcas wrote on 1/29/2004, 3:18 PM

Thanks billy boy, Im checking it out now.

RalphM wrote on 1/30/2004, 7:35 AM

Adding very little to the discussion but:

It's very difficult to determine any color correction setting that would apply to a roll of movie film, especially if dealing with a spliced reel that may have segments shot under entirely different lighting conditions, and with different types of film.

A common "problem" with Kodachrome film is that it came in "indoor" and "outdoor" versions. Some cameras had filters to allow use in either condition, but often the photographers forgot to use the filter.

Also, some photogs got carried away with the 600 watt light bars and basically washed out some of the details on the light colored sections.

Improper processing also results in faded film, and it may not fade evenly. Since red is the most persistent dye, the films usually take on a pink tone when the blues and greens have gone. Lacking significant blues and greens, color correction becomes very difficult.

From a less than artistic view, some faded film look better if converted to black and white. If mold has damaged the emulsion, the resulting color spots are also less distracting in B&W. Most of my customers accept the fact that it is old film. Most are not willing pay to have me sit and do color correction either.

I know yours is a labor of love. Let us know how it turns out please.