Quote:
Originally Posted by eyeangle
Question 1:
I keep seeing Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays coming out that say “scanned with the original film negative” which is great because it’s first generation but at what resolution will they stop scanning the original film negative? If they keep scanning the original film negative every time a new format comes to market they’ll eventually damage the negative. Original negatives are very fragile and constant exposure to air or fluids (wetgate scanning) can only further damage them in the long run.
Question 2:
It’s a lot of work to keep digitally restoring a film after every scan. Just look at the documentary about restoring The Wizard Of Oz to 1080p. Will they have to keep digitally restoring it at every resolution standard such as 8K and 16K?
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1. 4K is the standard for scanning a 4-perf 35mm negative, according to what I've gathered from Criterion and WB's MPI. The goal is to restore once. Lawrence of Arabia may have been restored and finished in 4K, but they scanned the negatives in 8K so they'd already have the files on hand in case they wanted to come back and restore in 8K. Imagine that 8K projection becomes the standard in the next 10 years and the 65mm negatives for Lawrence had sustained another 10 years of fading...
Film scanners today are also extremely delicate and many scanners can handle damaged film. The WB MPI policy is also that 35-mm 4-perf negatives have to be scanned in 4k for archival reasons. There is no reason to risk any possible damage to a negative with a 2K scan. Remember that these elements aren't just being scanned for a 50 GB BR disc, they're also being scanned for digital archival use and possibly even the creation of new film element(s) via film recording. According to Universal, following their restoration of the negative of Jaws, they recorded a new 35mm negative from the restoration to put back onto the shelf.
2. Again, the goal is to restore at the highest resolution and output to whatever the resolution of consumption is. Wizard of Oz will never be in 16K because there's not enough information; an 8K scan is already pushing it. If you ever see The Wizard of Oz being advertised as 16K, know that it's an up-convert. The only film size I can imagine that comes anywhere close to 16K would be the 15-perf IMAX film stock, which is gigantic compared to an average 35mm frame.