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Is it "Restoration", or just "Color Grading"?

There seems to be an increasing Your not actually "restoring" any-
confusion when discussing the terms thing, all the color information is still
"restoration" and "color grading" there, the dull faded and weirdly
when talking about film digitisation. colored/looking original you see is
just how film normally looks to an
Generally, restoration is about re-
"electronic eye" before you grade it!
pairing an image back to what it was
originally, when technical aspects of In the digital film making world, its
it have been lost or no longer exist, common to shoot using a similar
such as color information/grayscale "flat" software picture profile pro-
or physical damage has occurred grammed into the camera, which is
such as, defects like dirt, scratching later graded in editing to give the
or dust. desired "look" depending on the
scene. However you can’t say that’s
During digitisation, grading is gener-
ally when a normal film print (which "restoring" a film, rather its part of
may look fine to the eye or upon the production process.
projection) is passed through a tele- Technically a "restoration" of a film
cine device, using an "electronic" print would be more the word for a
eye, of which (depending on the print that for example was old and in
technology) "see's" the print in a this instance had one of the dyes
different way to our own eyes. faded, resulting in a overly magenta
cast to the image. To restore, you
Usually the master file is created by
scanning the print using a setting would be adding something "back",
that wasn't there to begin with, to
which offers a very wide dynamic
make it back to what it "originally
range, and other features to obtain
as much scope of information from was".
the film itself. To view this original Grading is not restoring, because it’s
file "as is", it looks very colorless, still all it ever was - it’s just tempo-
faded and lacking any vibrancy. Lat- rarily in a different form to allow for
er the file is then graded manually, the greatest scope of manipulation
and often by hand via software. Only for the desired use or look intended.
then does it start to look like it So please, don’t confuse normal
should.
grading, with "restoration" - the two
Unfortunately I am increasingly are really both entirely separate
seeing high profile film archives and things.
other service providers placing "be-
fore and after" videos online demon-
strating how they are able to Author: James Paterson - Australian
"restore" a film print. Television Archive
"This is where the confusion comes www.austvarchive.com
in between what is considered "res-
toration" and what is "grading" when
making a digital transfer."
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