Page 18 - 2015-09

Gayle Lake answers some queries from David Donaldson about the restoration of Proof.

Hi David,
A negative can scan as slightly green in colour, not always, sometimes it is just faded.
The original materials may not have been stored in the most appropriate circumstances
prior to being deposited with the NFSA. High temperature and humidity will speed up any
chemical decomposition which usual results in some kind of colour fade. There are a
myriad of reasons of why the negative has scratches or is faded: stock type and variation
is one, of course. All films are stored in a preservation wind which is looser than a
transport wind in order to give the film space to breathe. Basically and rather simply put,
film is a base with a layers of chemicals as you know and all chemicals react at some
level.

Proof originals were in reasonable shape. The oxide on the magnetic sound was
reasonably stable. In
some cases we have to
bake magnetic film for a
number of weeks so the
oxide will adhere to the
base

There were minor re-
pairs that had to be
completed but nothing
too dramatic. Our ex-
perts are very good at
their jobs.

The 4K preservation
scan is simply a digital
version of the
negative. The restora-
tion - cleaning and
grading occurs after the
file is converted to a 2K
file. But it is important to
have a digital represen-
tation of this original
photochemical compo-
nent without any en-
hancement
whatsoever.

Cheers,

Gayle

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