Technology

The first S-8mm films taken by Yadubara das and Visakha dasi were shot in 1971. Since then, they have preserved their S-8mm and 16mm films as well as films taken by other devotees, TV stations, etc. that were given to them for safekeeping and preservation. In 1998, the entire film library of 45 hours was transferred to Standard Definition (SD) digital video format. High Definition (HD) quality was available but three times the cost and was not affordable. Since 1998 technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. Today there is 2K, 4K, 8K quality and higher. However, a transfer to 4K will capture the maximum quality that a 16mm movie frame provides. The S-8 and 8mm films will be transferred to 2K quality which again will capture the maximum quality that those film frames provide.

The Work

We have researched the best companies and equipment to do the transfer. Fortunately, the films are currently stored in Washington DC where we found a company Colorlab which has the best equipment and talent for our work. ColorLab does specialized work for the US Government, the Military and outside clients.

Since the films and ColorLab are both located in Washington DC, the bulky cans of films would not have to be moved to another company in other parts of the country or overseas for fear of loss or damage. ColorLab is fully equipped to transfer the film through a Scanity—a wet gate transfer machine that is the latest and best in the world. The transfer is stage one.

After stage one is complete, the films can be retired to long-term storage which is already secured through the Bhaktivedanta Archives in North Carolina.

Bhaktivedanta Archives has for decades professionally preserved all the photos and audio archives of Srila Prabhupada. The dedicated staff are in the process of building another separate facility for the films to maintain optimum temperature and humidity necessary for long-term storage.

Then comes stage two—the final stage—where the digital video copy is sent to a film laboratory in India through a high-end transfer service exactly like feature-length movies are sent digitally to movie theaters for projection. There, the video files will be further restored to the highest pristine quality, taking out deep scratches and damage to the film emulsion in each frame of film.

The Apparent High Cost

The high cost of the film restoration can be better understood when every frame (little photo) out of the 47 hours of film will be of pristine quality… all the scratches, dust marks, etc. will be removed. The process starts with the film being transferred through a wet gate where smaller scratches and imperfections are removed.

Then in Stage 2, high-end software is applied to take out the larger imperfections and finally there is frame-by-frame restoration of the more damaged frames. This is the equivalent of hand photoshopping each individual frame. There are over 4,060,000 frames in 47 hours of film. The whole process will take 1 year with teams working shifts.