Arizona International Film Festival

 

I completed a 10-min scene from the silent era movie "The Trail To Yesterday", that I have been restoring over the past several years.  Filmed in Arivaca, Arizona (1918), will be shown this coming Tuesday April 25th, 8pm at the Screening Room, Tucson as part of the 31st Arizona International Film Festival.

The scene I will be exhibiting is "Act 3 - Revenge of Dakota" and is a 10-minute piece digitally restored and produced from a surviving Dutch distributed version of a 35mm nitrate film print. The restored scene will include the original music score and restored Inter-titles. The piece will be presented as a ‘work-in-progress’ and proof-of-concept for the restoration approaches I am employing towards the future completion of this feature-length studio film from that era.

Hope you can make it out to see the film, or other films at the Arizona International Film Festival
https://www.facebook.com/azfilmfest

Link to the "Revenge of Dakota page at the AIFF
http://filmfestivalarizona.com/film-detail.php?id=1127

9-Minute Restored Scene from Trail To Yesterday to be Screened in Arivaca, Arizona

Working to complete for the Arivaca Film Exhibition, the restoration of a 9-minute scene from the silent era movie "Trail To Yesterday" filmed in Arivaca in 1918. This restored image of Swedish-American actor Anna Q Nilsson, is one of 6,900 restored frames that make-up the scene to be screened in Arivaca - but is just a fraction of the entire feature-length running-time of this film that will require many more months of restoration and assembly.

Screening info here: https://www.facebook.com/arivacafilmfestival

or http://www.arivacafilmfestival.com

Administration

The administrative side of film restoration is an extremely important aspect of a successful project.  Since I have no formal schooling or training in this field, I'm employing my 'project management' skills to break this complex restoration into manageable tasks and to document progress for each phase of the project.

The reels of film were scanned at the archive in a high-definition digital format and arrived on hard-drives containing approximately 2-Terrabytes of data. The digital file format is a movie-industry standard known as DPX.  In a digital DPX container, each frame of the film has its own numbered file, with each frame about 16-18 megabytes in size. 

I decided the best way for me to manage the restoration of a feature-length movie is to break the film down into separate file folders, each containing a scene from the movie.  I developed a spreadsheet where each scene in the movie was given a serial number.  There are 595-scenes in this film and 147-Intertitles.

An example showing a portion of the developed spreadsheet is provided below.  Each row represents a scene in the film and the columns provide for data and information documentation for each phase of the restoration project.

Starting at left, the spreadsheet provides the scene number.  For example, R2-124, means the scene was from Reel 2 and the 124th scene of that reel.  The numbered frames are given next. R2-124 has 58-frames in the scene.  At 16-frame per second, the scene is 3.9-seconds long (column E).  The spreadsheet provides a simple description of the scene - column 'F'.  Column 'G' gives a condition comment based on my review of the frames.  This gives me an idea of what I'm getting into and the software tools required to tackle the degradation issues for that scene.  

The 'progress' status of that scene's restoration, notes from a concluded restoration and the file location of the finished scene are provided in columns H-J.  

A spreadsheet is a versatile tool for project management. It can be expanded and modified as needed to accommodate an evolving project scope.  

At this writing, every scene has now been documented and this example 'screen-shot' from the master spreadsheet, provides a framework for proper organization and documentation of this restoration going forward.

Restoration Challenges For Tinted Film

In some segments of 'The Trail to Yesterday', the nitrate film shows signs that the original tinting of the stock has faded. In the side-by-side images below, the left frame shows an example to the 'as-scanned' nitrate film stock suffering degradation of the tinted emulsion from the elements and time.

I had to decide how I was going to solve this issue.  The software I use for restoration utilizes artificial intelligence algorithms that attempt to tackle this sort of issue, but I haven't yet figured-out how to properly dial-in the settings that drive the algorithm in order to address degradation of the tinting.

So until the software can be optimized, I worked a parallel path and devised a simple manual method solve the problem.  When running the artificial intelligence algorithms to 'clean' the digitized footage, I set the program to process and output the images in black and white.  Separately, I created a color slide in an graphics/imaging design program to use as a template, where the color closely matched the tinting shade of the film.

Then in DaVinci Resolve (video editor), I laid the color side below the black-and-white section of degraded film on the timeline.  I then set the composting properties for the footage in DaVinci Resolve to "overlay" to allow the color slide to act transparent as applied to the film.  

 The result can be seen in the right-side frame provided below.

 

                                                            CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

This is a promising result.  The tinting looks natural and comparable to other scenes in the film that did not show the level of degraded color as shown here.

"Are we doing the right thing with color? Is it worth trying to reproduce it as faithfully as we can? ....As long as we keep in mind that all strategies [to restore/reproduce color] are bound to clash with that we are trying to imitate ancient color dye on a modern object [film/digital] and that object is not nitrate film.  We also know that a color dye looks different every time we apply it to different film stock.  Nitrate [film] stock has not been produced since 1951 and will never be manufactured again." 

 - Quote from SILENT CINEMA, chapter "Ethics of Film Preservation" by Paolo Cherchi Usai. P 57.

 Definitions in brief on two methods of coloring film stock:

Tinting: In the early silent era years 'tinting' was accomplished by either applying a colored varnish on the film stock emulsion, or immersing the film stock in in a solution containing the coloring agent.  Toward the end of the silent era, pre-tinted film stock became available by manufacturers such as Kodak (e.g. Sonochrome Film)

Toning: Toning was achieved through a process where a compound was substituted for the silver of the emulsion.  Methods included replacing silver with an insoluble silver salt capable of fixing organic coloring compounds, or replacing silver salts with a colored metallic compound.   

- Source: Silent Cinema op.cit. P24. 

           Sample plate of tinted film stock from Eastman Sonochrome Positive film tints (c. 1929)

- Source: Silent Cinema op.cit

 

 

Colorization Experiment on Frame

Although not part of the 'official' restoration of 'Trail to Yesterday" (1918), for fun and experimentation I extracted a single frame from the film to test restoration software with artificial intelligence-based colorization capability.  

The results were encouraging, bringing a sense of 'dimensionality' to the image. The next step in such experimentation will be to bring the 'colorized' image into photo-editing software and further color-correct to achieve improved results.

Currently, Vegas Pro 18 video-editing software has AI-based colorization as a special effect setting in which to colorize entire scenes from digitized video.  This has not been tested as of this posting.

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

June Mathis - Scenario Writer for The Trail to Yesterday

Gina Aroneo, Production Assistant at Psychotropic Films, has researched and written the following brief summary on the life and career of June Mathis - the scenario writer for the film being restored and documented in this blog.   

Part of the process of bringing a silent-era film back to life is to better understand and document how the film originated and who the people were in the production that made this film possible.  

Although we could not at this time find historical details of June Mathis's specific assignment regarding her scenario for The Trail to Yesterday; however, through Gina's research, we now better understand how she became involved with Metro Pictures specifically and the film industry in general.

In this post we bring you the contribution of June Mathis, who became of the industry's most influential contributors of the Silent Era.

 June Mathis “the dynamic, mystic, editorial director’’ known as “the million-dollar girl” by Photoplay Magazine was “the most influential screenwriter of her day”¹.  Mathis was born in Leadville, Colorado in 1890 to theatrical parents and was on stage by age eleven.  Around the age of 13, she had good reviews performing in Vaudeville touring circuits and on Broadway.  After touring with the Julian Eltinge company in 1912-1913, Mathis turned to writing when performance dates on tour declined.  She settled in New York and after two years of self-study and submitted a script in a screen writing contest.  She did not win, but she did receive an offer by up-coming movie director Edwin Carewe, to write a scenario for the film, The House of Tears (1915) for Rolfe Productions and distributed by Metro Pictures Corporation. This was her first produced film. These associations led her to join the staff of Metro Pictures after winning the attention of Richard Rowland, Metro’s president.  June soon shaped the course of Metro’s releases and became the head of the scenario department at the 61^st Street Studio², which made her the first female executive in the industry³.  

 It was June Mathis who insisted that Metro make Blasco Ibanez’s WW1 novel, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.   In 1919 Metro secured the screen rights, and Mathis started on the film immediately. She met with Ibanez, selected the director Rex Ingram, and chose a small-time actor at the time Rudolph Valentino.  The film was a major success making both Ingram and Mathis superstars.  The Four Horsemen was the highest grossing film in 1921.  Making nine million dollars during its original showing; it ranks sixth highest grossing film of the silent era.  Mathis and Valentino became good friends until a disagreement over the film The Hooded Falcon (1924).  They did reconcile before his death in 1926.  Mathis moved with Valentino to a new studio, Players-Lasky.  She wrote three films- Blood and Sand (1922), The Young Rajah (1922), and The Spanish Dancer (1923).  Blood and Sand stood as the fourth top grossing film in 1922.  It boosted the careers of Valentino and his co-star Nita Naldi, as while as Mathis⁴.  

Mathis wrote a scenario for the troublesome Ben Hur (1925) production in association with Goldwyn.  However, the difficult production, change of directors and problematic script led studio management to change directors and to hire writer Carey Wilson to draft a new scenario replacing Mathis’s efforts⁵.  

 Mathis married Silvano Balboni, whom she met during the filming of Ben Hur’ on December 20, 1924⁶.  After a year, Mathis left Goldwyn and moved over to First National as an executive and made comedies for Colleen Moore and Corinne Griffin.  Rumors had it that she was also writing for UA or MGM but neither came to be⁷.

Mathis’ remarkable career came to a sudden end in 1927 when at the age of forty she died.  This was totally unexpected.  She was watching a performance of The Squall on Broadway with her mother.  She stood up and cried, “Mother I am dying.”  She suffered a heart attack from a heart ailment she battled all her life.  She was buried next to Valentino in her personal crypt⁸.

            June Mathis’ contributions to the silent film era are commendable.  By the time of her death, she ranked third most important woman in Hollywood. “She was a founding member of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science”⁹.  She worked on over a hundred films¹⁰, including the scenario for The Trail to Yesterday (1918) adapted from Charles Alden Seltzer’s book by the same name.  She incorporated spiritualism in her mystical scripts and enjoyed writing comedies.  June Mathis, however, was best known for her dramatic films¹¹.   

She is a legend of the silent film era.

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 Footnotes:

1.  Kroszarski, Richard.  An Evening’s Entertainment:  The Age of Silent Features
    1915-1928.

2.  Crowther, Barry. The Lion’s Share. Boston: EP Dutton and Company, 1975. (P. 54-55)

3.  Pickford, Hala. IMDB Minibio/June Mathis. 1 October2020.

4.  Ibid.

5.  Eyman, Scott.  "Lion of Hollywood - The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Simon
    and Shuster. 2005 .

6.  IMDB Publicity. June Mathis. 1 October 2020

7.  Pickford op. cit.

8.  Ibid.

9.  Ibid.

10. IMDB filmography. June Mathis. 1 October2020.

11. Pickford op. cit.

 

Side-by-side restoration of challenging footage

Below is a brief video showing a before and after digital restoration of the 7-scond referenced reel and shot. The left is the original nitrate scan at 2K as-received from the eyeFILM Museum archive (Amsterdam). The right side is the completed restoration using VIVAPRO restoration software by Algosoft as the critical first pass, then Davinci Resolve for final artifact cleanup and stabilization.

 

VIVAPRO employs adaptive artificial intelligence to mathematical models and algorithms to analyze imperfections in the film frames as to color, grain, noise, flicker, scratches, stabilization and other properties of film to correct and eliminate such defects, degradation and inclusions.

Vintage nitrate film presents dilemmas for the digital restoration artist

Given the time, digital tools and artistic/restorative abilities, this series of frames from 35mm nitrate could be restored to near perfect condition.  But 'could be' maybe is not the question.  The question  is rather - should certain segments be restored at all?

As we look back over 100-years at media that can never again be the way it would have been the day the film was first developed - wouldn't leaving specific severely degraded frames 'as-is' as part of a larger restored film be an reminder to the viewer of the reality that the media is ephemeral?

These are the questions I am asking myself when restoring this feature-length studio film from the silent era.

Comments welcome.

 

Expectations: Restored Nitrate Film

Today's silent-era film restoration starts with high-definition digital scan of a nitrate print.  In the case of "The Trail to Yesterday" (1918), the only surviving print at the eyeFILM Museum in Amsterdam was scanned at 2K resolution in 10-bit DPX digital format.  

Nitrate based film stock of the silent era was the first transparent plasticized medium with a photosensitive emulsion that first became commercially available by Eastman in 1889 and the was primary film stock for motion picture until 1951 when the movie industry transitioned to cellulose acetate film, or safety film.

My restoration work flow is a 2-pass process. The first pass uses VivaPRO software by Algosoft, that uses mathematically-based artificial intelligence models to precisely measure, analyze and correct levels of grain, noise, flicker, color representation, luminescence, chromatic properties, artifacts and other imperfections in every frame.

The second-pass is a manual process to remove any remaining artifacts or imperfections, using additional software tools.

A side-by-side comparison is presented below.  The film frame on the left is the starting point - the high-definition scan of the original nitrate film stock. The frame on the right is a result of both the first and second-pass processes.  

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The attention or emphasis in the 'cleaned' frame is not only artifact removal, but the resulting texture of the AI-driven process to reduce noise and provide a more lucid image.  

Film restorers must ask the question as to whether to add realistic film grain back into the images after cleaning. For this film, that is still an open question.

The image below is an extreme close-up the actor Anna Q Nilsson.  Here is where the noise removal and other processing from the VivaPRO software is effective in providing a restored look to the image.  

Thus the result of the AI-driven analysis and corrective action, is a both a pleasing and cinematic look for the restored film. 

 

On The Topic of 'Intent' in Restoration

My main objective in the restoration of 'The Trail To Yesterday' is to remove to the extent possible any damage or decay to the film that would tend to distract the viewer from the characters or visual intent of the movie.

 

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Above: (screen-shot): Each rectangle is an area of the film that required repair using various digital restoration tools.  A single frame in this film is 1/16th of a second.