"Ichikawa Raizo Film Festival: A Momentary Sparkle" Restoration by Yoko Arai x Grading by Yoshiaki Abe - How was a film from over 50 years ago brought back to life? [CINEMORE ACADEMY Vol.36]

Making the most of the information contained in film

Q: One of the attractions of New Genji is the vivid colors of its costumes and art. Was it difficult to adjust the saturation?

Abe: Actually, the negatives had deteriorated and started to fade a little, but if you get the contrast and black and white balance right, the color tone really comes out. There was still a lot of information left in the film, so I made use of that to continue with the work.

Q: Are you not planning on adding any new colors?

Abe: I don't usually do that. Each colorist* has their own way of doing things, so the way they do things varies from person to person, and there is no right answer, but personally, I like to make use of the information contained in the film and recreate it.

*Staff member who adjusts the color of the footage

"New Tale of Genji" ©KADOKAWA 1961

Q: Will the digital data created this time replace film as an archive that will be preserved for the future?

Arai: In this project, we delivered both the scanned data from the negatives and the restored and graded data in an uncompressed sequential format. I think these two options are the best we can make right now as digital data to leave for future generations.

Abe: It's difficult to stop the deterioration of physical film. I think it's important to preserve this kind of digital data.

*From the left: Yoko Arai and Yoshiaki Abe, IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services

Yoko Arai

IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services, Inc. Film & Restoration Department, Restoration Group, Digital Restoration

Yoshiaki Abe

IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services, Inc. Video Production Department, Data Imaging Group, Color Grading

Interview and text: Fumio Koda

Editorial staff and writer for CINEMORE. My favorite movies are ``The Goonies'' and ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'' My recent favorites are 4K digitally remastered classics by Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu.

Photography: Kazunari Aoki

"Ichikawa Raizo Film Festival: A Momentary Sparkle"

Currently showing at Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho, and will be released at Cine Nouveau (Osaka) and other venues from February.

Distribution: KADOKAWA

©KADOKAWA