This is topic Perhaps a question for Janice (or others in the know) in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.


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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 30, 2013, 12:51 PM:
 
I am currently re-editing and attempting to restore the raw footage from my one and only film, a 80 or so minute comedy film I shot in college "Pink Bison 3 : Love Coonection" (it was the third film in the series, and the only one that was actually a full feature, the others were shorts).

The only problem is, I'm using the original raw footage that we saved on DVD. I have all the original palmcorder VHSC raw footage, but this was shot 12 years ago, and even when it was placed on DVD back then, it was being played on the actual camera it was shot on and the heads were apparently a little worn to begin with.

The question is ...

I would like to have these four VHSC cassettes completely restored, as I'm sure that the footage, which todays technology, could be made to literally look even better than it could possibly have looked 12 years ago with modern equipment.

Janice (or others) ...

Could any of you inform me as to people who do this kind of restoration work? I would love to get these tapes restored before they age any further. Fortunately, I only copied them onto DVD 12 years ago and never played them since, so they aren't excessively worn, but aging, none the less.

Please reply by my e-mail ...

toac2001@hotmail.com

... as my PM box sends, but I can't read what people send me.

Sincerely

OSI Osgood
 
Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on October 30, 2013, 01:55 PM:
 
Osi...I thought I would just answer you in this thread. I can't offer a referral to anyone who does this kind of restoration. However... Do you have a good VHS player to check the quality of the tapes yourself? If the quality is still good on the original tapes then they could be transferred to a higher resolution file format such as DV-AVI. Then some restoration filters could be applied to enhance the quality. If the tapes are no longer good then you will have to resort to the mpeg2 DVD files. These could be ripped and converted to DV-AVI and the same restoration filters applied. In either case don't set your expectation too high...even the best quality of VHS format just wasn't THAT good. If these were on Beta the quality might be slightly better. I use to do corporate videos and frequently had to copy archived VHS video from old tapes... I had to accept that it just wasn't going to look as good as digital video. [Smile]

Here's an example of a silent short movie my son did in junior college called "Bad Transaction" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ3YKqgmRAs. I transferred the original VHS to DV-AVI...added music...cheapy sound effects...and enhanced the video...just for fun.
 
Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on October 30, 2013, 02:16 PM:
 
Excellent video. He moves like Bruce Lee .
 
Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on October 30, 2013, 04:25 PM:
 
I thought it was excellent as well; a lot of thought went into the making of it. Quality wise, not as good as Super 8, but at least you have preserved it.
 
Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on October 30, 2013, 04:49 PM:
 
Very good Janice [Smile]
 
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 01, 2013, 12:42 PM:
 
The existing footage is either avi or mpeg2, (it was copied by a friend of mine in 2003, so I don't really remember).

I'm thinking of picking up a SVHS player I saw at the thrift store, take all four cassettes, take the footage out and splice it carefully onto one. Perhaps this high grade player will allow me to transfer the footage in a grand way.

By the way, thanx Janice for replying. Nice video too!
 
Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on November 02, 2013, 02:42 AM:
 
Janice, great little video! I was hooked from the start! [Smile]

Mike [Cool]
 
Posted by Pete Richards (Member # 2203) on November 02, 2013, 05:09 AM:
 
Are you in the US Osi? I know a guy who specialises in older tape format restoration, can do anything from old reel to reel, to VHSC, Betamax, SVHS and everything in-between. Drop me a PM and I'll give you his contact details.
 
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 02, 2013, 12:27 PM:
 
MY experiment seems to be working.

I am taking the completed film, and adding "grain" to the whole thing.

I use a British editing software that is the "bees knees' (how long has it been since you heard that expression?) called "Serif", and it has an effect called "Old Film", that instantly takes anything you have and makes it look "Aged", being brown, very grainy, jittery, scratchy ect, and you can adjust all the effects within it.

But I'll explain from top to bottom what I have done to restore this film/video from start to finish.

1. I go to "noise reduction" at put it at a "2" level. This makes everything have a slightly glossed over look but seems to get rid of at least 90 per cent of the "VHS Noise" problem.

2. I then shift to "light" function and set the "clarity" to 2 or 3 setting, dependin g on whether the shot was done with the LP setting or SP (for those who have never worked with VHS, SP was the fastest setting, LP was the next one down, but tended to not be quite as sharp of filming). This counter-acts the loss of sharpness due to the "noise reduction".

3. I then go to "color" and restore the color. You see, shots that were photographed inside tend to have a slightly yellow or orange tint. By slightly adjusting it, rooms indoors that were off yellow, or now back to their proper white. Most of the outdoor photography was spot on, but occasionally over exposed, so I adjusted the "exposure" setting to either lighten or darken the footage.

and finally ...

4. I used 'Old Film" but turned off everything but the "grain" function, no jitter, specking or scratching, nor any "sepia" in the image.

It's strange, but I find that by adding a little grain it did two things ...

a. It hides a little of the "pixelization" of the original footage.

b. It may be an "optical illusion" but I'd swear that it makes it seem like the footage is slightly sharper. It almost gives it a super 8 feel!

When I can, I'll post some screenshots. I also letterboxed the whole thing. When I originally shot it, I readied it for letterboxing it when shot, (like what is done with theatrical films, shot on 35MM but letterboxed to another aspect ratio) but I couldn't do it at the time as the program I used originally in 2003, didn't allow for letterboxing. The nice thing is that I can adjust each and every shot so that the aspect ratio works in each and every case.

What I found so much fun, was that I was able to place in almost four minutes of footage and subplot I couldn't put in before, as well as audio effect that were desperately needed ten years ago, but I couldn't manufacture. NOW the film is what it should be and having seen most comedies out there these days, this film is better than most of what is out there, I dare say.
 
Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on November 02, 2013, 06:47 PM:
 
This sounds like it will work fine Osi. Great idea!
 
Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on November 02, 2013, 09:32 PM:
 
Oz

What's the name of the software you are using?

PatD
 
Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on November 03, 2013, 10:46 PM:
 
Osi, you can get a VHS-C adapter cartridge (try eBay) that will make those little cassettes play in any VCR. It's possible to tranfer tapes to another cassette shell, but it's also easy to do irreparable damage by handling the delicate tape.
 
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 04, 2013, 12:45 PM:
 
I don't know if I already mentioned it, but I am going to try what I think Janice suggested, once I can secure a super VHS player or one of those really advanced ones with 8 heads on them (I think it was 8 heads) as I want the best equipment if I'm going to attempt a full restoration from the source.

Pat ... I use "Serif", it's a VERY good British editing software for professional use. you can't tell by the You tube videos, (as the quality is always downgraded, it seems, once it is uploaded on you Tube), but I did all my editing on my music videos on Serif. I can highly recommend it!
 
Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on November 04, 2013, 12:56 PM:
 
SERIF is the publisher.... probably MoviePlus
 


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