Panel 7 – Technology and aesthetics (2)
Chair: Guido Lukoschek
Guido Lukoschek started working at FABW in 2008, as adjoint to the management. From that time on, he co-ordinated the school’s external collaborations on levels both national has developed a strategy for the school’s internationalisation, aiming at 100% of the school’s students participating in international activities within the course of their studies, and he has developed collaborations for FABW with an emphasis on programs in different regions of Africa and the Middle East. From 2008 onwards, he has represented the school in CILECT, and in June 2021, he was elected Vice Chairman of GEECT. After completing his degree in Film Studies, Ethnology and American Studies in 2005 (Mainz University, Germany), he worked with a number of film festivals, including Sundance FF, Munich FF, and FILMZ Festival, as well as a film critic. Before his current position, Guido worked with German public TV ZDF’s firstfeature department, ”Das kleine Fernsehspiel“, as an editor of creative content; Guido is also a documentary filmmaker, working mainly on themes related to music and, in a parallel reality, a passionate jazz trumpet player.15:50 - New aesthetics of digitally reconstructed film Anna Huth (Kieslowski Film School, Poland)
Anna Huth, PhD, vice director of the Institute for Film and Theatre Arts at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Since 2011 associated with the Kieślowski Film School, where she works as an assistant professor and a university teacher.Kieślowski Film School has been active in the field of digital restoration of the student short films (16 and 35 mm) since 2015. The influence of time on the analog film recording causes in the vast majority of cases that it becomes unreadable and, therefore, incomprehensible to a modern viewer used to digital image. In my presentation I analyze the process of deconstruction of the analog image value proportional to the passage of time, i.e. color and contrast. More importantly, however, I draw attention to the re-evaluation of the emotional elements derived from color values. An analogue film after digital reconstruction creates a completely new value in the area of color and contrast. The view of the work after the reconstruction is influenced by the effects of analog film, the disorientation in the reception of analog film resulting from the disappearance of the color value and contrast. The work after digital reconstruction (de facto conservation) conveys a new color value. It lacks light and shade, soft color transitions, gradation of color temperatures. It certainly surprises the viewer brought up in analog cinema, but for the young audience it is a message identical to the visual record of the world experienced on the screen of a computer, tablet or smartphone.
16:10 - Preservation versus optimisation? Hasan Matar (Westminster, UK)
Hasan has worked at Westminster University since 2005, managing the Film and Video equipment store. Since 2017 his role has expanded to include the film scanning facility, working mainly on current and archive student films, but also scanning and restoring films by Jack Hazan, John Gianvito, Bob Bentley and Adam Roberts.This paper will present my thoughts on film scanning, sharpness settings, and the treatment of grain, based on my personal experience of using a Lasergraphics scanner, and how these affect the later stages of film preservation and restoration. I will conclude by considering the effect of modern colouring trends on restorations of a few classic films.
16:30 - A laboratory/restoration facility in a film school Ondřej Šejnoha (FAMU, Czech Republic)
Ondřej Šejnoha is currently working (since February 2010) as a Director of the Studio FAMU, the official production house of Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). From 2006 to 2010 he was Head of Production for FAMU International Department as well. Under Ondrej’s leadership at the Studio FAMU, significant number of the FAMU student projects have been nominated & awarded by prestigious events including 92ndOscar® Finalist Short Film (animated) Dcera/Daughter; 89th Oscar® shortlisted animated film (short) Happy End; Sundance 2016 Best direction short film Peacock. Ondřej is chair of FAMU’s Technology committee (since 2016) and is a member of an expert committee for the State Cinematography Fund - Technology development and Cinematography modernization (since 2013). Since 2015 Ondřej has overseen the technology investment in to the Studio FAMU building, and since 2020 has been Head of Operations of the Studio FAMU - CPA (Center for Consulting & Analytical Services) Laboratory of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, a newly established R&D entity providing services in application of the in-house developed Methodics of Digitizing of the National Film Fund. The CPA Laboratory (Center for Consulting & Analytical Services) of the Film and TV School of Performing Arts in Prague is the one stop – shop for film archiving & preservation services in digital era. The CPA Lab was founded as a part of an independent academic establishment, serves as a calibrated and certified workplace which makes it possible to compare the quality of digitized film copies and also to perform sampling and analyses of surviving film archival materials. The CPA Lab is located in the fully certified 4 - screen Reference projection citified for Dolby Atmos projections, incl. grading station / sound mixing station and is fully operated by Studio FAMU, a part of Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Technologically the cutting edge space is equipped - e.g. - by an unique water-cooled KINOTON film projector which allows to project nitrate archival materials, negatives and positive copies in formats 16mm and 35mm and, at the same time, it is equipped with 4K digital calibrated projector or customized Kinoton Inspection table for precise and safe surviving film archival materials inspections. The services of the CPA Laboratory are provided by highly skilled team of researchers from the prestigious NAKI Program research team 2013 - 2017 (National And Cultural Identity Research Programs → Methodics of digitizing of the National film fund). Members of the team are specialists in cine-camera, creation of sound, production, film history, special effects, digital workflow, data management, legal consultancy and other fields. The team has already done several demanding film digitization with outstanding results for the A – class The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.