ITV CONTENT SERVICES RESTORES CLASSIC FILMS WITH CINTEL SCANNER

  Restoration department is using Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+ and DaVinci   Resolve Studio to scan, digitize and restore huge film and tape archive in UltraHD.

Manchester, United Kingdom - Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - Blackmagic Design today announced that ITV Content Services is using the Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+ and DaVinci Resolve Studio to scan, digitize and restore 8mm, 16mm and 35mm film in UltraHD.

Situated in Leeds and part of the ITV Content Library, which boasts about 1.2 million physical assets, Content Services caters to a diverse range of clients, from internal departments to external companies and clients beyond ITV's direct projects.

“Our customers include internal departments, companies licensing ITV’s content and external clients on unrelated projects,” explains Josh Clark, content processing supervisor for ITV Content Services.

Clark’s team works closely with the digitization team which is responsible for film scanning, tape digitization and transfer. “We restore, grade and master new transfers to create a new version of a classic piece of content,” he explains.

“The Cintel Scanner arrived just over a year ago. Where other scanners required regular maintenance or repairs, the Cintel has been rock solid since we acquired it,” notes Clark. “Although originally intended to bridge a gap in our scanning, it has now become our go to solution for most projects.”

“The Cintel provides a solid base scan that captures rich color details in 12-bit and overscans in 4K, offering ample resolution for UHD restoration and mastering. The automated stabilization is also a significant advantage,” notes Clark.

“The [Image Mill] stabilization tracks the film's perforations to streamline the restoration process,” reveals film restoration expert, Silas Dominey. “If perforations are damaged, we can disable the stabilization, giving us the ability to assess things on a reel by reel basis. It’s all about using the most effective stabilization process based on the condition of the film itself.”

“We're also impressed with the sprocketless runner system," says Dominey. “Since the Cintel operates on tension, we can trust it not to damage any of the materials we process through it.”

Recently, the team completed HD remaster of comedy classic, “Carry on Henry” (1971), for the digital platform ITVX. The best source asset available to the team was a 35mm interpositive, a second generation copy that is often the next best thing if the original camera negatives aren't available.

After the initial scan, Dominey took charge of film restoration. Meanwhile, Colorist Sam Gilboy was responsible for grading the film using DaVinci Resolve Studio with the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel.

A particular challenge was the blue cast in the film's shadows, a common issue in aging film. Using DaVinci Resolve's HDR grading tools, ITV Content Services effectively isolated and corrected these color shifts without compromising the rest of the image.

“When film degrades the color doesn’t necessarily fade consistently across the dynamic range. The shadows might drift more aggressively in one direction than the highlights,” says Dominey. “So, although those tools are designed for HDR deliverables, we use them to correct film scans.”

The restoration of “Carry On Henry” spanned two months, culminating in an HD deliverable for ITVX, a UltraHD ProRes version for archive and a 4K DPX master sequence.

PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

Product photos of Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+, DaVinci Resolve Studio, DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/media/images

ABOUT BLACKMAGIC DESIGN

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk

