FILM FORMATS WE CAN TRANSFER TO DVD
Standard 8mm - silent or with added sound strip
Super 8mm - silent or with magnetic and optical sound
Polaroid - Polavision 8mm cassette type film
9.5mm silent film
16mm Film - silent or optical sound (not magnetic)
FILM RESCUE MISSION:
The home movie revolution really began in the early 1960’s and continued through to the late 1980’s when small domestic VHS video cameras started replacing the use of film as a recording medium. Film shot at that time will soon begin deteriorating unless it has been kept in a controlled environment. The service we provide is to rescue these irreplaceable memories by converting your film to a digital format such as DVD.
Much of the 8mm film we see today has lost it original colour and displays a red or blue colour cast caused by chemical changes in the emulsion. Computer software programs have been developed that can correct these colour problems to some extent once the film has been transferred to the hard drive. It is however always an advantage to try capture and preserve the original film colour's before these changes occur.
Once converted, your films will no longer be affected by the ravages of time and your family history can be enjoyed by many generations to come. Being digital, these movies can later be copied to successive media when DVD has been replaced by other more exciting visual technologies.
As each year rolls by, the action of moisture, heat and light will further reduce your films quality to a point of being totally un viewable. If your family films were worth the effort of shooting in the first place, then some effort should be made to preserve them for the enjoyment of your children, grandchildren and numerous future generations that will one day want to know their distant heritage.
On numerous occasions we have had films sent to us for transfer to DVD only to find the entire batch of film destroyed due to poor storage. It is often disheartening for children or grandchildren that find boxes of film stored in the garage or basement when they are told that the film is beyond repair due to contamination by moisture or excessive exposure to light and heat. These are in many cases the only moving images of departed family members; the memories of which are an absolute tragedy to have lost through neglect.
To learn more about the service that we offer a full explanation of each process has been included below to reassure you of the quality you can expect when transferring your films to DVD using our service.
OUR TRANSFER EQUIPMENT:
We are very particular about the equipment used for the transfer process. To ensure the very highest quality conversion we have three key components in the transfer chain, each of which is critical in delivering the quality we expect.
PROJECTOR:
Arguably the very best projector ever made was the Elmo GS-1200. These machines were the Rolls Royce of projectors in their day and so expensive that very few were ever purchased for home movies. They are capable of playing sound film with both magnetic or optical sound tracks. Mechanically they run like a Swiss watch with four independent motors dedicated to various functions. Projection quality is by far the finest of any machine ever made and it is for this reason we have gone to extraordinary lengths to secure one one of these Elmo's for the ultimate in projection quality.
CAMERA:
A number of cameras have been trialed to determine optimum capture quality. Final selection was the Panasonic DVX-102B that proved to out perform some expensive HD cameras such as the Canon XHA1. The three CCD chip Panasonic delivers excellent reproduction of the original film colour's with the added capability of fine adjustment to compensate for slight colour shift in the films emulsion. Fully variable shutter control offers fine adjustment to eliminate even the slightest flicker often associated with conflicting projection and capture speeds. This professional level camera produces a clear sharp image even under extremes of film lighting situations and is a pleasure to witness the results from such a fine instrument.
CINE-TRANZPRO OPTICAL TRANSFER UNIT:
After many years of research and development, the Cine-TranzPRO using a high quality 200mm Plano Convex lens and optical quality front surface mirror allowed for the first time the ability to transfer a projected image without the introduction of any screen or medium for the film to be projected onto. The aerial or floating image, which is invisible to the naked eye, actually floats in the center of the high quality 200mm lens. With carefully calibrated focal geometry the camera is able to capture this image in a condition uncontaminated by focal losses attributed to the use of a screen. This unit ties together the projector and camera to complete a chain of optical equipment capable of reproducing in fine detail all the visual information still available on the film. Even badly faded film is able to be transferred using this system. The concept for the Cine-TranzPRO was actually first used in the 1920's for developing special effects in Hollywood movies. This idea was further developed to encompass the transfer of 8mm home movie film.
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| The film is first inspected for mechanical damage and broken splices followed by a thorough cleaning to remove years of dirt and dust. |
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| If the film is supplied on the smaller 50ft reels they will be spliced together and wound onto larger 400ft spools to allow for continuous projection. |
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| The film is transferred using a broadcast quality 3CCD miniDV camera that captures all of the available colour present on the original film. |
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| Projection is performed using top of the range Elmo projectors that have been specially modified for our optical transfer process. |
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Editing of your film is done after capture, using Adobe Premiere, which provides a wealth of tools to perform all editing tasks. |
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| With all of the editing completed the final raw image files are compressed ready for burning to DVD using professional authoring software. |
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| For the ultimate master backup of your films we suggest using miniDV tape that retains the raw uncompressed version of your data. This is provided upon request only. |
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| Your completed movies are supplied in a plastic folder with printed cover and labels. Extra copies of the DVD can be purchased upon request. |
COUNTDOWN TO
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* EDITING: |
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| * COLOUR CORRECTION: | |
| * FILM TRANSFER EXPERIENCE: |
INSPECTION OF YOUR ORIGINAL FILM:
Each reel of film is inspected for damage to sprocket holes and bad joints or splices. Any physical damage is corrected during this inspection. The smaller original 50ft reels of film are joined together onto large 400ft reels, making the transfer process more continuous.
The film is cleaned using a special film cleaner to remove the build-up of dust, dirt and any other contamination such as mildew that is often attributed to having the film stored in a moist environment. Film is electrostatic in nature, attracting dust and dirt that will show up during the transfer process, so this must be removed prior to starting the conversion process. During the cleaning process the film is lubricated to ensure smooth transition through the projector gate virtually eliminating any direct contact with the metal pressure plate as the film is being projected. Our special formulation also fills tiny scratches and crack in the films emulsion to help reduce these blemishes showing through on the final transfer. This is similar to the Wet Gate system introduced on the Rank film scanning equipment for broadcast quality results. Cleaning of the film is essential so that no further damage can be caused by grit scratching the film as it slides through the spring tensioned pressure plates.
THE TRANSFER PROCESS THAT WE USE:
This is the most crucial part of the conversion process. The projection equipment must be spotlessly clean, especially around the gate area where the light is projected through the film. Any foreign matter will show up on the final transfer, so particular attention must be given to this area. As the gate area is where there is the most amount of dirt buildup many films we receive have been badly damaged with this dirt and grit actually scratching the film. If your film is damaged this way it cannot be repaired. The transfer of film is done in real time so precise control of projection speed is essential to avoid flicker or strobe caused by the conflict in the camera capture rate and the projected speed. Any flicker observed must be removed through careful adjustment of both the capture device and the projection speed.
The film is transferred using a 100% optical process with a 3CCD broadcast quality camera capturing the image directly off the emulsion side of the film (the side that has the image on it) This process ensures that every detail that is actually present on the film surface is transferred to the camera. There are no screens involved that can introduce blurring or artificial grain to the final film images.
Image quality is on a par with the Rank frame by frame scanning process that is considered to be the benchmark for film transfers. It must be remembered that the quality of the original film will dictate the final quality of the transfer. Films shot with rapid camera movement, excessive panning and zooming will display the effects associated with these shooting techniques. A very common problem with zooming in close to the subject caused the image to become out of focus due to depth of field issues. Unfortunately people felt that because the zoom feature was present on the camera that it should be used all the time. If the original film was captured out of focus there is no way to correct this. The use of a tripod during filming produced the best results however most home movies were handheld productions that include a great deal of burred camera movement and zooming.
The transferred film will not improve on poor camera technique but will reveal in great detail both a bad and a well composed filming sequences. Our technique faithfully reproduces the original images, even though the footage may not be an award winning masterpiece of cinematography.
This is the process used to remove unwanted sections of film. Our standard transfer includes the removal of under and over exposed sections of film considered to not be worth viewing. Bad splices can cause the film to jump slightly and these are removed to produce a smooth flowing scene transition. The very beginning and end of a film often displayed poor images and these are removed also during the editing process.
Any additional editing can be requested at a nominal cost. Requests can include the removal of any section of film that does not include people or places of interest. This process can be time consuming and a quotation would be given to perform extensive editing of this nature.
If you have a special project in mind such as a wedding or birthday gift, we can create an artistic movie on any selected theme with special fade transitions and background music. We can also include still images as a sideshow including the segments of film to convey a story. Let us know what you would like and a quotation will be given based upon the time required to complete the project.
A great deal of the film we receive has developed a colour shift to either red or blue. There can be many contributing factors for this change in colour, such as the use of poor quality film to begin with or even contamination of the chemicals used in the developing process. During the editing process we try to correct this colour cast using sophisticated software programs that can restore much of the original tones. This is only possible as long as some of the original colour still remains and cannot be performed on film that is badly faded.
SOUND TRACK OR BACKGROUND MUSIC:
Some Super 8mm film contained a magnetic or optical strip giving the ability to record sound during the filming process. If your film contains a sound track, this will be transferred along with your movie. The majority of Super 8mm film including all Standard 8mm film had no sound track included so background music is added to the final output to DVD. If you have a selection of your own music that you wanted to include with the transfers, please let us know in advance. There can be occasions when standard 8mm contains a sound strip. This was always added after the film was developed and allowed the operator to add narration onto normally silent film. We can transfer standard 8mm sound film also if this is present on your film.
OUTPUT TO DVD & MASTER BACKUP:
We can fit about 1 hour 30min of film onto a DVD before extra compression is required. Additional compression of your film is not desirable as it will results in some degradation of image quality, therefore any large quality of film will be spanned across multiple DVD’s. It must be pointed out that DVD is a great distribution media for your films, however a true master backup should also be requested on MiniDV tape that will contain the full uncompressed raw data. A tape master is really only necessary if you plan to perform more editing of your family movies at some later time. We can also provide the raw DV-AVI files on a user supplied external USB drive to allow you to perform your own editing. The drive should be large enough to hold the huge amount of video data which amounts to about 14 gig per hour of video/film.
If you require more copies of the final DVD to give to family and friends, these can be requested at the time of placing your order. Most home computer systems will allow you to make your own copies if the need arises anyway.
DELIVERY AND RETURN OF YOUR FILM:
Our service is available to anyone regardless of their location. If you choose our service we insist that your films be sent to us using a registered postal service that will require a signature upon collection. This ensures the safest possible delivery of your precious films. The finalized DVD’s together with your original films will be returned to you using the same registered service.
There are many ways to transfer your film to DVD with some processes producing less than perfect results. Some conversions are performed by projecting the film onto a white wall and videotaping the result. There are also numerous transfer boxes dating back to the mid 1980’s that were designed to perform simple transfers of 8mm film to the newly emerging VHS video. All of these methods produce less than perfect results due to the introduction of another medium such as a screen or wall texture blurring the image to some degree. For many people these results are quite acceptable however a professional transfer company should not be using this method.
For the DIY market the abovementioned process is fine as it gives you more personal control over editing etc. However if image quality is of paramount importance then a fully optical system or frame scanning technique should be employed.
We have actually designed a DIY transfer system specifically for those wanting to perform film transfers using their own projector, camera and computer system. The Cine-Tranz, as it is called, produces excellent results as it incorporates a very high quality optical face coated mirror and high density screen as a display medium. Read a full description of this device for those wishing to perform their own film conversions. For professional level results we only use the Cine-TranzPRO system for all out transfer projects.
Film transfer is considered to be more of an art-form requiring both experience and intuitive understanding of image and colour reproduction. There are many technical problems that must be overcome, such as film flicker, white balance adjustment and correct exposure to correctly interpret the projected images. Most domestic cameras do not have the built in controls to adequately correct the film during the initial capture process with many transfers displaying unrealistic colour casts and flare-outs caused by the harsh artificial lighting environment.
There is no quick way to learn this art, which can only be perfected through years of experience. Image correction using computer programs is also a very important part of this process requiring a deep understanding of digital manipulation. All transfers are performed by the owner of MB Productions, Mike Brown to maintain the very highest standard.