Cineteca del Comune di Bologna
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film
Association des Cinémathèques Européennes
L’Immagine Ritrovata – Film Restoration and Conservation

FILM RESTORATION SUMMER SCHOOL
FIAF SUMMER SCHOOL - BOLOGNA 2009

Theory lessons on Film Restoration:
distance learning, May 19th to June 23rd (each Tuesday)
Introduction and attendance to Il Cinema Ritrovato film Festival
Bologna, June 27th to July 4th
Restoration practice
Bologna, July 6th to July 17th

(the complete information on the Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School - Bologna 2009 is also available on pdf format by clicking - here -

2.1. Participants
2.2. Where and When
2.3. Training programme
2.4. Main lines of interest
        2.4.1. Theory Lessons on Film Restoration
                   2.4.1.1. Distance learning - 1 month
        2.4.2. Introduction and attendance to Il Cinema Ritrovat film festival
                   2.4.2.1. Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival
                   2.4.2.2. Meetings with specialists
        2.4.3. Internship (2 weeks)
                   2.4.3.1.To put into practice
                   2.4.3.2. Laboratory experience
                   2.4.3.3. Internship in six sections

2.1. Participants

The training is conceived for an international target group, and will be taught by an international panel of the best experts from different countries. The Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 is conceived both for archivists and staff working at FIAF archives, and students. The aim is to foster a shared knowledge in the field for current and future generations and world film archives. Classes will be in English.

2.2. Where and When

Training will take place at the Cineteca di Bologna’s screening theatres and library, while the internship will be organized at the laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna. Training will last 2 weeks, from Monday 6 July through Friday 17 July 2009, and will be preceded by Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival [27 June to 4 July 2009 – 1 week], and a one-month (19 May to 23 June 2009 - each Tuesday) online distance learning experience on restoration technologies with a weekly update.

2.3. Training programme

L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory’s highly specialized staff will be closely involved in the intensive 2-week training programme and internship. Participants will be divided into different groups, and will work in each department of the laboratory:

1. Film repair and cleaning
2. Grading
3. Desmet Color
4. Optical Printing
5. Contact Printing
6. Processing
7. Film Recording
8. Scanner
9. Telecine
10. Digital Restoration
11. Digital Color Correction 2
12. Machine Room and Network Management
13. Sound Restoration
14. Subtitles

2.4. Main lines of interest

The Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 is structured along three main lines of interest:
1. Theory lessons on Film Restoration: distance learning,
    May 19th to June 23rd (each Tuesday)
2. Introduction and attendance to Il Cinema Ritrovato film      festival:
    Bologna, June 27th to July 4th
3. Restoration practice:
    Bologna, July 6th to July 17th


2.4.1. Theory Lessons on Film Restoration
          
           2.4.1.1. Distance learning - 1 month

For one month before the beginning of classes in Bologna, participants will be provided with theory lessons, downloadable weekly (each Tuesday) online at www.immagineritrovata.it. This distance learning will include lessons on new digital film restoration, access, and conservation. These online lessons will run from 19 May until 23 June 2009.

2.4.2. Introduction and attendance to Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival (1 week)

           2.4.2.1. Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival

The first week will be entirely devoted to the XXIII edition of the Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival, which is Cineteca di Bologna’s main international event. Since 1987, the festival has investigated the most obscure territories of cinema history, screening the best of “Recovered and Restored Films” from archives around the world. Some screenings will be compulsory. Daily meetings of 2 hours or more with international specialists will be organized for all participants.

            2.4.2.2. Meetings with specialists

During the festival week, meeting will tackle more general issues, as film houses and archives management, conservation and preservation of film heritage, cataloguing and non-film issues. Meetings will also focus on film restoration theory, dealing in particular with working in a film restoration laboratory and analyzing specific pieces of restored works. These meetings will introduce the two-week long internship;daily topics will reflect laboratory stages.

2.4.3. Internship (2 weeks)

          2.4.3.1.To put into practice

During the internship participants will be supervised by international experts and laboratory staff to put into practice what they have learned during their first week of theory. A considerable amount of time will be devoted to restoration practices. For 2 weeks, students will be offered hands-on experience, working in each department of the laboratory. On top of it, participants will have the chance to participate to contemporary film post-production. This will be an opportunity to show that restoration machines and tools are actually originally tailored for post-production and then adapted for restoration purposes.

          2.4.3.2. Laboratory experience

During the internship participants are expected to be in the premises of the laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata for 8 hours a day, for 10 days. Participants will have access to all departments of the laboratory. Each department will accommodate a maximum of 5 participants. This is considered the right ratio of students per piece of equipment, so that each student will be able to interact directly.

          2.4.3.3. Internship in six sections:

•   Film Repair, comparing and cleaning:
Film handling and inspection: how to use film clear sprocket tape to fix tears and breaks; analysis of old splices; restoring splices by hand or with a cement splicer; repairing film to prepare it for cleaning and printing; film comparing and analysis to chose the best prints for restoration; analysis of intertitles; cleaning film nitrate, triacetate, polyester 35mm and 16mm, with Ultrasonic Cleaning Machine.

•   Grading
Use of new Color master 2300 P to set printing values to print from negative to interpositive for preservation or a positive for screening.

•   Desmet Color
Study of Desmet method and practical application to recreate tinting and toning.

•   Optical and Contact Print:
Principles of optical and contact printing and their differences; study of different printers, printer loading and use. Rudiments of development and parameters analysis of mutual relations between printing and development.

•   Processing:
Application of Lad, Strip, and other quality-control tools to check the correct operation of printing and development. Quality control.

•   Digital Scanning:
Scanning of a motion picture image from negative, positive and intermediates materials 35mm and 16mm to a digital file (2K and 4 K).

•   Telecine:
Film transfer from negative, positive and intermediates materials 35mm and 16mm film to tape and use of Da Vinci Renaissance control panel.

•   Digital Restoration:
Digital treatment of image by dedicated software to eliminate some physical damage of the film due to time usury and manual film handling and also to restore a visual clarity of the specific image itself working on problems like grain, instability and flicker without affecting the original materials. Digital restoration has a wide range of tools and potentials, therefore it is vital for achivists to know what can be done in order to establish their specific restoration code.

•   Digital Colour Correction:
Film colour correction and colour fade restoration. 2K, HD, SD confoming, Mastering, Primary and Secondary Color correction and Titling.

•   Machine Room and Network Management:
How a machine room works and how all machines are connected to workstations and between them. Data processing and data transfer to make a copy of a film on digital support.

•   Sound Restoration:
Optical and magnetic sound acquisition (35mm, 16mm, 17,5mm) to digital data. Sound Restoration, with dedicated plug-in for editing.

•   Subtitles
Use of a software to add subtitles on different supports.

- Top of the page -