As far as I understand, films were generally shot on 35mm film, with older/cheaper ones shot on 16mm? This [35mm] can apparently be scanned at 4K digital resolution. Scanning beyond 6K does not seem to add any meaningful quality, but I have found that 8K scans of super 35 have been done: https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/om ... k-scanner/
They must have taken really good care of the source material. Which brings me to: Have old lowish budget films (Maladolecenza, Piccole Labbra, David Hamilton films, etc) generally had their original negatives preserved/archived in a way that would allow a decent scan to be made today? Or at least to the level where the film could be restored to a point where it would be worth scanning?
Also, do studios that have produced such films usually keep their cut/'deleted' scenes? As in, all the raw footage?
I've seen some examples on this board of new scans being made, usually it seems to be for BluRay - for example:
https://www.first-loves.com/forums/view ... e&start=60
4K remasters have also taken place, albeit this movie is on the relatively newer side of things:
https://www.first-loves.com/forums/view ... t&start=10
So it seems that some have taken good enough care of the material, but is this the usual trend?
I don't think it comes as a suprise that the more controversial films haven't (and probably never will be) been remastered for the general public.
So would it theoretically be possible to personally pay whoever owns the film to do a restoration & rescan at 6K, then run it through AI upscaling software w/ some personal touches, and then maybe get an *8K* final result? Or even just settle with that 6K scan with some play with the colours etc. Is this something that happens? It seems like a better approach than trying to buy everything and do it yourself - avoiding the legal process. Which leads me to...
I've heard that it's also possible to privately buy the films outright from the studio(s) (rights and all) and get your hands on the original negatives and 'lost/raw footage' yourself. Theoretically, you could then get a team to join and restore everything; you can then directly project the physical film (you'd definitely be able to afford to hire the projector/room if you'd got that far!). It would be surreal to experience a projected screening of the original film, it's like going back in time, it was exposed directly to all those scenes
What kind of costs would you be looking at if you just bought everything outright? Is there some sort of unspoken rule that a certain percentage of the film's profits determines what the offer should be? I suppose large studios like Paramount (who produced Pretty Baby, for example) wouldn't even allow you to do this as they don't have much incentive? But maybe they would agree to do a higher quality remaster or make some 'lost' footage privately available if you paid them enough?
Forgive my ignorance and enthusiasm, I'm from well after the film era and I'm only just getting used to the idea of analogue media.