Purchasing rights to old films and remastering them

[thecyanray]

I'm not very familiar with the idea of remastering old films or buying out rights, so I'm hoping someone with knowledge can help shed some light on the subject.

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.

[DreamScape]

Although not entirely on topic with your question, there was some information posted on TNT a few years ago about contacting studios and TV stations for rare movies. Perhaps it is of interest to those who opened up this topic.

https://the.nextthing.club/showthread.php?tid=38966

[Night457]

Just how much money do you HAVE, cyan? Don't answer that. Film restoration is a long and costly process that involves many people. I will await deadman responding to your specific questions because he has a great deal of film industry knowledge.

[mimzy]

Just how much money do you HAVE, cyan? Don't answer that.

Well, some people pay millions to buy paintings or restore old cars, so why not invest in movies

[Alex_kaplan]

If you talk about remastered video movies, I would like to highlight this site, (old vintage movies) some of the old movies they have in good enough quality come out, you used to be able to download for free, but then they shut it down, only registration is required.
You can order a remastered movie from them, too. For paid subscription members only (
https://sleazemovies.com/

[Alex_kaplan]

Well of course to remaster a movie you need the original DVD film sample. Of course, you can't do anything with VHSRip quality (((

[Alex_kaplan]

Today on TNT shared a link to a movie from YouTube remastered La India (1976) Mexico (4K), I'm very happy, finally this beautiful movie restored

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyvKOjUI0CA

[ferdi111]

Restored version of La India is heavily cut

[Alex_kaplan]

Restored version of La India is heavily cut

Yes almost 20 minutes cut , maybe he posted this version on YouTube, so as not to be banned, maybe he has the full version, I did not write to him.

[deadman]

Today on TNT shared a link to a movie from YouTube remastered La India (1976) Mexico (4K), I'm very happy, finally this beautiful movie restored

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyvKOjUI0CA

That looks like an AI upscale of the DVD, heavily censored so it wouldn't get taken down or age restricted. It's no 4K (or even 1080p) remaster that's for sure. I can't even find the full DVD, just a rip of it.

Just how much money do you HAVE, cyan? Don't answer that. Film restoration is a long and costly process that involves many people. I will await deadman responding to your specific questions because he has a great deal of film industry knowledge.

I never really considered myself an expert, but I'll do my best.

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?

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.

Everything varies from one case to another. Sometimes film has been preserved in good conditions - dry, cool, even stored under inert gases like pure nitrogen or argon to prevent oxidation. Other times you might open a film canister and have the brittle film break apart into little pieces when you tried to handle it. Some reels require almost no restoration work. No scratches, warps, bubbles, or anything. Other times it's in pretty bad shape. The best technique for fixing that is to have multiple copies and scan them all in to a computer. Where one image is damaged the others won't be, and from three or four flawed copies you can digitally reconstruct a perfect version. If you only have one copy to work with, better hope it's not too messed up!

Old low budget movies will be hit or miss. Probably the oldest film I've posted on this site is a movie called Child Bride (1938). I understand that there was quite a bit of footage shot for the skinnydipping scene - already pretty long - which never made it into the final cut. But even if it was saved in someone's basement, after 86 years the film would almost certainly be decayed beyond recovery. It wasn't a major studio so the fancy kind of storage I spoke about before wouldn't have been an option. Even from 1977 Maladolescenza's raw footage could be in bad shape if not properly stored. Assuming it still exists. I have a feeling David Hamilton would've kept every piece of film shot during the making of his movies. I don't know if his estate would want to sell the rights to any of them. But like anything else, enough money could probably overcome their objections. It's all about how much you have to spend.

These days studios tend to save all the extra material with disc releases in mind. Years ago they didn't always save deleted scenes, outtakes, and so forth. You can only buy what the moviemakers decided to save for posterity. Sometimes that's quite a bit. Sometimes only the final theatrical print still exists.

You can always try to contact whoever has the rights to an old film and see if they're willing to sell. If it's obscure enough that the price is right, and you love it enough to want to shell out to preserve it, maybe you can. I'll be honest. If I was a billionaire (or at least a multimillionaire) there are movies I'd probably try to purchase and pay someone to produce a 4K blu-ray for me. Which of course I'd share with all of you.