"Nostalgia ain't what it used to be," as the saying goes, but in the film world, at least, there does seem to be a trend for turning the clock back.
James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic will be re-released next month in a newly remastered 3-D version. And in China, a series of classic films are being re-released after being digitally restored, either in 2-D or 3-D versions.
In 2-D formats are new versions of three classic Hong Kong films: Ashes of Time (1994), New Dragon Gate Inn (1992) and A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). Meanwhile the old Chinese animated film, The Monkey King (1964) has been given the 3-D treatment. Even the oldest extant Chinese movie Romance of a Fruit Peddler from 1922 has been digitally restored and was re-released last year in Beijing.
Digital formats
"An official project about old movie restoration started in 2006, when the Chinese film industry celebrated its centenary," Xu Jin, vice manager of the Shanghai Film Technology Plant in Zhabei district told the Global Times. "At that time, the government pledged to invest more than 200 million yuan ($32 million) to transfer 5,000 Chinese films into digital formats over the following five years." Xu said that he believes this is an important cultural heritage protection project. "And since Eastman Kodak (the 133-year old film pioneer that invented the first hand-held camera) filed for its bankruptcy protection recently, this project has become more necessary and urgent."
Sun Xianghui, the deputy director of the China Film Archive (CFA) in Beijing also said that the preservation and restoration of old movies is not just valuable for the industry alone, but also for future generations who can learn more about the history that film has captured. According to Sun, there are about 27,000 separate films stored at the CFA with about half of them in desperate need of restoration.
However, both Xu and Sun admitted that film restoration is a time-consuming and costly pursuit. Xu said that a 90-minute movie usually consists of 130,000 frames. And one professional can restore (images and sound) between 3,000 and 5,000 frames a day.
A still from A Chinese Ghost Story. Photo: CFP
Costly procedures
"To begin with, you have to physically clean and manually repair the film strips," added Xu. "Under normal conditions, a film strip will last about 50 years in good condition. And the primary criteria for the results of restoration is that the film has no obvious stains and it doesn't shake when being projected. If the film rolls are more than half a century old, or have been badly damaged, then more complicated, and expensive procedures are needed."
Zuo Ying, the deputy director of the technology division at the CFA offered an example. He said that the original film rolls for the 1934 classic Song of the Fisherman were lost during the war and that the CFA only had a copy of it in very bad condition. "It has obvious scratches on the surface and the frames are not complete, which all created major difficulties for restoration," Zuo said.
Xu added: "And dealing with the sound is often difficult because of the use of magnetic powders which sometimes damaged the film. This is why restored old movies always needs to be re-dubbed again."
The Shanghai Film Technology Plant worked on the newly converted 3-D version of The Monkey King along with the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. The project took two years and cost 250 million yuan. The finished restoration was released in January this year.
"Because most cinemas have wide screens today, the most complicated thing is having to add extra frames in order to fit these screens. At the same time, we have to make sure these added frames perfectly corresponded with the original frames," Xu explained.
A still from Ashes of Time. Photo: CFP
The production team of The Monkey King also invited the American firm Technicolor, an international industry leader in 3-D technology to create the best effects possible. "And we also invited an all-star cast to re-dub the script including the famous film director Feng Xiaogang, the actor Zhang Guoli and the actress Yao Chen."
According to Chinese media, the 3-D version of The Monkey King has already taken more than 50 million yuan at the domestic box office in the month since its release.
In contrast, Wu Siyuan, the producer of the new 2-D versions of the aforementioned classic Hong Kong movies, said that each had cost "several million yuan" to restore and might turn a small profit.
"Old movie restoration is more a public service than a business," Xu said. "And this needs much more investment from every part of society. We also have very excellent old dubbed foreign films, but unfortunately we do not have permission to restore them."