Frank Wylie

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  1. Frank Wylie

    Now that my Hazeltine has died, I am strictly timing film by eye.  Welcome to the Silent Era...

  2. Frank Wylie

    Need a grim cup o' Joe? 

    Go see one of our latest prints, right off the film processor, the classic Film Noir thriller, "Raw Deal" (1948) in San Francisco at the Noir City 5 Film Festival.  Bonus; Actor Marsha Hunt will be on stage to be interviewed about her starring role in this classic noir film!  (http://www.noircity.com/nc5-program-pg1.html#rawdeal)

    Trench coat optional...

    1. Frank Wylie

      Frank Wylie

      Oh, yeah... December 26th, 2017.

  3. Frank Wylie

    http://filmforum.org/series/busby-berkeley-series

    Film Forum in NYC will be screening the brand new print of "In Caliente" (1935) we just produced in a double feature with "Hollywood Hotel" (1937).

    As with most pre-1950's original negatives, there were no intermediate printing masters made, so the original negative was used for release printing and has picked-up some damage over the years, but still produces a very nice, creamy image.  If you get a chance, let me know what you think!

    1. Frank Wylie

      Frank Wylie

      Just an addendum:  We are sending the following 35mm prints to this retrospective: 42nd Street, Fashions of 1934, Footlight Parade, In Caliente, Gold Diggers of 1933, Three Cheers for the Girls, Hollywood Hotel and They Made Me a Criminal.  If you miss the NYC screenings, check the Harvard Film Archive for Mid-December to Mid-January screenings of a sampling of these titles.  http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/

    2. Abby Bader

      Abby Bader

      I admire your work Frank, would have loved to be there! 

    3. Frank Wylie

      Frank Wylie

      Thank you, Abby!  I'll try to let you know when some of our work hits Europe. 

      We often have a print at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, but I am unsure about the upcoming festival.  (http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/)

       

  4. Frank Wylie

    Now Timing

    "Hotel Imperial: (1927) Paramount Pictures, D. Mauritz Stiller, Cinematography Bert Glennon, Starring: Pola Negri, James Hall, George Siegmann. 

    Bench timing a dupe negative from a decomposing original era print with fading, melt, out-gassing and density mottling.

    Here are a few shots of the print in places of "better" condition...

    FullSizeRender.jpg

    FullSizeRender.jpg

    IMG_9952.JPG

    1. Abby Bader

      Abby Bader

      I love it, it must be great to work on such nostalgic pieces. Is this for archival purposes or digital publishing?

    2. Frank Wylie

      Frank Wylie

      Abby,

      Archival restoration and public exhibition. 

      While the title has been digitally restored by the parent company for Bluray release, we still try to preserve the best film elements we have to film with an eye toward eventually making DCPs for public exhibition. 

      Currently, we have (and are adding to) a very large lending library of 35mm prints, but that can't last forever.

      When film finally ends, we will switch from motion picture printers and film processors to datacine/scanner suites and workstations, but traditional film inspection, repair and handling skills will remain unchanged.

  5. Frank Wylie

    Currently timing:

    "In Caliente" (1935), D. Lloyd Bacon, 35mm, B&W, 1.37:1 Warner Brothers, from the original Nitrate negative, Cinematography by George Barnes and Sol Polito. 

    "Raw Deal" (1948) D. Anthony Mann, 35mm, B&W, 1.37:1, Eagle Lion Studios, from a dupe negative I "bench timed" (eyeball) from a step-contact printed Interpositive. Cinematography by John Alton.

    A show quality 35mm print, Fine Grain Intermediate Positive and Sound Master Positive will be generated for public viewing and archival storage.

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. Nicolas Hanson

      Nicolas Hanson

      That sounds like an extremely interesting job! I've always been fascinated by photochemical processes, and the old school way of approaching images. Do you use some digital color correctors on some of the old titles as well?

    3. Frank Wylie

      Frank Wylie

      Nicholas,

      Currently, the way the lab is organized, I am almost 100% traditional photochemical, but we have dealt in a few hybrid restorations that required digital color correction, simply because an element could only be integrated into the restoration pipeline by scanning it, grading it and making a 35mm negative on the Arri Laser.  

      http://www.thealbaniancinemaproject.org/tomka-dhe-shokeumlt-e-tij.html   is one such project. 

      I am working hard to learn DaVinci Resolve in order to be ready should our supply of film suddenly vanish;  which is a real possibility.

      Frank

      "My Views are not those of my employer"

    4. Nicolas Hanson

      Nicolas Hanson

      It should be a breeze to learn any of the digital color correctors with your background. Thanks for sharing, I love to read about your projects.