Today, the 4k restoration commemorative version of the domestic classic animation "Tianshu Qitan" will be officially released nationwide. Produced in 1983 by the Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, it is the third color animated feature film in China. The film is based on the long divine and demonic novel "The Legend of Ping Demon" compiled by Luo Guanzhong and Feng Menglong, which tells the story of the young egg boy and the three fox demons fighting wits and courage to regain the Book of Heaven and benefit the people.
The entire animation is exquisitely produced, full of elements of traditional Chinese culture, and it still shines even today. The main creative team of that year was a top configuration, the dubbing team included Ding Jianhua, Bi Ke and other excellent dubbing artists of the older generation, and the directors Wang Shuchen and Qian Yunda were the directors and screenwriters of "Nezha Noisy Sea", "Little Sister of the Grassland Hero" and "The Strange Adventures of the Dirty King". Wu Yingju, a national first-class composer and master of Chinese art film scoring, composed the soundtrack of the film, he integrated traditional ethnic instruments with Western instruments, innovative and full of national characteristics, "The Haunting of the Heavenly Palace", "Mudi", "Grassland Hymn" and other excellent animation film music are from his creation. "Tianshu Qitan" is a milestone in the history of Chinese animated film feature films, and is a common childhood memory of generations.
The 4K restoration version released this time has gone through a long process of overall restoration and digitization, and the biggest difficulty is sound restoration. In order to make the soundtrack tone more original, the restorer used the "80s" analog harmonic of the last century to turn it into a 5-channel surround that is more suitable for theater playback, which is the first time in China.
Since 2006, China's film restoration industry has launched the "Film Archives Film Digital Restoration Project". Until 2014, the "4K Restoration" unit pioneered by the Shanghai International Film Festival screened the first domestic film "Stage Sisters" with 4K restoration, and "4K Restoration" began to enter the public eye. Subsequently, major professional institutions have successively launched 4K repair plans, from cooperation with foreign institutions to independent repair, and then to the addition of platforms such as iQiyi and Youku, China's 4K repair technology has been greatly developed. In September this year, China's first black-and-white to color 4k restoration film "The Eternal Electric Wave" appeared at the Beijing International Film Festival, which caused strong repercussions from all walks of life.
Traditional old films use film shooting and storage, easy to damage and difficult to preserve, film restoration technology is through technical means to process the film film, restore its original appearance. 4k repair is currently the highest resolution repair technology, with high difficulty coefficient and huge workload. Film restoration work is generally divided into four steps. Physical repair is the cleaning of the surface of the film. Digital repair, the film is converted into digital information, frame by frame to deal with the picture fading, shaking, scratches, color change and other issues, the sound of noise reduction, restoration, soundtrack, synthesis effects and other repair work. Artistic restoration is the correction of the original color restoration, or the grading of the secondary creation. Composite editing is to complete the sound and picture synthesis, make subtitle effects, etc.
Old movies have distinct chronological characteristics, the graininess of the film picture, the tone with a sense of age, the details of the scene costume props, and even the treatment of light and shadow, which must conform to the original artistic style of the film in the process of film restoration.
Sound restoration is also an important part of the restoration process, old films usually use the original mono, now the film uses surround sound, which requires the restorer to coordinate the relationship between the vocals, the environment, background music and sound effects, and sometimes even need to re-dubbing the soundtrack.
Recommended Sumba Music Library Works:
Tiangong Wonderland Audio: 00:00/00:27
Music number: spm-wm-001-4
Music Description: Heavenly Palace, Wonderland, Atmosphere, Game, Atmosphere.
Wind whistle sound off audio: 00:00/00:50
Music number: spm-xj-001-3
Music Description: Autumn Breeze, Dialogue between Kite and Flute.
Due to the huge workload of traditional restoration, AI technology has also been applied to film restoration. AI technology can improve overall work efficiency in simple repairs, greatly saving manpower and time costs.
On October 20 this year, Watermelon Video and Volcano Engine jointly released a 4K restoration of classic works plan, and in the coming year, the two sides will jointly repair 100 classic animations. The first batch of partners include CCTV Animation Group and Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio. At present, six works such as "Black Cat Sheriff", "Hulu Brothers" and "Little Tadpole Finds Mother" have been launched on watermelon video. In addition, Watermelon Video will also open the entrance to provide free AI repair support for ordinary users.
China's 4K film restoration industry started late, and at present, it mainly takes popular old movies and classic unpopular movies as rescue restoration objects. These old films are the collective memories of a generation, they have witnessed the development of Chinese film history, and they are also the best products of the older generation of film creators. Through the restoration of classics through modern high-tech means, so that these precious cultural heritage can be inherited, and re-bloom new brilliance, so that more people can feel the eternal charm of art, this is the value of 4K restoration technology.