Watch restored Fleischer cartoons at www.youtube.com/@FleischerToons/ www.fleischertoons.com Mauricio Alvarado - www.rockinpins.com instagram.com/RockinPins Steve Stanchfield - Thunderbean Animation thunderbeanshop.com/ Film Preservation Associates, Inc. Blackhawk Films - www.fpa-blackhawk.com Mark Kausler - www.imdb.com/name/nm0442483/
I'm curious, would speaking with Kodak like Dustin did at SmarterEveryDay be useful at all with the film restoration process? Kodak knows so much about making film that I'm sure some of their knowledge is invaluable. I'm still watching this entire video but just a thought before I finish watching it in its entirety.
@@dsnitely Obviously, since Kodak essentially invented the medium, beginning with George Eastman's "flexible" celluloid motion picture film, that would be the place to go. If you want the facts, go to the experts. While there is a lot of information on the Internet (some good, a lot not good), it is no substitute for going to the most credible sources. Eastman House is one of them.
now i'm curious about the audio on film after seeing those lines on the side, and wondering how the film projectors back in the day read and played the audio, why audio tape was never invented earlier, or even if people used film projectors for playing music.
Thank you for sharing this. My grandmother was one of the ink girls at Fliescher animation in Miami Beach in the 1930s. I’ve been a fan since I was a kid. These restorations are amazing. I love sharing this stuff with my own son. My grandmother passed away at 101 a 2 years ago.
@@FleischerToons I’ll take a look. We just made a donation of family photos and documents to the Florida archives. There’s at least one letter which mentions the Fleischer family asking after my grandmother after she married my grandfather. There’s also also a program from an animation showing in Miami, maybe 20 years ago, featuring an interview with my grandmother as one of the last surviving employees of the Miami studio. We also have years of her original artwork. Thank you very much for the response. I’ll take a look.
@@jonathanlyons1411 let’s connect! We are focused on highlighting all the amazing people who worked at the studio. Would love to let people know about your grandmothers time at the studio! Amazing
If you can smile while talking about the monotony of your job, in describing the pain-staking process and minute time-consuming details then this is a job you love!
I have wondered; for ones where other prints are not available; have you considered posting 16mm’s or unrestored versions of what you can for people who love the aesthetic that brings?
I'm old enough to remember watching these cartoons on local TV stations, in black and white, back in the 1960s. Then, they were 'only' 40 years old. Even to a little kid, the flow and variety of animation techniques in Fleischer cartoons was mesmerizing to my siblings and I. Even then, the copies that got shown were in rough shape when compared to Warner Brothers and others, but they were somehow more alive. I'm really glad to know they're bring restored, and restored with love.
Years back I wrote a dissertation about remastering animated films to HD, with a particular focus on how Disney were approaching it. Researching about all their colour correction and digital noise reduction and seeing how much they reselling films where they'd just _butchered_ the picture quality... it was pretty depressing.
Exactly!! Their remaster of Cinderella is especially horrible. It looks so needlessly airbrushed, and it loses all the charm of the original. Plus the recoloring to match modern branding is... eugh
Some of their restorations are really good, which always confuses me why they can't get it right all of the time. They have black and white tri-chrome backup prints! That's so clever!!!
It still is depressing... Disney is one of the WORST offenders in this regard. And they also trace a lot of their old work and basically revision the living heck out of it, SO MUCH so they are basically entirely new movies that have nothing in common anymore with the original theatrical releases. And they also censor a lot too.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about film collecting is finding any lost material not found in other archives. (Could be original titles, lost scenes, or full lost cartoons even)
Wow, you are so lucky to have learned from him! Just from watching this, his deep sense of appreciation and care is so inspiring. It's obvious he respects these wonderful artists of the past so much, and also cares tremendously that people in the future don't lose out on the chance to experience it too!
Wow I never knew old cartoons were supposed to look that good, I always just thought the quality we saw was how they were originally drawn. That perspective change of the orphanage at 0:53 is just stunning.
This is the point being driven here. Poor video reproductions from poor 16mm copies are not a true reflection of the original film. The impact of this was always seen during the RARE occasions when Fleischer retrospectives were staged in theaters and real 35mm prints were shown. Unfortunately these screenings were in select cities. So the rest of the country did not have the privilege of seeing the real, or should I say "reel" experience. At the same time, this is a realization of just how much better the technology was than what most people have seen for several decades. So this is the purpose of this mission.
it kinda makes sense that it was the reproduction's fault for having bad quality. Only the original tapes should have the best quality, which are most likely gone or too damaged.
Thanks for making the efforts of Steve Stanchfield go viral. He is one of the true heroes of animation history, the guy who’s in the trenches and doing the actual work that should’ve been done years ago. Ditto for Mark Kausler.
Huge thanks to all the people who do this work. I grew up in the 1950s/60s watching old movies on TV. They'd be poor quality on low-res TVs but we didn't know any better. Now we have high-def TVs and I'll watch a movie on TCM and be blown away by the quality of the image, especially the richness of B&W tones. I may not even care about the movie, I'll just enjoy the image quality ("The Fortune Cookie", for example). We are seeing old movies today that look better than when they were first shown in the theaters. No scratches, no dirt, no breaks, no faded color.
I absolutely love this! I am 54 and hoping to go to uni next year to study animation, it’s always been a dream of mine. I used to go to a children’s club in the 70’s, where they played these old original films on a projector and screen, it was just normal back then, they weren’t seen as anything precious! They gave me a lifetime love of animation. My favourite was “The Calico Dragon”, from 1935, directed by Rudolf Ising. But there were many more. Thank you so much for this, knowing that these precious films are being preserved for the future is wonderful. Now we just need to get people watching them again!
And the point is to make them enjoyable to watch and appreciate their beauty that is lost in poor reproductions. This applies to both the picture and sound, which done right are remarkably good and a tribute to the state of the technology of the time.
You couldn't know how good the timing of this video is!!!! Some weeks ago, I watched a compilation/pseudo-documentary about early animation my mom had saved on her DVR for me at her house, much of which was about Max Fleischer's early work (Folks, regardless of resolution, some of the work is STUNNING!). Any day now I'll be setting up her new cable box which {fingers crossed} is supposed to enable streaming content, and this will be one of the first videos I'll go to in her training of how to navigate RUclips. Blessed be and Happy Yule!
You're seeing the difference between two different prints: an unrestored 16mm print and a restored 35mm print. A true before-after comparison would show only the 35mm print.
Around 25 years ago (or maybe longer) a TV station here in the UK showed a lot of the black and white Fleischer Popeye cartoons, and I remember being amazed at the quality of the animation - no shooting on twos like the made for TV stuff. They were also really funny, made before animation became synonymous with children's entertainment, they were aimed at a general audience. I'd like to see them again.
Up through the '40s (I think) the Motion Picture Exhibitors Association required studios to supply a minimum-six-minute cartoon with every feature, so cartoons had to be made to entertain the whole audience, not just kids. This is per Chuck Jones' book "Chuck Amuck." The result was an amazing body of work in an art form that hadn't existed at all a generation before.
One of the reasons for the fluid animation in Fleischer cartoons is the general policy of animating on ones. But they did use twos and threes at times. Threes and fours were possible as the Inbetweens got closer together. The Production Manual states that as the spacing becomes as close as a pencil line width, increasing exposures to three and four frames could be used to produce an extended "graceful" Cushion to a Hold Pose.
Those restos look so great, they deserve broadcast on TV because they completely overturn the assumption that old toons were fuzzy and rough things. The public needs to know.
I've only ever done audio restoration (lot of fun), so seeing the tools and techniques used to restore video is just incredible. Archivists are the best, I love every second of everything you do guys.
I love the fleischer stuff. I stumbled upon a superman dvd on a discount bin in my early 20s while working at an hmv and was instantly hooked. I grew up seeing Popeye and Betty book but had no idea of the history and the other things they did. The youtube channel has great stuff including educational stuff on physics and relativity as it was understood at the time. Amazing to watch.
My grandad was a cinema projectionist when he was young. He said that he had to quickly repair film by gluing it back together and keep the film running.
Well, that may have been an exaggeration. I was a Projectionist while going to college in the 1970s. It couldn't happen quite like that. And the film wasn't that fragile. Prints held up for multiple showings and could be circulated to other theaters so long as a qualified Projectionist was handling the films. That's why the Unions trained people.
Absolutely fascinating. I am so happy I ran across this video. I have always been interested in early animation and finding and restoring lost films. MANY years ago, when I was about 10 or 12 I wanted to become an animator. Somewhere I still have dozens and dozens of little note pads I used to make flip movies of birds flying, horses running and some much more fantastical characters as well.
i just finished a great semester with steve, and i will tell you all he is exactly like this in class! laidback and enthusiastic about animation, it's really cool seeing him talk about this!
In the mid 70s, I worked for an exhibitor. He had connections to a much more connected gentleman who lent him several Russian Epics and cartoons. He had me cleaning and repairing them just like the man inspecting and repairing the film in the video. All the films were on metal reels. If I came to a section that had all the sprocket holes torn off, I would cut the damaged ares out and splice it back together. If sprocket holes had a split on the outside edge, I'd trim it like he did cutting two 45 deg angles so it wouldn't catch on the sprocket wheels. Very tedious work, and the cleaning fluid required ventilation. He never did let me sit and watch them though. They looked interesting with casts of literally hundreds or thousands of extras.
I've always loved the Fleischer Superman and Popeye cartoons, they just have such beautiful color and animation styles to them that you don't see today. I grew up watching reruns of them in the 80s and its a joy to see them being restored so lovingly and preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Absolutely amazing! Who could believe that they get something so great out of poor copies of old films? I grew up watching those junky copies, and now I’m looking forward to viewing them as they were meant to be seen. Thank goodness for people like this.
This would be one of the few things I'd pay a slight premium on. Obviously a ton of work goes into this and the content is something I want to see in its original state.
Really enjoyed the video. I just watched one of the restorations and was blown away by not just the quality of the animation but also the sound. Wish you'd gotten more into that side but wow.
Steve Stanchfield is the master of this niche. On top of his array of talents, he's also by far the kindest and most honest person one could know or work with in this field. I'm proud to have Steve as a personal friend, and honored to have him overseeing the Cartoons On Film label's restorations as well.
@@alanness7611 Certain people elbow their way into this 'really cool' niche seeking fame and fortune, and there's practically none of either to be had. It's a feeble attempt at opportunistic entrepreneurship. Then there are people like Steve, who are genuine and continuously laboring over a lifelong passion. Pursuing a true calling. Creatives like Steve are the salt of the earth.
Wow! I started scanning films earlier this year with a scanner built with 3D printed parts. This video is inspiring because handling film is real. It’s a physical thing that turns into something visual. Amazing to see top end equipment being used and the amazing results you’re getting. Thank you for saving these classics. What is interesting to me is that people watch scanned films and have no idea how those images came to be a video. And tp the commenter who said he was casually unrolling the film onto a table, the table was clean, he was wearing gloves, and when you roll it back onto the reel it never gets tangled. It’s experience in play. Incidentally, early projectors took film off of a reel and dropped it into a large can that looked like a trash can. It was then rewound back onto the reel.
This was really insightful. I'm a big fan of the Fleischers cartoons and I feel good knowing that their legacy is in safe hands with your responsible restoration efforts
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! Especially how they discuss not cleaning it up too much. They could vectorize it and add extra frames and blah blah blah, but it would lose the character of what it is.
awwwww yisss, PLEASE make more "How it's done" sorts of vids! Showing off how unusual arts are pulled off! Restoration is SUPER interesting to me, and I know so little about it. Similarly to the 3D scan of Adam's compact manual computer, there MUST be people out there doing jobs that would be super interesting to investigate and bring to a wider audience. This is just such a great thing - it's Cinema Magic! And what could be more on-brand for Adam and Tested?? :)
The fact that you guys are covering this is so kind and appreciated! Animation deserves more love and so do these amazing ppl who work so hard to preserve its history
Wow, what a great insight! Love seeing Steve's enthusiasm and passion for the restroom process, including the way that modern technology is helping to preserve things that would otherwise be lost to time. And the fact that he practically smiles all the time he's speaking - it's infectious!
What a treat it is to see this restoration process. I love to see old and rare films get new life like this. Everyone go check out your local arthouse theater!
I have no doubt whatsoever that Nicolas was thrilled to have his work shown, appreciated, and recognized. But I also have a feeling he would have been happier if people were watching and talking over his shoulder for so long while he was (presumably actually) working. All of that aside, this is a beautifully constructed look at the detailed work these art restorers.
Great to see people who are really helping to preserve the historic past for future generations. They obviously love what they do and are very skilled at doing it! You people are doing a truly worthwhile job!! 🌟🌟🌟
Not just film, but so much TV has been lost to time after original broadcast. The World's longest running sci-fi show - DOCTOR WHO - is missing 96 x 25 minute episodes from the 1960s. The BBC used 16mm prints to distribute the show around the world. Some may still be out there in private collectors hands, or possibly in tv archives, but fewer and fewer discoveries are happening now we're so far removed from those broadcasts. Bringing this to the public's attention is great news for all.
Adam, I really appreciated this video as a look into the Lasergraphic scanning process. Several years ago, I connected with a lab that takes amateur films for my family’s 16mm home movies and my wife’s family 8mm films, both going back to the early 50’s. The lab uses a Lasergraphics scanner, and the resulting 2K files, once I learned rudimentary color grading in Final Cut Pro, were amazing. This video was a neat look for us behind the scenes, and I wish the folks involved in the Max Fleischer restoration all the best in their efforts.
Those restored films are amazing. In addition to clean up of dust and dirt there is colour correction. I'm amazed by how crisp are the cleaned up images.
I was so afraid by the title and the first few frames this would be one it those poppy clout chasing animation history videos, but instead this is a caring and amazing look at restoration that is saving American cultural history and a brilliant industry look at the process of saving an actual 100 year old film. So glad I clicked. This is what fantastic content is.
A question unrelated to the video. I would like to know the brand of the keyboard that it works with (apparently lemon colored) since it is the first time I have seen a keyboard like that.
I always wanted to learn how to clean films so much history watching these films being watched and now they're learning to preserve them for years to come.
I first herd about film restoration and salvation in the documentary WHEN COMEDY WAS KING. That was about 1959. It's good to know that somebody is out there trying to save the old stuff.
This is great for many reasons. But I think best reason is that these creators from years ago who wrote and had passion for their work isn't lost media and can continue to get the love it deserves. Cool video. ^_^
19:30 I wonder if he could be talking about maybe possibly Disney getting him to restore the theatrical cuts of the Star Wars trilogy? And maybe one day they could release them on Disney+ as part of their vintage Star Wars library? That’s the first thing that came to mind. What other series owned by a big studio could he be talking about that’s so secretive?
Hey guys, mr. Stanchfield just happens to be my elder cousin an he's always been someone who I looked up to. His mannerisms an his wealth of information when it comes to film comes from a life long passion that he has for it. I remember being at our Cottage when I was very little, and my big cousin Steve would bring his projector and all his cool cartoons and we would spend the evenings watching old Popeye cartoons. I think my favorite was the pincushion man, a horrifying cartoon at today's standards but it was pretty cool when I was a kid
Good to see Mark Kausler. I’ve worked with him on several animation projects throughout the years. He was an old timer when I started in animation. Now I’m an old timer. Maybe I should bring them our family’s original 16mm Mickey Mouse film from 1932, The Grocery Boy to have them restore.
There are so many films that I wish would be restored. Fashions of 1934 would be a good one. Also taking the color information from the colorized 42nd Street would be awesome
This is awesome. Beautiful work and love for the material. I agree that the good picture but that magical tone and feel of actual historical film in its nostalgic form is wonderful. So many projects that are in need of restoration by passionate and knowledgeable enthusiastic artists like this. Thank you. The work we do here is for the future generations to cherish and enjoy with warmth and passion. It is like the Pharaohs speech accidentally recorded on the stone slab being cut by the giant rotating sawblades through the micro vibrations in the air getting onto the stone. When the archaeologists get the AI enhanced gear to find these tidbits of information it will be awesome. But it requires experts and the tools for restoration with as much enthusiasm as these people.
Okay I had to read that last bit three times.. and then my mind exploded. Is this an “official” thing? Or are you imagining it? Because either way holy crap this needs to be pursued. 😱
“AI enhanced gear” seems like an arbitrary caveat though, ultimately it’s whatever technology and machinery works. And humans hopefully will be making and guiding it. Otherwise.. who/what is it all for?
@@juliettedemaso7588 There are many caveats to my theory. The surface must have been cut in one swoop, it must not have been polished afterwards, it must not have been exposed for any considerable amount of time, and the tiny micro or even nano tracks must be able to be interpreted, and translated in a meaningful way by the tools capable of finding any such pattern. But yes, I think this can be a thing in rare circumstances. The AI tools are used by humans for humans, that is why they are called tools. Thank you.
Since the industry went digital, the film labs closed, and the profession of the film lab technician has disappeared. These were the people who processed film. Only a few labs exist for special orders and preservation.
That's leader film, meant to be handled unravelled for threading and checking the beginning of the real footage. It's not the cartoon footage further into the roll. These are professionals handling the material.
Angle cutting of sprockets is something I’ve done with 16mm prints - it is far safer this way as it still allows the claw to pull the film without damage.
I truly appreciate any & all efforts made by all peeps out there that take on these types of monotonous detailed tasks of film archive restoration… there was such a massive amount of various things recorded on film-stock back in the day that I’d bet it’d take many multiple establishments like this, working 24/7/365 for the next 100 years to accomplish restoring all that still exists out there! That said, it’d be super sweet if the costs involved for these processes to be more affordable to us average joe’s who posses whatever vintage/antique film-stock, to be able to affordably send said film too companies like this, for an excellent quality digitized restoration archive backup of our originals, regardless if still pictures, slides, motion, slide-film &/or, physical framing scales/dimensions…. Someday, hopefully this will be the case!
Fleischer was as big a genius as Disney, maybe bigger. I remember seeing as a child his take on Gulliver's travels and being completely enraptured by it.
Watch restored Fleischer cartoons at www.youtube.com/@FleischerToons/
www.fleischertoons.com
Mauricio Alvarado - www.rockinpins.com instagram.com/RockinPins
Steve Stanchfield - Thunderbean Animation thunderbeanshop.com/
Film Preservation Associates, Inc. Blackhawk Films - www.fpa-blackhawk.com
Mark Kausler - www.imdb.com/name/nm0442483/
Awesome video!
I'm curious, would speaking with Kodak like Dustin did at SmarterEveryDay be useful at all with the film restoration process? Kodak knows so much about making film that I'm sure some of their knowledge is invaluable. I'm still watching this entire video but just a thought before I finish watching it in its entirety.
@@dsnitely Obviously, since Kodak essentially invented the medium, beginning with George Eastman's "flexible" celluloid motion picture film, that would be the place to go. If you want the facts, go to the experts. While there is a lot of information on the Internet (some good, a lot not good), it is no substitute for going to the most credible sources. Eastman House is one of them.
thanks for the quick info. :)
now i'm curious about the audio on film after seeing those lines on the side, and wondering how the film projectors back in the day read and played the audio, why audio tape was never invented earlier, or even if people used film projectors for playing music.
Thank you for sharing this. My grandmother was one of the ink girls at Fliescher animation in Miami Beach in the 1930s. I’ve been a fan since I was a kid. These restorations are amazing. I love sharing this stuff with my own son. My grandmother passed away at 101 a 2 years ago.
We have a full behind the scenes video of the Florida Fleischer Studios on our channel. Maybe your grandma is there!
@@FleischerToons I’ll take a look. We just made a donation of family photos and documents to the Florida archives. There’s at least one letter which mentions the Fleischer family asking after my grandmother after she married my grandfather. There’s also also a program from an animation showing in Miami, maybe 20 years ago, featuring an interview with my grandmother as one of the last surviving employees of the Miami studio. We also have years of her original artwork.
Thank you very much for the response. I’ll take a look.
@@jonathanlyons1411 let’s connect! We are focused on highlighting all the amazing people who worked at the studio. Would love to let people know about your grandmothers time at the studio! Amazing
@@FleischerToons I’d love that!
@@FleischerToons wow, RUclips comment sections can actually connect people irl??? Wtf
I love how, while discussing how rare and fragile the film is, he's just casually unraveling it into a pile.
Haha, reminds me of ruclips.net/video/pnsizkVjGm8/видео.html
hahaha true
Better than folding it
lol
It’s fine to do that if you’re very experienced in film handling. What’s not actually as common is using white gloves.
If you can smile while talking about the monotony of your job, in describing the pain-staking process and minute time-consuming details then this is a job you love!
You can just hear the passion in his voice and see it in his eyes
Dreams are made when one can make a living doing what they love
It's the same working in the animation field. As as was stated here, having an animation background is helpful in doing this work.
Thank you Tested team!!!🎞️💜
I have wondered; for ones where other prints are not available; have you considered posting 16mm’s or unrestored versions of what you can for people who love the aesthetic that brings?
@ yes they’re on our RUclips channel!
I'm old enough to remember watching these cartoons on local TV stations, in black and white, back in the 1960s. Then, they were 'only' 40 years old. Even to a little kid, the flow and variety of animation techniques in Fleischer cartoons was mesmerizing to my siblings and I. Even then, the copies that got shown were in rough shape when compared to Warner Brothers and others, but they were somehow more alive. I'm really glad to know they're bring restored, and restored with love.
The Warner brothers cartoons where in horrible condition in the 60s and 70s .The frames where dirty the color was bad
@@nightisright1873 No doubt, but the Fleischer's were, in my recollection, worse. They were typically older, too.
As a kid I didn't like the look of many of the old 30's and 40's cartoons. Now, here, seeing how they look restored, they look great. So much better.
@@dbfry1449 они выглядят слишком резко, компьютерно, безжизненно, по-цифровому. В них нет души.
Wait.. In 60's you have 40??
So.. Now 2023 at least you will have 103 years old??
Years back I wrote a dissertation about remastering animated films to HD, with a particular focus on how Disney were approaching it. Researching about all their colour correction and digital noise reduction and seeing how much they reselling films where they'd just _butchered_ the picture quality... it was pretty depressing.
Exactly!! Their remaster of Cinderella is especially horrible. It looks so needlessly airbrushed, and it loses all the charm of the original. Plus the recoloring to match modern branding is... eugh
Is there a chance to be able to read your dissertation, please? It sounds fascinating!
I'm not surprised to hear that they screwed that up. They worship the god of shareholder value.
Some of their restorations are really good, which always confuses me why they can't get it right all of the time.
They have black and white tri-chrome backup prints! That's so clever!!!
It still is depressing... Disney is one of the WORST offenders in this regard. And they also trace a lot of their old work and basically revision the living heck out of it, SO MUCH so they are basically entirely new movies that have nothing in common anymore with the original theatrical releases. And they also censor a lot too.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about film collecting is finding any lost material not found in other archives. (Could be original titles, lost scenes, or full lost cartoons even)
That’s what makes this so much fun!
So right! I actually have reel 1 (the first 20 minutes) of a movie called "Detective School Dropouts" which I can't find anything else on.
Steve was one of my animation professors, great guy, loves animation and his passion and energy is infectious haha!
Same, learned so much from him!
I also had him as a professor. His class on the history of animation was unique and was a highlight of my day.
Wow, you are so lucky to have learned from him! Just from watching this, his deep sense of appreciation and care is so inspiring. It's obvious he respects these wonderful artists of the past so much, and also cares tremendously that people in the future don't lose out on the chance to experience it too!
Funny because he reminds me of my animation teacher a lot. Same mannerisms!
Wow I never knew old cartoons were supposed to look that good, I always just thought the quality we saw was how they were originally drawn. That perspective change of the orphanage at 0:53 is just stunning.
This is the point being driven here. Poor video reproductions from poor 16mm copies are not a true reflection of the original film. The impact of this was always seen during the RARE occasions when Fleischer retrospectives were staged in theaters and real 35mm prints were shown. Unfortunately these screenings were in select cities. So the rest of the country did not have the privilege of seeing the real, or should I say "reel" experience. At the same time, this is a realization of just how much better the technology was than what most people have seen for several decades. So this is the purpose of this mission.
That’s a physical model filmed in stop motion.
It makes it look so modern
it kinda makes sense that it was the reproduction's fault for having bad quality. Only the original tapes should have the best quality, which are most likely gone or too damaged.
@@misham6547 Agree, looks so modern. If you don't know it is old, you'll never think it is.
Thanks for making the efforts of Steve Stanchfield go viral. He is one of the true heroes of animation history, the guy who’s in the trenches and doing the actual work that should’ve been done years ago. Ditto for Mark Kausler.
And thank you Thad for being part of our restoration team! 🍻
Huge thanks to all the people who do this work. I grew up in the 1950s/60s watching old movies on TV. They'd be poor quality on low-res TVs but we didn't know any better. Now we have high-def TVs and I'll watch a movie on TCM and be blown away by the quality of the image, especially the richness of B&W tones. I may not even care about the movie, I'll just enjoy the image quality ("The Fortune Cookie", for example). We are seeing old movies today that look better than when they were first shown in the theaters. No scratches, no dirt, no breaks, no faded color.
These animators ought to be preserved in the highest regard. They brought entertainment through a painstaking art.
Yes, that is one the the major reasons for this.
I didn't realize how high of a quality some of these originals were. Happy about this effort to restore.
I absolutely love this! I am 54 and hoping to go to uni next year to study animation, it’s always been a dream of mine. I used to go to a children’s club in the 70’s, where they played these old original films on a projector and screen, it was just normal back then, they weren’t seen as anything precious! They gave me a lifetime love of animation. My favourite was “The Calico Dragon”, from 1935, directed by Rudolf Ising. But there were many more.
Thank you so much for this, knowing that these precious films are being preserved for the future is wonderful. Now we just need to get people watching them again!
It's amazing seeing old films being restored and then being made available for people to watch again.
And the point is to make them enjoyable to watch and appreciate their beauty that is lost in poor reproductions. This applies to both the picture and sound, which done right are remarkably good and a tribute to the state of the technology of the time.
You couldn't know how good the timing of this video is!!!! Some weeks ago, I watched a compilation/pseudo-documentary about early animation my mom had saved on her DVR for me at her house, much of which was about Max Fleischer's early work (Folks, regardless of resolution, some of the work is STUNNING!). Any day now I'll be setting up her new cable box which {fingers crossed} is supposed to enable streaming content, and this will be one of the first videos I'll go to in her training of how to navigate RUclips.
Blessed be and Happy Yule!
The clarity and detail difference between the original and the restoration is insane. Looks like new =o
Probably better than new
You're seeing the difference between two different prints: an unrestored 16mm print and a restored 35mm print. A true before-after comparison would show only the 35mm print.
Now THIS is good content. Lovely work being done over at Blackhawk. Thanks for covering it, Tested and Norm!
This is awesome, and it’s so great to see Norm in front of the camera after a few weeks!
Around 25 years ago (or maybe longer) a TV station here in the UK showed a lot of the black and white Fleischer Popeye cartoons, and I remember being amazed at the quality of the animation - no shooting on twos like the made for TV stuff. They were also really funny, made before animation became synonymous with children's entertainment, they were aimed at a general audience. I'd like to see them again.
The Internet Archive has tons of the old cartoons and animations. Definately worth a look
Up through the '40s (I think) the Motion Picture Exhibitors Association required studios to supply a minimum-six-minute cartoon with every feature, so cartoons had to be made to entertain the whole audience, not just kids. This is per Chuck Jones' book "Chuck Amuck." The result was an amazing body of work in an art form that hadn't existed at all a generation before.
One of the reasons for the fluid animation in Fleischer cartoons is the general policy of animating on ones. But they did use twos and threes at times. Threes and fours were possible as the Inbetweens got closer together. The Production Manual states that as the spacing becomes as close as a pencil line width, increasing exposures to three and four frames could be used to produce an extended "graceful" Cushion to a Hold Pose.
Those restos look so great, they deserve broadcast on TV because they completely overturn the assumption that old toons were fuzzy and rough things. The public needs to know.
I've only ever done audio restoration (lot of fun), so seeing the tools and techniques used to restore video is just incredible. Archivists are the best, I love every second of everything you do guys.
It's insane how detailed each frame was after being cleaned
Yes, it's a meticulous process, requiring one to go through frame-by-frame in the same manner as shooting the cartoon was in a general sense.
I love the fleischer stuff. I stumbled upon a superman dvd on a discount bin in my early 20s while working at an hmv and was instantly hooked. I grew up seeing Popeye and Betty book but had no idea of the history and the other things they did. The youtube channel has great stuff including educational stuff on physics and relativity as it was understood at the time. Amazing to watch.
It's a fascinating history. In fact it's been written about. Check RUclips.
Absolutely the best segment I saw on this channel in a long time! Thank you
"Accessibility is everything." Really some words to live by.
Very interesting video! I'd love to see more of these sorts of "industry visits" type videos on the channel.
My grandad was a cinema projectionist when he was young. He said that he had to quickly repair film by gluing it back together and keep the film running.
Well, that may have been an exaggeration. I was a Projectionist while going to college in the 1970s. It couldn't happen quite like that. And the film wasn't that fragile. Prints held up for multiple showings and could be circulated to other theaters so long as a qualified Projectionist was handling the films. That's why the Unions trained people.
@@RayPointerChannelMaybe the film was polyester? The wonderful material that when something sticks, ruins the movie and projector.
That is amazing! Thank you, Norm and crew for a real joy!
Always enjoyable to see someone so passionate about what they do.
Absolutely fascinating. I am so happy I ran across this video. I have always been interested in early animation and finding and restoring lost films. MANY years ago, when I was about 10 or 12 I wanted to become an animator. Somewhere I still have dozens and dozens of little note pads I used to make flip movies of birds flying, horses running and some much more fantastical characters as well.
I enjoy watching Film Restorations as much as I enjoy watching the Films. Thank you for this video.
Mark Kausler, the guy with long hair there, is a pretty incredible animator in his own right
i just finished a great semester with steve, and i will tell you all he is exactly like this in class! laidback and enthusiastic about animation, it's really cool seeing him talk about this!
In the mid 70s, I worked for an exhibitor.
He had connections to a much more connected gentleman who lent him several Russian Epics and cartoons.
He had me cleaning and repairing them just like the man inspecting and repairing the film in the video.
All the films were on metal reels. If I came to a section that had all the sprocket holes torn off, I would cut the damaged ares out and splice it back together. If sprocket holes had a split on the outside edge, I'd trim it like he did cutting two 45 deg angles so it wouldn't catch on the sprocket wheels. Very tedious work, and the cleaning fluid required ventilation.
He never did let me sit and watch them though. They looked interesting with casts of literally hundreds or thousands of extras.
This is awesome! So interesting. I had no idea they could look this good again. 👏👏👏
They can if you can access original printing elements.
I've always loved the Fleischer Superman and Popeye cartoons, they just have such beautiful color and animation styles to them that you don't see today. I grew up watching reruns of them in the 80s and its a joy to see them being restored so lovingly and preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Absolutely amazing! Who could believe that they get something so great out of poor copies of old films? I grew up watching those junky copies, and now I’m looking forward to viewing them as they were meant to be seen.
Thank goodness for people like this.
Seeing old toons like this restored brings a tear of joy to this lady’s eye.
Wow I love these old cartoons, it’s amazing to see them so crisp and vibrant!
Kudos to the people who help preserve past history.
Media archival is such an artsy industry. Specialty Archivists like these really are passionate about their craft.
Thanks for sharing this, Norm. This was fabulous.
This would be one of the few things I'd pay a slight premium on. Obviously a ton of work goes into this and the content is something I want to see in its original state.
One of the pleasures of this channel is meeting people who express such passion in what they do. Always inspiring to watch!
Really enjoyed the video. I just watched one of the restorations and was blown away by not just the quality of the animation but also the sound. Wish you'd gotten more into that side but wow.
Just amazing! Thanks for sharing this video!
Steve Stanchfield is the master of this niche. On top of his array of talents, he's also by far the kindest and most honest person one could know or work with in this field. I'm proud to have Steve as a personal friend, and honored to have him overseeing the Cartoons On Film label's restorations as well.
His love of film is...visibly pure.
Amen.
@@alanness7611 Certain people elbow their way into this 'really cool' niche seeking fame and fortune, and there's practically none of either to be had. It's a feeble attempt at opportunistic entrepreneurship. Then there are people like Steve, who are genuine and continuously laboring over a lifelong passion. Pursuing a true calling. Creatives like Steve are the salt of the earth.
And that’s the truth, Tommy!
Wow! I started scanning films earlier this year with a scanner built with 3D printed parts. This video is inspiring because handling film is real. It’s a physical thing that turns into something visual. Amazing to see top end equipment being used and the amazing results you’re getting. Thank you for saving these classics. What is interesting to me is that people watch scanned films and have no idea how those images came to be a video. And tp the commenter who said he was casually unrolling the film onto a table, the table was clean, he was wearing gloves, and when you roll it back onto the reel it never gets tangled. It’s experience in play. Incidentally, early projectors took film off of a reel and dropped it into a large can that looked like a trash can. It was then rewound back onto the reel.
This was really insightful. I'm a big fan of the Fleischers cartoons and I feel good knowing that their legacy is in safe hands with your responsible restoration efforts
Awesome look at old film restoration and digitization.
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! Especially how they discuss not cleaning it up too much. They could vectorize it and add extra frames and blah blah blah, but it would lose the character of what it is.
awwwww yisss, PLEASE make more "How it's done" sorts of vids! Showing off how unusual arts are pulled off! Restoration is SUPER interesting to me, and I know so little about it. Similarly to the 3D scan of Adam's compact manual computer, there MUST be people out there doing jobs that would be super interesting to investigate and bring to a wider audience. This is just such a great thing - it's Cinema Magic! And what could be more on-brand for Adam and Tested?? :)
The fact that you guys are covering this is so kind and appreciated! Animation deserves more love and so do these amazing ppl who work so hard to preserve its history
Thanks for making this video! So cool to see passionate people caring about old animation restoration.
Wow, what a great insight! Love seeing Steve's enthusiasm and passion for the restroom process, including the way that modern technology is helping to preserve things that would otherwise be lost to time. And the fact that he practically smiles all the time he's speaking - it's infectious!
What a treat it is to see this restoration process. I love to see old and rare films get new life like this. Everyone go check out your local arthouse theater!
That's incredible! This is a very important thing to preserve film history. Beautiful
I have no doubt whatsoever that Nicolas was thrilled to have his work shown, appreciated, and recognized. But I also have a feeling he would have been happier if people were watching and talking over his shoulder for so long while he was (presumably actually) working.
All of that aside, this is a beautifully constructed look at the detailed work these art restorers.
Great to see people who are really helping to preserve the historic past for future generations. They obviously love what they do and are very skilled at doing it! You people are doing a truly worthwhile job!! 🌟🌟🌟
i grew up watching fleischer's Superman and popeye cartoons on DVDs! crazy to finally learn where they came from!
You grew up with DVDs? You must be young.
@@uncled39 i’m 21!
You can see the joy that this brings to Steve Staunchfield because his smile never leaves his face.
Steve Stanchfield is truly the patron saint of lost cartoons.
Not just film, but so much TV has been lost to time after original broadcast. The World's longest running sci-fi show - DOCTOR WHO - is missing 96 x 25 minute episodes from the 1960s. The BBC used 16mm prints to distribute the show around the world. Some may still be out there in private collectors hands, or possibly in tv archives, but fewer and fewer discoveries are happening now we're so far removed from those broadcasts. Bringing this to the public's attention is great news for all.
Absolutely amazing! I love that these guys are caring for the old Fleischer cartoons.
Adam, I really appreciated this video as a look into the Lasergraphic scanning process. Several years ago, I connected with a lab that takes amateur films for my family’s 16mm home movies and my wife’s family 8mm films, both going back to the early 50’s. The lab uses a Lasergraphics scanner, and the resulting 2K files, once I learned rudimentary color grading in Final Cut Pro, were amazing. This video was a neat look for us behind the scenes, and I wish the folks involved in the Max Fleischer restoration all the best in their efforts.
You can see the love they have for film. Love it!!! Great little video!
Those restored films are amazing. In addition to clean up of dust and dirt there is colour correction. I'm amazed by how crisp are the cleaned up images.
the work done by this company is truly special, for me the history of film is very important.
I love this video so much. Seeing physical media come to life again is wonderful.
I was so afraid by the title and the first few frames this would be one it those poppy clout chasing animation history videos, but instead this is a caring and amazing look at restoration that is saving American cultural history and a brilliant industry look at the process of saving an actual 100 year old film. So glad I clicked. This is what fantastic content is.
I love how they're scanning the film on a $1M+ scanner, and then fixing dust and scratches on a 10-year old iMac.
Business on the front, budget cuts on the back
Not good.
Hahaha! I saw that too.
A question unrelated to the video. I would like to know the brand of the keyboard that it works with (apparently lemon colored) since it is the first time I have seen a keyboard like that.
I always wanted to learn how to clean films so much history watching these films being watched and now they're learning to preserve them for years to come.
0:54 anyone notice that original is spelt wrong
Nice Video thanks for sharing norm sir and very happy christmas.
Super interesting! Would love to watch more of this project
Check out our channel for more Fleischer cartoons!
This kind of stuff is totally my jam! More film restoration videos please!
Thanks sir Max Fleischer for pioneering animation and thus paving the way for Astro Boy and the first anime.
God bless.
I first herd about film restoration and salvation in the documentary WHEN COMEDY WAS KING. That was about 1959. It's good to know that somebody is out there trying to save the old stuff.
This is great for many reasons. But I think best reason is that these creators from years ago who wrote and had passion for their work isn't lost media and can continue to get the love it deserves. Cool video. ^_^
19:30 I wonder if he could be talking about maybe possibly Disney getting him to restore the theatrical cuts of the Star Wars trilogy? And maybe one day they could release them on Disney+ as part of their vintage Star Wars library? That’s the first thing that came to mind. What other series owned by a big studio could he be talking about that’s so secretive?
This reminds me of the "how people make things" videos that Mister Rogers used to show on Picture Picture
Shoutouts to Fleischer restorations! 🎉
That crispness and stability brings the animation to a new level. I couldn't believe how it looked.
I had no idea anyone was working on this. This is important work!
Yes indeed, look up Thunderbean and Cartoons On Film’s restoration projects
Holy crap that was amazing. Thank you.
This was awesome! I’d love to see the process for digitizing and restoring the optical soundtrack band.
Hey guys, mr. Stanchfield just happens to be my elder cousin an he's always been someone who I looked up to. His mannerisms an his wealth of information when it comes to film comes from a life long passion that he has for it. I remember being at our Cottage when I was very little, and my big cousin Steve would bring his projector and all his cool cartoons and we would spend the evenings watching old Popeye cartoons. I think my favorite was the pincushion man, a horrifying cartoon at today's standards but it was pretty cool when I was a kid
I loved those years and still think about running all those old movies!
Good to see Mark Kausler. I’ve worked with him on several animation projects throughout the years. He was an old timer when I started in animation.
Now I’m an old timer.
Maybe I should bring them our family’s original 16mm Mickey Mouse film from 1932, The Grocery Boy to have them restore.
Loved seeing and hearing about this 👍🏼 thank you 🤘🏼🇺🇲
I LOVE Max Flesicher cartoons
There are so many films that I wish would be restored. Fashions of 1934 would be a good one. Also taking the color information from the colorized 42nd Street would be awesome
I had a VHS copy of this growing, up. The nostalgia hit hard just now!
This is awesome. Beautiful work and love for the material. I agree that the good picture but that magical tone and feel of actual historical film in its nostalgic form is wonderful. So many projects that are in need of restoration by passionate and knowledgeable enthusiastic artists like this. Thank you. The work we do here is for the future generations to cherish and enjoy with warmth and passion.
It is like the Pharaohs speech accidentally recorded on the stone slab being cut by the giant rotating sawblades through the micro vibrations in the air getting onto the stone. When the archaeologists get the AI enhanced gear to find these tidbits of information it will be awesome. But it requires experts and the tools for restoration with as much enthusiasm as these people.
Okay I had to read that last bit three times.. and then my mind exploded. Is this an “official” thing? Or are you imagining it? Because either way holy crap this needs to be pursued. 😱
“AI enhanced gear” seems like an arbitrary caveat though, ultimately it’s whatever technology and machinery works. And humans hopefully will be making and guiding it. Otherwise.. who/what is it all for?
@@juliettedemaso7588 There are many caveats to my theory. The surface must have been cut in one swoop, it must not have been polished afterwards, it must not have been exposed for any considerable amount of time, and the tiny micro or even nano tracks must be able to be interpreted, and translated in a meaningful way by the tools capable of finding any such pattern. But yes, I think this can be a thing in rare circumstances. The AI tools are used by humans for humans, that is why they are called tools. Thank you.
In my opinion the guys who process film are the real artists. This type of stuff is so cool.
Since the industry went digital, the film labs closed, and the profession of the film lab technician has disappeared. These were the people who processed film. Only a few labs exist for special orders and preservation.
@4:00 "look at this damaged film" *throws the film all over the metal case*
That's leader film, meant to be handled unravelled for threading and checking the beginning of the real footage. It's not the cartoon footage further into the roll. These are professionals handling the material.
Angle cutting of sprockets is something I’ve done with 16mm prints - it is far safer this way as it still allows the claw to pull the film without damage.
I truly appreciate any & all efforts made by all peeps out there that take on these types of monotonous detailed tasks of film archive restoration… there was such a massive amount of various things recorded on film-stock back in the day that I’d bet it’d take many multiple establishments like this, working 24/7/365 for the next 100 years to accomplish restoring all that still exists out there! That said, it’d be super sweet if the costs involved for these processes to be more affordable to us average joe’s who posses whatever vintage/antique film-stock, to be able to affordably send said film too companies like this, for an excellent quality digitized restoration archive backup of our originals, regardless if still pictures, slides, motion, slide-film &/or, physical framing scales/dimensions…. Someday, hopefully this will be the case!
Fleischer was as big a genius as Disney, maybe bigger. I remember seeing as a child his take on Gulliver's travels and being completely enraptured by it.