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08-21-2004, 06:49 PM
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#1 of 38 
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Weird stripe down the middle of the screen on "Goodfellas" SE
In the scene (1:16:36) where Jimmie and Paulie are trying to convince Henry to go back to Karen, there's a scratch down the middle of the screen that lasts for 5 seconds. I popped in the original DVD release of the movie and saw that it was there too (I guess I was less observant back then, or more accepting of such things). Obviously, this is a problem with source material; but why wasn't something done to remove it? Is it that certian defects just can't be removed without making it look worse? I only ask because I saw a promo for the "Yellow Submarine" DVD when it came out. They had a side to side comparison of what the movie looked like before and after the restoration, and the difference was astounding. I was almost under the impression that no flaw was unfixable in this day and age.
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08-21-2004, 07:05 PM
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#2 of 38
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This was mentioned in the SE thread. It's apparently also on the laserdisc. I'm surprised they don't fix these obvious flaws too, but I'm guessing that the "fix" for certain types of flaws would be just as jarring as the flaw in a different way, and a cut is out of the question. Not to be compared with a restoration, which still often have small flaws, but vastly improved overall looks. Probably Robert Harris could give you a very good answer if you could attract his eye...
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08-21-2004, 07:53 PM
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#3 of 38
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To remove dirt from frames in a video transfer, special DVNR programs are used that compare "before" and "after" frames to the frame with the defect, and the program can then figure out what picture information is supposed to be in the spot where the one frame has dirt and can then create "new" picture information to fill in the flaw.
In the case of a scratch traveling down the frame for an extended period of time (most likely a scratch in the original negative, and thus would be printed onto every version of GOODFELLAS in existance), there are no "before and after" frames to compare it to to fill in the gap. Essentially, it's pretty easy to fix something like a piece of dirt (even big ones) that are only on one frame, since the computer has readily available "clean" before and after frames to compare it to in order to figure out what picture information should fill in the defect, but if the problem occurs in several frames in succession (and like a scratch travels down the ENTIRE frame), there's really nothing you can do about it.
Vincent
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08-21-2004, 08:08 PM
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#4 of 38
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Patrick J. McCart
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Vertical scratches are usually extremely hard to remove.
Even the digital restorations of Metropolis and Citizen Kane retain some of these, despite pretty much every other type of scar being eradicated.
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08-21-2004, 08:25 PM
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#5 of 38
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Motion Picture Archivist
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As Patrick M said, vertical scratches are very hard to remove automatically.
They must be fixed via pixel cloning, as was done for Secretary, in which an entire reel had to be digitally fixed for a scratch.
RAH
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08-21-2004, 08:43 PM
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#6 of 38
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If they can remove the wires from every wire-fu movie, why couldn't five seconds of a movie be cleaned is beyond me. Even an entry level Photoshop user would be able to do such a fix.
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08-21-2004, 09:14 PM
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#7 of 38
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Quote:
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there are no "before and after" frames to compare it to to fill in the gap.
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Especially in the instance of Goodfellas, since the line shows up JUST as they cut to DeNiro, and is there for that entire shot. there's no frames of that shot that DON'T have the line on there.
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If they can remove the wires from every wire-fu movie, why couldn't five seconds of a movie be cleaned is beyond me.
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That's a little different. That's something they do DURING post production of a movie before it gets to duping, I believe. In this case, this is a scratch on the film LONG after the fact. It's not a case of them erasing something before they composite it or anything like that.
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08-21-2004, 09:55 PM
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#8 of 38
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Well, there's really no reason why they couldn't have had someone put in the missing information once the picture was digitally transferred. Having said that, it probably wouldn't have looked too good - that was one heck of a thick scratch.
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08-21-2004, 09:59 PM
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#9 of 38
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It is hard to fix those vertical scratches ON FILM. But there are digital restoration artists that could have fixed this on a relatively low budget. It wouldn't have fixed the film elements but it could have fixed the digital master for the DVD.
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08-21-2004, 10:03 PM
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#10 of 38
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I have no idea how difficult it would have been to remove the scratch, but it is pretty jarring. Before I watched the disc I read about the complaints in the other thread and thought to myself "sometimes people just whine too much about minor scratches in DVD transfer". Then I saw the scene for myself, and I have to say that it's pretty bad and extremely distracting.
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