Film Restoration at ARRI Media Berlin: an Interview with Philip Orgassa and Linh Nguyen

Following Wim Wenders’ presentation about his film foundation at the 2017 Film:ReStored_02. The Film Heritage Festival (click here for the full report), we were curious to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of colour grading and film restorations. Philip Orgassa and Linh Nguyen from ARRI Media have both worked on Wenders’ recent restorations. In this email interview for The Peeping Archivist, they go into further detail about their roles and discuss what digital restoration actually involves!

As Lead Colorist at ARRI Media, Philip Orgassa colour grades a variety of different formats, including commercials, feature films, the restoration of some of Wim Wenders’ old movies, streaming series, music videos, and documentaries. Since 2017 he has also been involved in the management of the Berlin facility.

Linh Nguyen is a film conservator in the restoration department of ARRI Media. Her job is to restore film materials after they have been digitized using DIAMANT-Film Restoration. She has worked on projects for film archives (e.g. Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek), film foundations (e.g. Wim Wenders Stiftung) and also (German) film production companies.

Could you tell me something about the restoration work you do at ARRI? From which background did you come leading up to your current position?

Philipp Orgassa (PO): I started as a media designer for print, scanning, retouching and color correcting stills, as well as layout and graphic designs for print productions.

When interactive media hit the stage, I studied audio-visual media at Stuttgart Media University. I specialised in film and post-production and did a one-year internship at Berlin’s legendary DoRo Music video production, where I became a flame operator.

After finishing my studies I started out as a colorist trainee at Das Werk Berlin, where I became a senior colorist working on commercials, music videos, and then more and more feature films as digital intermediate evolved. I started working as a Senior Colorist for ARRI Media in Berlin in 2011.

Linh Nguyen (LN):  I started very randomly interning in many conservation studios. I worked first in the conservation of wood and furniture, then antique frames. After that, I was very involved in photo conservation. Basically I experimented a bit working across different conservation fields. Finally I found my interest in film restoration.

Along my experimental path, I studied Restoration and Conservation of Audiovisual and Photographic Heritage and New Media at the University of Applied Science in Berlin. Actually, it was only during my last year of study that I decided to work in film restoration.  I interned at the ARRI restoration department in Munich a year ago and soon after I freelanced for some projects in Munich.

Which particular skills or talents do you find most essential in a film restorer?

LN: In my job, you have to sit for many many hours staring at the screen of the computer without lights in the room. You have to view the film shot by shot and scene by scene over and over again. In doing this you can see what you have to restore, what you should not restore, which tools or filters you have to use, if the tools/ filters, or if there are any artifacts, etc..That means that it is crucial to work effectively and to have good eyes.

Regarding the question “what you should or should not restore”, it is crucial to be acquainted with the ethics and methods of film conservation and preservation. The reason being is simply that you have to know what you want to restore, and what you should (or want to) leave in the images. For me this means that I have to communicate with the film institutions very precisely on this matter in order to facilitate the realization of the project and to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Likewise it is essential to have a fundamental knowledge of film history and film technology. It simplifies the work on the communication level with the film institution you are working with.

Do you have anything to add about retaining the “cinematic feel” when making digital adjustments to a film? I’m wondering if that makes grading more challenging or not.

PO: I have worked on many features that were shot on film, scanned, and digitally graded. So my approach is to maintain the look that physically and chemically occurs when a negative is printed onto positive film stock. To achieve this I use lookup tables that emulate the film process. I don’t like some restorations that actually look like video, because of the way the film is scanned or transferred in telecine, and because of a video-style contrast in grading.

Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, Germany, 1974) for instance was shot on a tiny 16mm negative. The resolution is naturally limited and the grain is quite visible, but this is part of the look of this road movie and we didn’t want to change that.

Film grain can sometimes be a bit too much in digital restoration because the resolution loss of the printing process does not happen in digital. For this reason some grain management can be helpful – though in Alice in the Cities we employed this very carefully.

Let’s talk a bit more about Alice in the Cities. How did you come to work on this project, Philip?

PO: I started working with Wim on his feature The Palermo Shooting (Wim Wenders, DE/FR/IT) in 2008 and have color graded most of his films ever since. When he started his foundation, he chose me to also color grade for the restoration of his older films.

Frame from Alice in the Cities before and after restoration.

 What was the process of colour grading this restoration like? Was there a particularly challenging aspect?

PO: A lot of prints were pulled from the original negative, so the condition was very dirty and scratched. However grading the scans of the original negative was a pleasure due to the artful work of Director of Photography Robby Müller, who is a master of light.

Unfortunately, some opticals were in a bad condition, and some of the resolution and sharpness was lost during the process. Dust and scratches were also exposed into the material. It was impossible to find the originals of those shots, so matching these duplicates to the original negative was quite a challenge.

Because Wim and his wife Donata were with me during the grading – they enjoy this process a lot! -, we always asked ourselves what Robby’s intention for a scene was. Unfortunately Robby Müller could not be with us, but we sent him some stills to keep him updated. The color grading was very primary: nothing was added. Thanks to the advantages of digital grading the matching is more accurate than the original (enhancing the contrast of a shot for instance was quite difficult in lab color timing).

Regarding matching the opticals to the original negative, I used sharpening and grain tools to bring together the different generations and qualities of the footage. Using different contrast curves also helps the matching process.

Thanks for your input Philip. Now Linh, what would you consider your most challenging restoration project?

LN: My most challenging project was one I worked on with ARRI Media in Munich. We worked on the digital restoration of one of Germany’s most prestigious Agfacolor films, Münchhausen (Josef von Báky, Germany, 1943). The project was a collaboration between the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, the film scientist Prof. Dr. Barbara Flückiger, and ARRI Media. Münchhausen  premiered in 1943 and was produced during World War II to showcase Germany’s Agfacolor-technology. Unfortunately, Agfacolor is known for the decomposition of its colour dyes, which is why now it is hard to find references for Agfacolor restorations.

Around the 1950’s, the original camera negative of Münchhausen was destroyed.The film however was saved on Eastman panchromatic separation masters. These were the source material for the restoration. The challenge of this project was thus to combine and restore the Eastman separation master, and achieve the Agfacolor-look as close to the original as possible.

Thank you both. To close this interview, do you have any advice for those interested in a career as a colourist or film restorer?

PO: A colorist should work on as many different films as possible to collect a variety of experiences. Of course, a technical background is also important and good communication skills are crucial to understanding a project’s needs.

LN: Film restoration is a very specific kind of work. For that reason I would say it is good to know the film world. It is vital to read a lot and to keep yourself updated about film, film history, film technology, archives, restoration projects, as well as film festivals, film screenings, conferences, workshops, etc.

Even if you have a profound knowledge of film restoration, I always recommend being active and hands-on with conservation and preservation projects. Either by attending workshops, interning at archives, or volunteering at film festivals. This is the way to practice and get to know different methods of conservation and preservation. In my case, I did a lot of internships and went to many other film restoration events, which helped me to shape my line of interest in the work.

Interview conducted by Britt Patterson.
Cover photo: Digital restoration Suite at ARRI Media Studios in Berlin.