Back from lunch (BLT-A and potato salad - excellent), and the little two-hour clean-up session which we got done in ninety minutes. We did everything from the credits to about the twelve-minute mark, so the beginning at least doesn't have many white specks or any kinds of marks - just fairly heavy grain due to smoke and lighting. I did have a conversation about grain reduction and sharpening - and I'm going back tomorrow to see some test side-by-side comparisons - not where they remove grain, but where they lessen it, and also side-by-side subtle sharpening tests. I'm just curious to see them. But the guy I was talking to, who happens to be a huge fan of Nudie, said he likes the grain and the way it looks because that's how he remembers the film. And that's good to know - but I'm just curious as to what the first twelve minutes of the film would look like with slightly less grain and a touch of sharpening. I doubt I'll do it, because I really cannot afford to spend one more penny on this, but I'm also just not sure I want to go that route - although, if we WERE going from the lost camera negative it would not have this much grain. But the first twelve minutes look as good as they're gonna look. We could do that to the rest of the film, but it would take ten to twenty more hours and it's just not bad enough to spend that kind of dough.
