{"id":1879,"date":"2020-10-26T17:59:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T21:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/?p=1879"},"modified":"2020-12-06T21:12:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T02:12:56","slug":"current-10-26-20-kongo-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/?p=1879","title":{"rendered":"Current (10\/26\/20) Kongo Status"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Before and After #2\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z6RkiyeP5IE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I cover a lot of this on my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/facebook\">Facebook<\/a> page, but not all of it.  I know a lot of you don\u2019t see Facebook, so here is the detailed, long-winded, accurate rundown of what is happening with <em>King of the Kongo<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I now have two assistants helping me to get this done and I am spending grant money to get them faster machines.\u00a0 The rendering was so slow on the machine I had that I thought it was worth spending the grant money on the faster systems and getting some help.  We\u2019re really going full smoke here: 12-core, 3.46Gz, 128GB RAM.\u00a0 Even then some of it is slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just so you understand some of the jargon here: each chapter is two reels (except for Chapter 1, which is three reels).&nbsp; R1 is Reel 1, R2 is Reel 2.&nbsp; A slug is a piece of black leader inserted into the film.&nbsp; This was done to repair film breaks in order to maintain the length of the picture, because otherwise the sound would get off sync.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chapter 9:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I started with this chapter since it looked the worst of any material I have seen so far, and I had to devise economical ways of addressing the decomposition in it. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>R1: (see video)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was fairly heavy decomposition all through this and there were three or four shots that looked awful.&nbsp; These have been improved immensely.&nbsp; One shot was completely decomposed and was replaced from 16mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>R2:<\/strong> In progress.&nbsp; The negative has a fair amount of decomposition in it but not as bad as R1.&nbsp; Fortunately, unlike R1, we have a backup R2 from an edited print.&nbsp; It\u2019s been stabilized and graded.&nbsp; The gorilla assault at the end of the reel may have to be switched out with the print if we have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chapter 10:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I did this chapter second because we only have a print.&nbsp; There are several slugs in this one.&nbsp; The nitrate print was weaving to the left and right in the scanner (it was shrinking), and is presenting a stabilization problem.&nbsp; I\u2019ve run 5 passes to stabilize it so far and it\u2019s about there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>R1:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were two sequences that were edited out of the print.&nbsp; The first was the entire gorilla assault that ends Chapter 9.&nbsp; It\u2019s unfair to replace this with the footage from Chapter 9 because this is shot with a different camera and is edited differently.&nbsp; I replaced the footage from the National Film Preservation Foundation grant project in which I restored Chapter 10 from 16mm.&nbsp; The footage isn\u2019t that great, but it\u2019s all there, and we\u2019re talking about a minute\u2019s worth or so.&nbsp; There\u2019s another sequence that was also cut, that of Lafe McKee and Harry Todd confronting a dinosaur, and I replaced that from 16mm as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I may try some frame interpolation to get the missing frames back (ironically, this print is the source print from my 16mm, and the missing frames in it are also missing in this 35mm!), and I am also going to try to remove some of the uglier artifacts toward the end of the reel.&nbsp; Someone put cue marks in the reel so they could do a changeover and the marks are ugly and historically incorrect.&nbsp; Before you ask, the missing frames were lost in during projection in 1929 and the edited sequences (which are in my 16mm) were cut for stock footage many years later.&nbsp; The history of these prints is archaeology in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>R2:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This reel is in better shape (considering splices) and worse shape (considering projector wear).&nbsp; I\u2019ve done a fair amount of cleanup and stabilization on it already.&nbsp; Steve Stanchfield is working on de-flickering it for me.&nbsp; I\u2019ll take all the help I can get!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chapter 8:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have a negative for R2 and a print for R1 and R2.&nbsp; The negative has not been scanned yet, so is in unknown condition.&nbsp; The print is in decent shape with a few splices and slugs.&nbsp; We have sound for R2. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cliffhanger in R2 was edited out, and, interestingly, was floating around unidentified in the collection.&nbsp; It was run at the Library of Congress\u2019 Mostly Lost convention a few years ago, and I identified it as either the cliffhanger of Chapter 8 or the resolution in Chapter 9.&nbsp; Turns out it is Chapter 8 and will be reunited with the source print.&nbsp; I\u2019m receiving a copy of the scan today to get it restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapter 8 has been contrast corrected and is awaiting stabilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chapter 7:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">R1 has been contrast corrected and is awaiting stabilization.&nbsp; We have also found a \u201cspare R1\u201d that is proof that there was a silent version of Kongo.&nbsp; I have yet to see a contemporaneous&nbsp; ad that doesn\u2019t advertise this being \u201cin sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I<strong>nspection of the rest of the prints:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this point, we still have no material on Chapter 1,2 and 3.&nbsp; This is due to COVID and the schedule at Library of Congress.&nbsp; I haven\u2019t engaged in much work on any other chapters.&nbsp; Chapter 5 and 6 have tinting and that will be reproduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>SOUND:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have complete sound for Chapter 5,6, and 10.&nbsp; We have one reel each for Chapter 4,7,8,9.&nbsp; That means we have no sound for Chap 1,2,3 at all and only half the sound for Chapters 4,7,8,9.&nbsp; We have the original scripts for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David Wood has done restoration work on 5,6,10 and also a nearly finished Chap 9, R1.&nbsp; We\u2019re doing some more experiments on cleaning this up a little better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have been saying I hope to get this out by end of 2020.\u00a0 It won&#8217;t be finished by then, but I\u2019m trying.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been working on this since late October 2019 and so far have gotten just 5 reels with any significant progress.\u00a0 That sounds worse than it is, because a lot of that time was upgrading computers, training people how to use software, and mostly figuring out how I could do this technically!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I cover a lot of this on my Facebook page, but not all of it. I know a lot of you don\u2019t see Facebook, so here is the detailed, long-winded, accurate rundown of what is happening with King of the Kongo: I now have two assistants helping me to get this done and I am &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/?p=1879\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Current (10\/26\/20) Kongo Status&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"powered_cache_disable_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-films-pocket-rants","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1882,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions\/1882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drfilm.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}