ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project or also known as Sagip Pelikula, was a

digital film : Digital cinematography is the process of capturing (recording) a motion picture using digital image sensors rather than through film stock. As digital technology has improved in recent years, this practice has become dominant. Since the mid- ...

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

project of

ABS-CBN Corporation ABS-CBN Corporation is a Filipino media company based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the largest entertainment and media conglomerate in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation which is owned by t ...

in partnership with Central Digital Lab. The project is headed by Leo Katigbak of

ABS-CBN Film Archives The ABS-CBN Film Archives, also called ABS-CBN Archives, is a state-of-the-art film archive in the Philippines located at the basement of ELJ Communications Center in Eugenio Lopez Drive, Diliman, Quezon City. It was a member of the Southeast ...

and Manet Dayrit of Central Digital Lab. The goal of the project is to digitally restore and

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

select Filipino films from the archives of ABS-CBN. Since the beginning of the project in 2011, the project has successfully digitized, restored, and remastered over one hundred Filipino films into a

1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...

or 2K

Digital Cinema Package A Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams. The term was popularized by Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC in its original recommendation for packaging ...

format with a maximum resolution of 2048x1080 pixels at 24 frames per second. These films have been released through a wide array of platforms including limited theatrical runs, film festivals, free-to-air and cable television, DVDs, pay per view, and over-the-top content platforms such as

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. All of the restoration process are done by Central Digital Lab in the Philippines with the exception of '' Kakabakaba Ka Ba?'' and ''

Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos ''Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos'' () is a 1976 Filipino period film written and directed by Mario O'Hara that set in the province of Laguna during the Second World War. The film stars Nora Aunor as the barrio lass Rosario, Christopher De Leon as t ...

'' which were commissioned by ABS-CBN to be restored abroad by L’Immagine Ritrovata in

Bologna, Italy Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and was supervised by Davide Pozzi. All copyrights to the films restored and remastered are owned in perpetuity by ABS-CBN Corporation. On August 31, 2020, the film restoration project unit ceased its operations as part of the retrenchment by the company after its new legislative franchise for the company's broadcasting operations was denied by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

Restoration process

The first stage of the process is the scanning of the

film negatives In photography, a negative is an Photograph, image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest. This reversed order occur ...

or prints into a digital picture and sound raw format. Depending on the film's condition, it may undergo a physical cleaning before the scanning could begin. The scanned materials will then undergo an automated and a painstaking frame by frame digital restoration process. The process involves the digital removal of dirt, scratches, fingerprints, discolorations, molds, tape marks, and other damages in the scanned materials. The process also involves the correction of color, brightness, and contrast into its original form often consulting the original cinematographers of each films whenever possible. Subtitles and watermarks, if present, are also removed in the process. The process also involves the restoration and remastering of sound. This involves the syncing of sound to the picture and the removal of unnecessary noises such as eradicate pops and whistles. Extreme measures were also done to remove copyrighted songs from some films. Dozens of technicians, engineers, and artists work hundreds of hours for each film with restoration cost ranging anywhere between twenty-five thousand

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

and ten million pesos per film.

List of notable films restored

References

External links

*2013
Classic Filipino films restored by ABS CBN Film Archives: Restoring our Films, Saving our Heritage
IASA *Carmela Barbaza (2014)
ABS-CBN Film Archives lists contributions for WDAVH 2014
SEAPAVAA *Tessa Mauricio-Arriola (August 20, 2015)
Immortalizing Philippine cinematic classics
''

The Manila Times ''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English language, English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrati ...

'' *Don Jaucian (Apr 7, 2017)
Rescuing the lost heritage of Philippine cinema

CNN Philippines CNN Philippines (abbreviated as CNN PH) is a commercial broadcast, cable and satellite television network in the Philippines. It is owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation, together with Radio Philippines Network (RPN) as the main content ...

{{ABS-CBN ABS-CBN Corporation Film preservation Digital preservation 2011 establishments in the Philippines Organizations established in 2011 2020 disestablishments in the Philippines Organizations disestablished in 2020