Lecture: Absence of the Look

When films are restored using the original negative, the distinctive look of the film is not preserved and so must be recreated digitally. How can restorers recreate an aesthetic equivalent if the digital material does not provide the relevant information of the original film? What role do film copies play in this process, and what should be done about a film’s aesthetic qualities if no sources are available? This lecture examines how a film’s ‘look’ is chosen and how its aesthetics are reconstructed. Not only are materials and references frequently missing, but also explicit guidelines.