Happy Thursday all!
This is sort of a companion to last week’s post about working on the Van Beuren Tom and Jerry cartoons for Blu-ray. I’ve been working daily (and burning the midnight oil too!) trying to get all the final cropping and combining together of all the elements we’ve cleaned up. Dave Grauman and Becca have been working diligently to help finish some of the additional cleanup and steadying this week as we get closer and closer to finishing. As part of last week’s video, I mentioned possibly combining elements from two prints that were framed differently — but of course I’ve saved that task until I was done with all the other things! It was the last one I have here that was finished with all stabilizing, so it got attacked this morning, and a few hours in I was both excited and regretting it — but only slightly.
As I went further and it started to look like it might actually work out ok, I decided it would make a good post for today— so here it is! It’s still a work-in-progress at this moment here (on Tuesday) but by the time you see this post the final version will probably be done.
Here’s the process of how it was put together and some of the basics that were involved, and a sneak preview of it in progress.
Thanks to everyone for supporting all these projects through these years. I’m pretty happy with the Tom and Jerry set as it’s getting closer to getting out the door. The pre-order will end pretty soon for the set, at the Thunderbean Shop (with secret bonus disc too!).
Have a great week everyone!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
I wasn’t going to preorder this set but since there’s a bonus disc coming with it I decided to cave in and get it ahead of time. Thanks for all of your hard work, Steve! You are doing such a wonderful job.
From my eyesight, you got the exposure on the bottom half right but the contrast on the botto half is still a bit too low; the bottom half is also a bit garrishly blue, but I sure you noticed that already. Other than that you did a very good job steadying the frames and making sure the content aligns.
Looking forward to seeing Polar Pals in glorious 35mm once finished, and I can’t wait to see the reception on Flip!
Sincerely, Jackson
“Whew! What they can’t do these days!” — Jiminy Cricket
This is stunning. I never imagined such things were possible. With the restoration of the original aspect ratio, one can really appreciate how well composed the layouts were in this cartoon. This is a real revelation. “Shout hooray for Tom and Jerry! Give a cheer for Tom and Jerry!” And let’s all shout hooray and give a cheer for Steve and the Thunderbean crew while we’re at it!
Do “Rabid Hunters” next!
Steve, your attention to detail, skill set, and follow-through are amazing. It’s easy to ‘feel the love’. Shout hooray indeed.
Ditto to the comments above by Paul Groh and GDX!
Also I’ve really enjoyed the recent Little King blu ray – you can really see the improvements compared to the old dvd version – and I’m sure the Tom and Jerry blu ray set is going to be as good or better.
Fantastic work – thanks!
“Pots and Pans” is a cartoon I’ve always been fond of.
So great to see this in the correct ratio! You must have the patience of Job to do this frame by frame!! Can’t wait to get this set!!!
That’s incredible! Those two prints fuse together better that expected. Effort like this puts Thunderbean a cut above the rest!
Add my amazement to those above. When you first proposed doing this, I thought it was a great idea that would pose too many potential problems to be practical. I’m happy to be proven wrong! But now are you going to have to revisit other films where two differently framed 16mm copies may exist and have to composite those too? Argh.
Reaction to Scott Christy’s comment:
In my opinion, Thunderbean, and Steve Stanchfield and his elves, have been a cut above the rest for quite some time.
Timing – just a guess here: I’d say the Flippies should be in our hands by next month (September), I hope, and maybe the Van Beuren Tom and Jerrys by November. Too bad, Mr. Stanchfield, you were unable to find a better – and complete – print – of the T&J cartoon “Jolly Fish.” But Heaven knows, you tried!
So many things going on! I had no idea what the Bunin “Alice” was until, to my great surprise, I stumbled upon an entry for it in the 2nd (2011) edition of Graham Webb’s “The Animated Film Encyclopedia.” And the other Rainbow Parades, the Comicolors, the Bettyboops (one word!), the other Fleischer Brothers stuff, the Scrappys, the other Aesop’s Film Fables (with, of course, the irascible old coot Farmer Alfalfa), etc., etc., the list goes on and on!
Do yourself a favor, Stanch. Get some sleep!
Sleep? Steve? That’ll be the day!
Steve, honestly, I didn’t think you could “fix” the two prints with the “framing problems” so well! Wonderful job, sir! Well done!
Another amazing restoration! I wouldn’t have believed this was possible.