{"id":68909,"date":"2020-12-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=68909"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:27:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T01:27:56","slug":"restoring-godfather-iii-american-zoetrope-and-owc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/68909-restoring-godfather-iii-american-zoetrope-and-owc\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoring Godfather III: American Zoetrope and OWC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been thirty years since the third part of the classic Godfather trilogy hit the silver screen. That\u2019s nearly twice as long as the sixteen-year gap between Godfather II<\/em> and III (the break between Godfathers I and II was only two years). It is with much enthusiasm and fanfare that Francis Ford Coppola is re-releasing a completely re-mastered and even moderately tweaked version of the story this week. Renamed Mario Puzo\u2019s, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone<\/em><\/a>, this remastered version hits theaters and streaming sites this week; and as is becoming more common<\/a>, OWC had an opportunity to play a key role in the completion of this film. The hero of this particular filmmaker story was the Accelsior 4M2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why restore Godfather III<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You may be wondering, \u201cWhy restore and even re-cut a 30-year-old movie?\u201d James Mockoski, film archivist and restoration supervisor for Coppola\u2019s production company American Zoetrope<\/a>, gives us some insight into that. \u201cFrancis believes that a film is not locked in, but is malleable and can evolve with the times,\u201d Mockoski told OWC filmmakers in the creation of a behind-the-scenes mini-doc about the restoration process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mockoski<\/a>
Mockoski works on the Godfather III restoration process<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo in the thirty years since the film\u2019s original release, he was thinking perhaps it could be retold in a different way. It\u2019s not a dramatically different retelling of the story. It\u2019s a dramatic re-arrangement. It\u2019s a complete restoration of the original. But it\u2019s also re-cut and \u201cmodernized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mockoski has a job that must be the envy of any die-hard cinephile or film lover. Coppola is one of the few directors who actually owns the original prints of his films. So Mockoski has the job of maintaining a few \u201clittle\u201d titles you may have heard of\u2014Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, <\/em>and The Outsiders<\/em>, just to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Classic<\/a>
Classic scene from a classic movie. Robert Duvall loves the smell of napalm in the morning.
Apocalypse Now<\/em> \u00a9 United Artists<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Film Archiving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a film archivist, it\u2019s Mockoski\u2019s job to ensure films are preserved in proper vaults, cared for, and restored to what they originally looked liked. Every 10-15 years or so, a new technology comes along that allows him to make the films in his care even more pristine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Robert<\/a>
Robert Schafer, editor on The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are typically three aspects of film he and his team correct or fix. Dust and dirt, scratches, and stabilization issues. Ironically, there is a certain amount of nostalgia that comes with these imperfections. There\u2019s a reason some software companies actually sell and make tons of money on NLE filters that actually add<\/em> film imperfections. But as long-time Coppola editor and post-house supervisor Robert Schafer shared, \u201cFilmmakers don\u2019t shoot on film to show you all the scratches and crackles along the way. It\u2019s all about the story. You want to be comfortable and not think about the medium it was shot on. It\u2019s all about making it as the director would want it conveyed to the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mockoski added to this sentiment. \u201cAs a film archivist, I have to make sure that when we restore a film that we pay respect to the original film and not doing anything that\u2019s cheap or gimmicky. A lot of film fanatics appreciate a film\u2019s rugged look. But we must find a balance and try to make sure our films do find a modern audience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mockoski<\/a>
Mockoski and Schafer work on restoration.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Technological challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Digital<\/a>
Digital Betacam tape. Image CC BY-SA<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The process of restoring analog film is ironically very digital. Schafer pointed out that Coppola was one of the first directors to embrace digital filmmaking, so he had all the dailies scanned onto Betacam. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to go back and scan all<\/em> the original film to see those dailies. We just put in a beta tape. Then only when we\u2019ve found a scene and take that we like, will we go to the corresponding original film daily and scan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wouldn\u2019t be an authentic filmmaking process if there wasn\u2019t some<\/em> form of challenge that hindered the production. It\u2019s no different for the process of restoring a film. Mockoski pointed out that sometimes the software solutions they use aren’t up to the challenge of removing all those pesky imperfections. In times like these, they have to send portions of the film out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as editor and restoration collaborator on this project, Schafer points out that additional challenges relate to wrangling and working with the media. \u201cWhen we normally work on these restorations, we have to work in 2K proxies. So A) it would take forever to make the proxies, and B) some things are missed without the full resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where OWC, once again, comes to the rescue. Mockoski continues. \u201cWhen we first started working on the project, we thought we\u2019d have two years. But Paramount changed the timeline because they wanted to get it out by the end of the year. So we reached to OWC and got a RAID to test. If we had to use our old workflow, there would have been a lot of challenges. Using the Accelsior 4M2 cut our time in half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schafer confirms. \u201cBecause our systems are so beefy to do the restoration, the last piece of the puzzle was the drive speed. We had all these 12-core computers but using Thunderbolt, it really couldn\u2019t handle what we were editing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Accelsior 4M2<\/a> is an NVMe M.2 SSD RAID in a small PCIe chassis. With up to 6GB\/sec in real-world speed, its compact size, and the incredible ease and efficiency of SoftRAID for Windows<\/a>, the Accelsior was a god(father)-send to a small outfit like American Zoetrope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving an 8TB SSD RAID that is lightning fast and I don\u2019t have to think about is invaluable,\u201d says Schafer. \u201cIt saved us a lot of time and grief on this project, for sure. And the future too. We\u2019re not going to stop using this thing any time soon. This is great for our team because we don\u2019t have an IT director. It saved us time by allowing us to manage everything ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mockoski summed it up succinctly. \u201cOWC allowed us to make our deadline. I couldn\u2019t imagine doing this without the Accelsior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The spirit of an \u201cAmerican\u201d studio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The honor and sheer cinematic joy to work for a living legend like Francis Ford Coppola is not lost on Mockoski or Schafter. Mockoski commented. \u201cWhen Francis founded American Zoetrope in the late 60s, it was designed to be for like-minded filmmakers\u2014a renegade, hippie, free-spirited company, outside of the Hollywood system. The spirit of Zoetrope is that they are willing to take chances larger companies or studios might not. Sometimes you fail, but they learn from those mistakes. In this case, this was a reward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Schafer, whose film school experience was entirely digital, he not once ever needed to touch an actual film can in school. He reflects on the profundity of being able to work on a project like this. \u201cIn the process of finding new footage to add to the story, we got to go back to film cans that had not been opened since they were processed for dailies back in 1990. I\u2019ve worked with Francis on a number of restorations, and working in an office like this; it\u2019s easy to become jaded. But actually touching a cut on the Godfather Trilogy is really an exciting thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that the ability for OWC to participate in this process was equally rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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