Another thing we missed by not being able to assemble in Amsterdam for the Eye International Conference / Orphan Film Symposium in May 2020 was a presentation about film restoration by Alice Plutino and Alessandro Rizzi (University of Milan). It was also a good match for the symposium because the rare Super 8 film they restored is also about early environmental education. Below is the abstract and description submitted for the Orphan Film Symposium — which the program committee unanimously agreed should be part of the symposium. Their video demonstrating the color restoration is also below, and at vimeo.com/415570346.
The film:
La Raccolta della Carta nelle Scuole [Paper Recycling in Schools] (Brescia, Italy, 1980) silent, Super 8mm, 12′ 32″; from the archive of Fondazione ASM (Azienda Servizi Municipalizzati) in Brescia.
This video shows the comparison between the original film (on the left), and the same video after a process of color restoration. The post-processing was realized with a semi-automatic and unsupervised color algorithm: ACE (Automatic Color Equalization).
Abstract:
Alice Plutino and Alessandro Rizzi, “Paper Recycling Consciousness in Schools: Audiovisual Evidence from 1980”
In Italy the collection, transport, and disposal of waste has been regulated since 1941, but the large diffusion of throwaway and single-use products during the 1950s and ’60s markedly increased the amount of waste produced by citizens. This created issues in waste disposal and the regulations were not enough. The 1970s and ’80s saw increased awareness of citizens and of scientific communities regarding environmental problems. More ecological solutions were found that led to the current waste recycling system.
In 2019, the National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Cellulose-based Packaging (Comieco) reported 3.4 million tons of paper and cardboard were collected the previous year, with 81% of it recycled. The percentage of total urban waste that is recycled paper continued to increase steadily, from 11% twenty years ago to more than 55% in 2018, with 4% annual increases projected. (The National Institute of Statistics reports similar numbers.) This result was reached thanks to the work of many citizens and volunteers that have been pioneers and precursors of the modern politics against waste and environment pollution.
One piece of historical audio-visual evidence of that period was brought to life in the past two years through the collaboration between the Università degli Studi di Milano and the ASM Foundation of Brescia. The unique Super8 documentary concerns the beginning of paper recycling in the city of Brescia during the 1980s, reporting a project of citizen awareness that involved different schools and teachers of the city. This documentary is not only part of the industrial heritage of the region Lombardia, but also evidence of the early awareness of climate change and recycling made in Brescia.
The Super 8 film was in good conservation condition but was irreparably subject to aging and decay. At first just an attempt of digitization was made, but the foundation could not afford a complete manual restoration. In this context, the collaboration with the Computer Science Department, in particular with the “I’ve Seen Things” research group was fundamental. In fact, thanks to the development of innovative algorithms for the unsupervised semi-automatic color enhancement, the documentary was fully restored and became part of a new project for the valorization of the industrial memory of the North of Italy. With this proposal we aim at presenting not only this documentary, but also the novel techniques at the base of its restoration.
Bibliography
Alice Plutino, Matteo Paolo Lanaro, Simone Liberini, and Alessandro Rizzi, “Work Memories in Super 8: Searching a Frame Quality Metric for Movie Restoration Assessment,” Journal of Cultural Heritage 41 (Jan.-Feb. 2020): 238-48, doi:10.1016/j.culher.2019.06.008.
Alessandro Rizzi, Barbara Rita Barricelli, Cristian Bonanomi, Alice Plutino, and Matteo Paolo Lanaro, “Spatial Models of Color for Digital Color Restoration,” in Conservation, Restoration, and Analysis of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage, ed. Carol Inglese and Alfonso Ippolito (Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2019), 386-404, doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-7555-9.ch015.
A. Plutino, M.P. Lanaro, A. Ghiroldi, R. Cammarata, A. Rizzi, “Work Memories in Super 8: The Dawn of Paper Recycling in Brescia,” paper presented at YOCOCU (Youth in Conservation of Cultural Heritage) conference, Matera, Italy, May 22-26, 2018.
Alice Plutino is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Milan. She obtained her master’s degree in Conservation Science for Cultural Heritage at the same university. Now, she is focusing on color correction, image enhancement, and image quality assessments.
Alessandro Rizzi is Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Milan. From 1990 his research has been in the field of color, digital imaging and vision. He is particularly focused on color, visualization, photography, HDR, and on the perceptual issues related to digital imaging, interfaces, and lighting. He is the head of the MIPS Lab (Multimedia, Interaction, Perception, and Society), Department of Computer Science and was one of the founders of the Italian Colour Group, Secretary of CIE Division 8, IS&T Fellow and Vice President. In 2015 he received the Davies medal from the Royal Photographic Society.
“We’re open to new collaborations and projects. Feel free to contact us at: alice.plutino @ unimi.it //
alessandro.rizzi @ unimi.it.”