Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

[Chad Brewer]

Recently, I did the final online for something that was finished in 35mm in the early ’80s and recently transferred to HD…My client wanted me to Photoshop out the film dirt specks and grain for the first 10 minutes of the program and bring them back in to the final edit….Don’t ask how many frames I had to fix…You don’t want to know…But there is a “magic” version of Photoshop out there?

Chad Brewer
Senior Tape Operator
TeleVersions

[Mike Cohen]

Years ago the local equivalent of Barney Fife came into the office with a VHS tape from the local fillin’ station. A local yout had pumped gas and dashed off without paying. The car was caught on grainy black and white video, but from the roof. I was asked if I could enhance the image. At the time we were using Sorenson Squeeze on the Mac, which had a function whereby it could take the average of several frames of video and build a better new image, taking the best parts from each frame. Amazingly we were able to see absolutely nothing useful in the resulting image.
I was able to sharpen and lighten the image so we could make out the approximate make and model of the car. The resulting APB read:

“Attention all units in the vicinity of Shell on Main St. Be on the lookout for a late model blue, red, silver or beige 2-door or 4-door Chevy, Ford or Pontiac car. License plate contains letters or numbers. Suspect is a male or female and is to be considered armed (or not) and dangerous (probably not).”

Mike Cohen