[Robert Erickson]

I was the producer on JFK: The Final Hours. You were interested in the footage we used.

Tom Atkins was the White House photographer shooting 16mm on the Texas trip. His footage was edited into a 19 min film entitled “the Last Two Days.” This film is available on line at the JFK Library website. For this production we contacted the library and asked if there had been a HD transfer made. They did have an HD version on file. But further inquiry revealed that they also had the original A&B rolls plus additional outtakes from the original program. Rather than use their HD transfer we requested the A&B rolls for a new transfer. They agreed – if we would give them a copy of the HD also. We agreed.

We used a transfer facility approved by the National Archives. It was a 2K Spirit transfer done by Video and Film Solutions Corp from Rockville, Md. The A&B rolls were cleaner than other possible film negative. We then color corrected in our normal Post production flow. The result was impressive and gave the material a fresh look. The out takes were even more exciting. They had been handled even less frequently than the A&B rolls. Their color was enhanced.

In the early parts of the program JFK visited San Antonio and Brooks AFB. Researching at the JFK Library – they suggested we look at a film called USG-24. These images were taken by Air Force cameramen documenting everything JFK did in San Antonio. Again we requested and paid for a HD transfer. When they arrived at the lab we learned that the Air Force cameramen were using 35MM! We were amazed at the clarity and color of these negatives that had not been used much at all. As expected our new 35 MM Spirit 2K transfer had lots of color depth for our post colorist to play with.

JFK: The Final Hours – benefitted greatly from current technology as we transferred negative footage into the digital world of 2013. I’m glad you enjoyed the program.

Robert Erickson
Producer, Creative Differences Productions
Producer, JFK: The Final Hours for National Geographic channel