Film and technology expert to visit University

The man behind Watchmaker Films and who has worked in all major Hollywood studios is coming to Edge Hill University for a special event.

Mark Rance, director of Watchmaker Films, a digital motion pictures acquisition, restoration and mastering company based in London, will be visiting the campus on Thursday 7^th April.

He has more than 20 years of industry-related experience as a filmmaker, DVD producer and director of Los Angeles company, Filmforum.  He has worked for Criterion and all the big studios in America and his company is currently restoring a series of documentaries, a classic silent film from 1921 and a number of modern features. They have also produced stellar DVDs such as the special editions of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Se7en.

Mark will bring his expertise to the table when he is guest speaker at the talk entitled From Chemistry to Maths: Current Practices and Goals of Motion Picture Film Archiving, Mastering and Distribution.

He will share with students and guests his experiences around film and changing technology.

Professor Tomasz Malinowski, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television and who organised the visit, explained: "Motion picture film mimics our ability to see motion in a reproducible technology that allows us to distribute what we have seen around the world. Over time, it has moved from chemistry to maths, from mechanical engineering to electronic and computer engineering. Unlike the advent of video, which introduced new frame rates, colour spaces and specifically video image artefacts, the digital acquisition of motion pictures is the inevitable next step in the life of films. Scanning, restoring and re-mastering photo-chemical motion picture film is an art and a craft in itself, much like actual filmmaking. The preservation through the recreation of the artefact in the digital realm involves many issues of translation including how best to preserve the original properties of the film.

"This talk will provide a brief introduction to the technological continuum and through examples of recent restorations demonstrate the direction digital motion picture restoration and mastering are taking."

The event is open to the public and takes place in H3 in the Faculty of Health building on the Ormskirk campus from 3pm to 5pm.