Arri-news 2014

Tokyo Laboratory uses the ARRISCAN to restore and repurpose historic Godzilla films for 4K distribution This year marks the 60th anniversary of Ishirõ Honda’s 1954 film Godzilla , which first introduced Japan’s giant, city-destroying monster to movie audiences. 2014 also saw a new incarnation of the now world-famous creature, in the identically-titled American blockbuster directed by Gareth Edwards. To help celebrate the anniversary, Japanese film lab and digital postproduction facility Tokyo Laboratory was tasked with two major projects, both of which involved scanning Godzilla films in 4K with the ARRISCAN. The first was a full digital restoration of the 1954 Godzilla commissioned by Toho, the company that had originally produced and distributed the film. The second was a television documentary produced by Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting, which runs the Japanese Movie Channel on DBS, looking back at all 28 of the official Toho Godzilla films. While both projects were scanned in 4K, the former did so to maximize image quality in movie theaters, and the latter did so as part of a 4K television broadcasting test. Godzilla was originally conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons, though the monster might also be seen to symbolize the threat of natural disaster, or even the vengeful rage of nature, retaliating against mankind’s destructive ways. In any case the allegory was sufficiently universal for the Godzilla TM&© 1954 TOHO CO., LTD 12 ARRI NEWS