Carmen 1915
- Adam Hawkes
- Nov 30, 2024
- 1 min read
Restoration details
Example of a typical archival restoration of a 100-year-old tinted nitrate film exhibiting image instability caused by perforation wear, flickering mold, surface scratches, and handling damage resulting from the element’s age and fragility. One of the key tasks was to reduce flicker while carefully preserving the slow luminance pulsing inherent to the hand-cranked camera used to capture the original footage. This approach maintains the natural exposure fluctuations characteristic of early cinematography rather than imposing a modern, mechanically uniform cadence, while addressing pronounced high-frequency flicker through targeted correction.
Film Details
Carmen (1915) is a landmark American silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and adapted from Georges Bizet’s opera and Prosper Mérimée’s novella. Starring opera soprano Geraldine Farrar in her film debut, the production was notable for translating operatic performance into cinematic expression, using restrained gesture and close framing to convey emotion. The film exemplifies early feature-length narrative cinema and reflects the growing ambition of Hollywood in the 1910s, combining theatrical traditions with emerging film language.
Technical Information
Film Format: 35mm Full Aperture
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Media source: Various
File type: 2K 10bit DPX files
