Historic Kennedy assassination film to be restored in London

Historic film of one of the defining events of the 20th century, the assassination of President John F Kennedy, is to be remastered and restored using the latest digital technology.
The restoration will be carried out for the footage owners, Associated Press Television News (APTN), by London facilities house Metro Broadcast using technology developed by broadcast equipment designers Snell & Wilcox.
It will be released in January 2003, for programme makers wishing to include it in productions timed for the 40th anniversary of the assassination, which took place on November 22 1963.
APTN's copy of the film will be transferred onto a digital tape and processed through an Archangel machine at Metro. Archangel has been developed by Snell & Wilcox to digitally stabilise and restore images by removing dirt, scratches, tape tear, film weave and other imperfections in film and video.
Christopher O'Hearn, Head of Content Development at APTN said the aim of the project was to make the image more watchable: "Are we going to see a second gunman? - I doubt it. But if a programme maker is using scratched, washed-out images then viewers aren't going to be giving their full concentration, so we think it is a way of helping to tell the story."
Known as the 'Muchmore film', it is one of three main sources of motion picture taken on the fateful day. The film taken by Marie Muchmore was acquired at the time by the news agency UPI and is now part of the extensive APTN Library.
It shows the President's motorcade turning into Houston Street and captures the final fatal shot to the head. It also shows the mysterious Babushka Lady filming just feet away from the President's car. That sensational film has never been retrieved and the woman never conclusively identified.
APTN decided to put the film through Archangel after seeing a demonstration at Metro. Archangel is the only technology to provide comprehensive restoration of damaged footage in real time, rather than on a frame-by-frame basis. As a result it enables broadcasters and archivists to restore damaged film and video at a practical cost.
The film will be released at the NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) trade show in New Orleans, on January 20, 2003.
It will be available for ordering and licensing from APTN and special orders such as up-conversion to high definition formats will be available through Metro.
(GB)