The digital restoration of the classic 1968 Rock climbing film, El Capitan.
Launched: Oct 1, 2012Funding ends: Oct 31, 2012
"Even though El Capitan was no longer being distributed, I continued to get inquires and requests for the film. When very, poor, quality bootlegged copies started showing up on the Internet, I knew I had to do something. I decided to look at the original film, that ran through the camera, and to my surprise after almost 45 years, it still looked pretty good. I had it digitized (scanned) in high definition. The new technology is of such high resolution that every little scratch and bit of dirt on the film showed up crystal clear. In order to restore the film to its original condition, over 86,000 frames, one frame at a time, has to be digitally cleaned and repaired. With digital software we are able to reconstruct the film with all the original effects, restore the color, and make it look even better than the 16mm film prints.
After several years of being repeatedly asked, “Whatever happened to the climbers?” I approached them with the idea of making a film that would reveal their lives today, and have them recall their memories of filming El Capitan. About a year ago, I started filming and have captured some delightful and insightful moments of their lives and accomplishments. Though still being edited, the film is turning out to be candid and entertaining. When it is finished, it will be included on the DVD with the restored El Capitan.
With the money that I hope to raise from Kickstarter contributors, I will be able to complete the El Capitan film restoration, finish “Whatever happened to the climbers?” (working title) and prepare the DVD master.
After being out of distribution for over 10 years, with your help, the classic film, El Capitan, will finally be available again, restored in HD and looking better than ever.
If you would be inclined to pass this information on to your friends by way of Twitter and Facebook, it would really help.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Fred Padula"
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