Behind The Screen: Restoration Notes #1

As work continues apace, I've been asked by more than a few people why THE COMPLETE STEVE CANYON ON TV Volume #3 seems to be taking FOREVER...

and...

I've also been asked by more than a few people to explain some of the hurdles and processes I am having to go through to bring this all to fruition.

Here's one example...look at the following picture of Corporal Fred Foote (aka Dean "Steve Canyon" Fredericks) that I utilized in my last post, and that I am using in both of the documentaries on Volume #3, "Dean Fredericks: Hollywood's Steve Canyon " and "The Making Of Steve Canyon"

Corporal Frederick J. Foote at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas 1943

(aka Dean Fredericks, star and namesake of STEVE CANYON)

Nice picture isn't it? The kind of picture you'd expect to see?

But it didn't start out that way...take a look at the way it looked when I first scanned it:

Raw scan prior to approximately 1 hour of manual digital restoration work.

Not every picture requires as much work to make it look good, but note that EVERY SINGLE PICTURE that I post here requires at the very least 5 or 10 minutes (by my hand) to make it presentable (well, to my personal standards anyway). Not counting all of the time I spend scanning each picture, and the detective work to actually find these images from where they have lain hidden over the years. So far I have posted over 300 of such images here...and have over 1000 more (in various stages of restoration) that are waiting to see the light of day, both here and many that will be debuting within one or both of the two documentaries on Volume #3!

As a "man of many hats", I just wanted to give you all some idea...and I'm sure you are beginning to get the picture: It's a lot of time consuming work for one person...and it's just one small aspect of what's going on to prepare THE COMPLETE STEVE CANYON ON TV Volume #3 for release this summer.

More "Behind The Screen" looks at what's going on will be coming in the days ahead. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to subscribe to our blog (using the form on the upper right sidebar) to avoid missing any of our future posts. And feel free to buy a dvd or spread the word to help us in the completion of Volume 3! See you here again soon!

John Ellis

Hollywood, CA