3. Colour Tweaking
Colour tweaking - or "timing" as it's called in the biz - is the means through which a director achieves the subtle colour tone of the film, by selecting areas of the screen in post production to shade to their preferences. It's a relatively simple process, albeit one which has huge implications when films are remastered, especially if this requires returning to the original print. On the left above, you can see 2001's Anchor Bay version of Dario Argento's stunning giallo film Suspiria, and on the right, a high definition master that is, well, sacrilegious. It seems that whoever oversaw the re-master didn't consult director Argento on the process, because there's no way he'd sign off on such a drastic stylistic departure from the original aesthetic. Given how reliant Suspiria is on its visual style, this is hugely detrimental to the integrity of the film; everything has a high-contrast, distorted look. Simply, if companies are going to restore a film from the original print, they need to nail down the parameters for colour timing the film correctly. Awful.