American Cinematographer - July 1992 - 74

company employees, he got a thor¬

ough background in all phases of
laboratory work. The company
grew, and services were continu¬
ally added to meet customer de¬
mand. Today, he and his company
are
fully fluent in both magnetic
and film mediums. "We all

wear

many hats here," says Napor.
"Most of our film people are highly
video-literate." That level of insight
and information has brought in cli¬
ents from around the country, in¬

cluding MGM/UA, the National
Geographic Society, the Library of
Congress, 20th Century Fox,
Turner Broadcasting, Columbia
Pictures, Disney and Universal/
MCA.

When Dawson brought
Othello to WRS, the project didn't
overwhelm the technical staff-at
first. "We took the hurdles one by

one," reports Peter Eaves, manager

WRS Revives Wellesian Visuals

of packaging and distribution. The
first step was to go over the ele¬
ments and determine the extent of
the picture's problems. The condi¬
tion of the nitrate

was a

primary

consideration. "Some nitrate

can

start to

one of the few labs in the
world that handles nitrate restora¬

WRS is

tion. When the time came for the
Othello elements to be opened and

inspected, the Pennsylvania facility
(renowned for such famous nitrate

projects as the Charlie Chaplin ar¬
chives and the original King
Kong)was the logical choice.
First, the nitrate had to be

inspected frame by frame for dam¬
age. No nitrate disintegration had
occurred, and only about 50 feet
suffered damage from poor main¬
tenance. Because

the nitrate shrink¬

within WRS' printing tol¬
erances, it was possible to liquidgate print it on a registration printer
to a safety fine grain once it was
repaired.
The process sounds
straightforward, but it would have
posed an extraordinary problem
for most other laboratory facilities
age was

prints and intermediates.

departments dedicated to syndica¬
tion/ distribution, film-to-tape and
tape-to-film, large-volume distribu¬
tion, and transfer and mastering
services. WRS is also an audio lab,
with full audio for film and video

and audio-to-audio. In addition,
WRS offers vault storage and com¬

prehensive distribution services for
direct-mail shipments.
was

Since 1952, when WRS
established as a film labora¬

tory, the company has grown into
a

full-service film and video lab.

Today, in addition to handling ex¬
posed film through each essential
step for completion on video or a
theatrical release, WRS is re¬
nowned as a kind of "hospital" for

matter how much the client is will¬

ing to spend. Film in that condition
is extremely unstable. Heat can
cause it to
ignite, and it burns so
quickly it's almost like an explo¬
sion.

"One of the first hurdles
faced was how to match sceneto-scene visual continuity through
all the intermediate stages to the
we

print, in terms of contrast and den¬
sity," Eaves notes. Because each
emulsion has

a

different look and

differently during print¬
ing, it was important to run many
can

react

old, damaged film. And the recov¬
ery rate is high.
WRS
President Jack

initial tests in the planning stages to
determine what the final look could
and should be. Othello set some pre¬
cedents at WRS as the first show

Napor learned the business on the

containing such a variety of differ¬

post services, restoration, dailies
and lab services, like liquid-gate

job during the 1950s, as the labora¬
tory business developed in Pitts¬
burgh. As one of three full-time

years, processed
ent laboratories.

American

July 1992

in America. WRS is more than just
a film lab,
although they do supply

72

answer

The facility boasts a video lab, with

actually deteriorate to the
point where it's too dangerous to
handle," explains customer service
manager Dave Simpson. "If you
open the can and there's a brown¬
ish powder, or God forbid a liquid,
you get rid of it immediately, no

Cinematographer

ent emulsions shot

over

many

in so many differ¬
American Cinematographer - July 1992

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