Understanding Film Fade In Restoration: Preserving Our Cinematic Past

Film is one of the most powerful storytelling mediums ever created. But even the most iconic images are vulnerable to an invisible, creeping threat: film fade.

Whether it’s a silent classic or a mid-century masterpiece, fading film stock affects archives, broadcasters, and collectors alike. To protect our visual history, we must first understand what causes film to fade, why it matters more than ever and why digital restoration might be the answer.

What is Film Fade in restoration?

Over time, film stock can undergo a degradation process known as film fade, losing colour density and tonal accuracy. This results in a gradual decline in the image's vibrancy, clarity, and intended colour balance. The fading effect is often uneven, causing the film to develop an unnatural red, blue, or green tint that distorts the filmmaker's original vision.

What Causes Film Fade?

A combination of chemical instability and environmental exposure causes film fade. Here are the most common culprits:

1. Dye Layer Degradation

Colour film typically uses three dye layers—cyan, magenta, and yellow—to reproduce the full colour spectrum. The diagram below shows a cross-section of these emulsions on an unexposed modern Kodak Vision 3 motion picture film stock (Fig. 1). The blue recording emulsion (yellow) is the closest to the front/top of the film element. 

Fig. 1

These layers break down at different rates: In colour film, cyan dye is generally the most stable, while magenta and predominantly yellow dyes are more prone to fading. This differential fading is why older films often appear reddish or pink. 

Different film stocks: It’s essential to note that alternative film stocks, like colour reversal film, have different dye layer arrangements and will result in distinct colour shifts over time. Still, the principle of film fade remains the same.

Fig. 2

The image above (Fig. 2) is a simplified cross-section where the right side illustrates faded yellow and magenta dye layers. In this dye arrangement, cyan subtracts red, magenta subtracts green, and yellow subtracts blue. Consequently, because magenta and yellow are the first to fade, this film stock will exhibit a shift towards reddish tones.

2. Temperature & Humidity

High temperatures and moisture accelerate chemical reactions in film emulsions. This speeds up fading and can lead to mould, vinegar syndrome, or warping, compounding the damage.

3. Light Exposure

Even moderate exposure to light, especially UV, can cause photochemical decay. Projection, scanning, or improper storage without light protection can all worsen fading.

4. Poor Storage Conditions

Films stored in non-climate-controlled environments are especially at risk. The ideal storage for colour film is cold (below 50°F / 10°C) and dry (around 20–30% RH).

5. Film Stock Chemistry

Not all film stocks are created equal. Some, like Kodak’s Eastman Colour from the 1950s–70s, are notoriously prone to fading. Others, like Kodachrome, are more stable but were expensive and less widely used for motion pictures.

Ascent Media utilised PFClean to address significant film damage, including tears and colour shifts, in the 1968 film The Sand Pebbles. This demonstrates PFClean's capability to correct substantial film degradation, specifically green shifts, automatically.

Mark Rance of Watchmaker Films undertook a fascinating restoration project using PFClean to fully restore legendary director Tobe Hooper's 1969 film Eggshells, notably removing a pinkish tint from a 16/35mm blowup. You can watch this project and many others that Mark has restored using PFClean on Mubi.

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Film Opticals

The optical shot from Hammer's The Devil Rides Out below displays a distinct green shift. This colour issue is not solely due to film fade. It also arises from multiple optical passes, chemical processes, and colour timing problems during the creation of the optical effect. Nevertheless, these issues, like film fade, can be corrected using suitable digital tools. You may see similar problems with other optical elements, such as colour shifts that can happen during dissolves and overlaid optical titlework. 

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Why Film Fade Matters

When a film fades, it's not just the colour that disappears—it’s the emotional tone, atmosphere, and historical accuracy. This degradation affects:

• Archival integrity of national and cultural heritage.

• Broadcast and streaming viability for remastered content.

• Commercial value of restored media for studios and distributors.

At first glance, a badly faded film might seem beyond saving—something destined for the discard pile. But this is actually the moment when a film is most at risk of being lost forever. The good news? It doesn’t have to be. With today’s digital restoration techniques, we have a real shot at bringing these damaged reels back to life.

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The Role of Digital Restoration

While physical film fade cannot be reversed chemically, digital restoration offers a powerful way to recover lost colour, tone, and detail—often beyond what’s initially thought possible.

This is where PFClean shines. Even heavily shifted footage can often be rebalanced early, laying a solid foundation for dust removal, stabilisation, scratch repair, and further colour correction work. This early intervention helps improve the visibility of artefacts, reduce manual downstream workload, and streamline the restoration workflow.

Rather than restoring colour correction as an afterthought, PFClean enables colour recovery to be the first confident step—unlocking the full potential of the source material and making the rest of the project smoother, faster, and more consistent.

While AI tools can be helpful in some contexts, relying on them to artificially hallucinate colours instead of restoring them can compromise the authenticity of the material. A skilled operator with the right tools can restore a faded clip in minutes.

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Preserving the Past for the Future

Every frame of film is a fragment of history. As physical media continues to degrade, understanding and addressing film fade is essential for preserving stories that still matter today. Whether managing an archive or restoring a beloved classic, the time to act is now.

Learn more about PFClean at www.thepixelfarm.co.uk/pfclean

Further Reading

For a deeper understanding of scanning and colour science, we suggest exploring Dr. Barbara Flueckiger’s research on scan2screen.

The US National Archives offers extensive information, including details on film fade, accessible on their website: https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/motion-picture-film-condition-assessment.html.

General information about film can be found on the Eastman Kodak website: https://www.kodak.com/en/company/home/.

For a more detailed look at film fade and its causes, you can find a wealth of helpful information at https://www.filmcare.org/vd_dyefade.php.

Colour-management for film restoration

In this article, we will briefly examine what a colour-managed workflow is, why you should use an OpenColorIO-managed workflow in PFClean and simplify some of the surrounding terminologies to help you navigate the process confidently.

What does colour managed mean?

Colour management is the process of ensuring that colours are accurately represented and reproduced across various devices and platforms. A colour-managed pipeline is a system that incorporates colour management throughout the entire digital restoration process, from capture to display to export. It uses colour profiles/transforms to ensure that colours are accurately mapped between devices, resulting in consistent and accurate colour reproduction. 

The goal of colour management is to maintain the integrity of the original colours and ensure that the final output is consistent with the intended artistic vision. This is especially important in digital restoration projects where accuracy and consistency in colour reproduction are critical to maintaining the authenticity and historical significance of the content. The most important part of a colour-managed pipeline is understanding the source colourspace of your unrestored clips so that no colour information is lost in the process. 

What is OpenColorIO?

OpenColorIO (OCIO) is a colour management system that provides the framework in PFClean to manage colour transforms and colour spaces between different applications and platforms. It is designed to be a flexible and extensible system that can work with a wide variety of image applications such as 3D animation, visual effects, compositing, video editing and digital film restoration and is widely used by many animation and post-production studios, including Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar, and Sony Pictures Imageworks. It is widely adopted in the industry due to its flexibility and robustness. More information about OpenColorIO can be found here.

Why would you want to use OpenColorIO in PFClean?

In the example below, we can see a typical OpenColorIO colour-managed pipeline in PFClean. The source clip is a Cineon Log Film scan. If viewed on a workstation monitor or similar device without colour management, it will look washed out due to the scan being a different colourspace, gamma and dynamic range to the monitor. By transforming the film scan from its native colourspace (Cineon Log) into the display colour space, It can be presented correctly and accurately on the workstation monitor. Once work is complete, the footage is exported in a new colourspace to display correctly on the destination device, in this case, a Rec. 709 HD Television.

What makes this process so flexible is that you can quickly change your destination colourspace at a click of a button. Clips can also be colour managed on export to an archival/intermediate colourspace without losing information which can be read in and displayed correctly by another mastering system using OpenColorIO that guarantees accuracy and consistency. We can see this in the example below, where the clip has been transformed into the ACES 2065-1 colourspace on export. This colourspace can be interpreted and displayed correctly by the grading system, guaranteeing what the digital restoration artist is seeing will be what the colourist is seeing.

One of the key benefits of a colour-managed process is its ability to handle clips in various colour spaces. This enables digital restoration artists to effectively manage them and ensure they are all unified into a single, consistent colourspace while also implementing any required restoration corrections. As a result, the workload on the backend is reduced. In the workflow example below, three clips of different colorspaces and file types have been restored, and colour managed into a unified colourspace then exported as ACES 2065-1, EXR files ready to be handled by a grading system later on. Using a colour-managed method to bring all clips into a single colour space can prevent the inconsistencies that might have occurred when using an unmanaged workflow and manual colour correction.

When it comes to archival and preservation, employing a colour-managed pipeline in PFClean holds significant importance. It’s crucial to ensure the longevity of restored footage, especially if it’s historically significant, by saving it in a way that guarantees its preservation. Converting the restored material into a colour space like ACES 2065-1 retains all the colour information available in the source material. Employing an OpenColorIO workflow based on industry standards allows for easy unpacking of data at a later time and fast conversion to any current or future colour space for presentation. This would not have been possible without settling for compromises had the archival master been created using an unmanaged workflow and a lesser colour space.

Surrounding Terminology?

Understanding these key terms will help you navigate the complex world of colour management. If you would like to take a deeper look at colour theory, ACES has a number of helpful articles found here.

Colourspace

Colourspace specifies how pixel values in an image should be interpreted to produce colour on a display device. Using the wrong colourspace means your colours don’t look right. Different colour spaces have different properties and limitations, and understanding the colourspace of the original footage is essential for accurately reproducing and preserving the colours in the final output. Two common colour spaces used in Film and Television are Rec. 709 and DCI-P3.

Gamut 

Gamut is a subset of all visible colours that can be represented by the colourspace. Different colour spaces have different gamuts, meaning they can represent different ranges of colours.

For example, the sRGB colour space, which is commonly used in digital imaging, has a relatively small gamut compared to other colour spaces, such as Rec. 2020, which has a much wider gamut meaning it is able to represent a larger subset of all possible colours. We can see an example of this below.

Gamma

Gamma is a parameter used in colour space to describe the non-linear relationship between the input signal and the displayed brightness of an image or video. Usually expressed as a numerical value, typically between 1.8 and 2.5, and is used to adjust the brightness of an image or video to match the characteristics of the display device being used. For example, a gamma value of 2.2 is commonly used in the sRGB, which is used as a standard for many workstation displays.

Dynamic Range

Dynamic range refers to the range of brightness levels captured or displayed by a camera, film stock, or video monitor. In film, dynamic range is determined by the film stock’s ability to capture a wide range of tones, from the darkest shadows to the brightest highlights. 

Bit Depth 

Bit depth refers to the number of bits used to represent the colour information of each pixel in a digital image. It determines the number of colours represented in an image, with higher bit depths allowing for a greater range of colours / tonal values and more detail in the image.

White Point

The white point represents the colour temperature of the white colour in a particular device or system. It is usually measured in Kelvin. D65 is a commonly used white point in the Film and Television industry. An incorrect white point can affect the colour accuracy of an image.

Calibration

The process of adjusting a device or system, such as a workstation display, to ensure accurate colour reproduction. It involves measuring the colour output of a device, comparing it to a standard, and making adjustments as necessary.

ICC Profile 

An International Color Consortium (ICC) profile is a standardized format for describing the colour space and gamut of a device or system. It helps ensure colour accuracy and consistency across different devices. PFClean can load ICC profiles for calibrated monitors.

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Conclusion

Whether exporting your restoration for presentation, archiving or passing on to another application, with PFClean’s colour-managed pipeline, users can be assured of precise colour management without the headache of overly complicated workflows, ensuring that the colourspace information is preserved throughout the restoration process. 

If you want to see this in action we have a short quick tips video that will take you through the steps in this process here.

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Identifying Common Tape Defects

It’s everyone’s worst nightmare; you put the tape into the deck knowing you have one or two chances of capturing a fragile tape.

You cross your fingers, hoping it’s going to look OK… it doesn’t! Don’t worry – all is not lost!

Even some of the worst tape faults can be fixed and below I identify some of the more common issues you will come across and provide some hints and tips as to tools to try inside PFClean’s Telerack and Workbench to help make your video artefacts disappear post-capture. So let’s fast forward…

Fixing tape defects with Telerack

One of the features of PFClean is the powerful Telerack video restoration engine. With an emphasis on speed and a focus on the most common defects, this is an ideal way to restore tape-based media, especially in cases where a fast turnaround and large volume of media are involved. Below is a list of common tape faults with examples, along with tips on how to identify them and how they can be easily fixed in Telerack.

Tape Dropouts

This example shows the repair results using the Telerack Fix Streaks tool

Tape dropouts mainly present themselves as a horizontal line, sometimes teardrop-shaped and usually bright, and appear on screen for one or two frames with staggered intensity. Occasionally these can be persistent through an entire tape.

Off-Lock Errors

Here we can see the repair using the Fix Streaks and Fix Bands tool

Off-lock errors are like a dropout but larger and with greater frequency, with a band of colour or misregistered image usually lasting no more than a frame. They are a common sight on old and worn analogue tapes.

Timebase Corrector Dumping

To repair this issue image stabilisation was used

Timebase corrector dumping is sometimes referred to as a bump. This problem presents itself as a brief shift in image position,  normally vertically, and can range from very mild to very severe.

Excessive Tape Noise

The De-noise effect is used to strip back multiple generations of analogue noise

Excessive tape noise will appear in tapes that are multiple generations away from the original source and/or have started to deteriorate with age. Additionally, material that originated on legacy camera systems can be susceptible to excessive noise due to its low sensitivity.

Chroma Subsampling

The Chroma Resample effect in the Telerack toolset provides a quick high quality fix to this footage

High chrominance areas can lack fidelity, especially where the source is 4:1:1 or 4:2:0. It is most noticeable in areas of red along diagonal surfaces. Older professional and commercial analogue formats and lower-quality digital tape formats all suffer greatly from a lack of chroma information.

Chroma Fringing

The coloured shimmering is dramatically reduced using the Chroma Cleanup effect.

Chroma fringing can appear in high-value chrominance and specular detail. This is caused by crosstalk in the luma and chroma signals. Next time you watch an old television series, watch areas of high detail and you might notice a coloured shimmering. This is chroma fringing.

Tape Banding

Hard to remove manually, the Fix Bands tool makes short work of these dark luma bands.

Tape banding appears as horizontal light or dark bands across the image lasting over a number of frames. Rapid changes in luminance within a scene can sometimes exacerbate this problem.

Flickering, Scratches and Dirt

These artefacts can be removed easily using the Dustbust, De-Flicker and Fix Scratch effects.

Tape material that has been telecined from 16mm and 35mm can suffer all the artefacts that originate in the original film elements. Typically, archive material that’s been transferred to tape suffers from excessive dirt and scratches.

Scanline Flicker

This footage from the 1970s shows the results of a successful restoration using the Scanline De-Flicker effect.

Scanline flicker is minor variances in luminance values between scanlines. It is sometimes caused by variances in field luminance. Not to be confused with rolling bands.

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Fixing tape defects with the Workbench

The Telerack is focused on high-performance video restoration. Ideal for the hours and hours of tape that can be found in archives. However, some fixes are so severe they require the precision that can be found in PFClean’s powerful Workbench. In the table below we will help you identify these severe faults and suggest Workbench tools to help you restore your tape.

Momentary Head Clog

The Fix Frame effect was used to remove the misaligned image area and the shift in luminance.

Momentary head clog is a horizontal band or sometimes an entire frame of misaligned and warped image, usually for a single frame. The distortion can be complex and requires the rebuilding of a portion of the frame.

Scratched Tape

A combination of the Fix Frame and Fix Bands effects were used to remove the scratches.

Scratched tape is common in formats such as 2″ Quad and TypeC where the physical tape is exposed to the environment. This artefact presents itself as a thin horizontal line of misregistered image that remains static and constant for the duration of the scratch. In a way, it is very similar to a film scratch but horizontal.

Transverse Tape Damage

Using a combination of the Fix Frame and Paint tools a successful fix was made in this example.

Transverse tape damage is a horizontal band of misregistered image that rolls up the screen, usually from bottom to top. This is a fairly common fault in old analogue tapes. Next time you watch an old VHS, look out for this fault.

Capstan Servo Off-Locks

Using the Stabilise, Fix Frame and Pan & Scan effects has fixed this tape error.

Capstan servo off-lock errors are moments of picture instability and sometimes picture breakup, along with wow distortion in audio. Normally this is seen at the top or bottom of the screen.

Mild Tape Mistracking

Panning & Scanning the image removes the undesired area at the top of the image.

Mild tape mistracking appears as a thin band at the very top of the screen with segmented or misregistered images. It can be fairly constant if the tracking was not adjusted correctly during the capture.

Severe Tape Mistracking

While not easy, a combination of Painting and using the Fix Frame were used to rebuild the entire image over several frames.

Severe tape mistracking is the breakup of the entire image resulting in multiple dark and light lines with bands of misregistered image, flickering, and loss of colour. It is possibly the most complex error you will encounter and the most difficult to fix. Sometimes this is why it is useful to have a dub of the tape even if it is of lesser quality so that it can be used to rebuild the images.

Lifted Blacks

Lifted blacks can easily be corrected by using the video grade effect and observing the scopes.

Lifted blacks are caused by transfer errors in the dubbing process. Sometimes this can occur when standards converting from one region to another. NTSC-originated material can look milky on PAL systems if not properly converted.

Chroma Phase Convergence Error

A clip like this can be salvaged by applying the grading tools.

Chroma phase convergence errors can be observed via a vectorscope and waveform where chroma phase is out of alignment. In the example above, this was caused by material from one tape being spliced into the master without correct calibration.

Blocking and Compression Artefacts

The Blocking Reduction effect smooths out any undesired areas where image breakup has occurred.

Highly compressed formats such as mini DV can suffer macro blocking and image breakup during high dynamic and kinetic shots resulting in squares and mosquito noise around detail.

Persistence Trails

The Paint effect was used to paint out the trails in this particular example.

Persistence trails are luminance/chroma trails that appear in bright highlights and chroma. They appear when the luminance value has not had time to reset to zero causing a ghosting trail or comet. They are common in material recorded using cathode ray tube cameras from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Horizontal and Vertical Sync Pulse Loss

Paint, Fix Frame and Pan & Scan effects were all used to fix this error.

Sync pulse loss errors show up as a merging of the adjoining frame with a vertical or a horizontal breakup in the image. If this error occurs, it’s normally accompanied by one or more of the errors described above on the surrounding frames.

Links

Sony has a great page here showing their milestones in broadcast history from the early 1950s through to the modern-day.

The clip examples featured in the article are from the Bolshoi Ballet restored for SKY ARTS.