Welles and New Digital Technologies - Digital Recovery of Missing Scenes

[Roger Ryan]

Roger: For your restoration, how extensively do you think, have you drawn on the "complete" Herrmann score we have in the Bremner rendition that Randy mentions?

Glenn

I estimated that I used approximately 16 minutes more of Herrmann's score than appeared in the released version. Almost every cue that appears on the Bremner CD was represented. In a few cases I faded the cue early; logically, a scene recreated using only dialogue and stills will play a little faster than one that has on-screen action (much like a radio drama would). Whereas Herrmann may have scored a scene to cover the action of someone slowly leaving a room, it made sense to me to conclude some of the recreated scenes after the last line of dialogue so I trimmed the cues accordingly. One cue that covered Isabel's return home was omitted from the CD release, so I repeated the cue used later for that fantastic shot where George learns of his mother's death. In regards to the "Toccata" that Herrmann wrote for the factory scene: I believe Robert Carringer surmised that Welles asked for it to be dropped because the sound effects used made the score redundant (I tried out the cue with the scene and agreed - it didn't work). The most disappointing thing for me was not being able to use more of Herrmann's "First Letter Scene" cue (apart from the short cello intro) because then I would've had to recreate Cotten's great voice-over which would not have been an improvement (so some of Roy Webb's schlockly replacement music stays in there). Fortunately, Herrmann intended the "First Letter" theme to be reprised over the end titles, so I deliberately wrote additional narration to follow the boarding house scene in order to back it with Herrmann's theme!

There's no better example of how Herrmann's music can improve a scene than his "Fantasia" cue (written for the first stairway confrontation between George and Fanny). Inexplicably deleted from the released version, the cue as performed by the Australian Philharmonic fits perfectly as a counterpoint to George's rising agitation. It took my breath away when I first synched it up to the footage.

[Glenn Anders]

Roger: Thank you for the analysis.

Your use of Herrmann's score in the restoration is certainly masterful.

Glenn

[Tony]

Roger:
This may be a redundant question, but are you considering re-doing your Ambersons with updated technology?

Just curious... :;):

[Roger Ryan]

I feel that the lack of certain resources at the time I did my reconstruction, technical and otherwise, prevented it from being as fully realized as I, or others, would like. So I am interested in seeing what kind of technological advances (in CGI, etc.) might assist a reconstruction of this sort to be more effective. In his new book, Joseph McBride refers to my project as a "work-in-progress" and I agree inasmuch as I would not want the work I did in 1993 to be the "last word" in an "Ambersons" reconstruction attempt. I prefer to see my effort as a prototype to model a more complete, technically-polished version on. The "next one" should really be an appropriately-budgeted, authorized endeavor. Will that ever happen? Who can say. It would require time and money (which both "behave like loose quicksilver in a nest of cracks", of course!), but I would liked to be involved in such an endeavor, if it was to happen. I won't rule out updating the version I did, but I don't anticipate that happening in the immediate future.

[Tony]

I was thinking of that version of the "Hitchhiker"- something CGI that would merely give a closer approximation to the action of the original. how the stills would still be incorporated is a mystery, at least to me. could they be morphed into and out of?
???

[Roger Ryan]

I was thinking of that version of the "Hitchhiker"- something CGI that would merely give a closer approximation to the action of the original. how the stills would still be incorporated is a mystery, at least to me. could they be morphed into and out of?
???

Well, that's the thing. How far is too far? The stills and frame enlargements themselves can carry alot of drama when backed with the cut dialogue, sound effects and music. At some intervals, however, I feel it's essential to suggest movement (even though "Ambersons", unlike "Kane", is much more of a radio show with pictures). I still like the idea of using dissolves (between stills) to express motion, but in searching for a more elegant, seamless way to recreate the visual element of the lost scenes, would CGI be of help or create an unnecessary distraction? If the technology advanced to the point where the CGI characters were virtually indistinguishable from the filmed actors (I believe current technology has demonstrated that convincing digital sets can be accomplished today), than a greater degree of seamlessness might be attained, as long as it doesn't distract from the emotional impact of the storytelling.

In this case, the stills and frame enlargements that exist would serve as visual references for the CGI animators (noting set design, costuming, camera angle, facial expression and body position). It's like Chuck Jones doing five or six key drawings of Wile E. Coyote for a 20 sec. Road Runner cartoon sequence which his team of animators would then incorporate and animate around to give the necessary fluidity. The individual stills and frame enlargements themselves would still be visually represented, but only as one frame in a CGI animated sequence. This idea is science-fiction right now, but might one day be accomplished with a degree of skill that would make it worthwhile. Of course, both Randy Cook and Kevin Loy have pointed out earlier in this thread the pitfalls of attempting this kind of verisimilitude.

On the plus side, we have more stills and frame enlargements available for the majority of cut "Ambersons" footage than Peter Jackson and his team did for the "spider pit" scene in "Kong". Their technically accomplished and enjoyable "imagining" of that sequence suggests how a lost "Ambersons" scene might be reconstructed.

[Glenn Anders]

After attending a showing of the reconstructed GREED a few years ago in San Francisco, I made a similar suggestion. A film professor said that not enough stills, etc, existed, but my impression was that Rick Schmidlin did not think the task impossible.

Glenn