Too bad about the licensing restrictions, otherwise I might’ve kicked in. I was a big fan of the series when I was a kid.
Hope we hear more on the progress of Restorations....even with small amount of time left in Indigo funding drive online!
October 19th Updates from Indiegogo: Thank you for your support of this important project… and it is a project! Just to give you a small peek at what is involved in the day-to-day managing of an effort of this size, below is a list of very truncated “production notes” on the first 5 Rascal sound shorts I’ve put together. Not only does managing a project of this size take a lot of time (as every “touch” involves man hours), but the expense of pulling multiple elements, transporting them and performing test scans is not insignificant. Your support will help bring these iconic shorts to Blu-ray using the best possible elements, and giving them the best restorations possible. Tell a fellow Rascal fan and help us get to our goal of $70,000! Just 11 days left! - David PRODUCTION NOTES: 10/19/2020 SMALL TALK – No original nitrate film elements exist. Pulled six different safety (non-flammable) elements and performed test scans on three. None are very sharp or in the best shape. Performed a full scan of the best available source. Will shortly go into restoration. RAILROADIN’ – No original nitrate film elements exist for reel 1 (first 10 minutes). Only known 35mm source for reel 1 is a very badly damaged safety print. No choice but to use it and a scan has been performed. Instead of using 2nd reel from the safety source, we have found an original nitrate film element for the 2nd reel. After a test scan, we have found it much sharper and less damaged than the 1st safety reel. Full scan on nitrate element to commence this week. LAZY DAYS – Have scanned and begun restoration on original 35mm nitrate film elements. Image is very good, but with a lot of dirt, scratches and instability, but there is a lot more information on the screen available than on previous releases. BOXING GLOVES – Have performed a test scan on original 35mm nitrate film elements. Image is good, but better elements may exist. Will search for other elements before green-lighting this short. BOUNCING BABIES – Have performed a test scan on two different 35mm nitrate film elements and one safety element. All look extremely dirty and will take extra effort to restore. One of the nitrate elements is fairly sharp though and we’ve performed a full scan on both reels. Awaiting restoration.
I would think the silents would be the most in need of preservation and restoration, though the very earliest sound shorts would be nice to see in top quality restoration, especially the earliest two! There are 23 sound shorts before Spanky first appears, so if they are using his image to take money from people for a set of the first 22 sound films they might be rather disappointed. Kendall 'Breezy Brisbane' McComas starts in the 23rd sound one and Spanky the one after that. They should promote 'Farina' Hoskins, 'Stymie' Beard and Jackie Cooper as the stars of a set of the first 22. Dorothy and Mary Anne were pretty cute though too!
I believe the problem with the silents is the availability of good source material. It sounds like they, at least, have good stuff to work with for the talkies for this set. We're in the home stretch now. I hope more people are able to contribute.
I hope that good publicity now and funding the Sound Shorts to a successful release will "allow" ClassicFlix to eventually research and restore all of the Silent Shorts elements that exist with enough interest!
The campaign had been up to 43% of the goal, but is back now down to 36%... I’ve never taken part in a crowdfunding scheme before, so how is it that the places that run them allow people to bail on what they’ve already pledged?
I saw that too. It doesn't look like the number of donations has gone down though, just the dollar amount. Strange.
Yes, it’s very weird. Seeing the percentage actually going backwards (with so far to go, and with so little time remaining), made me very pessimistic that they will be able to reach their goal. However, judging from the updates, Classic Flix has already sunk time and money into the project, so maybe they will put something out as a way to recoup their investment.
With only 36 hours left, they're at the same spot that they were 15 days ago. Pitiful. I found this: QUESTION: Does the $70,000 have to be reached exactly to restore the shorts? ANSWER: No, we will still restore them, but the $70K has to be reached to: 1) give them the best possible restoration 2) to make sure we preserve them as quickly as possible 3) to get the shorts released more quickly on Blu-ray 4) to have the price point be less expensive 5) to increase the chances of us eventually releasing the silent Rascal shorts
Bump! Again i hope that more publicity now will help towards funding these Sound Shorts to a successful release will encourage ClassicFlix to eventually get started with research and restore all of the Classic Silent Shorts elements that still exist with enough interest in current funding drive.
Well, it looks like that crowdfunding thing wasn’t successful. (And they weren’t even close – not even getting to the halfway point...) However, judging from the final update, the video company seems to be pressing ahead anyway: So, maybe there is some hope after all.
It's a good sign in that they kept their word. I believe that they already announced that they would refund everyone's money if they didn't meet the goal by the deadline. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks about their Plan B.
I got a refund notice this morning as well. Sure hope they'll still to be able to "move forward" with this as their prior email claims they will, guess we'll see.
Indeed, you’d think there’d be some actor or producer who’d be interested and could’ve topped this up 10 times over. I wonder if that sort of thing ever happens in these campaigns, though.
