On March 3, a 4-minute demo of the digitally remastered version of classic film “Lei Feng” premiered at a ceremony announcing the names of Hunan-based volunteer service models.
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspected the Malanshan Video Cultural and Creative Industrial Park in Changsha on September 17 last year. He stressed keeping to the right path, making innovations, and promoting a sustainable and sound development of cultural industry. In response to his instruction, the publicity departments of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and the CPC Changsha Municipal Committee urged the industrial park to launch a revolutionary themed film remastering project. “Lei Feng” was the first remastered film.
The film, originally in black and white, was shot in 1960s. Technicians remastered and colored it through 5G cloud, 4k, and AI technologies, making Lei Feng, the main character more vividly presented.
Zhou Suyue, a hi-tech video application expert in the industrial park management committee, led a group of college student volunteers from the Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha Social Work College, and Changsha University, to complete the remastering task in more than 90 days.
There are about 120,000 frames in the 80-minute remastered version, said Liu Xiaoru, a college volunteer born after the 2000s. “We have deeper understanding about Lei Feng’s unselfishness, enterprising spirit, and great love for people,” Liu said.
A remastered “Lei Feng” film watching campaign was launched in Changsha on the day. Governmental departments, enterprises, and residential communities will organized film watching activities, to present the charm of how the old revolutionary film and modern digital technologies applications were combined.
During the “14th Five-year Plan” period (2021-2025), Zhou and his team will conduct digital remastering for 100 revolutionary films, and establish a revolutionary video bank and a digital presentation platform. Three films – “Mao Zedong in 1925”, “National Anthem”, and “Liu Shaoqi’s 44 Days” – will be digitally remastered this year.
This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.
Translator: Pang Yuehui
Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn
