This is a recent scan of 35mm film held by Prelinger Archives, San Francisco and thought to be an original 1906 print. It was scanned by Adrianne Finelli at Internet Archive on October 11, 2018 using IA's Lasergraphics ScanStation scanner set at 5120 x 3840 and scanned to 16fps. This full-width scan is 4096 x 3072 pixels wide and every second frame is doubled for a playback frame-rate of 24fps.
Archives frequently make full-width scans to show information between the perforations that would normally be missing in a scan cropped to show only the picture area. Black printed-through perforations and other characteristics of the print may also be seen at certain points in the film.
Additionally, this version has been upscaled and colorized by KZfaq user Denis Shiryaev. His account, which does this to many other historic films, can be found here:
/ @denisshiryaev
This is the most complete version of the historic film, "A Trip Down Market Street," combining the best elements of prints from Prelinger Arichives and Library of Congress.
(New footage found at 1:40, and 11:35)
Background:
This film was shot on April 14, 1906, just four days before the San Francisco earthquake and fire, to which the negative was nearly lost. It was produced by moving picture photographers the Miles brothers: Harry, Herbert, Earle and Joe. Harry J. Miles hand-cranked the Bell & Howell camera which was placed on the front of a cablecar during filming on Market Street from 8th, in front of the Miles Studios, to the Ferry building. A few days later the Miles brothers were en route to New York when they heard news of the earthquake. They sent the negative to NY, and returned to San Francisco to discover that their studios were destroyed.
The origin of the film was an enigma for many decades, and it was long thought to have been shot in September of 1905, after being dated as such by the Library of Congress based on the state of construction of several buildings. However, in 2009 and 2010, film historian David Kiehn, co-founder of Niles Film Museum in Niles, California, dated the film to the spring of 1906 from automobile registrations and weather records. Kiehn eventually found promotional materials from the film's original release and dated the film to April 14th, 1906, and finally gave credit to the filmmakers, the Miles Brothers.
Technical Aspects:
Film:
Sound mix: Silent
Color: B&W
Aspect Ratio; 1.33 : 1
Negative Format: 35 mm
Printed Format: 35 mm
Cinematographic Process: Spherical
Camera: Hand-cranked Bell & Howell
Audio:
28 tracks, stereo. (without panning) Done in early 2014.
Restoration:
The Prelinger print was scanned from the original1906-era 35mm print. Additional footage from the Library of Congress version was added, making this the most complete and highest resolution version available anywhere.
Post Effects:
This version of the film has been digitally stabilized to remove jitter.
✔ FPS boosted to 60 frames per second (DAIN);
✔ Image resolution boosted up to 4k (ESRGAN);
✔ Improved video sharpness;
✔ Noise removal;
✔ Colorized*
*Please, be aware that colorization colors are not neccesarily accurate.
Resources:
Sounddogs, KZfaq, Horseless.com, Wikipedia, Archive.org, Streetcar.org, earlyamericalautomobiles.com, Prelinger Archives, Library of Congress.
Music: (Intro): Florrie Forde - Waltz Me Around Again, (Incidental): Willie"Crazy Rhythm" played by Brad Kaye.
Accuracy:
Automobile sounds are all either Stanley or White steamers, Ford Model T, or Model A, which came out later, but which have similarly designed engines, and sound quite close to the various cars shown in the film. Some of the automobiles are thought to be steamers, and are dubbed as such. The horns are slightly inaccurate as mostly bulb horns were used at the time, but were substituted by the far more recognizable electric "oogaa" horns, which came out a couple years later. The streetcar sounds are actual San Francisco streetcars. Doppler effect was used to align the sounds.
Produced by:
Miles Brothers Moving Pictures
Photographed by:
Harry J Miles
Upscaling and colorization:
Denis Shiryaev
Sound Design and restoration by:
Mike Upchurch