Wake in Fright | 2024 Restoration Comparison

Have a closer look at Umbrella’s brand new 4K restoration of WAKE IN FRIGHT. The original camera negative was scanned in 4K by the National Film and Sound Archive before being sent to our restoration facility to be colour corrected and stabilised one shot at a time. The team then cleaned each shot frame-by-frame removing any imperfections and correcting any distortion. With over 300 shots per reel, this resulted in months of intense restoration work before a feature-length preview was ready. The most striking difference is the colour between the previous scan and our newly restored and coloured master. Director Ted Kotcheff intended for the heat to be palpable in his 1971 film, stating, “I don’t want to see any cool colours. I don’t want to see blue or green. Ever. On anything. All I want is red, yellow, orange, burgundy and brown.” The 2009 grade had a green and yellow hue that didn’t correspond with the look of the surviving release prints. The grade on this new restoration has replaced these hues with a far more natural and earthy aesthetic – capturing the Australian landscape in all its sweltering, sun-soaked colour. WAKE IN FRIGHT has never looked better, and that is a sight for sore eyes. Umbrella wish to give special thanks to colourist Charlie Ellis at Roar Digital and the Wake In Fright Trust. The restoration was supervised by filmmaker Mark Hartley.