Film grain noise superimposition for film grain management

The distribution and processing of archived film sequences for various purposes often requires “film grain management” to enhance the visual quality or enable better compression results. Film grain management includes (1) the removal or reduction of film grain noise and/or (2) the superimposition of a certain kind and strength of film grain noise, with a natural look-and-feel. Based on previous investigations of major properties of film grain noise, adapted methods for film grain noise superimposition have now been developed, integrated into a film restoration software along with an expert GUI, and used for film grain management in the following.