© Psychotropic Films LLC 2017
PSYCHOTROPIC films TM
Day Residue 

Psychotropic Film’s solar-powered Post-Production Studio

made of earth, evolves in Arivaca, Arizona  

A studio is a place where ideas are imagined and projects take shape.  Typically a studio is laid-out for efficient tasks, ease of equipment use and access to practical resources.  However, as the design of my studio has evolved during this building’s construction over the past ten years, I’ve thought very little about practical aspects of this ‘space’.  Maybe there was a reason for this.  What I realize now as the building has evolved, is that the architecture itself, not necessarily the utility of the space, will provide the environment for deliberation, contemplation and timelessness, required to inspire the creative process for digital film/media projects in development and yet imagined.

The Arivaca Film Exhibition Achieves 13-Year Mark

When you live in an isolated rural town, you need to create your own entertainment.  Back in 2006, I wanted to create a film event for the community in order to bring interesting and informative independent films that have relevance to the area, environment and people. I wanted to differentiate the Arivaca Film Exhibition from a typical ‘film festival’ in the sense that I curate the works from what I discover from area filmmakers to provide unique content, not readily available on TV, the theaters and even sometimes the Internet.  Held the first weekend each March, the Arivaca Film Exhibition is a hidden gem.   

THE DOME Wins ‘Best of Arizona’ at the 2017 AIFF

Director Adam Ray of Taxman Films and Bart Santello of Psychotropic Films  teamed-up and collaborated on a doc-u-film project THE DOME which was completed in March of 2017, just in time for the Arizona International Film Festival in Tucson this past April. THE DOME was well-received at the AIFF and claimed the prize for the “Best of Arizona” category, with our film depicting the construction of an earthen studio topped with a cob (straw/clay) dome.  The film has not been published online at this time, but the ‘teaser’ is available for now.

Psychotropic Films

 receives Trademark from the United

States Trademark and Patent Office

After a year-long application and review process, Psychotropic Films  was awarded a Trademark designation in October of 2011.  The Service Mark is for.. “…FILM AND VIDEO PRODUCTION IN THE FIELDS OF MUSIC, DIGITAL VIDEO AND MOTION PICTURE FILMS, NAMELY, AUDIO, STILL, PHOTOGRAPHIC AND MOTION PICTURE IMAGES CAPTURED IN DIGITAL OR ANALOG MEDIA FORMATS; AUDIO/VISUAL MULTIMEDIA CONSULTING SERVICES IN THE FIELDS OF RECORDING, EDITING, DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, AND POST-PRODUCTION, IN CLASS 4I (U.S. CLS. 1OO, 101AND 107)….”
Very recent experiences, experiences from the day, immediately preceding sleep, serve as the basic elements of dream construction.”                                                                 - - David Foulkes
Information Fragments & Experiences
Psychotropic Films has successfully employed AlgoSoft’s digital restoration software VIVA-PRO for the restoration of the 1918-film “The Trail To Yesterday VIVA-PRO uses artificial intelligence within complex mathematical algorithms which pinpoint frame to frame; artifacts, scratches, color blotches, emulsion damage, fading and other degraded film anomalies and correct automatically. I didn’t have the experience or resources for traditional industry restoration software; but found VIVA-PRO a fresh approach to resoration with an AI algorithm approach, with ample customization options.  The results were impressive.  Importantly, this first-pass i n the restoration process gave me the confidence that my preservation effort on the restoration of ‘The Trail To Yesterday’ a  1918 Metro Pictures release, will be professionally accomplished.”                                          - Bart Santello, filmmaker & editor                                                                       Psychotropic Films TM
My growing interest in the restoration and preservation of vintage media, led me to join The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA).   As a digital filmmaker, I’m also interested in fragments of filmic-elements which contain unique imagery for re-utilization in a modern film in order to generate a visual memory of history, events and people. Many of my films to date use historical media and vintage imaging equipment. Now with the opportunity to restore a studio film from the early feature-length, silent film era, I’m compelled and motived to learn more about the technical and artistic aspects of film restoration.                                                                - Bart Santello                                                                               Psychotropic Films TM
July 2018
APRIL 2019 Adam Ray of Taxman Films and Bart Santello of Psychotropic Films are proud to announce that the ‘collaborative’ version of their film - THE DOME has been selected to screen at the 2019 Arcosanti International Film Carnivale  on Saturday the 27th of April 2019 Details can be found at their website http://www.arcosantifilmcarnivale.com/arcosanti- films/

AUGUST 2019  Psychotropic Films

TM

 is employing the latest software technology that utilizes artificial

intelligence (AI) to assist in the analysis and repair (restoration) of  “The Trail to Yesterday” (1918).  The

following presentation by Algosoft-Tech (below) discusses the latest advances in AI and how AI is utilized in

software to locate and correct defects in film.  You can see in this presentation at 35:45-min, a featured a

scene from The Trial to Yesterday  demonstrating the effect of the Algo-Soft software to assist in the

restoration of film scanned to digital from 104 year old 35mm nitrate film stock.

How Recent AI Breakthroughs Are Transforming Moving Image Restoration 

I received a call from Guilio Scalinger who

runs the Arizona International Film

Festival in Tucson that he was looking to

screen one of my shorts as part of the

Screening Room’s 30-anniversary event.

Fortunately, I just completed version 2 of

my film “Intangible” which is the updated

and mastered version of the prototype

version of Intangible that I created in the

2007-2009 timeframe.

This version 2 is presented with the film

elements scanned in HD along new

imagery from additional found film that I

have been collecting over the past 10

years.  This allowed me to remove any

material that was weaker ‘artistically’ and

replace with superior imagery from an

imaging standpoint.

The music now uses the final release of

the song ‘Intangible’ from the album of the

same name by AProduce & Loren Nerell,

rather than the work-in-progress version

used in the 2009 prototype of Intangible.

INTANGIBLE (2019) shown at the

30th Anniversary of The Screening Room, Tucson, Arizona

December 2019
March 2020
Announcement: INTANGIBLE has been accepted into the 2020 ARIZONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (AIFF) in Tucson, Arizona.  Normally held mid-April each year, but due to the COVID19 virus the event has been moved to October.  Psychotropic Films TM   is looking forward to presenting this work to both a local and international audience.  INTANGIBLE is a film about memory and decay utilizing found footage from decades old 8mm film.  Information at the AIFF website here: FILMFESTIVALARIZONA.COM
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