Horizons: Revisited
Produced by the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society. Sound by Paul Durso.
If we can dream it, we can do it.
Horizons: Revisited was a film project by Lake Buena Vista Historical Society and RetroWDW. An incredible labour of love, the goal was to take 8mm film shot by How Bowers and upscale, restore, and enhance the footage and audio to create the first high-definition film of the beloved, defunct EPCOT attraction, Horizons.
I was responsible for restoring and enhancing the audio, which came from a variety of sources, including: binaural recordings of riding the attraction, a complete track of narration dialogue as played in the Omnimover vehicle, Audio-Animatronics dialogue, and music score recordings sourced directly from the master tapes.
Much of the audio material was originally in rough shape, as it was captured with technology and mediums of the time. I used a process of noise reduction and audio editing in Izotope RX and Pro Tools, along with analog compression to smooth out levels, to repair the audio and get the many sources sounding cohesive.
This project was very dear to me, as Horizons was a foundational childhood inspiration to me, showcasing dreams and realities of technology, visions of the future, and the actionable will to realize a prosperous future.
Photo Credits: Photographer, Photographer.