Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (except Chinese Series, which is presented in 1.85:1), encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One and Two arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The Following text appears in the booklet provided with this release:

"The twenty-six films in volume one were selected by Marilyn Brakhage and Brakhage friend and film scholar Bruce Kawin, with the advice and approval of Stan Brakhage. They were transferred from newly minted interpositives and fine-grain masters manufactured exclusively for that collection by Stan Brakhage's lifelong collaborator John Newell of Western Cine in Denver. For each film, the new elements were struck in the film gauge of the original printing negative. The high-definition digital transfers were made on a Spirit Datacine under the supervision of scholar Fred Camper, who was selected by Stan Brakhage to ensure the accuracy of the recorded images.

The thirty film in volume two were selected by Marylin Brakhage, in consultation with Fred Camper, R. Bruce Elder, and P. Adams Sitney. They were transferred from Brakhage's original printing negatives, newly minted interpositives, and preservation prints. The high-definition digital transfers were on a Spirit Datacine under the supervision of Marilyn Brakhage and Mark Toscano of the Academy Film Archive.

No filtering, noise reduction, or other restoration tools have been applied to any of the picture elements."

I suppose this is the best these curious films could look without any additional work being done on them. Contrast, clarity and especially color-reproduction are, obviously, superior here when compared to the SDVD transfer(s). Additionally, with some of the films grain is also a lot more prominent. As clarified in the quoted text above, there has been no restoration work performed on these films, which is why some of them have retained a variety of different marks and scratches. Finally, I cannot say that there are any serious stability issues, or at least I believe that there are none, aside from what is obviously inherited from the original printing negatives, interpositives, and preservation prints. All in all, I believe that anyone interested in the work of Stan Brakhage will be delighted with Criterion's Blu-ray release. To me, it looks mighty impressive. (Note: The Blu-ray discs in By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One and Two are Region-A "locked". Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access their content).