Moving image preservation in libraries - film and video

Library Trends, Summer, 2003 by Paula De Stefano

Fortunately, film history is well recorded in the literature and documents the complexities and variations in film technology that emerged over the years since 1895 to provide moving images. First came motion pictures without sound, then with sound--first recorded on discs, then magnetically or optically recorded, then formatted with stereophonic sound. Films were first produced in black and white, then color was added, initially using a stenciling method, then using additive or subtractive color separations, followed by Technicolor in the 1930s and Cinecolor. A number of other separation technologies followed, culminating in a system that combines three color layers into one sandwich using a negative-positive system, or sometimes a direct positive (reversal) system (Read & Meyer, 2000, p. 43).

Simplistically summarized, motion picture film can be found on a variety of film bases in a multitude of gauges with various sprocket dimensions. It may be found in black and white, or color, and with of without sound. The various elements used to make a motion picture film complicate the restoration and reconstruction process, but the complexity does not end here because, of course, film must be projected in order to be viewed.

On the projection side, each element of film production has to work in tandem with a system capable of projecting it. Film rates measured in frames per second were used to record continuous images in the filming process that, in turn, had to be synchronized with the speeds of the projection system used to exhibit it. Synchronization extended as well to the sound and the color systems used in the film. Furthermore, projection techniques involved aspect ratios and image areas that also changed over time, initially from full-image projection, to an early industry "standard" format, to widescreen formats (including anamorphic formats, such as Cinemascope), and flat widescreen formats like letter box. In a documentary about film preservation entitled Keepers of the Frame (Gitsch and McLaughlin, 1999),John Harvey, film enthusiast, testifies to the complexities involved in film projection when he describes the five-man projection system typically required to project Cinemascope!

In total, all of the technical elements of motion picture film referenced above combine to make reformatting, or duplicating, a very complex endeavor that requires far more technical experience and well-informed decisionmaking skills than is entailed in reformatting books. The fixed nature of the book drastically simplifies the duplication process. Indeed, in the bookbound library setting, the amount of technical knowledge required in order to mount successful motion picture film transfers is quite daunting.

Equally daunting is the technical knowledge required to mount successful transfers of video formats. Unfortunately, the problems encountered in video reproduction and preservation are just as troublesome and require the same, if not more immediate, attention as those encountered in motion picture film. Video formats and playback equipment are equally diverse and, even more so than motion picture film, present a formidable preservation problem because they are less stable over time and because duplication choices for video are less reliable as preservation formats. Whereas moving images recorded on chemically unstable nitrate and acetate film bases can be transferred to a chemically stable polyester film base, the current hunt to identify transfer media to preserve early video materials remains frustrating and problematic. In addition, obsolescence of the playback equipment is a greater problem for video formats and digitally produced moving images than motion picture film.