It is amazing to think that film is the longest lasting moving image medium. Over time, many different film bases have been developed to allow the moving images on film to survive for little over a century. Below are a few of the many online resources for the preservation, conservation and researching of film collections. Library of Congress Library of Congress-Packard Campus National Film Preservation Board Resources Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Image Permanence Institute Film Forever (this site also contains a downloadable PDF resource) While cataloging a small collection of films I came across two major agents of deterioration caused by poor storage conditions. The first agent of deterioration I encountered was rust. Rust is a form of corrosion and comes from metal being stored in high humidity. It affects the metal reels and cans that films are stored inside. In order to combat the rust from scratching the film I changed the reels they were stored on, cleaned out the can and also cleaned the film. After doing so, I realized that I should have changed the film from being stored on a reel to being stored on a core. Storing films on cores is considered more archival because cores are made of an inert polypropylene plastic that does not corrode and cause rust like metal reels. Oddball Films stores most films on reels for easy viewing access. The second agent of deterioration I encountered was acetate decomposition, also known as vinegar syndrome. Vinegar syndrome is most commonly brought on by poor storage conditions for film collections such as high temperature and high humidity. It is easily identified by its strong smell of vinegar. These conditions can cause cupping in the film as well as shrinkage, buckling, warpage and embrittlement. Oddball Films has a process for treating vinegar syndrome since it is contagious within film collections. First, contaminated film must be segregated away from other healthy films and then a molecular sieve or silica gel must be placed inside the closed film can to act as a scavenger and absorb the moisture within the can that is causing the film to deteriorate. Oddball Films uses sieves temporarily inside cans until the film can be transferred, then the sieve is disposed. After being segregated for a few weeks these films are then evaluated for their potential to be transferred. It is not good for either the film or projector to try to run damaged film. If the film is deemed non transferable it goes back into segregation or is disposed of if it is too far deteriorated. If there is sufficient funding and equipment available it may be more desirable to transfer the film and also make a print copy before disposing of the contaminated original. Another widely seen agent of deterioration is poor storage of cellulose nitrate film. Cellulose nitrate film was widely produced from 1890-1950. It is important to identify nitrate film versus safety film because nitrate film must be kept in cold storage to prevent irreversible deterioration. Furthermore, exposure to extremely high temperatures or an open flame could ignite the highly flammable film base. There are a large host of resources available for identifying, handling and storing cellulose nitrate film (see above). Oddball Films does not have any cellulose nitrate in their collection. Condition reporting is an important practice for any collection. I learned a whole new vocabulary in relation to film in order to properly identify agents of deterioration within a film collection and write informative condition reports. Some condition reporting can be done just by evaluating the way the film appears when wound onto a reel. The number of splices and any perforation damage can be easily seen from the edge of the film. Bad splices are also visible on the edge of a film. I worked with a small “b-roll” that had been poorly spliced with masking tape splices directly on the surface of the film. I removed all of the masking tape and re-spliced the elements back together to create one continuous roll. Any tape or tape residue left on the surface of a film should not be run through a projector. It could damage the projector or subsequent films viewed through the projector. Emulsion scratches, surface scratches, fading and color shift can also be seen by physically examining the film through a loop with a light box. Color shift is irreversible once deterioration has begun. Freezing can slow down most deterioration processes but once they have begun nothing can stop them entirely. Some condition reporting must be done by viewing the moving images on a film viewer. Lines or fine scratches in the surface of the film often cannot always be seen with the naked eye and a loop must be used. These conditions should be noted in the catalog record for future reference. This will allow for monitoring of worsening conditions.. Some minor warping can only be seen, or heard in the case of magnetic and optical sound tracks, when a film is played back in real time. Often times warped film will run through the gate slower than standard speed causing the sound track and the moving image to be played in slow motion.
Condition reporting is important for noting the deterioration of a film for the present as well as for the future. A compromised film’s condition can then be periodically checked for the progression of deterioration or it can be evaluated for the significance of keeping the original film versus transferring it and maintaining a digital copy.
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ASHLEY FRANKS-MCGILLI will be updating this blog periodically with posts related to history, museums, collections and professional development. ARCHIVES
October 2017
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