Preservation and Valorization of Audiovisual Heritage

Preservation & Valorisation of Audiovisual Heritage NP 1 March 2014 2 3 Welcome, This document is intended for all those in possession of audiovisual heritage. If it has not been digitized, as time progresses, your content becomes increasingly unusable. It degrades physically and devices for playing it become obsolete and disappear. You often tell yourself that everything should be digitized but in rea- lity, little is done. It’s time to take action to rescue a legacy that is on the road to ruin. There has never been a better time. The technology exists, and it is mature. Apart playing equipment, it is widely available and affordable, and time has not yet completely erased your historical recordings. Without a doubt, your audiovisual heritage has value. It’s up to you to make it profitable. Jean-Michel Seigneur Head of Marketing at Vectracom 2 3 4 5 Contents Edito 3 Content 5 Preservation of audiovisual heritage 6 Film 10 Storage & restoration of films 12 Digitization of film 14 Sound recordings 16 Digitization of sound recordings 18 Video Recordings 20 Preparation of magnetic tapes 24 Digitization of video content 26 Main media file formats 28 Media files quality control 30 Storage of digitized heritage 32 Drafting preservation projects 33 Managing preservation projects 34 Valorization of audiovisual heritage 36 Using MAM 39 Restoration of content 40 Accessibility of content 41 Use of heritage content 42 Service platform for audiovisual content 44 Vectracom’s references 48 4 5 Preservation heritage 6 7 Preservation Preservation of audiovisual heritage heritage 6 7 According to UNESCO, 200 million hours of video programmes are in danger of being lost. Preserving one’s audiovisual heritage means ensuring that it can be seen or heard today, tomorrow and forever. Attitudes change. Preservation for the purposes of entertainment has long been well understood and acknowledged. Today, preservation for information purposes is becoming routine, as a matter of course. Many people now grasp the value of archives and the uses to which they may be put. But this understanding varies from one culture to another. Finally, a lasting solution In the past, the copying of content onto new physical media was the main technology of preservation. Material was copied onto new media, while the old was jettisoned. Twenty years later, the same cycle had to be repeated. This technology has now been dropped in favour of digitization. We can differen- tiate between two types of preservation: • Preventive preservation, which consists in keeping contents on their original media, as it stands. • Curative preservation which consists in digitizing material under the best possible conditions. Preventive preservation This consists in keeping content in an appropriate environ- ment, one that minimizes ageing of media. It requires a keen Valuable archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina knowledge of the media and heavy-duty resources. It is a burning on feb 2014 8th specialist business that most owners of archive data cannot in general handle themselves, due to the high level of expertise The cost of failing to act required. A failure to act has its cost. If you are keeping your content Curative preservation over a long period, calculate the cost along with the additional This is the only legitimate way to preserve audiovisual heritage. costs of preservation. Add a fraction of the initial production This technology consists in digitizing content, after correct pre- expenses, and you will have an idea of your potential losses paration to secure the best possible transfer quality. It is now when it becomes illegible. Naturally digitization is an expense, reasonable to assume that digitized content can be preserved but it guarantees the long-term existence of content and indefinitely, providing certain precautions are taken. Also, digi- above all, renders it commercially useable. Failure to act tization allows ubiquity of information, preserving it from disas- simply guarantees the loss both of content and the invest- ters like it was the case during the fire at the presidency of Bos- ment made thus far to create and preserve it. nia and Herzegovina in February 2014 where valuable archives burnt and disappeared for ever. A pressing matter For anyone wishing to preserve their audiovisual heritage, digitization is a matter of urgency. Postponement only leads to the deterioration of media and makes the content more diffi- cult to read as technologies become obsolete. The longer you wait, the more the original content degrades and the harder it is to produce good digital copies. The old magnetic media, which disappeared from the market 25 years ago, will be completely unplayable 20 years from now. Content will be irreco- verable. Quality have already diminished and the equipment used to play such media is becoming increasingly rare. The longer you wait, the more the profitability of a digitization dimini- shes. It is thus a pressing matter, and at the very least a strategy should be established. The urgency is different depending on the media 8 9 Developing a strategy The most pressing matter is to gauge the condition of archive Vectracom services data and develop a plan of action that will enable you to make an informed decision. D Leader of audiovisual heritage preservation Do not wait a second longer. Instigate an initial strategic action D plan. Either work alone or seek help from specialized consul- Dedicated to audiovisual professionals tants. Imagine different scenarios and estimate costs. D More than 20 years of concrete practice Move forward with precise data D Expert in the entire range of technologies for digitizing and restoring legacy au- The need to finalize a plan to present to decision-makers dio, video and film recordings and thus obtain financing calls for clarity and assurance with regard to feasibility, available means, and costs incurred. D All required legacy equipment in stock For that you need to put your faith in the people who know D Range of services from consulting to turn because they have been there before; someone with real knowledge and proven experience of preservation and digiti- D key projects zation of audiovisual archives. D Range of certified solutions to manage from Time is running out D very small to very large volumes of media The longer you wait, the more the preservation of your archive D Ability to manage projects at your location data is going to cost you. And technology is not about to come D to your aid. Old media perishes. Urgent action is required. Detailed plans and quotes on request D ISO 9001 certification Few art forms have appeared and disappeared as rapidly as silent movies. 75% of American silent films have been lost. Without preservation, an irreplaceable heritage has gone forever. The same applies to all audiovisual content existing only on magnetic tape. Within a few years it will exist no more. The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is an initiative of UNESCO. It commemorates the adoption by the 21st General Conference in 1980 of the recommendation for the safeguard and preservation of audiovisual heritage. It is an opportunity to draw public attention to the need for urgent measures and to acknowledge the importance of audiovisual material. 8 9 Film Kodak closed its film division in 2012, while Fuji officially stopped the manufacture of film stock in March 2013. Important Hollywood studios themselves ceased providing 35mm copies in 2013. Increases in the cost of film allied to a fall in the price of digital equipment rapidly justified the film industry’s decision. From that point on, specialist companies, equipment and know-how began to disappear. Very few remain. A heritage in great danger Audiovisual heritage consists mainly of optical film (8mm, 16mm, 35 mm and all other types covered in the current chapter). Almost every institution in the world possesses film archives. But film stock ages and perishes. Chemical attack, mechanical deformations and shrinkage, changes in elasticity and «vinegar syndrome» are all problems exacerbated by poor storage conditions. In the USA, already more than 75% of the early silent films have been completely lost. Among art forms, the speed of the rise of silent movies and their subsequent disappearance is unpre- cedented. If nothing is done, an entire heritage is going to vanish. The equipment capable of reading film is going to become increasingly hard to find, and the films themselves will vanish into dust unless their preservation is assured. There are many types of film formats. We have listed the most common ones here. Archived films at Vectracom Year(s) Name Film Perforations Use 1900 Micrograph 20 mm in black and white On 1 side Amateur 1900 Pocket Stopwatch Black and white Central Amateur 1912 Pathé Kok 28 mm B&W non-inflammable Central Family Cinema 1922 Pathé Baby 9,5 mm; sound from 1930 Central Amateur 1927 Pathé Rural 17,5 mm; sound from 1933 Central Country 1927 Cellfilm 22 mm ozaphan film On 1 side Country 1929 Cinélux 22 mm ozaphan film No perforation Country Some of the numerous early film types Most common formats Early films In 1923, Kodak launched 16mm as an alternative to 35mm. Economical and lighter, it became the professional format for The first films appeared in 1888. Manufactured by George news reports and fiction on tele vision. Eastman, they were made from cellulose nitrate and were It originally had perforations on each 70mm wide. In 1891, William K L Dickson created the 35mm side but the appearance of talkies in- film, with 4 perforations. At that time, he worked with Thomas troduced the addition of a sound strip Edison. This format was subsequently used in cinema and for (magnetic or optical) and generalized the shooting of pretty much all fictional work.

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