Links Digitization of Archival Film
Compiled by Prof. Dr. Barbara Flueckiger and Dr. Franziska Heller, Institute of Cinema Studies, University of Zurich, within the framework of the research project AFRESA, funded by a grant from the Swiss Confederation's Innovation Promotion Agency CTI in collaboration with the Imaging and Media Lab of the University of Basel, the companies Swiss Effects Film GmbH and Sondor.
Categories: Guides / Case Studies / Organizations / Reports / State of the Art
Please report errors or suggestions to Barbara Flueckiger
Guides
ACE. Links to Relevant Topics
Further links to relevant topics: conservation, preservation, digitization
Adelstein, Peter (2004). IPI Media Storage Quick Reference. Rochester: Image Permanence Institute.
Quick reference chart
Code of Ethics FIAF
Ethical guidelines for the handling of audiovisual heritage
Copyright Data
Copyright probes/case studies, Charlie Chaplin, The Abbott & Costello TV series, further links to foreign copyright laws (outside the US)
Cultural Heritage Digital. Good Practice
Recommendations for best practice, digitization of the cultural heritage (in general), downloads, partly in German
Digitization Guidelines
Technical information for the digitization of historical material (still images and audiovisual material)
Joanneum Diamant
Description of film defects
Film Forever
Film stocks, film identification, damage, handling, storage, glossary
Image Permanence Institute
Further literature about photochemical preservation, bibliography: stability and storage issues with PDF-documents
King, James C.: Adobe. Why Color Management?
Color-management, introduction, Adobe, consistency, conversion, Photoshop basic workflow, gamut differences, rendering, ICC, CRTs, white/black point, printer, quantization, compression, interpolation, errors and problems
Meinel, Christoph (2007): Damage and Handling of Audiovisual Material.
Damage, handling of audiovisual material, survey and guide, long term storage, biological degradation processes, further literature, links and organizations, film, magnetic tapes, vinyl discs, optical discs, migration, in German
National Film and Sound Archive - Preservation
NFSA preservation site, guide: care for audiovisual materials (audio, film, video, photographs), services, technical research: papers, film preservation handbook
Puglia, Steve: PADI-Costs
Costs of long-term access to digital information, data storage, emulation, preservation, migration, obsolescence, further literature, articles and links
Ray Edmondson / Unesco (2004): Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles
Ethical, philosophical and memopolitical implications/challenges of digitization: obsolescence, artefact value, marketing, access, ethical challenges, internet, copyright, historical contextualization, technological memory, terms and definitions, tension: physical carrier, conceptual descriptors, content, key-concepts of audiovisual heritage, historical emergence, characteristics of the institutions, specifics of audiovisual archives (see table in appendix), context-dependence, management principles, appendix: glossary, formats and obsolescence
The Film Preservation Guide (2004). San Francisco : The National Film Preservation Foundation
Film preservation (handling, identification, pragmatics and ethics)
The Image Permanence Institute Preservation Calculator
Preservation calculator
Venice Charter
Role of the original, restoration ethics, in German
Video Preservation Website
Video preservation, further links to guidelines: migration, create use copy, videotape storage, history of imaging technology, conversion: analog videotapes to digital, museum with links to all the major video equipment image repositories, library, video guide by Charles Bensinger (1981)
Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web
Possibilities and limitations of the digitization, cultural heritage in general (esp. print, manuscripts), loss of information, costs, access
Kodak: Film/Video Glossary
Glossary and survey
Magnetic Tapes. Know-How
Basic principles of magnetic tape, video tapes and data technology in the internet, further links to an alphabetical survey of materials and equipment, esp. AGFA, BASF, museum of magnetic tapes
Memoriav. Inventory by Mariann Sträuli
Inventory of Swiss archives by Mariann Sträuli
Poynton, Charles: FAQs about Color.
Color specification and image coding, computer graphics, image processing, video and the transfer of digital images to print, physical spectral power, CIE system, other color systems, linear and nonlinear, standards, SMPTE, EBU and ITU-R (formerly CCIR), CMY, CMYK, further links to the problem of color space conversions, FAQs about gamma, color physics, radiometry and photometry
Schmidts, Rudi (2010): Grundlagen Color-Grading
Color and color-grading in the digital domain, in German
Beagrie, Neil / Greenstein, Daniel: A Strategic Policy Framework for Creating and Preserving Digital Collections.
Policy framework from 1998 for digital collections, case studies, many further links to institutions and initiatives
Library of Congress Preservation Documentation 1993
Film preservation, state of the art 1993, historical report/snapshot 1993, memopolitics in the US, technical background, film bases, emulsions, color fading, storage, US institutions, federal funding, benefits of film preservation, public access, copyright
Case Studies / Projects
ACE Digital Film Restoration
Further links: restoration case studies, digital restoration of "Opernball", the Ozu-restoration project, "Tokyo Story", software "Limelight"
ACE Preservation
Further articles, links, case studies: history and definition of preservation, film restoration, institutions and organizations, restoration of "Metropolis", sound restoration of "The Man Who Kew Too Much", restoration of "Die Jagd nach dem Tod", restoration of the soundtrack "The Mistress of Atlantis"
Beelden voor de toekomst / Images for the Future
National Dutch project for mass-digitization of audiovisual heritage
Chapman, Stephen: Counting the Costs of Digital Preservation: Is Repository Storage Affordable?
Costs and affordability of digital collections, case studies
Film Restoration Case Study: Martin Koerber
Philological research for film reconstruction, in German
Palm, Jonas: The Digital Black Hole
Costs of long-term preservation of digital files, general costs of (mass-)digitization, costs of access, management/administration costs for the data and storage, scanning processes and their costs, fluid definition of "true quality"
Presto Space A/V Archive Digitization & Storage Guide
A/V archive, information, management tools on digital technology for the storage of film, video and audio content and associated metadata, tutorials, articles, glossary
Presto Space Project
General information about mass digitization/digital preservation: technical solutions for a complete digital preservation, all kinds of audio-visual collections, adaptable to different European memopolitical interests. asset-management, industrial, semi-automated systems, access, audiovisual material as historical, cultural and commercial assets
Restoration "Lola Montez", Munich Filmmuseum
Restoration case study: "Lola Montès", Munich Filmmuseum, in German
Restoration "Lola Montès", Cinémathèque Française
Different versions, several photochemical elements, digitization, alignement of the different copies (dating from different generations), Cinema Scope, formats, sound restoration, colors, further links, in French
Sci-Fi Japan, "Mothra" restored
Restoration case study: "Mothra"
Restoration: "Prettier than ever - The Wizard of Oz"
Restoration case study, documentary, Technicolor
Sci-Fi Japan, "Rashomon" restored
Restoration case study: "Rashomon"
Shaman Project
Devlopment of a digital long-term preservation framework for libraries and archives, sustaining heritage access through multivalent archiving
Streaming Case-Study: "Rose of Rhodesia"
Streaming case study of historic material: "Rose of Rhodesia"
Taglia Italia Archive
Philological research, online-archive of Italian censorship cards, in Italian
Cineric. Restoration and Preservation
Restoration case study: "Dr. Strangelove", 4 K workflow
Classic Film Festival Preservation
Film preservation associated with the Cinecon Festival
Early Alfred Hitchcock Movies in Need of Restoration
Article about the Hitchcock restoration and online donation project
Film Restoration
Restoration case study "Bucking Broadway", in French
Hometheaterforum "Dr. Strangelove"
Restoration case study "Dr. Strangelove", distribution via Blu-Ray, discussion of the job quality
Rescue Hitchcock
Online donation project for the restoration of early Hitchcock films
Sony Pictures Museum "Dr. Strangelove"
Restoration case study: "Dr. Strangelove"
Organizations
ACE. Association des Cinémathèques Europ&e acute;ennes
Association of the European Cinémathèques, events, statues, goals, activities, education, job-service
AMIA. The Association of Moving Image Archivists
Association of Moving Image Archivists, non-profit organization, collaborations, education, annual conference, newsletter, debates, standards, AMIA codes of ethics
Haghefilm Foundation
A learning laboratory for film preservation and curatorship
National Film & Sound Archive Australia
National film and sound archive Australia
Cinecon Festival
Classic Film Festival
German Association of Restorers
Activities and information about German restorers (more general, not esp. focused on audiovisual material), in German
Reports / State of the Art
Cave, Dylan (2008): Born Digital -- Raised an Orphan? Acquiring Digital Media through an Analog Paradigm In: Muse, Volume 8, Number 1, Spring 2008.
Digital long-term preservation, digital born media, technical and cultural strategies
Cinémathèque Suisse. Restoration
Restoration in the Cinémathèque Suisse, criteria for selection, (lab) partners in the restoration, in German and French
Gracy, Karen F. (2003): Documenting the Process of Film Preservation. In: The Moving Image. Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 1-41.
Analysis of values and selection criteria using ethnograpic methods and fieldwork, social reality of film archivists
Image Permanence Institute
Physical-chemical preservation, state of the art research, training
New York Times: Kodak will retire Kodachrome. 23/06/2009.
Photochemical material in the digital age, Kodak politics, state of the art 2009
Owen, J.S. Mackenzie (2006): Authenticity and Objectivity in Scientific Communication: Implications of Digital Media. In: Sonja Neef, José van Dijck and Eric Ketelaar (eds): Sign Here! Handwriting in the Age of New Media. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. 60-75.
Digitization and its consequences for modes of communication - notions and construction of the original
Resource 411- Preservation
Video preservation, film preservation, digitization, digital preservation, videotapes, digital archiving, television preservation, color-transfer analog-digital
Stephen G. Nichols/ Smith, Abby (2001): The Evidence in Hand: Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections. 35-38.
Role of artifacts/originals in libraries 1800-2000, collections, print/paper, audiovisual material, sound, still and moving images, broadcast media, criteria for selection, distinction of value, copyright vs. preservation? case-studies
Turci, Arianna (2006): The Use of Digital Restoration within European Film Archives: A Case Study. In: The Moving Image. Volume 6, No 1, Spring 2006. p. 111-124.
Historical development, beginnings and acceptance of digital restoration in European archives, state of the art in 2005
King, Susan: Classic Hollywood: Rare Films on Display at Cinecon 46
Cinecon Classic Film Festival 2010, Society for Cinephiles
Owen, J.S. Mackenzie (2005): The Scientific Article in the Age of Digitization. Amsterdam.
Digitization and communication, aspects of the original
Sturm, Julia (2001): Special Effects. Hightech in the Shire
Color and color-grading in the digital domain, in German
Thompson, Kristin (2008): Digital Grading and the Color of Middle-Earth.
Color and color-grading in the digital domain
last update: September, 2011