Film Preservation

Film Preservation

During the 1980s it was an ongoing reality that society’s motion picture heritage was taking a downturn. Prints were starting to shrink and curl and would be unprojectable due to the penetration of the acidic odour (Usai: 2001: Preface). At the time, the best solution was to duplicate nitrate film onto a more secure medium. Since then more film is being preserved than ever. At the same time a large amount of old film is slowly rotting due to chemical processes inherent to celluloid. The term ‘digital cinema’ highlights the use of digital technology to transfer from 35mm film to digital carriers. When it comes to digital technology there is a heated debate. The film preservation, or film restoration, movement is an ongoing project among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images which they contain. In the widest sense, preservation nowadays assures that a movie will continue to exist, as close to its original form as possible. 90 percent of all American silent films and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 are lost films.

For many years the term “preservation” used to be a synonym of “duplication” only. The preservationist’s goal was to create a durable copy without significant loss of quality. Film preservation now holds the concepts of handling, duplication, storage, and access. The archivist seeks to protect the film and share the content with the public.

Film preservation should be distinguished from film revisionism, in which long-completed films are subjected to outtakes never previously seen being inserted, new music scores and/or sound effects being added, black-and-white film being colorized or converted to Dolby stereo, or minor edits or other cosmetic changes being made.