Optimal Media & Methods for High End Archive of 16mm Film Information
by Michael Grollman
on
Jul 2, 2008 at 12:14:40 am
I have located a bunch of 16mm film cans, most dating back the the 1930's. Lots of useful stuff, a lot of coverage on Indy car racing from that period, plus some family items found nowhere else. The film is somewhat brittle, though, and I would like to convert it to a high end archival digital media, so it can make it another 80 years OK.
First, what would be the best media to use? Some form of HD? Is optical better than magnetic for this application, and if so, what form of optical? Should this kind of work use a codec like h.264/AVC, or is it better that capture raw frames? Are there any labs out there that specialize in this stuff, that could handle such old film with real TLC?
WARNING: NITRATE FILM WILL KILL YOU!!! Re: Optimal Media & Methods for High End Archive of 16mm Film Information by Mads Nybo Jørgensen on Jul 2, 2008 at 12:48:17 am
Hey Michael.
[Michael Grollman]"The film is somewhat brittle"
Are you absolutely sure that the film is not Nitrate based?
If not handled very carefully, it will generate a flame 10 Meters wide and 10 Meters High. If you are not sure, close the cannister very carefully and take it to an expert. What-ever you do - don't light a cigarette near it!!
In response to your question; It will sell regardless of what format you scan it to. I would suggest that you get it scanned to either HD-CAM SR or a sequential file - both will out-last you, and will be easy to copy/convert to whatever comes next.
All the Best
Mads
London, UK
Mac Million Ltd. - HD Production & Editing
Please watch our latest video on Data Protection at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVyv_lTywwc
Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/bigflopproductions
Re: WARNING: NITRATE FILM WILL KILL YOU!!! Optimal Media & Methods for High End Archive of 16mm Film Information by Michael Grollman on Jul 2, 2008 at 1:45:06 am
Mads,
Thanks for the heads-up, I will treat the media with enormous care.
Can you recommend an 'expert' for this kind of thing, on this side of the pond? The media is in New York just now.
But my advice would be to contact the National Archive or maybe a stock library like Getty to get recommendations for the right place to do the job. There is two things to watch out for; the film might fall apart when scanning and if you are doing 1 scan only, make sure that you get the best quality in the first pass.
All the Best
Mads
London, UK
Mac Million Ltd. - HD Production & Editing
Please watch our latest video on Data Protection at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVyv_lTywwc
Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/bigflopproductions
Re: NY Telecine by Ray Palmer on Jul 4, 2008 at 2:22:09 pm
Keep it local.
You will have issues shipping this.
Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can't.
NYC resources- Optimal Media & Methods for High End Archive of 16mm Film Information by Arnie Schlissel on Jul 14, 2008 at 6:12:20 pm
Try Du Art. They were already an established lab when this material was shot.
You might also try speaking to curators at The Museum of the Moving Image (in Astoria, Queens), The Museum of Modern Art's motion picture division, Film Forum in the west Village and Anthology Film Archives in the east Village
Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
http://www.arniepix.com/
