Introduction to the restoration of motion picture film

Transcription

1 Introduction to th rstoration of motion pictur film Th twntith cntury is th cntury of th moving imag. Sinc cinma was invntd in th last yars of th nintnth cntury, it has dvlopd as on of th most important manifstations of populär cultur and mass mdia. An incrdibl quantity of moving imags hav bn producd, many of thm of histori or artistic valu. Thy ar th visual mmory of ovr a cntury and many of ths films ar worth prsrving for th audincs of today and of th futur. This book is not about th cultural or historical valu of films, nor about conomic valus or copyright issus. This book is about th tchnical, thortical and practical aspcts of film rstoration. Film rstoration is ssntially duplication. Motion pictur film is an artfact that consists of a transparant plastic bas on which a photographic mulsion has bn coatd. Both plastic bas and mulsion ar subjct to dgradation and it is impossibl to sparat thm from on anothr. Duplication is thrfor th only way to safguard th moving imag, but photochmical duplication tchniqus hav thir intrinsic limitations and thrfor vry duplication is a altration by comparison with th sourc matrials. Unlik in fin arts, in film rstoration th original artfact is th sourc for a rstoration. Th original artfact can b rpaird and cland, but th procss of slfdstrution cannot b stoppd. Th only way to prsrv ths films for låtr gnrations is to duplicat thm onto modrn film stock. 1.1 TERMINOLOGY This book is not about passiv consrvation of film matrial. It is a fact that storag conditions ar ssntial to strtch th liftim of a film as much as possibl, but most films will, som day, bcom subjct of dgradation and can only b savd through rstoration. Th trms consrvation and prsrvation ar usd in ithr an activ way or a passiv way and can thrfor man storag or vn duplication without particular intrvntions and in principl without any loss of photographic information. Th trms rstoration and rconstruction ar usually usd whn diffrncs ar cratd btwn th matrials you start with and th matrials you nd with, through manipulating th procss of duplication (rstoration) or through diting squncs in a diffrnt ordr (rconstruction). Howvr, from th txt in this book it will bcom vidnt that a standardizd duplication (prsrvation) without manipulating th photographic duplication procss is almost impossibl without loss of photographic quality. Th quality of a duplicat is not guarantéd by standard procdurs. It is on of th goals of this book to stablish standards for film rstoration, within th boundaris of today's tchnical possibilitis. Whn w spak in this book about rstoration w man th whol spctrum of film duplication, from th most simpl duplication with a minimum of intrvntions up to th most complx ons with a maximum of manipulations. Sinc vry duplication procdur has som dcision momnts which may influnc th quality of th final product, it is important that crtain principls ar rspctd. For instanc, rstoration implis that it is not sufficint simply to transfr th information on a film to anothr carrir, which could involv vido transfr as wll, but to rnaintain as much 1

2 2 Rstoration of Motton Pictur Film as possibl th original format of th film, in particular 35 mm and 16 mm cinmatographic film. It is important to b awar of th fact that many trms, nams and indications for crtain matrials diffr from country to countiy and almost from priod to priod. This is partly th fault of th industry, which introducd film stocks undr crtain nams and thn som yars låtr introducd anothr film stock undr th sam nam, or a nam that was usd prviously by anothr manufacturr. But also thos who us ths trms oftn do not us thm in a viy considrd way. If sombody spaks for instanc about 'intrngativs' or 'dup ngativs' it is not always crtain that h or sh mans th sam as you. To hlp with this possibl confusion, th book has a glossary of trms, giving most cross-rfrncs. 1.2 WHY FILM RESTORATION? Of all th films producd up to th arly 1930s, whn sound film was introducd, it is stimatd that about pr cnt hav bn lost. Th losss of film from låtr priods ar lss dramatic, but still considrabl. Evn th original ngativs of many films from only a fw yars ago hav bn lost, or ar in a dplorabl condition. Thr ar many rasons for this situation. Somtims thr wr conomic rasons - films wr nglctd or dstroyd whn no longr profitabl. Thr wr practical rasons - popl wantd to gt rid of that dusty hap of films and mak us of th spac! Thr wr asthtic rasons - old films wr considrd 'primitiv' as th languag of film bcam mor 'sophisticatd'. Silnt films wr dstroyd whn sound was introducd, th mulsion was washd from th bas, silvr was rclaimd from it, inflammabl nitrat films wr dstroyd whn nitrat film stock bcam prohibitd... tc. Evn without human intrvntions or nglignc, films also dstroy thmslvs. Films on a nitrat cllulos bas, which wr usd until th arly 1950s, ar notoriously chmically unstabl. For svral dcads duplication onto actat cllulos or safty film stock was considrd sufficint to prsrv th films for th cnturis to com. But today w know that safty film is almost as unstabl as nitrat. Th so-calld 'vingar syndrom', th nam applid to actat film dcomposition bcaus of th typical vingar smll, is now thratning film collctions all ovr th world. This dcomposition procss cannot b stoppd and a film from 1990 may nd a thorough rstoration, just as much as a film from Bsids ths physicai rasons, it also important to rcogniz that 'old films' ar apprciatd now by a larg group of popl. Mor and mor univrsitis hav dpartmnts spcializing in cinma and its history, and vn in film rstoration. Today, thr is also an important association for arly cinma studis, Domitor, which has bcom an important and highly rspctd acadmic rsarch group. Thr ar fstivals which prsnt xclusivly archiv films in Pordnon, Bologna, Paris and Los Angls. And film buffs bcom mor and mor awar of th fact that if you want to s a grat film from th 1940s or 1950s, it is not ncssarily th cas that thr will b a good print availabl. Contmporaiy film makrs working as avantgard artists discovr that th cinma of th arly days is in som ways as xprimntal as thir own products, almost a cntuiy låtr. In gnral it is possibl to say that in th past tn yars thr has bn a growing intrst in th asthtic, narrativ, cultural and documntary aspcts of films from th past. In consqunc, thr is a growing awarnss of th urgncy to rstor films bfor thy ar lost cömpltly. 1.3 WHICH FILMS TO RESTORE? Many dcads ago popl wr awar of th fact that films wr going to gt lost and that somthing had to bn don to sav thm for låtr gnrations. Although concpts and idas for film archivs alrady xistd from th arly days of cinma, th film archivs as w known thm today wr cratd in th 1930s. Stockholm was th first in 1933, thn Brlin, London, Nw York (Moma), Paris and Brussls followd in th yars to follow. In 1938 th Intrnational Fdration of Film Archivs (FIAF) was foundd and today mor than 100 archivs in ovr 60 countris collct, rstor,

3 Introduction to th rstoration of motion pictur film 3 s a v a n o ts id ;o ia m ic :h, fs.at Os Lat l. itti as In ist in :nsh DSt ih hat for as irly wn SOs. lin, >ls th vs 100 Dr, provid accss, xhibit films and documnt th ntir history of film cinma, from th arly days up to today. But of cours, th FIAF archivs ar not th only archivs in th world. Thr ar many local archivs, company archivs, privat collctions tc. whr valuabl matrials ar kpt. All ths archivs and collctions ar th cinma trasur holdrs of our socity. And ths trasurs will rmain inaccssibl and vn disappar if w do not rstor thm. Dpnding on th profil of th archiv, diffrnt slctions with diffrnt purposs ar mad for film rstoration. National archivs or archivs with a rgional status oftn hav a rol analogous to that of national libraris, archivs or musums and thrfor collct and rstor films focusd on a particular gographical ara. Most of ths archivs will not b intrstd in film bcaus of its asthtical or cinmatographic aspcts, but will considr th moving imags mostly as a documnt with historical information. Film musums or archivs focusd on th prsntation of films will collct and rstor artfacts and films from a film historical, film critical or film asthtic point of viw. Somtims th institutionalizd film history is th most important rfrnc point for ths archivs; othr archivs may b mor intrstd in unknown films, th small mastrpics that hav not bcom part of film histoiy. Univrsity and acadmic archivs may hav a mixtur of diffrnt approachs or collct and rstor films with crtain rsarch purposs. On th othr hand, archivs can b thmatic and highly spcializd, lik th thnographic collctions, or collctions ddicatd to on format, or on prson. Broadcasting archivs and studio archivs oftn prsiv matrials only for immdiat accss, but svral broadcasting archivs and som major production houss in th film industry hav takn a conscious approach to th rstoration of thir own products. Finally, it is important to raliz that thr ar still privat collctions, somtims of outstanding quality and richnss. Although most archivs hav critria rlatd to th form or contnt of a film, som archivs hav a pragmatic approach in th sns that thy rstor all films which ar rqustd for accss, or which hav a vry limitd lifxpctancy. 1.4 HOW TO RESTORE? Film rstoration is not a nw concpt. "But attituds and tchniqus hav changd ovr th yars and thrfor film rstoration today is unlik film rstoration 25 yars ago. In vry gnral trms, it is possibl to say that film rstoration was principally basd on th ida of th rproducibility of photographic information. Thr was, for instanc, littl intrst in th colours of tintd, tond, stncilld and handpaintd films from th silnt ra, which wr duplicatd onto black and whit safty stock. 35 mm films wr oftn duplicatd onto 16 mm, or a full fram silnt fram was duplicatd with an Acadmy fram to mak th films accssibl for thatrs with standard projctors, vn though considrabl aras of imag wr lost, spciaily on th lft hand sid in th location of th sound track ara. Or films wr strtch printd (printing viy othr fram twic) to crat a snsation of an 18 frams pr scond projction, whn th projctor was run at a standard 24 frams pr scond. It is significant to raliz that original films and prints wr oftn dstroyd aftr duplication. This is no longr accptd, and it is somtims painful to s that rstoration could hav bn don much bttr today if th originals had not bn dstroyd. Duplication matrials hav bn improvd considrably ovr th yars. In th arly days ordinaiy camra and print stock was usd for duplication, which cratd svr contrast problms. Th first duplication matrials for black and whit wr introducd in th lat 1920s and only thn^was it possibl to mak rasonabl duplications. For colour films th sam problms occurrd for many yars. In th bginning colour films wr duplicatd by using th colour films availabl at that tim. Thy wr nithr viy accurat nor wr thir dys at all stabl. Whn in th 19ö0s th colour intrngativ bcam availabl, th tchniqu of copying colour and colourd films was not wll advancd, nor wr th tchniqus to simulat th tinting and toning of a print by xposing a colour print film by multipl passs of a black and whit duplicat ngativ. Thirty yars ago commrcial film laboratoris usd only standard tchniqus and wr viy inflxibl in adapting thir procsss, and

4 4 Rstoration of Motion Pictur Film archivs wr not abl to dmand that thir work b don to diffrnt standards or using diffrnt principls to that of th gnral run of laboratory work. In consqunc, all archivs and arly film collctions hav xampls of truly monumntally bad duplicating that dats from a tim whn archivists did not know that good quality could b achivd and whn laboratory tchnicians wr not traind, nor intrstd, in handling archival films. Thr was oftn viy littl control of contrast and most laboratoris did not hav th printing quipmnt to solv th problms that archival films rais. Good xampls of ths problms ar th non-standard framlins which can b asily solvd by racking' th imag in an optical printr, or th problm of shrinkag which causs unstabl imags in th duplicat, and which could b solvd by spcializd or rplacmnt driv systms. Wt gat printing systms, usd to rduc th ffct of scratchs on th film bas, wr not utilizd for archiv rstoration until som tn yars ago. Today, most film archivs and spcialist film laboratoris ar awar of th fact that mr duplication of th photographic information of a film is not nough. Films ar not intrsting only for thir information or narrativ. Th trasurs in th archivs ar oftn not proprly safguardd whn no justic has bn don to th asthtic quality of th films, ithr by an accurat duplication or in a conscious rstoration. Early films ar bing rdiscovrd not only for scintific rsarch or histori documntation but also for apprciation, for bing abl to crat an asthtic xprinc. In addition, th concpt of quality has bcom far mor important in th past 15 yars and much mor attntion is now givn to all thos aspcts that dtrmin th asthtic xprinc: th right fram ratio, th right projction spd, liv music accompanimnt and also th colours of arly films. 1.5 STEPS OF FILM RESTORATION This book givs in dtail all th stps involvd in th rstoration procss. For a good ovrviw it is usful to kp th stps in mind for th duplication of a silnt positiv print. Lt us say th film is alrady idntifid and rsarch has pointd out that this a uniqu print. Th foilowing stps rfr to th film laboratory rstoration procss: Stp 1 A film nds to b rpaird and cland for printing. Rpair is particularly ncssaiy in ordr to avoid problms during th duplication procdur, to avoid th films bing damagd in th printing machin, or to avoid unstabl imags in th rstord print. Stp 2 Grading: Th gradr stimats th printr cus and printr lights ndd for ach scn. If all scns of a print ar duplicatd with on and th sam printr light th final rsult will b usually wors than th original. Stp 3 Printing: Duplication is don in a printing machin, from a ngativ a positiv and from a positiv a ngativ. In this cas from th nitrat positiv print a duplicat ngativ was mad. Stp 4 Procssing: Th nwly mad duplicat ngativ nds to b procssd. Procssing is th trm givn to th chmical procdur of dvlopmnt of th latnt imag to produc a visibl imag and its subsqunt stabilization. Stp 5 Grading: Grading of th duplicat ngativ from which a nw positiv print is to b mad. Stp 6 Printing: Th positiv film stock will b xposd in th printing machin. Stp 7 Procssing: Th xposd positiv print nds to b procssd. Stp 8 Quality chck of th final positiv print. 1.6 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES Finally, som words about th nw digital tchnologis. Although tchnical and conomic obstacls ar still to b ovrcom, it is byond any doubt that ths difficultis will b rducd within a fw dcads, mayb vn yars. For film archivs, thr ar two rasons for bing nthusiastic about th nw tchnologis. First, th limitations of traditional photographic tchniqus can now b ovrcom to som xtnt. Scondly, th concpt of archiv accss will undrgo a mtamorphosis, changing cömpltly film archiv accss policis and practics.

5 It is byond any doubt that viy film archiv will, in th futur, continu to hav larg collctions of films on film stock. Th simpl rason for this is that viy archiv wants to b abl to prsnt a film in its original form. Film archivs ar, or will bcom, musums of th cinma, in th tru sns of th word 'musum'. It is th rsponsibility of viy film archiv to kp th cinma 'aliv' by nabling an audinc to undrgo a tru 'cinmatographic xprinc'. Somtims this will b don by rcrating as closly as possibl an original prsntation, in othr cass it will b th cration of a nw prsntation gard to a contmporary public to nabl thm to apprciat th cinma in its full sns. To mak this possibl viy film archiv in th futur will still hav vaults containing 35 mm films, originals or rstord duplicats. Most of ths rstord films will probably hav bn duplicatd by traditional photographic mans, but som of thm will b partially or ntiriy rstord by digital tchniqus. If w look at th scond principal purpos of film archivs - consivation and rstoration - w will s that crtain aims of film rstoration which ar impossibl to fulfil with Introduction to th rstoration of motion pictur film 5 traditional tchniqus may b ralizd in th futur with digital tchniqus. For instanc, viy sophisticatd but obsolt sound systms from th 195 Os ar probably bttr rproducd with digital tchniqus than with analogu r-rcording. In on aspct, digital tchnology will altr film archivs considrably. Nxt to th collction of films, vry archiv will hav an normous collction of films in a digital format, most of thm at tlvision broadcast rsolution. It is vn probabl that many films will surviv only in a digital format. An accss collction of this kind cannot b considrd as a collction for musological prsrvation. Of grat intrst, howvr, is that it will mak th archiv's film collction accssibl by computr, whthr for rsarch or ducation, for broadcast purposs or commrcial distribution. Mayb parts of th collction will also b availabl on th märkt in a commrcial format lik CD-Rom, DVD and vido-ondmand, or through th intrnt. Studnts, for instanc, will hav accss to ntir films as asily as thy now hav accss to digitizd nwspapr rviws, stills or othr documntation from th archiv.