Films as artifacts - International Institute for Conservation...Beatríz Torres Insúa...
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5. Component materials. It is necessary to identify the component materials of the film, to understand their long-term behavior and processes of decay. Film base or support: Identifying the type of film support is crucial, as the chemical stability of film types is very different. • Nitrate: Used from early 1893 until 1951. It can be identified by the word “Nitrate” printed on the edges.* • Acetate: Used from 1909 until now. “SafetyFilm” or “S” is written on the edges. Nitrate and acetate can be distinguished from each other by the manifestations of their chemical decomposition and spot testing. • Polyester (PET): Used from mid 1950s until now. It may show print codes or the word ESTAR printed on the edges. When examined through polarizing filters it may show iridescence. *When a film is duplicated, the information printed on the film base by the manufacturer is also copied onto the new base (print - through) and this can lead to mistakes in the iden- tification of the film support. Image-forming components: Black and white images are formed by silver particles agglutinated in gelatin. Black and white films were frequently colored by hand, tinted and toned. Color images are formed by three layers of gelatin and dyes: cyan, magenta and yellow. Motion pictures are also classified according to the type of image obtained: negative or positive .The film that captures the image in the camera is the negative. This is developed and printed to make a positive for projection. There is also the reversal film , in which the same element that runs through the camera is processed to become a direct positive 2 . Reversal film stock has black edges. Films as artifacts: A guide for assessing motion picture film Beatríz Torres Insúa [email protected] Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía, Mexico City Motion picture film, by its very nature, needs to be displayed with particular types of equipment to make the cinematic experience possible. Due to the particular skills needed for its manipulation and projection, motion picture film conservation requires further training and specialization. Motion picture film is found in museums, schools, photographic collections, archives as well as private collections, and it is the conservator‘s duty to look after its preservation. Motion picture films should not be projected if an evaluation of their physical condition has not been completed. Inspection is the best way to identify the technical characteristics of a film and detect physical damage or other type of deterioration. 1 The inspection should be done by holding the film in one‘s fingers and making it run through a film rewinder mounted on a workbench equipped with a light table. The intention of this guide is to assist the conservator who is not familiar with this type of artifact in his or her examination and in the search for professional advice. 1. Objective. The conservator should be aware of the final purpose of the conservation assessment: Is it part of a restoration project, a digitization, a dupli- cation, or the evaluation of an entire collection? 2. General data. By looking at the film and identifying technical and production data, the follow ing information should be obtained: Technical data: Number of reels, gauge, aspect ratio, type of sound, stock brand, edge marks, type of perfora- tion, footage, number of splices. Production Data: Title, year of production, director, cine- matographer, language, intertitles or subtitles language, production country and other relevant information printed on the film image. Examples of film gauges 3. Description. Of the object: This takes into consideration the technical data gathered as well as the information obtained from the can or container, - which does not always correspond to the film inside! Of the content: This is grasped during the film inspec- tion by looking at the photo frames. It is advisable to make a photographic record of the most representa- tive images and to make a list of the different scenes. 4. Historical context and values of the film. This involves researching the film content, its context, historical data and production information in order to describe its value as a cultural artifact. 6. Condition assessment. Deterioration can be differentiated in various types: Chemical decay of the film base (the speed of chemical decay depends on temperature and relative humidity) • Cellulose Nitrate: This film support is chemically unstable and highly flamm- able. Its manifestations of decay are image fading, brownish discoloration, no- xious odor, emulsion stickiness and softness, and disintegration of the entire film into brownish powder. 3 • Cellulose Acetate: The most important manifestation of decay is the acetic acid odor due to the release of this acid by the film support. This is called the “Vinegar Syndrome”. The film base shrinks and deforms irregularly. The film loses flexibility and the emulsion cracks and flakes off, white powder may appear along the edges and surface of the film. • Polyester: This is the most chemically stable base, but prone to physical damage. Chemical decay of the silver image • Silver mirroring: A silver metallic haze appears over the dark areas of the image. It is a silver deposit on the surface of the emulsion. 4 • Image fading: Decrement of optical density due to the oxidation of the silver particles. Chemical decay of color image • Color fading: Partial or total vanishing of some or all of the dyes forming the image. Physical decay • A consequence of improper handling, incorrect projection and negligence. It may also be an effect of chemical deterioration, i.e. shrinkage, distortion or staining. Decay due to biological agents • Some insects derive nourishment from the organic components of the film, mainly from the gelatin. 5 With high relative humidity levels (above 65%) mold spores will germinate, appearing on the surface of film or in between the emul- sion and the base. Cellulose Acetate Film Cellulose Nitrate Film Base Image Fading Color Fading Tear Dirt Crease Silver mirroring Important Note. Film conservators also face other important challenges that have not been addressed in this abbreviated guide, such as: misleading infor- mation for identification, fragmented survival of cinematographic works, advanced levels of decay that make the inspection and handling difficult, copy right issues, among others like the contemporary transition to digital. References 1 National Film Preservation Foundation, The Film preservation guide: the basics for archives, libraries and museums. NFPF, San Francisco, California, 2004, p. 24. 2 Ibid.,10 3 Ibid 4 Lavedrine, B., Photographs of the past, Process and Preservation, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2010, 332. 5 Lavedrine Bertrand, A guide for the preventive conservation of photograph collections, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2003, p. 142. Aknowledgments • All images were taken by the author and are courtesy of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Motion Picture Film. • Special thanks to María Fernanda Valverde Valdés, Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía, Mexico City and Silvester Stöger, Filmarchiv Austria. Polyester Film Base The object The content 7. Final evaluation. Helps to assess the condition of the film, underlining the effects of deterioration and how the values of the film diminished. This allows the proposal of a properly informed intervention. Emulsion scratch Film base deformation Frame burned Emulsion detachment
Transcript of Films as artifacts - International Institute for Conservation...Beatríz Torres Insúa...
5. Component materials. It is necessary to identify the component materials of the film, to understand their long-term behavior and processes of decay.
Film base or support: Identifying the type of film support is crucial, as the chemical stability of film types is very different.
• Nitrate: Used from early 1893 until 1951. It can be identified by the word “Nitrate” printed on the edges.* • Acetate: Used from 1909 until now. “SafetyFilm” or “S” is written on the edges. Nitrate and acetate can be distinguished from each other by the manifestations of their chemical decomposition and spot testing. • Polyester (PET): Used from mid 1950s until now. It may show print codes or the word ESTAR printed on the edges. When examined through polarizing filters it may show iridescence.
*When a film is duplicated, the information printed on the film base by the manufacturer is also copied onto the new base (print - through) and this can lead to mistakes in the iden- tification of the film support.
Image-forming components: Black and white images are formed by silver particles agglutinated in gelatin. Black and white films were frequently colored by hand, tinted and toned. Color images are formed by three layers of gelatin and dyes: cyan, magenta and yellow. Motion pictures are also classified according to the type of image obtained: negative or positive.The film that captures the image in the camera is the negative. This is developed and printed to make a positive for projection. There is also the reversal film, in which the same element that runs through the camera is processed to become a direct positive2. Reversal film stock has black edges.
Films as artifacts:A guide for assessing motion picture film Beatríz Torres Insúa
[email protected] Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía, Mexico City
Motion picture film, by its very nature, needs to be displayed with particular types of equipment to make the cinematic experience possible. Due to the particular skills needed for its manipulation and projection, motion
picture film conservation requires further training and specialization. Motion picture film is found in museums, schools, photographic collections, archives as well as private collections, and it is the conservator‘s duty to
look after its preservation. Motion picture films should not be projected if an evaluation of their physical condition has not been completed. Inspection is the best way to identify the technical characteristics of a film and
detect physical damage or other type of deterioration.1 The inspection should be done by holding the film in one‘s fingers and making it run through a film rewinder mounted on a workbench equipped with a light table. The
intention of this guide is to assist the conservator who is not familiar with this type of artifact in his or her examination and in the search for professional advice.
1. Objective. The conservator should be aware of the final purpose of the conservation assessment: Is it part of a restoration project, a digitization, a dupli- cation, or the evaluation of an entire collection?
2. General data. By looking at the film and identifying technical and production data, the follow ing information should be obtained:
Technical data: Number of reels, gauge, aspect ratio, type of sound, stock brand, edge marks, type of perfora- tion, footage, number of splices.
Production Data: Title, year of production, director, cine- matographer, language, intertitles or subtitles language, production country and other relevant information printed on the film image.
Examples of film gauges
3. Description. Of the object: This takes into consideration the technical data gathered as well as the information obtained from the can or container, - which does not always correspond to the film inside!
Of the content: This is grasped during the film inspec- tion by looking at the photo frames. It is advisable to make a photographic record of the most representa- tive images and to make a list of the different scenes.
4. Historical context and values of the film. This involves researching the film content, its context, historical data and production information in order to describe its value as a cultural artifact.
6. Condition assessment. Deterioration can be differentiated in various types:
Chemical decay of the film base (the speed of chemical decay depends on temperature and relative humidity) • Cellulose Nitrate: This film support is chemically unstable and highly flamm- able. Its manifestations of decay are image fading, brownish discoloration, no- xious odor, emulsion stickiness and softness, and disintegration of the entire film into brownish powder.3
• Cellulose Acetate: The most important manifestation of decay is the acetic acid odor due to the release of this acid by the film support. This is called the “Vinegar Syndrome”. The film base shrinks and deforms irregularly. The film loses flexibility and the emulsion cracks and flakes off, white powder may appear along the edges and surface of the film. • Polyester: This is the most chemically stable base, but prone to physical damage.
Chemical decay of the silver image • Silver mirroring: A silver metallic haze appears over the dark areas of the image. It is a silver deposit on the surface of the emulsion.4 • Image fading: Decrement of optical density due to the oxidation of the silver particles.
Chemical decay of color image • Color fading: Partial or total vanishing of some or all of the dyes forming the image.
Physical decay • A consequence of improper handling, incorrect projection and negligence. It may also be an effect of chemical deterioration, i.e. shrinkage, distortion or staining.
Decay due to biological agents • Some insects derive nourishment from the organic components of the film, mainly from the gelatin.5 With high relative humidity levels (above 65%) mold spores will germinate, appearing on the surface of film or in between the emul- sion and the base.
Cellulose Acetate Film Cellulose Nitrate Film Base
Image Fading Color Fading Tear Dirt Crease Silver mirroring
Important Note. Film conservators also face other important challenges that have not been addressed in this abbreviated guide, such as: misleading infor- mation for identification, fragmented survival of cinematographic works, advanced levels of decay that make the inspection and handling difficult, copy right issues, among others like the contemporary transition to digital.
References 1 National Film Preservation Foundation, The Film preservation guide: the basics for archives, libraries and museums. NFPF, San Francisco, California, 2004, p. 24. 2 Ibid.,103 Ibid4 Lavedrine, B., Photographs of the past, Process and Preservation, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2010, 332.5 Lavedrine Bertrand, A guide for the preventive conservation of photograph collections, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2003, p. 142.
Aknowledgments• All images were taken by the author and are courtesy of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Motion Picture Film. • Special thanks to María Fernanda Valverde Valdés, Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía, Mexico City and Silvester Stöger, Filmarchiv Austria.
Polyester Film Base
The object
The content
7. Final evaluation. Helps to assess the condition of the film, underlining the effects of deterioration and how the values of the film diminished. This allows the proposal of a properly informed intervention.
Emulsion scratch Film basedeformation
Frame burned Emulsion detachment
