Film preservation

Stacked film cans containing rolls of film

Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the widest sense, preservation assures that a movie will continue to exist in as close to its original form as possible.^[1]

For many years the term "preservation" was synonymous with "duplication" of film. The goal of a preservationist was to create a durable copy without any significant loss of quality. In more modern terms, film preservation includes the concepts of handling, duplication, storage, and access. The archivist seeks to protect the film and share its content with the public.^[2]

Film preservation is not to be confused with film revisionism,^[3] in which long-completed films are modified with the insertion of outtakes or new musical scores, the addition of sound effects, black-and-white film being colorized, older soundtracks converted to Dolby stereo, or minor edits and other cosmetic changes being made.^[4]

By the 1980s, it was becoming apparent that the collections of motion picture heritage were at risk of becoming lost. Not only was the preservation of nitrate film an ongoing problem, but it was then discovered that safety film, used as a replacement for the more volatile nitrate stock, was beginning to be affected by a unique form of decay known as "vinegar syndrome", and color film manufactured, in particular, by Eastman Kodak, was found to be at risk of fading. At that time, the best-known solution was to duplicate the original film onto a more secure medium.^[5]

A common estimate is that 90 percent of all American silent films made before 1920 and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 are lost films.^[6]^[7]

Although institutional practices of film preservation date back to the 1930s,^[8] the field received an official status only in 1980, when UNESCO recognized "moving images" as an integral part of the world's cultural heritage.^[9]

^ Yeck, Joanne L.; Tom McGreevey (1997). Our Movie Heritage. New Brunswick, NJ [u.a.]: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813524318.
^ National Film Preservation Foundation (2004). The Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and Museums. San Francisco: National Film Preservation Foundation. ISBN 0974709905. Archived from the original on 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
^ Peters, Robert (2014). "All There is to See: Film Restoration and Access in the Digital Age". Cinesthesia. 3 (2). Retrieved 28 April 2020. Revisionism is a dangerous road to tread and is avoided at all costs by archives, yet in bringing these titles to audiences again on home video, matching the image that would have originally been seen is either not always possible or an afterthought.
^ Green, Phil. "Film Restoration & Preservation". The digital intermediate internet guide. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
^ Cite error: The named reference Distillations was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Melville, Annette; Simmon, Scott; National Film Preservation Board (U.S.) (1993). Film preservation 1993 : a study of the current state of American film preservation : report of the Librarian of Congress. National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. p. 4. ISBN 0-8444-0803-4. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
^ Kehr, Dave (14 October 2010). "Film Riches, Cleaned Up for Posterity". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015. It's bad enough, to cite a common estimate, that 90 percent of all American silent films and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 appear to have vanished forever.
^ Houston, Penelope (1994). Keepers of the frame: the film archives. British Film Institute.
^ UNESCO (27 October 1980). "Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images". UNESCO.org. Retrieved 28 April 2020.

[McGreevey,_Tom_1997-1] Yeck, Joanne L.; Tom McGreevey (1997). Our Movie Heritage. New Brunswick, NJ [u.a.]: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813524318.

[National_Film_Preservation_Foundation-2] National Film Preservation Foundation (2004). The Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and Museums. San Francisco: National Film Preservation Foundation. ISBN 0974709905. Archived from the original on 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2013-06-23.

[Peters-3] Peters, Robert (2014). "All There is to See: Film Restoration and Access in the Digital Age". Cinesthesia. 3 (2). Retrieved 28 April 2020. Revisionism is a dangerous road to tread and is avoided at all costs by archives, yet in bringing these titles to audiences again on home video, matching the image that would have originally been seen is either not always possible or an afterthought.

[Green-4] Green, Phil. "Film Restoration & Preservation". The digital intermediate internet guide. Retrieved 28 April 2020.

[Distillations-5] Cite error: The named reference Distillations was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Melville-6] Melville, Annette; Simmon, Scott; National Film Preservation Board (U.S.) (1993). Film preservation 1993 : a study of the current state of American film preservation : report of the Librarian of Congress. National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. p. 4. ISBN 0-8444-0803-4. Retrieved 28 April 2020.

[7] Kehr, Dave (14 October 2010). "Film Riches, Cleaned Up for Posterity". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015. It's bad enough, to cite a common estimate, that 90 percent of all American silent films and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 appear to have vanished forever.

[Houston-8] Houston, Penelope (1994). Keepers of the frame: the film archives. British Film Institute.

[UNESCO-9] UNESCO (27 October 1980). "Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images". UNESCO.org. Retrieved 28 April 2020.

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