The horror, the horror?!

As I continue to compile the list of titles of films that the Heinz History Center has received from the Westinghouse Archives, I am continuously reminded of what appears to be an utter disregard for an important documentary format.

It is clear that at some point, the Westinghouse company officials understood the significance of and the impact that moving images had on society. Why else would they have documented plant activities, machinery and/or produced topical films on a variety of subjects? Yet, these films have been left to face their unceremonious (inevitable) demise, first, in the vaults of the Westinghouse Archive and now in the Heinz storage rooms. It seems an ignoble death for a film to be relegated to shelving space in a storage room (even one with a fairly decent HVAC) and simply forgotten.

The films that we are inspecting and inventorying may not be art films or particularly representative of a specific auteur’s signature but they do represent a style of film and reflect period in which they were produced. These are reasons enough for the institutions in whose care these films have been placed to find more appropriate means of stewardship.

As we discussed in class, if the Heinz is incapable of storing and providing proper access to these films, they should seek a better home. If there is some sort of donation stipulation that prevents the Heinz from transferring their ownership, then perhaps they can work a little harder to find a sponsor or apply for grants that will off-set costs to create archival copies for use and purchase enough archival containers to make sure the films are safely stored.

mechanically separated film elements

Today I spent my time working on an inventory of the films that we have been inspecting. It is not an easy task because many of the films do not have readily apparent title information. One has to hold the film up to the light and unwind the lead in order to find a title frame. When one (that would be me) has problems seeing tiny, tiny print, this task is extra difficult. The purpose of doing an inventory is so that we can keep all film elements together. When we first began the inventory, we discovered that we had two copies of a film called “We the People.” Both reels had been inspected but it wasn’t until later that we found a separate reel (magnetic sound element) for the same film in a different place. I wonder why there would be a need for a separate sound reel when both copies of “We the People” have variable sound tracks included with the images?

Finding that separate sound element made me think of how easy it is to loose track of the various film elements and the notion of the “model image.” It is certainly easier to keep track of a single reel of film, like the “one reelers” that were made in early days of film. Yet, it is a completely different situation when a film is comprised of several reels; and in the case of the “one reeler” we have, several image reels and then a sound reel. It is no wonder that pieces of film disappear and even reappear years later. The “model image” would certainly be a challenge if important elements fail to be present at viewing time.

I love the smell of vinegar in the morning

I spent my two hours inspecting a single reel of film and doing some additional reading on film inspections. I was going to take some time to do an inventory of all of the films in the Westinghouse collection but both of the cabinets, in which the films have been stored, were locked rendering the material therein inaccessible.

The films that I have inspected thus far have exhibited similar degrees of deterioration. So far I have not discovered any vinegar syndrome, although I thoroughly expect to come across it at some point because the films seem to have been neglected for so many years. At this point, I have only found evidence of color fading. Several films have the telltale signs of color fading, which manifests itself in hues of pink and magenta.

I do have one question that is olfactory in nature. While I have yet to deal with the sour scent of acetic acid, I have noticed a rather distinctive chemical aroma associated with the three films that I have inspected up to this point. Does an intense chemical (not vinegary at all…more medicine-like in nature) odor indicate some early stage of film deterioration or is it just the byproduct of motion picture processing?

Pondering the many phases of film decomposition

So I actually started film inspections this week.  Last week I was just learning about the project and the origins of the Westinghouse collection.  This week I actually got my hands dirty...and this isn't just an expression.  The film canisters were filthy as was the actual film that I inspected.  

 

Film inspection is a dirty job and definitely not as glamorous as one would think?!  It is also rather challenging at first.  I am trying to get a handle on reversal prints and positive prints, etc.  Also, how does one determine whether the safety film is triacetate or diacetate...perhaps it has much to do with the date in which the film was made.  Initially, I thought that the film I was inspecting on Friday was diacetate but having done some additional reading on the subject later on the weekend, I think that my first analysis may have been flawed.  It seems that diacetate film would have been part of the first generation of safety films that were created to avoid the dangers of nitrates.  The film that I was inspecting did not possess the eagerly sought after “date codes.”  It did have “safety film” printed on it so I deduced that the film was manufactured by Kodak.  There were also some numbers and letters printed on the film in addition to the safety film info.  I think that this information maybe the date in which the film was processed.  The letters “S” and “P” are printed on the film along with the number “52.”  As the fashions on the gentlemen in the film appear to be representative of those worn by men in the 1950s and early 60s, I would say that perhaps the number “52” indicates the year of the film.  I wonder if perhaps the letters indicate the month of September? 

I used the loupe to inspect the frames to determine if there were any scratches.  I did have a bit of a disaster on the first reel that I inspected.  When I unscrewed the reel so that I could place the film (on its new archival core) in an archival case, I failed to make sure that the core was rest on the piece in palm of my hand.  Instead, when I pulled the reel pieces apart the film unraveled...oops!  I fixed the problem and learned my lesson.

5.26.09

I sat down with David Grinnell today to discuss the details of my Moving Image field placement project.  He explained that I will be working with films that came to the Heinz Center from the George Westinghouse Museum Archive.  The Westinghouse museum (originally located in Wilmerding, PA but now closed) merged with the Heinz History Center in 2007.   The Heinz center acquired archival materials and artifacts as a result of this merger; among these, is a rather substantial film collection. 

The content of the individual films is as yet unknown in some cases.  Some of the cans include title information but it certainly appears as though these films had been sitting in the Westinghouse museum archive gathering dust.  It is David’s general sense that this collection includes some of the memorable Westinghouse educational films.  I have very fond memories of those films having seen my share of them in science classes.  They are no doubt chalk full of guys in white lab coats, carrying clipboards and sporting those familiar black, thick-rimmed (à la Elvis Costello) glasses that were associated with the “scientific” crowd back in the 50s & 60s…but I digress.

My job will be to inventory and prepare a condition report for the films in this collection.  I will use a modified version of the condition report form from the Film Preservation Guide.  In addition to footage measurements, age determination and placing films in archival quality containers, I will test for film deterioration.  Of course, it will be quite obvious as to what is going in inside the containers if I am brought to tears by the vinegar aroma wafting from their contents.  Beyond that telltale olfactory delight, I will use IPI A-D Strips to determine the severity of the acetate deterioration. 

I am not yet certain whether I will encounter any nitrate at this point.  I would imagine that had there been nitrate in the collection the Westinghouse folks would have informed us so that the Heinz could take the proper action for the safe a appropriate storage of this material.

 

Alas, all mud must dry...Muddiest Point - the last one

Cloud computing sounds incredible but in light of the articles we have read on security and privacy, I wonder how the Saas, etc. can guarantee security and privacy in such a dynamic environment?

Muddiest Point - Wk 13(?)

In the article about data mining for national security, a program called the Human ID would tag or ID a person based on face recognition or gait.  How does one program a computer to identify a "gait?"