Addressing the Equivocal Nature of Film Preservation - Text 1
Film preservation terminology: a semantic anarchy
The naked truth behind the exercises of cinéma-vérité in reverse mode accomplished in this parcours is that the meaning of “film preservation” is in the eye of the beholder, and especially in the digital realm: this is why a consensus on terminology around this activity is so hard to achieve. In this sense, there is a long way to go before cinema and the other arts can talk the same language. The definitions suggested here are therefore intended only as broad terms of reference for further discussion.
Preservation is described in a film museum or archive as the overall complex of principles, procedures, techniques, and practices necessary for safeguarding the material evidence, restoring the content, and organizing the intellectual experience of cinema on a permanent basis. The objects of film preservation are 1) the physical carrier of motion pictures; 2) the equipment used to project them; 3) the darkened space where the projection occurs; 4) the expertise and artistry of those who make it happen.
Duplication is the set of practices related to the creation of a replica of the moving image, either as a backup of existing original or preservation components, or as a means to project the creative work or provide access to it without jeopardizing its existence over the long term.
Conservation includes all activities necessary to prevent or minimize the process of physical degradation of the archival element. Conservation activities should be carried out with the minimum possible intervention or interference with the archival element itself; their ultimate goal is to keep the creative work, in its current state, for as long as possible.
Restoration is the set of technical, editorial, and intellectual procedures aimed at compensating for the partial loss or degradation of motion picture film, with the aspirational goal of bringing it back to a state identical to its original condition. The term ‘restoration’ in motion picture preservation has a different meaning than in most other artistic disciplines, in the sense that it generally involves the duplication of one or more source elements.
Digital restoration is the overall set of technical and curatorial procedures aimed at making the moving image appear as close as possible to what it presumably was at the time of its original release, or according to the intentions of its maker, by means of digital image manipulation or processing. This enabled film preservation professionals to achieve what would have seemed impossible with traditional photographic chemical methods: colour, contrast, and image stability can be greatly improved (more faithfully to the original or, problematically, even beyond). A responsible use of these resources can successfully complement the ‘analogue’ restoration process.
Digitization is the process of converting analogue photographic material into digital files for the purposes of public access. This is the great promise of digital technology: in theory, hundreds of thousands of films originally made and distributed on cellulose and plastic carriers can be made accessible to a much wider audience in a variety of formats. Digitization does not equal digital restoration, in the sense that ‘analogue’ moving images are turned into digital files, regardless of their original condition.
Digital preservation entails a technological infrastructure capable of making the ‘digitized’ and ‘digitally restored’ moving image permanently available for viewing. By wide consensus in the industry and among collecting institutions, there is no such infrastructure at the present time, in the sense that there is no known technique for ensuring that the restored or digitized moving images will remain intact for an indefinite future.
Reconstruction is the editorial process enabling the creation of a new archival element (whose appearance is compliant with a desired version, regarded as authoritative) by interpolating, replacing, or reassembling segments within a single copy, or by the integration of elements retrieved from other copies. The term ‘reconstruction’ is also used in digital work to indicate the rebuilding of visual information in a damaged film frame or group of frames.
Recreation is an imaginary account of what the film would have been if, in the personal opinion of artists, curators, or producers, some or all of its missing parts had survived. This course of action is taken by using material directly or indirectly related to the film in order to provide a credible representation of its original concept. A recreation offers a fictional representation of the film’s content.
