A Note On Film Preservation

by Jim Hubbard

We have this mistaken notion that our moving images will last forever. In reality, these are extremely fragile media. Film has lasted 100 years, but 50% of all movies, 80% of all silent films ever made are gone. And those figures refer to commercial films that are much better taken care of because of their economic value and because their owners have the money to store them properly. By way of contrast, 98% of all books published in this country in the last century still exist. Films disappear because people do not think they are worth anything and throw them out. Older films made on cellulose nitrate stock disappear because nitrate is volatile. It becomes sticky and gooey, devolves into a powder and can spontaneously combust. So-called safety film, which is cellulose acetate, was invented to solve those problems, but can develop something called "vinegar syndrome." The backing breaks down into acetic acid, water and carbon dioxide. This causes the film to smell like vinegar. There is no cure. Something called a molecular sieve slows the process, may even prevent it if used soon enough. Films with vinegar syndrome are isolated, quarantined, lest they infect other films. Archivist talk of a virus causing the syndrome. This is nonsense of course but the allusion is clear.

The situation with video is even more dire. Every videotape in the world older than 7 1/2 years (some people say 10) is in danger. No video format has lasted more than 30 years. VHS, the most ubiquitous format, is not an archival medium. Video 8, because of its small size, is a terrible medium in terms of longevity and so much of today's output originates on Video 8. 3/4" today's exhibition medium of choice gums up and becomes unplayable. Beta is the best answer for preservation. It is the most likely to last because the tape is high quality and because there are many professional beta machines, ensuring that they will exist for a good number of years. Digital tape is not the answer now because no digital format has lasted more than a few years, there are relatively few machines. Will it be playable in 2010?

Laser disks do not provide an answer, though they produce a better picture. How long will laser disks last? Will there be players available? These questions apply to the old analog laser disks as well as to the digital versions just being introduced.

Although computerized preservation of moving images holds promise for the future, it is not feasible today. The cost of scanning film images into a computer at a resolution comparable to actual film is astronomical right now and the hard drives necessary to store the information take up more space than an actual negative. This will change within a few years so that a digital copy of a film will be stored on something the size of a vhs tape and cost little more than making a print. However, there are real questions about the lifetime of these digital media as well. At least with film there's a real image to see. If films survive, future civilizations will be able to figure out how we exhibited these things, but what will they do with a digital tape? Will the machines be reproducible?

In order to ensure that we preserve the rich history of lesbian and gay cinema we need a National Center for Lesbian and Gay Film and Video, an institution that could provide proper storage for negatives, camera originals, printing materials, prints, dub masters, sub masters, masters of all kinds. What constitutes proper storage would involve a long technical debate, but for film a vault with 50 F° and 50% humidity would be a good start (colder and dryer would be better), for video say 65 F° and 50% humidity would be great. Under these conditions the films and videos would last a lot longer. We also need an intensive preservation program. We need to make internegatives and new prints of numerous films that exist only as single prints. We need to make preservation masters and dubmasters of many videos that exist only on VHS or 3/4" and of unique footage of incredibly important political events that exist only on Hi-8. We need to rescue work from bankrupt labs, uncaring families and overwhelmed lovers.

Copyright © 1995 Jim Hubbard.

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