Managing Film and Video Collections

Chris Wilkie

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780851424200
• eBook ISBN: 9781000674026

A practical guide for those managing collections od film or video material, providing clear advice on how to organise the media for preservation and efficient retrieval. Includes examples of best practice from within and outside the broadcasting environment.

1. Introduction

The use of visual media, both as a source of information or entertainment, and as an illustrative or promotional tool, is becoming increasingly widespread. This applies not only in the traditional areas of broadcasting, with the proliferation of new channels, and cinema, but also in commerce, education, and in areas as diverse as medicine and crime prevention.

Traditional techniques of managing text-based information do not apply when dealing with audiovisual media, although some can be used as a starting point. The differences between picking up a book or periodical to access information, and using a piece of film for the same purpose, are considerable. Browsing, to locate the relevant information, is not a direct or straightforward process. Equipment is needed to view the material, and, in many cases, the process is relatively slow, unless a suitable indexing system has been employed.

This guide sets out to provide anyone involved in setting up or maintaining a collection of visual materials with a basic knowledge of the subject. The management of moving images tends to be more complex than for stills, and much of the guide reflects this, although many of the principles apply equally to both media. The guide gives advice on how to deal with a wide range of physical formats; everything from 35 mm monochrome film to images stored as digital files. It includes recommendations on the correct storage conditions and handling techniques needed to maximise preservation of the material; the technical issues associated with managing a visual resource; documentation, and techniques of cataloguing and indexing; how best to research the media and handle enquiries, either to extract information, or to retrieve the actual physical items so that these can be used as a complete entity or as a part of a new project. Finally, looking to the future, it considers the impact of digitisation and the delivery of the media using the World Wide Web.

It is not intended to cover each of these elements in great detail, but to provide an outline of the basic issues, and recommend some options on how to deal with them. Many of the suggestions follow standards and principles adopted by the archive of the British Broadcasting Corporation, with references to best practice in other media archives. A list of further reading appears later, for those who would like more information about the key topics.

2. Formats and Equipment

The first area to be addressed, when managing visual media, is the range of physical formats which exist. Some archive services are in the fortunate position to be able to choose which formats to acquire, whereas others may only be able to influence the decision. Others have it made for them. Cost is an important factor, but suitability as an archival format must also be taken into account.

As technology develops, new, improved formats are constantly being created, and most are incompatible with each other in terms of recording and playback equipment. At a very basic level, a reel of film cannot be played back on a videotape machine, but it is also important to note that there is incompatibility within a given medium: a reel of 16 mm film cannot be run on a 35 mm film viewing machine. This raises a significant issue, in that, with any audio-visual collection, there is an ongoing requirement to purchase and maintain new equipment for playback, recording, editing and so on.

The other crucial point about changing technology is that formats can quickly go out of favour and out of date. Typically, when a new format is created, there will be a range of similar products from different companies on the market, all competing with each other to become the standard. An example of this is the emergence of Betamax and VHS video cassettes in the 1980s, where recording and playback machines were incompatible. Some consumers in the United Kingdom chose to buy Betamax machines only to find that within a few years, VHS had taken the market lead, leaving them with tapes and machines which were obsolete.

Because of these technological changes and developments, particularly in types of videotape, it makes sense to wait until a new format has become established and has proven reliability and durability, before starting a collection. There is, however, often a dilemma between being patient until this happens and wanting to use the technological advantages which new formats bring.

Film formats

Film has been established for over a century now, and in recent years an international standard has been established for its manufacture. There are many different types of film, with a range of gauges and features, used to record moving and still images, so only the most commonly used are covered here.

Nitrate and acetate film stock

Although no longer used by film producers, some film collections still contain old nitrate material, which was used up to the early 1950s. This poses a problem for film archives, as it can be highly inflammable if not stored and handled carefully, and specialist advice should be sought before dealing with it. Ideally, it should be transferred to acetate (safety) stock, but the costs of doing this can often be prohibitive.

35 mm film for moving or still images

When the first film or television archives were established, monochrome 35 mm was the main format used. In broadcasting, all film-based programmes, including news material, used this format. Very few programmes were filmed in colour because of the high cost, apart from prestige drama productions and some quality documentaries. These days, usually only films intended for theatrical release are shot on 35 mm.

In terms of still images, 35 mm would generally be considered to be the minimum size required by most photograph libraries to provide adequate quality for commercial work. Larger negatives produce better quality images, so many libraries will only collect pictures taken on the medium formats such as 6 x 5 cm, 6 x 6 cm, 6 x 7 cm and 6 x 9 cm, or the larger formats used in areas such as advertising, where higher quality images are required.

16 mm film

Not used for still photographs, 16 mm film is one of the most common formats used for moving images. It was introduced in the late 1950s in the BBC, and has since become the standard for film programmes throughout the broadcasting industry and in many other areas.

16 mm reversal film

Reversal film was introduced in the 1960s to provide a single stage development process, that is, avoiding the need to create a negative in order to make a print. Once developed, reversal film produces a positive image which can be used immediately. This was particularly useful in creating news items, where minimising the length of time between shooting and broadcasting is crucial.

Super 16 mm

Super 16 mm film is a more recent development. It has a larger image area, although the actual film is the same size as conventional 16 mm film. It was originally intended for enlarging to 35 mm for theatrical screenings, but is now also becoming more widely used for wide-screen television, as its 16:9 aspect ratio requires very little cropping.

Other moving image film formats

Apart from 70 mm film, which is the format used in the cinema industry, there are also specialist formats such as X-ray film, used in medicine, and infra-red film, used in areas such as archaeology. Some archives also hold film material on less common formats, such as 9.5 mm, or maybe even 8 mm and Super 8 mm, which were the domestic gauges used for home movies before videotape and camcorders were developed. Generally, the image quality of these formats is not as good as 35 mm and 16 mm, so they are only kept if the content is particularly rare or unique.

Sound

Sound on film.

Some film (negative and positive) has either an optical soundtrack or a magnetic ‘stripe’ on the edge of the film. These are known as ‘comopt’ (combined optical) and ‘commag’ (combined magnetic) respectively. They are generally of inferior quality to the separate magnetic soundtracks described below, and are best suited to screenings using projectors, where it is preferable to have sound and vision running together through the projector. In television it was more usual to have film sound running separately from the picture.

Apart from combined prints, sound for film material is generally recorded separately on to magnetic tape (commonly known as ‘sepmag’). This tape mirrors the gauge of the film (35 mm/16 mm etc.) and is run synchronised with the pictures.

35 mm sound

35 mm sound has three audio tracks. One track is generally used for the final mix, with a copy made on another, and the third is used for other recorded sound such as commentary or music and effects.

16 mm sound

16 mm sound has two tracks, one located in the centre, and one at the edge, opposite the sprockets. The centre track is used for the final mix, while the edge track may be used for music and effects, or perhaps for a second language recording.

Videotape formats

Whereas film formats have been established for many years, new videotape formats are being constantly introduced, and this means the videotape library or archive must deal with new processes for storing and handling the material, as well as providing guidance for users.

2″ Quadruplex

This was the first videotape format to be used by most broadcasters. Using tape 2″ wide, it was the main format for recording from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. Because of the age and technical make-up of the tape, many of the original recordings are now deteriorating rapidly, and require transferring onto more modem formats.

1″ B Format

As technology developed, a 1″ replacement for 2″ videotape was introduced by Bosch/BTS in Germany, and was used by many North European broadcasters. One disadvantage with this format, as with 2″ Quadruplex, is that it is only possible to view the images at normal speed, not in ‘fast forward’ mode. Like 2″, many older tapes now need to be transferred to current formats.

1″ C Format

By the end of the 1970s ‘C’ format was introduced. This was played on the first type of machine to feature still frames, slow motion, and show the images in ‘fast forward’ mode. It also included three audio tracks and a dedicated time-code track. ‘C’ format was used by many broadcasters throughout the 1980s until the beginning of the 1990s, and is still used in some areas.

Umatic

This format was developed in the 1970s, as a videotape alternative to using film cameras in news gathering. Using 3/4″ cassette tapes, bandwidth is limited, but the quality was considered acceptable at the time for news production or semi-professional use. Another disadvantage was that the tapes could not be copied more than two or three times, as the loss of quality with each generation was too noticeable. Umatic is still used in some parts of the world, however, including some educational institutions, but it is generally regarded as obsolete in other areas. The three types used are as follows:

Lo band Umatic

This was commonly used in corporate or semi-professional areas, as well as by broadcasters for nonbroadcast purposes, before VHS became mechanically reliable.

Hi band Umatic

Many broadcasters and producers of corporate videos used Hi-band Umatic as a replacement for film. It was also used for off-line editing with Cuedos computers in the early 1990s before non-linear editing systems became widely used.

Hi band SP

This format is less common, but was introduced as a less expensive alternative to Betacam (see below), using a metal tape to give increased bandwidth. It has been used mainly in the corporate sector, in areas where Betacam was considered too expensive to use.

Composite and component videotape formats

Occasionally, the technical terms ‘composite’ and ‘component’ are used when referring to videotape formats. The difference between the two is that, whereas composite formats have their information relating to colour and black and white mixed into one signal, this remains separate in component formats, which permits greater flexibility during the editing and post-production process. Component formats are therefore considered better, both for production and archival purposes.

Analogue component videotape formats

Betacam

This was the first 1/2″, cassette-based format, often used in news production because the cameras were small enough to be portable in news-gathering situations. Based on the domestic Betamax video-cassette format, it was developed in the early 1980s and because of its relatively low cost is still used by some broadcasters for news operations. The main disadvantage of this format is that the tapes have a maximum duration of 30 minutes.

Betacam SP

Produced by Sony in 1986, Betacam SP is an improvement on Betacam, as it uses a higher specification metal tape, which gives broadcast quality images and sound. Available in 60 and 90 minute durations, because of its compact size and robustness it has been used in the BBC for recording news material and for off-line editin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Series Editor
• About the author
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Formats and equipment
• 3. Preservation
• 4. Documentation and cataloguing of holdings
• 5. Browsing and searching the catalogues
• 6. Security of information and holdings
• 7. Training of staff
• 8. Digital archiving
• 9. Conclusion
• 10. Further reading