Journal of Film Preservation N° 60/61 - FIAF

machine without damage. Therefore, in Vietnam now we only apply
the dry method.
We currently cannot solve the shrinkage of films after vinegar
treatment in both methods. The shrinkage depends on the vinegar
degree before the treatment. For the moderately or slightly vinegaraffected
films (level No.1 or No.2), the shrinkage is small enough,
about 1-3%, so these films are usable after treatment. In contrast, for
films with a vinegar level of No.3 or over, the shrinkage after
treatment is relatively high, reaching 4 - 5% and the films are
unusable (except when they are printed by a continuous printing
machine). It is expected to find chemical or physical methods to
reduce the shrinkage of film after treatment.
Molecular Sieve, prevention method for all
As a prevention for all the films in the national collection, even for
films unaffected by moulds or vinegar syndrome, since 1999 the
Institute has applied the molecular sieve, which is produced locally
in accordance with international standards. The application of
molecular sieve is pursuant to the guidelines of the Image
Permanence Institute (IPI) of America. Each 35 mm film reel of 300
meters long together with a bag of dry Zeolite of 50 grams is put in a
bag, which is made from plastic covered by a thin aluminum layer.
Then the air inside the bag is sucked out and the bag is spliced by
heat. As such the humidity inside the bag reaches H = (35 + 3)%RH
and is kept constant in comparison with outside humidity. It takes us
a lot of effort and money to keep eighty thousands reels of film in
our collection by molecular sieves. But it is hoped that with such low
humidity, the moulds and vinegar syndrome will develop slowly
causing less damage to films.
Film restoration, the last rescuer
Although the Institute has paid close attention to dealing with
challenges caused by moulds and vinegar syndrome, in reality we
still have to put away hundreds of heavily-damaged films. In some
cases, we repair the damage but the films are unusable due to bad
images. Therefore, at the end of 1998, the Institute bought modern
film restoration equipment in order to save films which are likely to
be thrown away. The restoration process is undertaken as follows.
The images are transferred to video tape, usually a Betacam. The
equipment repairs images digitally, erasing mainly the scratches or
mould traces. The equipment finally transfers the restored movie to a
negative film, a video tape or a laser disk according to the
requirement. This equipment has four major important components:
- The video editing table called Media-100 uses the Macintosh-9600
computer.
- Three Macintosh 9600/300 computers are used to digitally correct
the images, erasing scratches or mould traces and to increase or
reduce the color of every movie frame.
- The Lighting Silicon Graphic system with the Indigo-2 computer is
39 Journal of Film Preservation / 60/61 / 2000
El acervo cinematográfico nacional en
Vietnam
El Dr. Ngo hieu Chi enumera las dificultades
encontradas por el Archivo cinematográfico
de Vietnam cuando se trata de salvaguardar
su acervo cinematográfico, tarea que es
prioritaria desde hace poco tiempo. Al
margen de las limitaciones presupuestarias,
lo que más amenaza la supervivencia de las
colecciones son el moho y el síndrome del
vinagre. Un estudio llevado a cabo en 1990
muestra que 90% de las cintas están
afectadas por el moho. Se describen a
continuación varios tratamientos, con sus
ventajas y desventajas. Al retardar el
proceso de descomposición, el tamiz
molecular, es utilizado como método
preventivo.
El principio general adoptado por los
archivos nacionales es el de considerar un
proceso de preservación global, que permita
al mismo tiempo las tareas de conservación
y el acceso a los materiales fílmicos. Este
principio fue adoptado a partir de 1998, año
en que se adquirió un equipo de
restauración completo de películas y otro de
transferencia de imágenes de cine a video,
permitiendo así la reconstitución digital de
imágenes y su ulterior transferencia a
negativo film, y finalmente a disco digital o
a laser.