Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

également hybride et devra être
adapté au remplacement graduel de
la technologie photochimique par le
digital. Lorsque celui-ci sera rentable,
il y aura aussi des changements dans
les techniques de projection. Les
laboratoires de cinéma adopteront
également la technologie digitale,
laissant ainsi les travaux de
duplication photochimique à
quelques boutiques spécialisées.
Pour finir, nous verrons surgir de
nouvelles questions éthiques, de
nouveaux problèmes aux niveaux
technologique et économique.
L’auteur conclut cependant que les
critères d’admission à la FIAF doivent
rester les mêmes, tels qu’ils ont été
énoncés par Roger Smither dans le
code d’éthique de la FIAF.
history like it’s premiere or it’s initial release – is a decision that cannot
be taken lightly. It must involve the cooperation of all other archives
with relevant material and the help of the appropriate scholars and
technicians. Most films will simply have to be preserved ie. make the
best possible master and projection prints from materials held by
constituent archives. Some films may have to be duplicated on
automatic or high-speed printers without involvement from any staff
member except a lower paid machine minder. This should probably be
called the production mode and will require much more development
before it can be employed.
Now time is of the essence we must develop a common language to
describe our holdings accurately so that we can use the Internet to its
full advantage. The days of the quid pro quo where any archive
cooperation in a preservation requires all parties to receive a print or a
master may be over and we will have to accept that the film, like a
painting, has to be seen in the location where it is preserved and only
loaned in the most exceptional circumstances to an archive whose
projectionist and projection box have passed the most stringent
inspection. We must ensure that the archive in the country of
production has the best film materials on any title that is legitimately
part of it’s national heritage and other archives retain the less
complete copies which they already hold.
We must also intensify research into old film systems. Already too
much has been lost. Now we have limited time to safeguard what
remains. We must know the characteristics of the film stocks we are
trying to replicate, the formulae laboratories used in their processing,
the sound systems, the colour dyes, the tints etc. There will be no
second preservation chance in the future.
We must also step up archive technical training. When processes
become obsolete those who really understand them are the only ones
who can pass this information on to future generations. The archive
technicians we have now are perforce those people.
The positive side of this integration of media is that the traditional film
laboratory, which now relies heavily on computers and electronics, will
have the appropriate skills nearby to help solve problems in these
fields. In fact the mechanical and electronic maintenance areas and the
obsolete equipment stores will be major components of the
preservation laboratory of the future
Film archives have made great steps in the last twenty years in making
governments and private funding organizations aware of the
importance of film preservation. We need to move away from the”
Nitrate Won’t Wait” approach. The obvious campaign for this century is
the safeguarding of the colour film. Archives have been hesitant to
address this issue because they fear that both government and private
funding organisations will see this as a task for the copyright owners
and because of the astronomical costs involved. Now that the archive
movement has existed for about sixty-five years it is time to take a
tougher line with copyright owners who don’t preserve their films. If
they are not doing it properly we need to quote chapter and verse and
name names. Otherwise archives will never get funding to solve this
problem. This century copyright owners need archives as much, if not
21 Journal of Film Preservation / 65 / 2002