Film Internship Week 6

At the Heinz History Center today, I inspected two films. The first film was larger than the others I have inspected thus far. It had sound strip and a magenta hue throughout the film. Overall, it was in relatively good condition. It looked like the color was fading from the film, and in parts there were black spots near the edges. The second film I inspected was in pretty good shape as well. There were not any scratches, tears, or splices. It was in Technicolor and had sound as well. Again the color in this film seemed to be fading. While inspecting the film, I noticed there was a very thin line of magenta that ran along the soundtrack throughout the film. It was only about the width of a pin, but noticeable. I was curious if that is supposed to be there or not? If it is not, what makes this magenta line show up and what is the ultimate effect it has on the film? The other thing I noticed about this particular film was not that it smelled like it had vinegar syndrome, but it had a musty or mildew odor to it when I got a good whiff. Is this odor just from the age of the film, or is it an indicator of further deterioration problems ahead?

Film Internaship Week 5

My film internship at the Heinz History Center this week was pretty uneventful. I inspected two films. The first film I inspected was not in really bad condition, but I did think the color was off. The whole film was a magenta color. I was wondering if it was purposely filmed on a specific colored film stock or does the color or tint have something to do with the color deterioration of the film? The other film I inspected was entitled “Laser Animation.” The film was pretty dirty and has suffered a few scratches, but other than that looked pretty good. This was a neat one to inspect because it was a bunch of frames of bright lasers in different shapes. It reminded me of the laser light shows that were timed to music you would see at science centers or museums. I was pretty surprised how bright the colors remained after thirty plus years.

I also talked to David, my supervisor, today about some of the problems with the film collections and the storage spaces and conditions we are currently dealing with at the History Center. He said he would be glad to discuss this and some of his ideas and problems with the spaces further when I asked him about using the Heinz History Center as a case study for my paper. He also had some suggestions on literature that could be helpful for my paper, which I can look at next week.

Film Internship Week 4

On Thursday, I worked on two films at the Heinz History Center. The first film was pretty uneventful, but the second one I inspected was a mess. It was actually pretty exciting to see a film with the different problems that we read about up close. The film was incredibly dirty. I needed to get a new set of gloves after I was finished. The film had emulsion scratches, rips, tears, sprocket damage, color fading, large repeating black spots and the beginnings of vinegar syndrome. Needless to say, it was a chore to go through the reel, but very interesting as well. One of the things that caught my attention, was that the reel indicated that it was a silent film. When I was doing the inspection, it looked like it did have sort of soundtrack on the film. I consulted the Film Preservation Guide for what sound is supposed to look like. In comparing them, they looked to be magnetic sound, but what I was looking at and what was shown in the example pictures did not quite match up. Later on on the reel the part that looks like sound just disappeared and that side of the reel was black. I found this to be rather odd. I finished the inspection, and mentioned what I encountered to David. He found this to be odd as well, and had a few suggestions, but as I continued to explain the other things I ran into with the film, it just became more complex. So what could have possibly been going on with this film?

Week 3 Internship

This week I processed two films. One was in black and white, which was the first one I have encountered thus far. It was silent as well and also in relatively good shape. The other one I did was color and silent too, but this reel had some problems. Most of the sprockets were torn or jagged for the first half of the reel. It was causing a bit of a problem and I had to proceed very carefully because the jagged edges would catch on my gloves. I initially thought that this was caused by the projector, but about half way through the reel, the jagged edges just disappeared and were not present on the rest of the reel. I was curious how the jaggedness was only on half the film? Was it caused by the projector or was it something else?

I spoke with David and he wanted me to look into getting more tools for the film inspections. Basically looking to see what is out there and how much things would cost. So I am compiling a list. I am looking for a splicer, tape, leader and small storage boxes for reels. I think I read that there are grants out there to purchase materials for film, but I will have to check into this. I also think this research can also be used for my research paper.

Film Internship Week 2

Yesterday, I was at the Heinz History Center to learn how to physically do
inspections. Tuesday is not my usual day to be there, but do to scheduling
conflicts, I arrived Tuesday morning and worked on film from 9:30am-12pm.
I must say I had a lot of fun doing inspections. David showed me how to
set up the machine and the reel. Then he demonstrated how it worked and
things to look for in the film. We also went over the inspection sheets as
well with the film preservation guide. With each film I will be writing
down the observations from the reel, such as the title, what kind of film,
sound, color, and the date, measuring the reel for the approximate number
of frames, and noting any emulsions, splices, or damages. All of the cans
need to be checked for vinegar syndrome which will be done at a later
date.  Today I inspected three films. I was nervous about breaking
something, so I went very slowly, which did not make my film wind as
nicely as it could have. I do feel that I am beginning to get the hang of
the inspection process. David said that most of the films are in decent
shape and should not have too much trouble with any breaking, which is
good because we do not have a splicer. There is a lot of Westinghouse
Electric films and David said he thinks we have a few of training for the
Navy submarines, which would be pretty cool to view. More next week!

Film Internship Week 1

Yesterday I met with David Grinnell, the Chief Archivist at the Heinz History Center, about my field placement. I will be working on the George Westinghouse film collection and conducting film inspections. It was suggested that I look at the Film Preservation Guide because it gives great information and procedures on how to preserve film. I will be following a checklist from the guide while doing the inspections. I will also be running a test to determine the amount of deterioration using testing strips. David also wanted to begin working on policies and inspection procedures for film preservation at the History Center, including reformatting standards and preservation. I am greatly looking forward to this internship.