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MIC
Small Gauge/Amateur Film Task Force
|
| General Comments: |
| Process:
The original template for MIC categories was divided up between
Dwight Swanson and Brad Reeves. It was felt that because the number of small
gauge sites would not be overwhelming (and we generally knew what they were
beforehand anyway) that we would both go through the entire list of topics
and compile, independently, our own list of sites. Even though this resulted
in redundant work, it was felt that this way would ensure not missing any
sites, and I do feel confident that we have not missed out on any major
sites within each category. The two lists were then compiled and annotated,
with Snowden Becker acting as editor.
The international aspect can likely be expanded with some additional European (in particular) input. Some European organizations have been included, but doubtless there are more which we have missed. The most problematic issue in compiling a list of small gauge links for MIC is probably going to be the amount of crossover between general film preservation and specialized small gauge information. In general, information online which is specific to small gauge film tends to emphasize production over preservation (“where do I get my super 8 film processed?”). In the above list we’ve listed the sites with the most specialized small gauge/amateur information first, but haven’t excluded more general sites which nevertheless do have information which can be applied to amateur collections. Small gauge preservation information is fairly limited at this point, and the work that is being done is being driven largely by AMIA’s Small Gauge/Amateur Film interest group. In reviewing the other MIC categories, none of the websites found specifically address “Cataloging & Metadata” and “Programming and Access” (although access issues are mentioned in some of the archives’ sites). There are indeed special needs and issues for SG/Amateur film in these areas, but they have not been significantly addressed in online formats—at least that we located. Within the MIC structure, another question is how the SG sites can be divided between the Public and Archivists’ portals, since the information for both does overlap considerably. For the most part, based on my experience, owners of home movie collections have two questions: “how do I get my films transferred to video?” and much less frequently: “how do I store my films?” This second question was the impetus for the www.filmforever.org site, so that question has been dealt with there, but the first question is answered (online) primarily on commercial sites, by companies who are selling transfer services, so there is a great amount of caveat emptor at work. A third question which I have faced is “where can I donate my films?”—presumably this will be answerable using MIC database elements, since for the most part home movie and amateur collections are best accessed within the regions where they were created. In conclusion, as
much as we love the idiosyncrasies of small gauge film, it may not be
necessary to have it be a separate category within MIC, since it would
probably be simpler to incorporate the amateur sites into other MIC categories. |
| Web
Resources: 1. Glossaries Association of Moving
Image Archivists, Film Forever: Glossary, 2003 General film glossaries: ScreenSound Australia,
Technical Glossary of Common Audiovisual Terms, 2003 Eastman Kodak Company,
Glossary of Film/Video Terms, 2003 Glossarist, Film
Dictionary, Film Glossary and Film Terms Directory, 2003 2. Bibliographies AMIA Small Gauge/Amateur
Film Interest Group, Small Gauge/Amateur Film Bibliography, 2001 Super 8mm Bibliography,
2003 3. Webliographies The 8mm Film
Format Metadirectory, 2003 4. White papers
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| 5. Knowledgebase
of experts
Institutions: East Anglian Film
Archive Filmarchive Smalfilmmuseum Individuals: Snowden Becker,
Getty Institute Brodsky and Treadway Chad Hunter, George
Eastman House alankatt@aol.com Home Movies: A History of the American industry <http://www.homemoviehistory.com> Summary: A complete and definitive history of amateur film gauges and equipment, including 8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm, and 17.5mm. Website includes ordering information. Alan Lewis, National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) William Murphy, AVArchives Kevin H. Phillips,
9.5USA John Pytlak, Kodak
Motion Pictures Bradley Reeves, Archives
of Appalachia Larry Smith, Library
of Congress Ed Stratmann, George
Eastman House Dan Streible, University
of South Carolina Russ Sunieweck, Colorlab Dwight Swanson, Northeast
Historic Film Ken Weismann, Library
of Congress George Willeman,
Library of Congress |
| 6. FAQs
Brodsky & Treadway,
LittleFilm.org FAQ, 2002 Association of Moving
Image Archivists, Inédits Q&A—Answers to Frequently
Asked Questions on Amateur & Small Format Film |
| 7. Presentations
Association of Moving
Image Archivists’ Small Gauge/Amateur Film Interest Group, Small
Gauge Symposium, 2001 Northeast Historic
Film, Summer Film Symposium: “Home Movies and Privacy”,
2001 Orphan Film Symposium,
Conference Archives, 2003 |
| 8. Calendar
of conferences, training opportunities, events
Association of
Moving Image Image Archivists’ Annual Conference, AMIA Annual Conference,
2003 9.5 USA, Homepage
for 9.5USA, the club for 9.5mm movie enthusiasts in the United States
of America, 2003 Home Movie Day,
2003 Northeast Historic
Film, Summer Film Symposium, 2003 Orphan Film Symposium.
2003 |
| 9.
Links to online training
LittleFilm.org, Home
Movies: A Basic Primer on care, handling, storage, 2002 Association of Moving
Image Archivists, Film Forever: The Home Film Preservation Guide,
2003
|
| 10.
Annotated list of organizations at a glance
9.5USA, Homepage
for 9.5USA, the club for 9.5mm Movie Enthusiasts in the United States
of America, 2003 Group 9.5, Pathéscope
Home Page, 2003 Commercial organizations (labs and equipment suppliers) Bono Film Bulb Direct Cinepost Christy’s Colorlab Erickson Archival
Telecine Hollywood Dream Factory IJM Inc. (Irv Higdon) Kodak MPL Media (Motion
Picture Labs) Rocky Mountain Film
Lab Tuscan Urbanski Film
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| 11.
Funding opportunities
Women’s Film Preservation Fund National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF), 2003 Other general film preservation grants: National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), Grant Programs and Deadlines,
2003 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Grants for Arts Projects, 2003 |
| 12. Oral histories None found |
| 13.
AMIA website
Association of Moving Image Archivists, Inédits Q&A—Answers
to Frequently Asked Questions on Amateur & Small Format Film Association of Moving Image Archivists, Film Preservation Manual
for Home and Independent Filmmakers |
| 14.
AMIA committee and interest group chairs
Association of Moving Image Archivists’ Small Gauge/Amateur Film
Interest Group Smallgauge list Association of Moving Image Archivists’ Regional Audio-Visual Archives
Interest Group (RAVA) |
| 15.
Task force members’ own institutions
Northeast Historic Film Archives of Appalachia Archmedia Preservation |
| OTHER RESOURCES |
Small Gauge Film History eFilmCenter, The
Ultimate Table of Formats—Aspect Ratios, 2000 Jan-Eric Nyström, History of Sub-35mm Film Formats & Cameras,
1998 Michael Rogge, More than one hundred years of Film Sizes, 1996 |
Small Gauge Production and Products
Eastman Kodak Company, Super 8mm Film Products Shooting 8mm, 2003 Motion Media Arts Center, 2003 Super8aid, Manuals, 2003 |
| General Film
Preservation Sites (not specifically small gauge)
Library of Congress, Care, Handling, and Storage of Motion Picture Film,
1998 CoOl, Preservation of Motion Picture Film, 2003 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Image Permanence Institute (IPI) <http://www.archives.gov/grants/annotation/summer_97/preservation_guidebook> (29 June 2003) Summary: Ordering Information for handbook which focuses specifically on television news collections, but contains valuable information on 16mm collections in general. |
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