Reference and Guidebooks
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American Film ArchiveAmerican Film Archive is an online educational resource for filmmakers seeking to safeguard their moving image / video data for long-term preservation. Includes a helpful list of archive websites.
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AV CompassDeveloped with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, BAVC Media’s latest tool supporting the audiovisual preservation field is a suite of free online resource that offers comprehensive instruction in organizing and preserving a media collection.
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Cable BibleA comprehensive source for identifying cables and connectors potentially used for audiovisual/media preservation.
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Film Atlas This link opens in a new window
Film Atlas is an international visual guide to every motion picture film format, soundtrack and color process ever invented. This resource is still under development with new essays being published, and is a collaboration between the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and the George Eastman Museum. Searchable by geographic region and date range.
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Film Forever: The Home Film Preservation GuideThis website will focus on the most common types of films found in private collections and give basic information on implementing a practical preservation strategy for film materials. This will include a basic discussion of the main factors that determine the stability of motion picture film, giving recommendations relating to inspection and handling, cleaning and repair, preparation for storage and storage conditions.
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The Film FoundationThe Film Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history. By working in partnership with archives and studios, the foundation has helped to restore over 1000 films, which are made accessible to the public through programming at festivals, museums, and educational institutions around the world.
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Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and MuseumsFrom the National Film Preservation Foundation
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Fundamentals of AV PreservationTextbook created by NEDCC along with a fee-based accompanying course.
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Inward Outward SymposiumThe international symposium Inward Outward investigates the status of moving image and sound archives as they intertwine with questions of coloniality, identity and race, and seeks to bring theory and practice into dialogue by drawing together people from different professional and creative backgrounds. Publications from the symposium online from 2020-present.
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NARA Reformatting ApproachesNational Archives and Records Administration's standards for deliverables when digitizing or reformatting audio-visual materials.
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Preservation Self-Assessment Program (PSAP)A free online tool that helps collection managers prioritize efforts to improve conditions of collections. Through guided evaluation of materials, storage/exhibit environments, and institutional policies, the PSAP produces reports on the factors that impact the health of cultural heritage materials, and defines the points from which to begin care.
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A Race Against Time: Preserving AV MediaCreated by the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Includes video instruction on audiovisual preservation basics.
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TECHNÈS: Encyclopedia of Film Techniques and TechnologiesComposed of over 30 thematic parcours, this open access encyclopedia includes scholarship and visual documents to cover the history of cinema techniques and technology.
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Washington State Film Preservation Manual: Low-cost & No-cost Suggestions to Care for Your FilmPrepared for libraries, museums, historical societies, and other institutions with film in their collections.
Resources
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Care, Handling, and Storage of Motion Picture FilmLibrary of Congress guide
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Film Atlas This link opens in a new window
Film Atlas is an international visual guide to every motion picture film format, soundtrack and color process ever invented. This resource is still under development with new essays being published, and is a collaboration between the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and the George Eastman Museum. Searchable by geographic region and date range.
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FilmCare (Image Permanence Institute)Central resource for best practices in film preservation that provides guidelines for dealing with the preservation of all types and formats of film materials. Includes a Motion Picture Film Technology Timeline as well as resources for identifying film material and decay.
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Film ColorsA database to provide comprehensive information about historical film color processes invented since the end of the 19th century including specific still photography color technologies that were their conceptual predecessors.
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Guide to the Contextual Assessment of Film Elements and Related Materials (NARA)This document defines common motion picture element terms and expressions historically used in film labs. Goes with the Motion Picture Technical Processing Guidance document.
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Identifying Motion Picture Film Element (16mm and 35mm)Also includes advice on identifying soundtrack information.
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Knowing and Protecting Motion Picture Film PosterImage Permanence Institute's poster to aid in identifying film formats. A full-size poster can be requested for viewing at the Arts Library.
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Little FilmInformation about small gauge preservation, history and lab services
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Motion-Picture FormatsIdentification of film stock media for motion-picture photography.
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Motion Picture Film Maintenance Manual, 16MM16mm motion picture film maintenance manual by Craig Jones; edited by the Publications Committee of CUFC, Sue Baccari, John Fick.
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Motion Picture Film ProcessingBy Dominic Case, 1985.
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One Hundred Years of Film SizesOverview of the development of amateur and professional film gauges.
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Small Gauge and Amateur Film Bibliography (AMIA)Collaborative bibliography documenting helpful books on amateur films and small gauge.
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Sprocket SchoolA collection of information, history, and suggested best practices for film exhibition in the 21st century. It is intended to be a practical resource for exhibitors, projectionists, archivists, programmers, and curators who want to safely continue projecting analog motion picture film of every gauge long into the future.
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The Activists' Guide to Archiving VideoIncludes an archiving workflow with various resources and information on how to preserve video documentation for advocacy, as evidence, for education, or historical memory.
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AV Artifact AtlasA resource for identifying errors and anomalies in analog and digital video.
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Compendium of Image Errors in Analogue VideoCompendium of Image Errors in Analogue Video sets out to provide guidelines for the condition assessment and preservation of analogue video.
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Guidelines for the Preservation of Video RecordingsArchives hold original video recordings in a range of types, from media-dependent, carrier-based analogue videotapes to computer-file-based digital recordings. The appropriate preservation treatments for this array reflect the variation in the source recordings. IASA-TC 06 will cover this full range of topics, as well as providing advice on shooting ethnographic, documentary, and oral history video footage in a manner that maximizes its "preserve-ability".
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How Video Works: From Analog to High DefinitionA complete guide from analog video to all the new digital technologies, including HD, compression, and encoding
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LTO Documentation (AMIA)An introduction to LTO technology can also be found here.
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Video Format Identification GuideThis site is produced for archivists, librarians, curators and conservators who want to identify the videotapes in their collections. Since video recording became a viable technology in 1956, there have been over 50 different formats created. Most of these formats are represented in this chronology.
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Video Guidancce (NARA)This section contains practical advice on preserving a variety of video recordings. Includes identifying formats and digitization information.
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The Video GuidePrimer as an introduction to video recording technologies. Includes glossary and index.
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Video History Project Preservation ResourcesIncludes an introduction to video preservation basics.
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Videotape Identification and Assessment GuideThis guide was created by the Texas Commission on the Arts to answer questions commonly asked by custodians of video materials.
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Videotape Preservation HandbookThis handbook is intended to answer the questions of archivists, librarians, and others who have a collection of videotapes they wish to keep for many years.
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Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and ArchivistsThis document describes methods for the care and handling of optical discs and is intended for use by librarians and archivists in government, academia, and industry.
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Challenges of the Digital Era for Film Heritage InstitutionsReport from the Digital Agenda for the European Film Heritage.
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Digitizing Video for Long-Term Preservation: An RFP Guide and TemplateCreated by the NYU Libraries. "Intended to take an institution step-by-step through the process of drafting a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the transfer of analog video formats to digital carriers for preservation."
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FF Video Codec Format DescriptionTaken from the Library of Congress' Sustainability in Digital Formats
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Optical Media PSAPPreservation Self-Assessment Program (PSAP) page on optical media, including LaserDisc, CD, MiniDisc, and DVD.
Software
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Adobe Premiere ProAdobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based and non-linear video editing software application developed by Adobe Inc. Current UCLA students have access to the Adobe Creative Cloud software for free.
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DaVinci ResolveDaVinci Resolve is a color grading, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production video editing application for macOS, Windows, and Linux, developed by Blackmagic Design.
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DRS Nova (MTI Film)Restoration software found in film archives, although expensive for personal use.
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DvRescueThis project develops procedures and tools that will support migrating data from DV tapes into digital files suitable for long-term preservation.
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HandBrakeHandBrake is a open-source tool, built by volunteers, for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.
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VRecord (AMIA)Vrecord is open-source software for capturing a video signal and turning it into a digital file. Vrecord has been designed with needs of audiovisual archivists in mind.
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WinX DVD RipperDVD ripping software to rip DVD for easier backup, archiving, editing and sharing. It can convert ISO image or DVD to MP4 (H.264/HEVC), AVI, WMV, FLV, MOV, MPEG, MP3, etc.