Media Archival Studies

"Beginning in the 19th century with the invention of the telephone and the phonograph, the film chronicles the development of motion picture sound recording, production and exhibition technology through 1932. It features many rarely-seen film excerpts showing the progress of recording methods as varied as Vitaphone and Movietone sound of film."

A look at efforts to restore and preserve Hollywood's legacy. Includes an interview with project director Peter Brosnan about the excavation of De Mille's Ten commandments set; an interview with Frances Offenhauser about Pan Pacific Auditorium; an interview with preservation officer Bob Gitt about the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

"Organized mostly chronologically, the film presents the 40-year career of Henri Langlois (1914-1977), film's first archivist, and the creator of the Cinémathèque Française and Musée du Cinéma. Talking heads, film clips and stills, and archival interviews with Langlois trace his life from 1935, when he starts the Circle of Cinema film club. He begins to buy films, saving many from destruction."

"A magnificent collection for anyone interested in the earliest days of film history, this compilation of films spans the years from 1886 to 1913, from the first experiments in "serial photography" to the emergence of narrative shorts and the dawn of the feature-length film. It's a veritable archive of nearly every important film from the birth of the medium, including Edison Kinestoscope films (1894-96), films by the brothers Lumière (1895-97), the magical movies of French special effects pioneer Georges Méliès, documentary "actualities" from 1897 to 1910, and selected short films from 1903 to 1913." The collection of short films can also be found on this Youtube Playlist.

Film Technology Company made this 19 minute Industrial film in 1999 for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMTE). The film documents the equipment and techniques that the laboratory uses in film restoration. The film includes descriptions of digital restoration and shows state-of-the-art storage facilities in Hollywood.

Promotional video on the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the need for film preservation.

Tells the story of two giant projects to physically preserve America's recorded speeches, music, and other sounds.

"Tells the history and importance of the National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and the American experience itself."

A photographically documented report of the SMPTE working group on Motion-Picture Entertainment Film Damage.