May 2016: Moving Image Media Workshop

Words by Jen O’Leary

On May 21st LAAC, UCLA AMIA Student Chapter, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Department of Educational Initiatives hosted the Archaeology of Moving Image Media Workshop. The half-day event, held at the Academy's Pickford Center, brought together students, professional archivists, artists, and other community members in a part-lecture, part hands-on setting to learn how to identify, handle, and preserve moving image materials.

Alejandra Espasande shows examples of proper and improper ways to store film.

Many archivists had expressed the need for a basic understanding of media archiving. Most archives contain moving image material that must be preserved, but archival education programs often do not teach media preservation. This workshop was designed to fill that void in a collaborative and interactive environment.

Each attendee was given a kit with a piece of film and basic media archival tools to learn how to preserve film.

The workshop was led by Academy Film Archive Archivist and LAAC Diversity Committee Member Alejandra Espasande, with presentations by UCLA AMIA Student Chapter and LAAC members Jen O'Leary, Shani Miller, Caitlin Denny and Robin Margolis.

UCLA AMIA Student Chapter President Jen O'Leary discusses her internship with the AFA's home movie collection.

Workshop attendees were given a brief history of moving image archives, as well as case studies on many of the more unique collections around Los Angeles. They then learned how to identify the many different types of film and tape that could be present in their archives, including how to use basic film inspection equipment. Attendees were also shown examples of different types of film deterioration and how to best care for assets that may exhibit those symptoms.

Alejandra Espasande shows an example of 70mm film and how to identify it.

During lunch provided by the UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies program, attendees had a chance to repair film with a splicer and compare their efforts with their colleagues.

L-R: Caitlin Denny helps an attendee splice film.
Shani Miller helps an attendee splice film.
Attendees splicing film and checking over their work. 

The afternoon ended with a presentation on the points archivists must weigh when deciding how to digitize their films; the process that works best for one archive, might not be the best, or only, route for digitization in another.

Caitlin Denny and Robin Margolis presenting on the different aspects of digitization.

All attendees, and presenters, left with a solid foundation in moving image preservation principles, as well as a long list of resources for future media archiving work.

Jen O'Leary graduated from UCLA's Moving Image Archive Studies program in June and is currently interning at the Image Permanence Institute in Rochester, NY.

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