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Should jumpy splices be edited out of archival films?


Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

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I just scanned a film from 1931 called Halloween Hallucinations. It is an advanced amateur's record of their Halloween costume party on October 31, 1931. Made right when the depression was going and the roaring 20's were over. At the end of the film, they do a stop motion of a piece of string spelling out 'The End.'  Really interesting film. Anyway, there are tons of intertitles and cuts and they all have a jumpy splice along with a white gap.

Should the splices be left in or edited out?

 

 

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In my book, left in, as long as the unsteadiness isn't too distracting. You can't really do anything about a cement splice without losing frames, and in any case you've already done the scan.

The imperfections in an amateur film are part of it. And it's not GWTW. It doesn't need studio polish.

Besides, if you take them out you might be depriving some future academic of the opportunity to write a PhD about it.

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Yes, the archivists agree with you. I checked with some professional archivists and they said to leave it in. Here is what they sent me from the archivist book...

From the FIAF Code of Ethics:

1.4. When copying materials for preservation purposes, archives will not edit or distort the nature of the work being copied. Within the technical possibilities available, new preservation copies shall become accurate replicas of the source materials. The processes involved in generating the copies, and the technical and aesthetic choices which have been taken, will be faithfully and fully documented.

1.5. When restoring materials, archives will endeavour only to complete what is incomplete and to remove the accretions of time, wear, and misinformation. They will not seek to change or distort the nature of the original materials or the intentions of their creators.

 

 

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What comes my ways isn't archive as such, just sources to be mined for new shows, but I've only had material going back to the early 60s on the Steenbeck so no cement splices, except the odd lab splice. But quite a few early 70s tape splices have dried out. Fortunately they're easy to remake with the CIR. My late 70s Super-8 ones have all held up. As, actually, have the cement ones I made before I got the CIR. But at 18fps they are a real mess on the screen. Most of my magnetic stripe has detached, but I've remade my soundtracks (not lip-sync) on CD, hand-cued, then much more recently  on computer in Audacity.

I assume that with sensors and feedback and whatever modern scanners apply the absolute minimum of tension necessary to ensure a good wind-up.

On a similar note I've never handled anything more recent than 1995. But the Steenbeck was hired recently for a music video shot on 16mm. I "star" in that in a small way as a film editor.

I hadn't seen an Arriflex for 30 years and I'm ashamed to say that when I first saw the 416 without its mag but with its video tap, follow-focus leads and handling cage I thought I was looking at an Alexa Mini. I should probably be slightly shot for that. Great to hear "turn over" and "cut" when it actually means something.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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