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Renew:03/28/07
Searching the Traces: Archival Study of Short-lived Film Formats
Opening
Keynote Lecture
Session 1: Film in Variety
Session 2: Made in Japan
Session 3: Artifacts or Facts of Art
Session 1: Film in Variety
Saturday, April 7, 10:45-12:30/14:00-17:05
Chaired by
Patrick Loughney
(George Eastman House, Rochester).
10:45 - 11:15
Egbert Koppe
(Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin)
FROM FLIP-BOOK TO CINEMA: BROAD GAUGES BETWEEN 1895 AND 1897 AND THEIR PRESERVATION
Strictly speaking, short-lived film formats represent the two film formats which mark the beginning of cinema in Germany.
Between 1892 and 1894, Max Skladanowsky constructed a cine camera which he used to record the first 48 moving pictures to create flip-books. He promoted these flip-books as 'living photographs in book format' (Lebende Photographien in Buchform). The performances were carried out by his brother, Emil.
The recordings were made on unexposed negative films made for still cameras, the width of which was cut by half. During 1895, the brothers shot 9 vaudeville scenes in various locations in Berlin using the same camera. The 51mmx6m strips allowed for up to 190 pictures measuring 40x30mm² to be exposed.
The camera was able to shoot from 10 to 12 frames per second, meaning that the films were at least 16 seconds long. These films, also announced as 'moment photographs' (Momentphotografien), were first screened on Nov 1, 1895, in the Wintergarten vaudeville theatre in Berlin by using the "Bioscope" projector. This projector, also self-made, projected the frames of two reels in an alternate manner.
The frames with uneven numbers were copied onto the first reel, the second one contained the frames with even numbers. The second film programme, the so-called Travel and Berlin pictures (Reise- und Berlinbilder), were recorded and projected by using even more advanced film technology. The negatives were 63mm in width and, as before, were acquired by halving film materials originally intended for still cameras.
The pictures measured 50x40mm². The films were shot between summer 1896 and spring 1897 in Stockholm, Berlin and Stettin. They range from documentations of urban life to scripted shoots with a comical background (or reference). The last screening in the original format probably took place in March 1897 in Stettin.
The technology, developed in the 'do it yourself' spirit, could not keep up with competing technologies. And so, Max Skladanowsky's love affair with cinematography ended up where it all began, creating flip-books. In 1995, to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinematography, the German Federal Archive's film department restored the first programme and published it under the name "The Wintergarten programme of the Skladanowsky brothers" (Das Wintergartenprogramm der Gebrüder Skladanowsky).
The second programme was restored in 2001 and published under the title "Travel and Berlin pictures of the Skladanowsky brothers 1896/97" (Reise- und Berlinbilder der Gebrüder Skladanowsky). The reconstruction and restoration work was based on original negative and positive fragments, 35mm copies from the 1920s, and old paper photos. Both classic photochemical and digital processing techniques were used.
11:15 - 11:45
Camille Blot-Wellens
(Cinémathèque Française, Paris)
WORKING WITH SINGULAR GAUGES :THE JOLY-NORMANDIN COLLECTIONOF THE FILMOTECA ESPANÕLAAND CINEMATECA PORTUGUESA AND THE SINGLE PERFORATIONPATHÉ NEGATIVES FROM THE CINÉMATHÈQUE FRANCAISE
During the first years of cinematographic industry, before the standardization of criteria for film elaboration, many different gauges were used. Most of them disappeared relatively quickly, as the Joly-Normandin system (5 perforations by frame), hardly affected for being involved in the tragic Bazar de la Charité fire, in may 1897.
These singular gauges remind us of the conditions of the cinema's birth and its diversity in its first years of existence.
Filmoteca Española and Cinemateca Portuguesa, together, hold one of the greatest known collections of films with a Joly-Normandin gauge. These movies were shot by various French pioneers (Joly, Pirou, Normandin...) between 1896 and 1898.
On its part, Cinémathèque Française hold an important collection of negatives, with the singular gauge of a single perforation, produced by Pathé in the first years of the 20th century (1902-1910).
We propose to present a brief history of these short-lived gauges and to show some of the elements restored up-to-now.
11:55 - 12:20
Hung Yuen
(Hong Kong Film Archive, Hong Kong)
HAND COLOUR SOUND FILMS IN HONG KONG
12:20 - 12:30
Paolo Caneppele
(Österreichisches Filmmuseum, Wien)
SLIDE SHOW PROJECTIONS IN CINEMA AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH FILM TECHNOLOGY
The phenomenon of slide shows has existed within the tradition of film exhibition from the earliest days of cinema. These slide shows were employed primarily for purposes of advertising or to communicate directly with audiences, for example, to remind spectators that smoking is not permitted in the theatre or to promote forthcoming performances.
Aside from giving a short account of the history of slide shows, the particular focus of my talk will look at an unusual form of slide projections which, as far as I know, existed exclusively within the German-speaking world: the so-called 'Sprechstreifen.'
These short films were employed roughly between 1945 and 1970 for advertising purposes and are remarkable for the fact that they used cinema equipment not to create an image, but to produce sound. Visual imagery was projected by using the old-fashioned method of glass slides, but, and the accompanying sound came from a 35mm black film reel, which is an astonishing fact. I will supplement my presentation by showing various examples of 'Sprechstreifen.'
The end of my talk will direct its focus to the subject of digital restoration. In the case of 'Sprechstreifen,' I feel it would arguably be a great mistake to both restore and convey this combination of slides and sound digitally. The digital medium could never communicate the 'Sprechstreifen' as they were originally intended, a point which will certainly be interesting for the congress.
12:30 - 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:40
Paul Read
(FIAF Technical Commission)
IT DEPENDS WHAT YOU MEAN BY SHORT LIVED: COLOUR FILM FROM A (SHORT) TECHNOLOGIST'S LONG VIEW POINT
The technical history of the cinema is a story of numerous inventions and developments within the limitation of flexible transparent photographic film projected onto a screen by an intermittent frame by frame device. In that context it can be viewed as a story of numerous short lived photographic systems and formats until the 1950's, followed by 50 years of a single but steadily improving single technology, in a multitude of short-lived formats.
This paper uses examples of colour systems and formats (and we need to define and separate these two confused terms) to overview the multiplicity of inventions and techniques of 100 years of colour film.
Faced with well systems it is human nature to try to categorize them, to make sense of the sequence, and find a pattern that might explain the driving forces, and how and why film's likely extinction in the cinema is coming about as digital technology replaces analogue film.
The paper also introduces new information and dissemination material (from the Madrid Project, the internet and other new sources now available) for archivists and technical cinema historians to facilitate identification and progress research on the science history of the cinema.
over 150 more or less workable systems it is human nature to try to categorize them, to make sense of the sequence, and find a pattern that might explain the driving forces, and how and why film's likely extinction in the cinema is coming about as digital technology replaces analogue film.
The paper also introduces new information and dissemination material (from the Madrid Project, the internet and other new sources now available) for archivists and technical cinema historians to facilitate identification and progress research on the science history of the cinema.
14:40 - 15:05
Takayuki Oguchi
(Scholar of Large Screen Film Formats)
LARGE SCREEN FILM FORMATS IN JAPAN
From the 1970s to the 1990s in Japan, a series of world expositions was held, and many science museums and theme parks were built. The main attractions in these events and institutions were various kinds of large screen theaters with very unique equipments such as a gigantic screen showing eight Vistavision pictures at the same time, a dome for 3-D projection, a 360-degree spherical screen, all of which we could not find any equivalences in other countries.
However, most of the films screened in these theaters are no longer accessible and quite a few formats have disappeared. These systems require a combination of films, projectors and special theaters, and keeping the films is not enough for them to revive.
Judging from a historical point of view, on the other hand, these visual experiments should not be overlooked because many of the films were directed by prominent figures such as Kon Ichikawa, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Nobuhiko Obayashi and Mamoru Oshii.
This presentation will observe the present situation of study, research and preservation of these extraordinary formats in Japan.
15:05 - 15:30
Yoshiyuki Yahiro
(The Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive, Fukuoka)
PRESERVATION OF NARROW GAUGEFILMS IN JAPAN: A CASE STUDY OF 8MM FILMS
In Japan, narrow gauge films were popularized by the import of Pathé-Baby (9.5mm) in 1923, and then Kodak's 16mm and 8mm cameras which followed. As these cameras were expensive for ordinary families, shooting narrow gauge films was a hobby of the upper class. Major changes were brought about by the sales of less expensive cameras in super-8 and single-8 formats after World War II.
The spread of these machines enabled even college students to make movies easily, and the flourishing of amateur movie making gave birth to festivals specializing in 8mm films, which led to the production of many commercial filmmakers and avant-garde artists.
This presentation will offer a historical overview of narrow gauge films in Japan, and examine how rediscovery and preservation have been made for narrow gauge films which were forgotten in the mainstream history of cinema.
15:30 - 15:45 Break
15:45 - 16:10
Francisco Gaytán Fernández
(Fimoteca de la UNAM, México)
OPTICAL PRINTING MACHINE OF 9.5MM PATHÉ FILM TO 35MM FILM
This presentation will descirbe the optical printing machine made in Mexico in the 60s to duplicate and copy 9.5mm Pathé Film into 35 mm film. Its operation highlights the change of movement velocity from 16 to 24 frames per second and the use of the 1:1.37 aspect ratio with a special feature in which the printing is made by the projection of a 9.5mm film instead of a cinematographic shot from a 35mm camera to a 9.5mm projector.
Next / Session 2: Made in Japan >>
Searching the Traces: Archival Study of Short-lived Film Formats
Opening
Keynote Lecture
Session 1: Film in Variety
Session 2: Made in Japan
Session 3: Artifacts or Facts of Art
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