Winding Up

Once the ins and outs of winding and splicing were established, it was time to move onto the bulk of the project. Due to the quantity of reels left in our care, coupled with time and budget restraints, it was determined that we would focus our efforts on winding and splice repairing those reels already identified by the custodians as High Priority. This could mean one or all of the following:

1) The film had already been noted in previous examinations (not conducted by our team) that there were signs of deterioration in effect.

2) There was developed stages of vinegar syndrome setting in (shown by the trusty little AD Test strips!).

3) The footage on the film reels was in high demand for use.

The winding of these high priority films took three people, working from 9am-5pm, on individual 4-5 hour shift rotations, one and a half weeks to complete. This also included checking, recording and removing all of the test strips that had been placed within the reel tins at the beginning of the project. None of the AD Test strips showed any major fluctuations (except for two tins which had already been identified by the owners as having Vinegar Syndrome) which was a great relief! The majority of the films were in good condition, with the most common issue being a loosely rolled film with brittle and broken splices.

This project has been a very interesting and informative learning process and has given us the opportunity to discover new processes and skills that were previously unknown to some of us. I would like to thank the whole team for their effort, as well as our Supervisor, Marcelle Scott. Thank you to everyone who provided help and equipment to us throughout the project, without this it would not have been possible!

Signing Off,

Kelly Leahey  (Project Leader)
Asti Sherring (Team Member)
Sarah Brown (Team Member)

Winding 101

 

Here is another handy video from our training day with Pat. This video demonstrates the techniques used to successfully wind and transfer your reels of film onto a new reel or core.  Pat manages to make it look super simple however the first few times of trying it ourselves proved quite difficult! It was also interesting to learn that the type of wind we were going to be doing would only be suitable for a transferring process, not archival or storage means. The wind is fairly tight and secure in this method we are using, which would prove to be unhelpful in long term ventilation of the reels.

Splicing 101

One of our project team members, Asti Sherring, has put together this great little clip showing how to repair a broken splice. Once you get into the swing of splice repairing it is pretty straight forward; Remove any physical portions of old adhesive tape, swab the film cell with Isoproponol, wait for the area to fully dry, then use splicing machine and correct archival tape to re-splice. This week we have continued to wind and splice through the first 8 boxes of reels. There is a pretty large variance of quality in the film, with some needing all their splices repaired, whereas some need none. Others show noticeable evidence of colour fading, which is clear during the winding process, and this only reemphasizes the importance of digitizing these films. 

Training and Evaluation

Things have been rolling along nicely with our pilot project this week! Before I get into the details let me tell you a little bit about the initial process that was started a few weeks ago.

 A small glimpse at our stack of boxes!

As part of our initial assessment of the material provided for testing, which was over 20 boxes of various film reels and ephemera, the first step taken was the create a condition recording data sheet. This sheet was used to record any information we could see on the physical reels of film in each canister. The majority of film was in good condition, and luckily, there was no immediate evidence of the dreaded Vinegar Syndrome. During the condition reporting process, AD Test Strips were also placed within each reel of film, and left for a week or more to detect any evidence of acid fumes that may have snuck past our initial assessment. At this current time, no evidence of any major fume release has been detected. Yay!

Sample of test strip placement within the canister

We still have over 250 canisters to check next week, so any new discoveries will be posted to the blog. Although most of the film itself appears to be in good condition, there are a few issues that need to be addressed. The first is that some canisters, particularly the larger ones, are displaying severe rusting on the outside of the case. Luckily it does not seem to have transferred to the inner section of the canister, so it is not currently affecting the film, however we have recommended that new canister be provided as soon as possible so no damage comes to the film, or the conservator handling the cases.

 Sample of heavily rusted canister

Another concern, which is potentially a major one for the future digitization of this collection, is the splices within the reels themselves. During the initial assessment, it was noted that a lot of the lead tape splices were quite brittle and cracking, in some instances they were so brittle they fell straight off upon removing the film from the canister. After discussion, it was determined that re-splicing would need to take place, however it was impossible at the time to determine the extent of this process and what exactly was needed. Being already informed that the reels were going to be transported to Sydney for digitization, re-winding the reels that had been flagged for prioritization would be necessary for digitization. However, none of us had any experience or mechanical means to do this. Enter Pat O'Connor from the NFSA!

Pat checking the film for clues!

Pat kindly came down from Canberra to give us a day of extremely valid training, which involved spotting the differences between different kinds of film, the importance of wound tension during the transport of film, how to properly splice, how to wind onto a reel and a core,  how to spot dye loss and what it means to your film as well a boat load of more information that was so fantastic and extremely helpful to our project. 

Pat making it look super easy. It is definitely NOT easy!

Throughout the day everyone had a go at splicing and winding, and by the end of the training I think the confidence levels of everyone was much higher than when we started! Alison Raaymakers from the Racing Museum and Naomi Bernard from TVN were also there to learn a few new skills, as well as fine tune the projected outcomes and expectations of the project. All in all this was a great learning experience and we are heading into the winding part of the project with much optimism. Onward and Upward!

Kelly putting her new found winding skills to the test!

Collaboration, Learning and a Positive Response to Disaster: Preparing a Collection of 16mm Film for Digitisation

Welcome to our blog! Over the coming weeks we will be posting information on our activities to prepare a collection of 16mm film for digitisation. These activities are being undertaken by a group of Masters students at the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation (CCMC), University of Melbourne, with assistance from a number of other people and organisations. 


A collaboration between CCMC, Racing Victoria and the Australian Racing Museum, the project is a pilot for the preparation of approximately 4,000 reels of moving image footage for digitisation. A Knowledge Transfer Grant was secured through the University of Melbourne to enable Masters students to undertake this conservation work and learn through hands-on experience. Tasks include surveying and documenting the materials, rewinding and conservation in preparation for interstate transport and image capture, and recommendations for ongoing preservation.

The project was initiated in response to disaster recovery of the TVN Thoroughbred Racing Archive in the wake of severe storms in Melbourne in early 2010. This working collection, which in its entirety is comprised of books and a variety of moving image formats, is managed by the Racing Victoria Archive and has a high level of access requests. The 16mm film component of the collection holds significant footage of prestigious horse races from the 1940’s onwards, including extensive crowd shots and rare footage of racing icons. Due to the lack of suitable equipment, the 16mm film archive has not been accessible for a number of years, and many items were uncatalogued. By digitising this material, this project aims to make available this information to the public, as well as providing an added measure to ensure content survival.