This message is in response to a previous subscriber who suggested that film archiving should be carried out digitally (my computer went wrong and I can't retrieve the quote)... There are two reasons why not. Firstly, by performing an analogue to digital conversion, you fundamentally change the image chracteristics produced by silver halide (or colour dyes) sitting on a cellulose nitrate base. Admittedly, digital film manipulation systems such as Kodak's Cineon claim to offer a resolution comparable to that of 35mm film, but you will still lose the visual characteristics of the source medium by making an image of it on a totally different medium. Secondly, what are you proposing to save the digits onto? Magnetic tape has a notoriously low shelf life compared to that of film (hence the fact that many leading archivists believe that the only way to preserve video in the long term is by continual format migration, i.e. copying material at regular intervals). Optical discs (CDs and the like) are still a relatively unknown quantity. For all its faults, we have a mass of information about what happens to cellulose triacetate and polyester film when stored over long periods of time, and can reliably predict shelf lives of 100 years or more. It is possible to record digital data optically onto 35mm film (which is how the Dolby SR-D and Sony SDDS digital sound-on-film systems work), but surely it is better to archive photographic images photographically than change the way an image is stored when this is not strictly necessary. Besides, not only is it better, it's a lot cheaper: someone recently told me that state-of-the-art digitisation of film images costs about $1,000 per 35mm frame. Compared to that, a complete set of 35mm preservation masters (fine grain positive colour separations, internegative separations and colour internegative for both picture and sound) can be had for around UK£50,000 lot less if the film is black and white (thus only single-strip intermediate material is needed) and if there is only one type of soundtrack or the film is silent. __________________________________ Leo Enticknap Postgraduate Common Room School of English and American Studies University of Exeter Queen's Building, The Queen's Drive Exeter Devon EX4 4QJ United Kingdom email: [log in to unmask] ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite