Digitising film stock

Lots of film stock includes unique historical documents and real works of art and needs special attention when it’s being preserved and digitised. That’s why meemoo adopts a film stock strategy where preservation, registration and digitisation go hand in hand. CINEMATEK is helping us to develop this further and implement it in practice.

We talked about the project with CINEMATEK, Letterenhuis and Huis van Alijn. Watch the mini documentary:

Don't see a video? Please check your cookie settings so we can show this content to you too.

Edit your cookie preferences here

Three film stock digitisation challenges

Preservation

In good conditions, you can store film stock for a hundred years. But poor conditions – for example with poor ventilation, inadequate packaging, fluctuating air humidity or changing temperatures – can cause different issues. Color film kan discolor or the level of acidity in the film can increase, which can result in a process known as vinegar syndrome. This syndrome produces a vinegar-like smell, hence the name, and causes the film to degrade and become deformed in later stages. It can shrink, curl, warp, crack or decompose, causing white powder to appear on the edges, and is self-reinforcing, irreversible and furthermore can spread to other film stock in the vicinity of the acetate film that’s already been affected.

Price

It’s very expensive to digitise film. It can cost up to fifty times more than for other audiovisual carriers, which is why a careful selection is made at item level before the digitisation process is started. We've made that possible thanks to a thorough registration process, carried out by CINEMATEK. By the way: we've reached an important step in this process in 2022.

Target format

Experts in the world of audiovisual and film archiving are still very busy looking for the definitive, most suitable target formats, codecs and specifications. That’s why we’re currently selecting – like many audiovisual archives – the best and most widely accepted format available for film at the moment: DPX for images and LPCM in a WAV container for audio. Recently, MKV/FFV1 are being put forward by experts as a valid and lighter alternative for combining DPX and LPCM in a WAV container as an archive master format for film digitisation. That is why we choose for MKV/FFV1 as an archive master for the film collection of VRT, partly because of the size of their collection.

Method

In 2014, PACKED vzw – now a part of meemoo – made an inventory of all the at-risk film content from Flemish broadcasters and institutions responsible for managing collections. This project was funded by the Cultural Heritage Act, and led to a report which demonstrated that there was an urgent need for a comprehensive policy on the preservation, registration and digitisation of Flemish film collections. Meemoo therefore set up a number of trajectories:

The future

From 2015 to 2023, we're digitising at-risk and affected films. After 2023 this project will not end and we'll still be digitising at-risk film stock. A lot of ground will be covered at the end of 2023, but the fact remains that at-risk material keeps on entering.

Besides that, starting 1st January 2023 we're getting started with the digitisation of non-affected film. We'll set priorities by using a decision tool, which will be developed in 2023. Substantive criteria will also play a role in the decision making. Interested in our plans? Zou can read more about them here.

Do you have a question?
Contact Céline Vermeire
Project Leader Digitisation & Account Manager government and heritage institutions