Research & Publications
An annotated list of white papers, articles, books, and journals relevant to the digital preservation of motion pictures.
(Some annotations drawn from published abstracts.)
AMIA Newsletter
Periodical (1988– )
Association of Moving Image Archivists
Provides information about the association and its activities, as well as regular features and information about new technologies, publications, and resources of interest to moving image archivists.
The Moving Image
Periodical (2001– )
Association of Moving Image Archivists
Peer-reviewed journal that explores topics relevant to both the media archivist and the media scholar.
“Film Preservation: A Critical Symposium featuring commentary by Schawn Belston, Margaret Bodde, Paola Cherchi Usai, Grover Crisp, Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, Jan-Christopher Horak, Annette Melville, Michael Pogorzelski, Katie Trainor and Daniel Wagner”
Schawn Belston, Margaret Bodde, Paola Cherchi Usai, Grover Crisp, Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, Jan-Christopher Horak, Annette Melville, Michael Pogorzelski, Katie Trainor, and Daniel Wagner
Cinéaste, 36:4 (Fall 2011), pp. 40-50
Commentary on film preservation in the digital age, the impact of the transition from celluloid to digital media on archiving and preservation of motion pictures.
A Light Affliction: A History of Film Preservation and Restoration
Michael Binder
Lulu.com (2014), ISBN 978-1291981308
A history of film preservation and restoration. The penultimate chapter, “The Resolution of Film,” is subtitled “Digital takes over, 1993-2014.”
Moving Image and Sound Collections for Archivists
Anthony Cocciolo
Society of American Archivists (2017), ISBN 978-0931828935
The first part of this book discusses film and sound preservation in general, including appraisal, legal/ethical issues, and access; chapter 4 is “Digital Preservation of Digitized and Born-Digital Content.” The second part of the book covers format-specific guides to film, audio, analog, and digital video collections.
Digital Preservation for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Second Edition
Edward M. Corrado and Heather Moulaison Sandy
Rowman & Littlefield (2017), ISBN 978-1442278714
Discusses the technology and ethics surrounding digital preservation.
“VFX Image Sequence Naming”
ETC Adaptive Production VFX Working Group
Entertainment Technology Center (2020)
Targeted at stakeholders in the creation of visual effects, this document aims to codify a set of naming best practices for VFX image sequences with the goal of interoperability between production, vendors, and studios.
“Basic Principles of Digital Archiving”
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF)
A paper which sets out the underlying principles of digital archiving. It does not give specific recommendations for formats, hardware, or applications, but instead sets out the fundamental elements required by a digital archive, so that archives are able to assess the suitability of specific solutions and approaches, and plan the resources and funding needed to set up and sustain their systems.
“Digital Cinema Technologies from the Archive’s Perspective”
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) (2010)
Article intended to give a basic introduction to the technologies and processes that are associated with the DCI / SMPTE digital cinema system. It provides an overview of the basic technologies that are used, describes important technical details of the Digital Cinema Package, points out how these packages can be produced, and gives some thoughts on implications of this system on archives.
Digital Statement Part V: Survey on Long-term Digital Storage and Preservation
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) (2019)
Recent overview of the different practices of digital preservation from 16 non-profit or private organizations, according to the results of a small survey sent by FIAF's Technical Commission to FIAF members and correspondents in January 2019.
The FIAF Bulletin Online
Periodical (2011– )
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF)
Communicates news from FIAF and reports on current projects of affiliate archives from around the globe.
Journal of Film Preservation
Periodical (1993– )
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF)
Offers a forum for both general and specialized discussions on all theoretical, technical, and historical aspects of moving image archival activities. Articles are written in English, French, or Spanish, with summaries in the other two languages.
From Grain to Pixel: The Archival Life of Film in Transition
Giovanna Fossati
Amsterdam University Press (2009), ISBN 978-9089641397
An analysis of the transition from analog to digital film and its effect on filmmaking and film archiving.
IASA Journal
Periodical (1993– )
International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA)
Peer-reviewed journal publishing collected research and applied work of the global audiovisual archives community. Mostly analog preservation, with some digital preservation topics.
“Guidelines for the Preservation of Digital Audio-Visual Assets in the Cloud”
Andrea Kalas, Seth Levenson, ETC Adaptive Production Archive Working Group
Entertainment Technology Center (2019)
Report by a working group regarding cloud technology and archiving in the entertainment industry sponsored by the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California. Its purpose is to help entertainment companies and others who have the responsibility to preserve valuable moving image assets and are considering cloud as part of this process. It focuses on the foundational issue of “Fixity,” which is at the heart of digital preservation as it is a widely used process to prevent digital asset data loss.
Color and Mastering for Digital Cinema
Glenn Kennel
Focal Press (2007), ISBN 978-0240808741
Written as the conversion to digital exhibition was underway, describes the color mastering and encoding methods for digital cinema, looking back at the traditional film process, providing insight into the evolving digital intermediate process, and reviewing the basis for the color encoding standards for digital cinema distribution.
“Digital Film Scanning and Recording — The Technology and Practice”
Glenn Kennel
SMPTE Journal, 103:3 (March, 1994), pp. 174-181
Discusses the designs of the CCD film scanner and laser film recorder, components of the Cineon Digital Film System. Provides a historical view of scanning and recording, which remain an integral part of digital preservation.
Motion Picture Restoration: Digital Algorithms for Artefact Suppression in Degraded Motion Picture Film and Video
Anil C. Kokaram
Springer (1998), ISBN 978-1447134879
The Cinema in Flux
Lenny Lipton
Springer (2021), ISBN 978-1071609507
Spanning pre-cinema to digital, offers a perspective on technical continuities and addresses many aspects of the digital media we are trying to preserve.
The Evolution of Media Creation: A 10-Year Vision for the Future of Media Production, Post and Media Technologies
MovieLabs (August 2019)
A white paper that details a vision for the future statge of technology in filmmaking, outlining and explaining 10 foundational principles, each an element of the 2030 world envisioned. It also articulates practical use cases to demonstrate how these principles will come together.
The Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and Museums
National Film Preservation Foundation (2001)
A basic primer for film preservation “beginners.”
Digital Video and HD Algorithms and Interfaces, Second Edition
Charles Poynton
Morgan Kaufmann (2012), ISBN 978-0123919267
Although focused on digital video, the convergence over the last two decades of the technical underpinnings of television and cinema imaging make much of the content of Poynton’s work equally relevant to motion pictures.
High Dynamic Range Imaging: Acquisition, Display And Image-Based Lighting, Second Edition
Erik Reinhard, Wolfgang Heidrich, Paul Debevec, Sumanta Pattanaik, Greg Ward, Karol Myszkowski
Morgan Kaufmann (2010), ISBN 978-0123749147
Describes HDRI technology and covers a-range of topics, from capture devices to tone reproduction and image-based lighting.
The Preservation Management Handbook: A 21st-century Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Ross Harvey and Martha R. Mahard, eds.
Rowman & Littlefield (2017), ISBN 978-0759123151
This “handbook” is split into three parts, “Fundamentals,” “Collections,” and “Media and Materials.” It addresses new technologies and approaches for preservation for all types of material, with a unique emphasis on digital preservation for archives/museums/libraries.
Long-Term Management and Storage of Digital Motion Picture Materials: A Digital Motion Picture Archive Framework Project Case Study
Science & Technology Council, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2010)
The results of a case study undertaken in collaboration with the Library of Congress under NDIIPP to discover the operational realities of various digital archiving strategies and technologies as applied to digital motion picture materials as a step toward finding a solution to the “Digital Dilemma.”
The Digital Dilemma
Science and Technology Council, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2007)
Report by the Academy’s Science and Technology Council, examining ways in which key players in the movie business and other major industries store and access important digital data. Its goal was to better understand what problems these industries face and what, if anything, is being done to avoid full-fledged data access disasters down the road.
The Digital Dilemma - Strategic Issues in Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials - download
Science and Technology Council, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2012)
Follow-up report to "The Digital Dilemma" by the Academy’s Science and Technology Council. It reports on digital preservation issues facing communities that do not have the resources of large corporations or other well-funded institutions: independent filmmakers, documentarians and nonprofit audiovisual archives.
The Digital Dilemma 2 - download
A Biography of the Pixel
Alvy Ray Smith
MIT Press (2021), ISBN 978-0262542456
Presents the pixel as a unifying concept to explore the history, theory, and technology of digital imaging.
“Digital Moving-Picture Exchange File Format and Calibration”
David Snider, Glenn Kennel, Ken Curry, and Michael McCrackan
SMPTE Journal, 102:8 (August, 1993), pp. 712-714
Describes the Cineon Digital Film System, which included a film scanner, recorder, and workstation. Also focuses on the need for a standardized digital file format, now called DPX, standardized by SMPTE.
Digital Cinematography: Fundamentals, Tools, Techniques, and Workflows, Second Edition
David Stump
Routledge (2021), ISBN 978-1138603868
Includes a chapter on “Delivering and Archiving Digital Movies.”
Preserving Motion Pictures and Sound
Richard Wright
Digital Preservation Coalition (2012), ISSN 2048-7916
Discusses the technology, needs, and challenges in preserving moving images and sound, both digitized analogue and born-digital.