Inspecting, Conserving, and Preserving South Asian Films

This post was written by Lydia Creech and Erica Jones, Project Film Specialists in the Moving Image Department. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services: Grant #MA-245614-OMS-20. Visit www.imls.gov. Learn more about the grant in our previous post: Cinema Refugees: Conserving and Preserving South Asian Film.

South Asian films for many, myself included, can be described as a 3-hour masala, a blend of spices used in Indian cooking; they have a mix of action, drama, and, of course, romance. However, for many of my friends, the seemingly universal response I receive when they finish watching one of these films I recommend is “what did I just watch?” I was thrilled when Lydia Creech and I (Erica Jones) got the opportunity to inspect, preserve, process, and surround myself with South Asian cinema at the George Eastman Museum.

Lydia and I complement each other in our new positions here at the Eastman Museum. While I have a background studying Indian music and culture, and lived in India for my research, Lydia has more experience working hands-on with big collections of film prints. While Lydia is just truly beginning to delve into the world of South Asian Cinema, with some recommendations from Collection Manager Deb Stoiber and myself, I am learning a lot about processing large collections of film and beginning to watch US movies from the 1970s (Lydia’s preferred decade of film).

The South Asian Cinema-Indian collection currently being processed at the Eastman Museum consists of contemporary 35mm polyester films in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. These 35mm film prints were designed to be projected and, like the wear on the soles of one’s shoes, they physically embody and show the everyday wear and tear they have faced during their lifetime. It is our job as film archivists to document, catalog, and attempt to understand their journey from being filmed in a camera to being screened by a projectionist, through the projector, and onto the screen to be enjoyed by audiences.

Like our shoes, we as archivists observe and document the natural wear and tear on these objects, repair fixable problems and deterioration as needed, and make decisions on what is unrepairable and might need to be removed for the benefit of the object. As we have hit the ground “running” and started inspection in earnest, we’ve found ourselves breathing a silent “thank you” whenever we get to a film from the last decade. We’ve noticed that there is a marked uptick in the quality of care for films — there are less scratches and splices, typically the original head and tail leaders and countdowns are included (it is part of our jobs to add them to the films for the projectionists, original or not), in general more care seems to have been taken with the handling — all of which makes inspection go like a breeze.

When we asked Deb Stoiber about this, she mentioned how impressed she was with the “pristine” condition of the projection booth of the theater where this collection was rescued and that a more knowledgeable and experienced projectionist had possibly started around 2010. We started thinking about all the hard and careful work the projectionist must have done to maintain the space, and how the practices of projection have changed over the decades and why. Furthermore, how much easier this anonymous projectionist has made our jobs as the archivists of this collection.

Over the last two months since beginning the South Asian film grant project at the George Eastman Museum, we have processed approximately 600 reels of film. In this blog and future blogs, we will present and elaborate on various interesting aspects concerning these prints that we discover and encounter while processing this extensive collection.

We begin our 26-month journey with you all by providing observations and pictures taken while working with these prints, which document some of the wear and tear we have observed.

Normal wear and tear

Scratches, dirt, and oil are what we would consider “normal wear and tear”.

Scratches are the most common form of damage observed and documented during film inspection. All types of film handling and projection involve a risk of scratching. Having a clean space, both booth and bench, free of dirt and dust, reduces the amount and severity of scratching damage. Most often there will be more scratches on the base, or plastic carrier of the image, and less on the emulsion, or image side, of the film print.

We have seen many scratches and damage on the edges of our film prints often due to platter projection, a transport system where multiple reels are spliced together on tiered horizontal decks. This system of projection negates the expense to install and expertise to operate two projectors and hence actively do changeovers between the reels during a screening.

One common set of recurring scratches which we have often seen while inspecting and can be related to poor projection and handling is shown here. This is an image from the film De Dana Dan (Priyadarshan, India 2009) where one can see short horizontal scratches on the emulsion of the film. These light scratches run mid-fame throughout all the reels of the film and reflect the life story of this object.

Heavier scratches can be seen in the following images. These images show the result of deep scratches on color emulsion which is comprised of layers of colored dye. Consequently, these colored scratches show how far the layers of dye were “scratched” off thereby leaving a line or gouge of different color depending on how deep the scratch extends into the dye layers. In these images from the film Asoka (Santosh Sivan, India 2001) one can see the green line and spots where the emulsion has been scratched off into the next color layer. (However, I personally like to think he was shooting beams of anger out of his eyes…but unfortunately no such luck).

More deliberate scratches can be seen in the following examples from the films Black & White (Subhash Ghai, India 2008) and Deewane Huye Paagal (Vikram Bhatt, India 2005) where symbols were deliberately scratched into a single frame. While they look like symbols or some type of projection cues, our further understanding is currently limited to just thinking someone was bored.

Irreparable damage

In all these cases the frames or series of frames needed to be removed from the film prints as they adversely affected the life of the object and would prevent any type of future projection of these prints.

The first images are taken from the films Apna Sapna Money Money (Sangeeth Sivan, India 2006) and Bhagam Bhag (Priyadarshan, India 2006) where one can see how the film has been creased on the edges and throughout the image. This creasing might have been reversible at a certain time, but because of storage over a long period of time in this condition these frames could not be recovered and were removed to allow for preservation and future projection of the entire film prints.

From the film Andaaz (Raj Kanwar, India 2003) one can see how a single frame burned up during projection because it sat in front of the lamp for too long. Then from the film Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? (Ashwni Dhir, India 2010), a frame was being held together with staples that would need to be removed so that it could eventually be projected again and enjoyed by future audiences. (For those archivists out there…Those are not archival staples.”)

These inspections are the first step in making these films available and accessible for the global community. Over the next 26 months, we look forward to delving deeper into this collection through these blogs and pictures where we will discuss films we have enjoyed, challenges we have faced, and provide a deeper understanding of where South Asian cinema fits into our cinematic experiences today.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services: Grant #MA-245614-OMS-20. Visit www.imls.gov.

The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.