film archiving

Why We Watch: Theatrical Attendance, Archiving and Individualism

It has been a whirlwind last few weeks. Things have been moving so quickly that I haven’t slowed down enough to be able to put both feet on the ground! Either that or I’ve been so thrilled by all the fantastic things that have been happening that I am in a permanent state of 5 feet above the pavement. I’ll let you know which one it is when I know. Which may (fingers crossed) be never…

Exciting things? A life-changing AMIA Conference in Savannah, GA which included meeting Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi. Participating in a truly kick-ass small gauge workshop where I learned so much. Attending a fabulous Home Movie Day recently, and a new archiving/metadata project that I’ve been busting my ass on. I’m loving EVERY MINUTE. The latter of these things was yet another case of a colleague in the archiving community reaching out, too. I swear to reels and sprockets if it wasn’t for film preservation and the folks I know and have met in the last few years? I would be lost. L-O-S-T.

Admittedly, something has been bothering me. I have tried not to let it get to me too much because I have all these other things going on but… I can’t stop thinking about it. So here is me. Talking about some things. And I’m not going to bullshit. And I’m not going to beat around the bush. But I am also not here to trash-talk, get personal or nasty. This is not a gossip piece. With that said, let’s get the initial stuff out of the way so we can talk about the REAL issues.

By now many people have probably seen the blog written by Julia Marchese, former employee of the New Beverly Cinema. You may recognize the name of this theater as the one that I have written about several times . Without getting into details or reposting the blog (go ahead and find it yourself if you need to) her article discusses how she felt that she got the raw end of the deal in her recent “dismissal.” While I found her article problematic from a working professional’s standpoint, I think I found the public response even more disturbing. Much of the blind support and anti-theater sentiment came from people who had never met her and/or had never even visited the New Beverly. This felt weird to me.

Do I feel bad that someone, anyone lost their job? Absolutely. But did I think that it was news in the same time period that Home Movie Day was happening (a great film preservation event) or when such fascinating pieces are being written about Christopher Nolan and INTERSTELLAR‘s exhibition changes? Not really. So I was ready to just blow it off. But then it happened. Not once, not twice but over and over. Within the few articles that I read, Julia was referred to as the “heart and soul” and “public face” of the New Beverly Cinema, either by the author or within the comments. How an employee of 6 years could be either of those things for a theater that is 36 years old made me feel even more uneasy.

These phrases and this structure of characterization is what I REALLY wish to explore. I wish to center my discussion on what I see as a kind of posturing, and let me reiterate: it is not endemic to this situation nor to this person. I have seen it before in other situations. I’m sure we all have. But my issue is as follows: anytime someone is built up with their own personal importance emphasized before that of their institution’s or what their institution does, there is a major problem. Especially if that person is not considered to be a major figure within said institution. Not only can this cause unrest and poor work relations in a given work environment, it’s not a healthy way to present any company or team atmosphere. I can only speak from where I sit and this is why sharing credit and community recognition has always been one of the greatest assets to the moving image archiving community. It tends to prevent situations like this. But….not 100% of the time. As Billy Wilder wrote, “Nobody’s perfect.”

From my experience, it is antithetical to our primary goal as a film preservation community to peacock, especially if you have a significant attachment to a company- be it educational institution, regional archive, studio or movie theater. What I have seen within my own community (and yes, Virginia, there are politics in the most altruistic of film preservation worlds) is that those folks who see themselves as an archivist/preservationist first and then an individual are generally far more successful and usually become the central touchstones of this magical world I am part of. That has said worlds to me as I train to become the woman I want to become. Thus I get awfully suspicious when I begin to see any kind of cult of personality being built around someone who has stated that they are tirelessly working for the betterment of the film community on their own.

Now let’s get into wording and some basic reality. Here is a cold, hard fact: the heart and soul of a movie theater will always be the films it shows. It will never solely be a person. What a theater shows creates its personality, its individual culture, its ambience. A programmer is a good portion of that, which is why people like Michael and Sherman Torgan’s development and creation OF the New Beverly is SO VITAL TO BE RECOGNIZED. In addition, Phil Blankenship’s Saturday Midnight series at the New Beverly was a major part of its personality. Brian Quinn and Eric Caiden’s Grindhouse Series. The guest programmers. Hell, even my series added a little bit (I like to think). My point is: content creates character. 

When I go to the Heavy Midnights series at the Cinefamily, I’m not going specifically to hang with the programmer (sorry, Phil!). I go to see the incredible and rare off-beat movies shown. When I go to the American Cinematheque, I don’t attend the films because I want to chat with the folks I know that work there. It’s a nice perk, but I go to see the movies. There are some incredible programmers in this town. The film events going on are really unbeatable. But am I switching my schedule around and looking at bus plans so I can get to the Echo Park Film Center to be hip? Not even close. I’m doing it because that place is an amazing and dynamic part of LA Film Culture. I get to see cool shit. Really, isn’t it all about seeing cool shit?

Archives work in the same manner. What we collect, how we process and care for the collections, our rules and regulations and our interactions with other professional organizations (including locations of exhibition) help to define us. While we may all have our own individual identities as archivists, projectionists, exhibition specialists, I firmly believe that we are also part of larger systems. Not only are we part of the businesses or organizations that employ us, but we are also tied in through an umbilical-cord-like-network, an over-arching community called FILM. We answer to it as our primary boss. If Mama Film wasn’t there…neither would we be.

What we are not is regimes. If you’re curious, my stance on the New Beverly format issue has not changed. I’m not going to alter my researched and valid personal position that a theater should be equipped with everything from digital to 16mm. And I’m not going to change my opinion about the way in which the New Beverly transition was conducted. I don’t think it was professionally done nor was it respectful. But I highly object to the repeated use of the word REGIME, in reference to either the Torgan family or Tarantino.

Neither of them are tyrannical rulers or fascists. Let’s get real, people. This is a damn movie theater, not the Third Reich. Regime?? Just stop.

 

I would like very much for us to think about why we go to the movies at all. During the Depression, people went to get a sliver of happiness from the horrors of the world. As Hollywood legend Norman Lloyd notes, “They were a wonderful escape. People would go into the theater, in this darkened cavern, and it took them out of themselves. They could fantasize about what happened on the screen, about those beautiful stars that existed then.” I like to think that we still do that. I know that I do. It’s why I went into preservation work. So that the little babies that my friends are having right now can experience what I experience. Big screen magic of beautiful (or beautifully told) stories.

Yes, I returned to the NEW New Beverly last night. I went to go see the two George C. Scott pictures. And I had a great time.

I spent some time soul-searching this week. Clearly. I deeply explored ideas of self-promotion and individuality, love for the medium and exhibition landscape, ideas of preservation. I had major thoughts about the evolution of Los Angeles film spaces, too, since many of the theaters I attended as a little girl are now gone. Even the Egyptian Theater is itself a new iteration- it’s the American Cinematheque. At some point I got all Emma Goldman up in my head, angry at anyone who would try to personally claim ownership for a media environment when it should belong to us all…but that passed. I just put on some punk rock and remembered that DIY archiving is totally a thing and that calmed me down. I just started working on a database. It’s the Ariel Zen.

I had thought that boycotting the New Beverly was going to be my answer but it’s a really stupid answer. Here is where I stand. As someone who puts film above almost everything else in life (including many human relationships), I feel much more comfortable going back there now that I know that I will be able to be in a climate that is more film-centered than personality-centered. My biggest concern? What’re you playing, man? What’s on the marquee? Last night was pretty nice. I was able to breathe easy, enjoy the films, laugh too loud at the damn cartoon that no one else was laughing at (it’s a cartoon, guys!!), got to see some people who I genuinely adore, and watch some rarely screened pictures.

Also, as I was saying to someone in the lobby, one of my favorite things about being in the archiving/preservation field is that I get to learn about new media elements or historical facts on a regular basis. This also happens in exhibition. And that’s just a joy and a pleasure. I saw some trailers last night for films that I have NEVER heard of before. I must see MOVIE/MOVIE. That film looks awesome!!! 

The print for the first film, RAGE, was pretty gnarly, but as someone who’s familiar with 35mm, I know that watching them in this condition is important for me to do so I may learn more about analog and see what I can suss out myself. Is that discoloration due to film stock? Is that a base scratch? Is that due to bad printing? To be honest, this is great practice for me! RAGE does exist on Warner Archives and I’ll bet that their DVD is in better condition but….I’ll take big screen over DVD any day.  The audience reaction alone was worth the price of admission!!!!!!!!! And I’ve seen FAR worse prints. Definitely worth a watch so hey- there’s my plug for Warner Archives! Baby Martin Sheen! OMGZ!! The second print, THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE was simply gorgeous (and a much better film, I might add). I cannot stop thinking about it. Such an incredible, bizarre and eerie film. Absolutely loved it.

I can only speak for myself. But from what I have gleaned, I get the sense that the one thing that Michael Torgan and Quentin Tarantino share is the fact that they want films to keep playing at the New Beverly. They may have differing ideas on methodology, but I think that this mutual drive for exhibition and the strong desire for films to be seen is something that needs to be recognized in both men. This is something to be respected. I see this in my own field in the people who fight tooth and nail to keep their archives afloat. It’s not easy. And things are changing all the time. I don’t want to be prescriptive here. I’ve just come to some resolutions over the last week that may make me less than popular with friends but make me feel ethically better with my field of choice and with my self.

I’m not going to be an apologist for anyone or their actions. In fact, I’m staying wholly clear of that. But I also want to examine the idea that maybe we should be deciding for ourselves the ways in which we consume moving image media. And I do believe that it is important to support local theaters, and 35mm and 16mm exhibition. What I am absolutely sure of is that I would not go to a movie theater simply because it is owned by someone famous. I would not go there simply because it is run by a friend or one of the most amazing folks I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, although I admittedly did do that on more than one occasion so….yeah.  Point being, I WOULD go there because it has movies I want to see. I know my reason for attending the theaters I attend.

But at the end of the day, I guess it really is a personal question to be answered: why do you watch?

AMIA 2014: Southern Hospitality and Social Media “Hors d’Oeuvres”

AMIA-2014-5-5-logo-300x221

Man, I am SO EXCITED RIGHT NOW. Excited in a way that only happens once a year.

It is finally time for the event that I wait all year for and have been attending since before I started school to become a moving image archivist: the annual AMIA Conference, and this year it’s taking place in Savannah, GA. I am looking forward to having an authentic mint julep and exploring southern hospitality. You know how archival personalities are!

My first year going to AMIA was in Philadelphia in 2010. I went in order to decide if moving image archive work was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It is now 2014. I had an absolute blast in Austin, Seattle was wonderful, Richmond rocked and I’m heading to Savannah this Sunday, October 5th. I think you could say I’ve decided.

One of my heroines in the field, Maxine Fleckner Ducey. Last year she retired but she is one of my total rock stars and ALWAYS will be! Richmond, VA

One of my heroines in the field, Maxine Fleckner Ducey. Last year she retired but she is one of my total rock stars and ALWAYS will be! Would never have gotten to meet her if it wasn’t for AMIA. Richmond, VA

Every year I do the same errands in preparation. It works out pretty well. I get my “I’m forgetting something” anxiety while packing, get on the plane, and am fine once we take off.

This time, however, I decided to add something new to the mix.  I wanted it to be different. AMIA has given me so very much. I felt like I really wanted to provide the conference and/or its attendees with something before I even arrived. I started to think about the fact that AMIA does a lot for the moving image archiving world by having these events and many of us are ardently doing our own bits by communicating all year long on the internet through social media. What if we connected these two things in a more organized fashion?

AMIA TRIVIA THROWDOWN. Seriously. If you don't go to this? I'm not sure you believe in fun.

AMIA TRIVIA THROWDOWN.
Seriously. If you don’t go to this? I’m not sure you believe in fun.

Pre-Gaming

I decided that I wanted to catalog as many of the people who would be interacting with the information being disseminated as possible. Or at least as many as would respond to the call that I made on the AMIA-list, the Facebook invite, and my twitter feed.

I wanted to create a central location before the conference began where people could come and locate social media sources and feel more prepared pre-conference. Clearly, my real dream would be to initiate some kind of venture starting more than a few days previous and give everyone a nice spreadsheet to follow, but for the moment, my blog will have to do. I hope that it will suffice for the time being!

So I would like to introduce you to something that I have affectionately nicknamed social media “hors d’oeuvres.” Seeing as the main course is clearly the conference itself, this aggregation of archivists, vendors, individuals, educators and generally fantastic people who responded to my call for social media info is the nice tasty bit of delicious everyone snacks on before jumping into the “meat and potatoes” of #AMIA14 (or for vegans & vegetarians, some high-protein equivalent).

Before I list these lovely folks who have so generously responded and provided such positive feedback to this idea, I want to briefly discuss why I think having this list is critical and what it will allow and generate.

I got to tour the LOC. The Packard Campus. Need I say more?? Richmond, VA

During last year’s AMIA conference, I got to tour the LOC. The Packard Campus. Need I say more?? AMIA RULES!!! Richmond, VA, 2013

I began to consider the many ways in which I have utilized social media. When I served as the AMIA Student Chapter President at UCLA, I spent each morning on the way to school tweeting new articles about archiving and data asset management, women in restoration, orphan films, preservation technology and digital workflows on the @AMIAatUCLA twitter account. I created this account for the Student Chapter hoping that it would serve as an important avenue for future outreach and training for students in the field. The time I spent in grad school culling meaningful materials/information from the internet and sharing it with the rest of the community in an expedient fashion is probably one of the most useful tools that I acquired in those two years. I still use this skill everyday, whether I am sharing this information on my personal social media or in my current position working for the Film Noir Foundation.

In the few short years since I began to attend AMIA events, social media and its applications have reached incredible heights. Those who continually post memes, wrongly identified Oscar Wilde quotes and gossip articles on their Facebook are likely highly unaware of the power that they actually hold in their clicking hand. Indeed, the recent announcement of the newly discovered lost Sherlock Holmes film was shared repeatedly by people I never thought I would see it shared by. Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and the various Vine/Snapchat-style moving image capture devices? All of these have the possibility for achieving and spreading great information. And we are in the business of information, be it visual or otherwise. My point: as keyed-in, aware folks, let’s exploit the possibilities of social media applications in order to further strengthen our own community and spread more awareness about what we REALLY DO.

Let’s start with #AMIA14. Let’s get people who have never heard of  our field or AMIA to become interested because a cadre of us tweet interesting and archivally-centered comments about Ian MacKaye’s keynote address. I’m totally into the idea of young punk rock kids asking questions about scanning and document preservation. Doesn’t that sound amazing???

Let’s talk about HASHTAGS. And let’s get standardized NOW.

So let’s get real. While attending various AMIA-related events (DAS, The Reel Thing, AMIA conference) one thing always struck me: “social media confusion” reigned supreme in a population that is centered on the organization of media.

Let’s be clear: I am not at all blaming or badmouthing anyone. As stated earlier, the way in which social media has shifted has been incredibly fast; sometimes much too fast for people to keep up with and be on the regular “battlefield” so to speak. But as of now, we can no longer afford that luxury. So let’s play catch-up.

In these situations, the primary issue hinged upon the fact that barely anyone was aware of who else was tweeting/instagramming/etc, unless they were personal friends or colleagues. While this is great for connected friendly folks, this neglects newcomers to the field (students, new hires to companies, etc) and is rather exclusive. Right here we have lost a unique opportunity for increased social media connectivity and a surefire way to build a stronger more cohesive community.

Unfortunately, most people who were using social media were either not using hashtags, making up their own or unaware of what the official one was. To me, this was quite problematic. While I think there is something valuable to a more folksonomic approach to certain social media hashtags, I strongly believe that in a situation such as #AMIA14 or any other AMIA-related event, it is critical to set one term to be used throughout the session. That way, whether you know or are aware of other folks using social media, you can explore all that is tagged with that term and get a decent idea of the panels and conference. More critically, if you are unable to attend, having a standardized hashtag allows people to investigate the conference on an international level.

STANDARDIZATION IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL IN WHAT WE DO. IT CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH.

THEREFORE, OUR HASHTAG FOR THIS CONFERENCE IS #AMIA14. PLEASE USE #AMIA14 as the “official hashtag”

If you are attending the REEL THING EVENT please use #TRTxxxiv , if you are attending Hack Day, please use #AVhack14

Any other hashtags are up to you, clearly. But as long as we have those, some kid who is studying cataloging in Iowa and couldn’t afford to come can still follow a little bit of the conference on their iPhone, see how much fun we’re having, and say to herself, “Dang. I’m totally gonna get a second job during Christmas. No WAY I’m missing this AMIA thing next year!!”

Hors d’Oeuvres

And with that, I am most pleased and incredibly honored to introduce you to the wonderfully consume-able social media treats that will be interacting with and commenting on #AMIA14. I strongly encourage any and all of you to check them out and, if you are in Savannah, find them in person and say hello as well! I know some of my best AMIA experiences have come from a simple, “Hey, I loved that question,” during a panel. You might be able to say the same about an Instagram or a tweet!

So, please add all of these  to your tabletphonethingies.

AMIA

AMIA-L /AMIA-Member listservs  – Please note that there will be messages going out on these during the conference!

AMIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Moving-Image-Archivists

AMIA Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMIAnet

AMIA YouTube: AMIAstreaming: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClaGeGA_4nY_UFMdwhpmC8g

AMIA Instagram: AMIARCHIVISTS

AMIA Education Committee: https://twitter.com/AMIAEduComm
http://amiaeducomm.wordpress.com/category/announcements/
https://www.facebook.com/AmiaEducationComittee

RICK PRELINGER – Meta-archivist; home movie collector; co-founder outsider library; makes live historical film events; teaches Film&DigitalMedia at UCSC. –

@Footage – Twitter

KRISTIN LIPSKA – Project Assistant at the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (also on twitter as @CAVPP). CAVPP is a project to digitize and provide access to AV recordings found in various California libraries and archives. Everything is online here: https://archive.org/details/californialightandsound

@snaile – Twitter

SUE BIGELOW  – will be tweeting for the Vancouver Archives – Vancouver’s City Archives. History, public access, preservation, open data. Documents, photographs, movies, audio, maps, plans, digital records.

@VanArchives – Twitter

BRITTAN DUNHAM – heads up a private archive, on the Film Advocacy Task Force, Co-Chair of the Projection and Technical Presentation Committee, and helps produce Archival Screening Night

@brittanclaire – Twitter

@brittanclaire – Instagram

SNOWDEN BECKER – Snowden Becker is Program Manager for the MIAS program at UCLA. A co-founder of the international Home Movie Day event and the nonprofit Center for Home Movies, she is also Secretary of the Board of the Association of Moving Image Archivists. She will be tweeting at her own account and for the official MIAS program account.

@snowdenbecker – Twitter

@UCLAmias

CRAWFORD MEDIA SERVICES – a media management house based in Atlanta, GA, providing media migration, archival storage, asset management and metadata services. The folks who will be attending the conference will be Emily Halevy, Jeff Britt, Steve Davis, Corinne Whitney and Robin Rutledge.

@crawford_media #crawford_media – Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/crawfordmediaservices – Facebook

Emily Halevy from Crawford will also be creating social media on her own accounts:

Twitter: @EmilyHalevy
Facebook: Emily Halevy

Instagram: evh271

JOHAN OOMEN – Head of R&D · Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Researcher · VU University Amsterdam, Vice chair  ·  Europeana Network Officers

@johanoomen – Twitter

Also associated:

EUscreenXL is a project and best practice network which aims at improving and developing the EUscreen portal. It is a consortium involving European audiovisual and broadcasting archives. EUscreenXL aligns audiovisual collections held throughout Europe and connects them within the audiovisual domain of Europeana, an online collection of millions of digitised items from European museums, libraries and archives.
Other associates on Twitter:
  • @beeldengeluid
  • @benglabs
  • @prestocentre
  • @euscreen

WGBH TWITTER LINKS

@wgbharchives preserves and makes accessible the unique and historically important content produced by the public television and radio station WGBH in Boston.

@amarchivepub is the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a collaboration between WGBH and the Library of Congress to preserve and make accessible the historical record of public media across America.

@caseyedavis1 is the Project Manager for the American Archive of Public Broadcasting at WGBH and chairs the AMIA PBCore Advisory Subcommittee

@kcariani is the Director of the WGBH Media Library and Archives and is Project Director for the American Archive of Public Broadcasting at WGBH.

@therealpbcore a metadata schema for audiovisual media. Tweets from the AMIA PBCore Advisory Subcommittee.

POST HASTE DIGITAL – Established in 2003 by Allan Falk and Jim Allan. Post Haste Digital has grown to provide multiple premier post production services all while maintaining the original core value of providing high level technical servicing coupled with a full range of customer service and support. We offer tailored services in restoration, preservation, mastering and archival among much more.

TOP LINKS

ANDY UHRICH – from the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive.

@iulmia – Twitter

RETO KROMER – AV Conservation and Restoration Scientist ~ mathematician ~ musician ~ bon vivant ~ by ~ Currently on Board of Directors

@RetoKromer – Twitter

GRACE LILE – Human rights archivist, Palestine solidarity activist, WITNESS lifer.

@gracelile – Twitter

THE PIXEL FARM LTD – We manufacture and market innovative image-processing technologies. Creators of PFTrack, PFDepth and PFClean

@thepixelfarm – Twitter

AUDIOVISUAL PRESERVATION SOLUTIONS (AVPS) – a consulting firm that supports organizations in media archiving, data management, and development of related software to help them better manage, distribute, and preserve their assets

The AVPS Team & their Twitter handles!

@avpreserve

@avpseth – Seth Anderson

@k_grons – Kathryn Gronsbell

@kvanmalssen – Kara Van Malssen – Senior consultant for all things digital preservation & access and Adjunct Professor for  teaching digital preservation.

ASHLEY BLEWER – Developer, archivist. Moving image specialist, enthusiast. Music, movies, microcode.

@ablwr – Twitter

LORENA RAMIREZ-LOPEZ – current student at the NYU program for Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) and is interested in working on digital preservation for Latin American archives.

@DaleLore – Twitter

@DaleLore – Instagram

JACK BRIGHTON – Public media producer, web developer, and activist/archivist. Works at Illinois Public Media, and teaches at the University of Illinois College of Media and Graduate School of Library & Information Science. Into digital storytelling, open access, clarity in design, and fast guitars.
@jackbrighton – Twitter

DAVE RICE – moving image archivist at CUNY.

dericed.com – Website

@dericed – Twitter

AMIA FILM ADVOCACY TASK FORCE – Film is important. The FATF is made up of members of the Association of Moving Image Archivists who are concerned with the future use of motion picture film.
-will be promoting and tweeting under #filmadvocate all week.
@filmadvocacy – Twitter

MEDIA COMMONS ARCHIVE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO– Rachel E. Beattie will be tweeting/ posting on facebook for the Media Commons Archive at the University of Toronto.  The Media Commons is the media library and archives at Robarts Library at the University of Toronto. We offer a lending collection of film and television; microfilm and microfiche; and an audio visual archive specializing in Canadian cultural production.

http://www.facebook.com/uoftmediacommons – Facebook

@MediaCommons_TO – Twitter

SHIRA PELTZMAN – Shira was recently chosen for the National Digital Stewardship Residency hosted by the Carnegie Hall Archives. As such, she will design and document workflows for the acquisition, storage, and long-term management of born-digital assets, configure and implement Carnegie Hall’s new Digital Asset Management System, and use inventories of born-digital assets to inform requirements and recommendations for the long-term preservation and sustainability of digital files.

@shirapeltzman – Twitter

KRISTIN MACDONOUGH – Digitization Specialist | Video Data Bank, AV Artifact Atlas Coordinator | Bay Area Video Coalition

ARIEL SCHUDSON – Moving image archivist. Here to curate media, celebrate moving image preservation & archival communities, and just sorta rock out. All words/opinions my own. Also recipient of the Nancy Mysel Legacy Project award from the Film Noir Foundation.

@sinaphile – Twitter

will also be posting to the Film Noir Foundation Tumblr, which can be found here: http://filmnoirfoundation.tumblr.com/