Changes, choices and challenges

Return to Part one

Challenge 1: Film survival

It is evident that the greater part of Asia's film heritage, especially before - say - 1960, is lost. The casualty rate of feature films is high; that of documentary and other films even higher.

At least, this is what must be deduced from the present collections of film archives. There are many reasons for this: for instance, past film industry practice, the effect of tropical climates on film, the lack of structures and/or resources to collect them. We cannot bring back yesterday, but we can do something about tomorrow.

To collect today's and tomorrow's films and television programs, archives need to develop sufficiently sympathetic relationships with production organisations and distributors to ensure that they can acquire what they need to, in a deliberate and organised way. It takes time and persistence to build relationships, and in my view the drive and motivation needs to come from the archive. It is the archive, not the producer, who tends to take the long term view, who can construct a considered and objective selection policy, and who ultimately provides a service to the producer by ensuring the survival of his asset.

In an increasing number of countries, there are legal provisions for the compulsory deposit of films and tapes in archives. An important principle, enshrined in UNESCO convention, underlies this and I believe it will eventually achieve universal adoption - sometime in the next century! Even legal imperatives, however, have to be managed and implemented and the importance of effective working relationships with producers remains. Further, the archive must have the infrastructure to store and manage the material acquired in this way.

And yesterday's films? Searching for what is still missing, while there is time, is the other part of the challenge. Again, this requires the proactive initiative of the archive. There is plenty of experience to indicate that an organised campaign to acquire old film will be successful to some degree: and will bear other dividends, such as publicising the archive's work and improving its support base. In Australia and New Zealand, for instance, a model called The Last Film Search was very successful. But the essential fact is this: unless the archive goes actively looking for yesterday's films, they will progressively disappear. For such searches to be conducted across Asia over the next decade, for example, could have a profound effect on the growth and well- being of all our archives, and could save huge amounts of film now on the verge of disappearing. What a resounding declaration as the cinema begins its second century!!

Challenge 2: Documenting the heritage

A collection which is not documented is neither under preservation control nor accessible. A national film heritage which has not been researched, documented or outlined is harder to search for.

The UNESCO survey mentioned above suggests that most archives have assembled filmographic data on at least part of their national production and/or their present collections. Features are better documented than other films. About 50% of archives in Asia have all or part of this data in computerised form, although all the computer systems are different.

Clearly, computerisation of catalogues, filmographic data, collection control information, transaction information and other collection related data is the way of the future. The larger the collection, the more sense it makes: ideally, data needs only to be input once and can be manipulated and rearranged into any required form without the risk of copying errors.

A catalogued and documented collection is also an accessible one. Computerised data can be searched by potential users in any number of ways. Nor is its accessibility limited by place or time: data is transportable physically or electronically. Catalogues can be searched by a terminal on the Internet from anywhere on the globe.

The challenge is to embrace the full potential of computerisation as quickly as practicable. This means completing the move from manual to computerised systems; growing our databases; learning to exploit the possibilities of the Internet. In doing so, there are two great adjustments we will have to face: standardisation, and language.

Traditionally, film archives collectively have not been particularly good at standardising either their systems or cataloguing formats. This is beginning to change: internationally, the audiovisual archiving field, in common with libraries and archives generally, is developing standardised formats and shared systems (5) .

(5) This is happening on several fronts. For example, international standards for cataloguing sound recordings are being developed by IASA (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives) in conjunction with other stakeholders. FIAF (International Federation of Films Archives) cataloguing rules for moving images are now widely used internationally.

It is happening gradually, but it is being driven by economics, the efficiencies of sharing each others' data, and the potential of the Internet. The pace is accelerating, and will affect the Asia/Pacific region as much as the rest of the world.

SEAPAVAA will oversee a cataloguing standardisation program for South East Asia being sponsored by the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has begun marketing its collection management software, MAVIS, which is now being used also in Europe and USA.

An obvious limitation in data sharing and data searching, as in other areas of international communication, is language. The usefulness of any data base is limited to the number of people able to read it. If, and when, computerised systems of automatic translation reach the required level of practicality, this limitation may be overcome. Until then, are there other solutions?

Multi-lingual cataloguing, which can be done at varying levels of complexity, is one approach that is being tried in archives within the ASEAN countries. Films are catalogued in the national language of the country concerned, and - selectively and at varying levels - in English, which is the official language of contact within ASEAN. This offers the potential of developing, over time, a regional database of archive holdings: and hence, of minimising duplication of work, and maximising the potential use of collections by the largest possible marketplace. It encourages resource sharing and complementation of activity.

I believe we are at the beginning of a "computer revolution" that is going to change our methods of operation and interaction between archives, and work to our mutual benefit. I don't think it's a question of whether we move with the changes - but how quickly.

Challenge 3: The Preservation Crisis

The survey suggests that over 50% of archives in Asia face the following as problems in managing their film stock:

vinegar syndrome

colour dye fade

shrinkage

physical damage

rusty cans

inadequate storage facilities

There are no cheap or simple solutions to these problems. Even digital technology does not yet offer a cost effective alternative to film as a medium for high quality image storage. What's more, the elements required to solve the problem - more resources, better facilities, technical skills, collection management skills - are all interconnected. You can't solve the problem by just having one or two of them. The issue is critical because the collections are deteriorating by the year, and unless there is some completely unexpected technical breakthrough just around the corner, this process will continue relentlessly.

The classic solution is to grow the skills, facilities and resource base simultaneously overtime, and try to prioritise the work so that the most important films are dealt with first. You might contract-out restoration work on individual films to other archives or laboratories where particular skills or facilities are available. You might "buy time" by collection management strategies, such as prioritising your collection and placing your most important films in your best storage so that they will deteriorate more slowly. But is this enough? And where is it taking us over, say, the next decade?

I believe that in this area, particularly, the future will be one of mutual self-help. Archives will need to bear each others' burdens more actively and recognise that there can be no "islands" in film archiving. How? The strategies will vary with the archive and the situation but I think the following will be important elements:

Sharing facilities - such as storing collection material on behalf of another archive.

Complementation - building capabilities in such a way that archives complement each other, rather than competing or overlapping, so that collectively their resources have greater effect.

Training - readily sharing skills with each other so that the skills base builds more rapidly, through formal courses, staff exchange, visits and in other ways.

Networking - working collectively rather than separately so that problems, ideas and knowledge are shared and the profile - and support base - of the work builds more rapidly.

Research - best done on a shared basis with the outcomes being available to all.

I believe in the next decade this will be a rapid growth area. How rapid? That depends on each archive.

Challenge 4: Multiplying access

A traditional view among film archives is that their principal purpose is to preserve. It has been a vital message in a cultural context that has often been dismissive about the permanent value of the moving image. In my view, however, our future emphasis will need to be on access - which is, of course, the purpose of our preservation and collecting activity, and ultimately the justification for our existence.

Though individual archives vary in their emphasis, collection access is usually provided actively through screenings (organised by the archive or other parties) and exhibitions, and responsively to researchers who view material on-site, or through the supply of footage or complete films/programs to the film or television industry. While these avenues will continue, they will be joined by others that in the future will become increasingly important to film archives. These will include the active creation of products, such as videocassettes and video CDs, based on material from the collection; the marketing of archival films for screening in commercial cinemas or on broadcast, satellite or cable television; and the direct delivery of image and sound material electronically over the Internet.

Developing technology creates the opportunity: it is in both the strategic and economic interest of archives to pursue it, especially if the profits can be ploughed back into preservation and other needs. Potentially, a film archive is as close as the nearest Internet terminal - at work or at home. For some archives, electronic delivery may become the primary means of providing access.

For film archives, this is a cultural as well as a practical challenge. We have to adapt to the idea of electronic delivery and electronic revenue, as well as the technical reality.

Challenge 5: Working together

Many film archives have grown up with an acute awareness of their own isolation - both geographical and professional. Though some in the region have belonged to organisations like FIAT (6) and FIAF, and this has given a sense of connectedness with like-minded institutions around the world, Asia/Pacific is a large region and contact with each other is not always easy - let alone practical or economic. Isolation, and the fact that the international bodies in our field tend to be based in Europe, has inhibited development and networking in the region. I think the time has come when this will change. Indeed, if we are to grow successfully in this part of the world, I believe it must change. To some extent, circumstances will help. To some extent, the change must come from within.

(6) International Federation of Television Archives. Secretary General: Steve Bryant - email: steve.bryant@bfi.org.uk

Insert body text here

Circumstances include - yes! - the Internet. To those with access to it, the immediacy of e-mail is bringing individual archivists everywhere closer together. It allows entirely new means of communication, such as the "listserve" network. For example, the AMIA (7) listserve, based in North America, and the SEAPAVAA listserve (8) , based in Australia, communicates practical information and news daily and brings individual film archivists together from all over the world on a functional, workaday basis. In future there will undoubtedly be other networks like this.

The Internet also offers one answer to the widespread need for formal training. The first university level course in audiovisual archiving to be offered as distance education over the Internet (9) will begin in 1998. Designed for the South East Asia/Pacific region, it will nonetheless (by definition) be available worldwide.

One manifestation of development in the region is the creation of SEAPAVAA in 1996. Steadily growing (and open to both institutional and individual members) it has come about through a shared sense of need, and through the help of ASEAN, and has very quickly become a vibrant professional community with (so far) 24 full institutional members. Its rationale is that it links archives within a defined, coherent geographic region and provides a network to encourage training, development, standardisation, resource sharing and joint research into technical and management issues of common concern. At its 1997 conference in Jakarta, it adopted a three year strategic plan to advance audiovisual archiving in the region, with the theme "empowerment towards the year 2000".

Strategic initiatives by bodies like UNESCO, encouraging a collective rather than fragmented approach, will, I believe, become increasingly significant. The Memory of the World (10) scheme holds the promise of not only achieving specific project goals, but of permanently altering the worldwide awareness and cultural status of the work we do.

Conclusion

The possibilities are exciting, though the difficulties are formidable. Time is not on our side. There is a past to retrieve, a future to embrace. There is also a balance to redress: to make the cinematic heritage of Asia more visible, more accessible and better appreciated alongside the traditional dominance of Hollywood and Europe.

Technical change is both our ally and our enemy: it provides new opportunities for preservation and management of collections, as well as for client access, but it creates new problems as formats proliferate, texts become ever more unstable, and issues of professional philosophy and theory have to be faced alongside relentless daily realities which are anything but theoretical. There is an opportunity here for an exciting future of co-operation among archives, and between archives and their clients. Without ignoring the difficulties of distance and language - for they are very real - let us instead put them in perspective and focus on the synergies of our shared mission. How can we help each other achieve it? That is the future.

Personal correspondence with the author should be addressed to: Ray_Edmondson@nfsa.gov.au

Comments for publication in Screening the Past should be sent to: screen@latrobe.edu.au

(7) Association of Moving Image Archivists: this is a North American professional association which has now also built up a sizable international following. Its website can be found at: http://wwwsc.library.unh
.edu/amia/amia.htm

(8) South East Asia AudioVisual Archive Association. To subscribe, send a message to: seapavaa-request@syd.
dit.csiro.au with the single word `subscribe' (do not use a signature - the header is ignored).

(9) The course is in Audiovisual Management. It is being run jointly by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Information, Library and Archive Studies and the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). Enquiries should be directed to the author, or to M.Henninger@unsw.edu.au

(10) Memory of the World: A Global UNESCO program to safeguard and promote the endangered world documentary heritage: a parallel (though much newer) concept to the UNESCO World Heritage register of the natural and built environment. The documentary heritage includes material that would normally be the contents of libraries, archives and museums - and this includes the audiovisual heritage. Check the UNESCO Web site. Contact officer: Abdelaziz Abid: email - a.abid@unesco.org

Part one

Traditionally, film archives collectively have not been particularly good at standardising either their systems or cataloguing formats. This is beginning to change: internationally, the audiovisual archiving field, in common with libraries and archives generally, is developing standardised formats and shared systems (5) .		(5) This is happening on several fronts. For example, international standards for cataloguing sound recordings are being developed by IASA (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives) in conjunction with other stakeholders. FIAF (International Federation of Films Archives) cataloguing rules for moving images are now widely used internationally.

It is happening gradually, but it is being driven by economics, the efficiencies of sharing each others' data, and the potential of the Internet. The pace is accelerating, and will affect the Asia/Pacific region as much as the rest of the world.		SEAPAVAA will oversee a cataloguing standardisation program for South East Asia being sponsored by the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has begun marketing its collection management software, MAVIS, which is now being used also in Europe and USA.

An obvious limitation in data sharing and data searching, as in other areas of international communication, is language. The usefulness of any data base is limited to the number of people able to read it. If, and when, computerised systems of automatic translation reach the required level of practicality, this limitation may be overcome. Until then, are there other solutions? Multi-lingual cataloguing, which can be done at varying levels of complexity, is one approach that is being tried in archives within the ASEAN countries. Films are catalogued in the national language of the country concerned, and - selectively and at varying levels - in English, which is the official language of contact within ASEAN. This offers the potential of developing, over time, a regional database of archive holdings: and hence, of minimising duplication of work, and maximising the potential use of collections by the largest possible marketplace. It encourages resource sharing and complementation of activity. I believe we are at the beginning of a "computer revolution" that is going to change our methods of operation and interaction between archives, and work to our mutual benefit. I don't think it's a question of whether we move with the changes - but how quickly. Challenge 3: The Preservation Crisis The survey suggests that over 50% of archives in Asia face the following as problems in managing their film stock: vinegar syndrome colour dye fade shrinkage physical damage rusty cans inadequate storage facilities There are no cheap or simple solutions to these problems. Even digital technology does not yet offer a cost effective alternative to film as a medium for high quality image storage. What's more, the elements required to solve the problem - more resources, better facilities, technical skills, collection management skills - are all interconnected. You can't solve the problem by just having one or two of them. The issue is critical because the collections are deteriorating by the year, and unless there is some completely unexpected technical breakthrough just around the corner, this process will continue relentlessly. The classic solution is to grow the skills, facilities and resource base simultaneously overtime, and try to prioritise the work so that the most important films are dealt with first. You might contract-out restoration work on individual films to other archives or laboratories where particular skills or facilities are available. You might "buy time" by collection management strategies, such as prioritising your collection and placing your most important films in your best storage so that they will deteriorate more slowly. But is this enough? And where is it taking us over, say, the next decade? I believe that in this area, particularly, the future will be one of mutual self-help. Archives will need to bear each others' burdens more actively and recognise that there can be no "islands" in film archiving. How? The strategies will vary with the archive and the situation but I think the following will be important elements: Sharing facilities - such as storing collection material on behalf of another archive. Complementation - building capabilities in such a way that archives complement each other, rather than competing or overlapping, so that collectively their resources have greater effect. Training - readily sharing skills with each other so that the skills base builds more rapidly, through formal courses, staff exchange, visits and in other ways. Networking - working collectively rather than separately so that problems, ideas and knowledge are shared and the profile - and support base - of the work builds more rapidly. Research - best done on a shared basis with the outcomes being available to all. I believe in the next decade this will be a rapid growth area. How rapid? That depends on each archive. Challenge 4: Multiplying access A traditional view among film archives is that their principal purpose is to preserve. It has been a vital message in a cultural context that has often been dismissive about the permanent value of the moving image. In my view, however, our future emphasis will need to be on access - which is, of course, the purpose of our preservation and collecting activity, and ultimately the justification for our existence. Though individual archives vary in their emphasis, collection access is usually provided actively through screenings (organised by the archive or other parties) and exhibitions, and responsively to researchers who view material on-site, or through the supply of footage or complete films/programs to the film or television industry. While these avenues will continue, they will be joined by others that in the future will become increasingly important to film archives. These will include the active creation of products, such as videocassettes and video CDs, based on material from the collection; the marketing of archival films for screening in commercial cinemas or on broadcast, satellite or cable television; and the direct delivery of image and sound material electronically over the Internet. Developing technology creates the opportunity: it is in both the strategic and economic interest of archives to pursue it, especially if the profits can be ploughed back into preservation and other needs. Potentially, a film archive is as close as the nearest Internet terminal - at work or at home. For some archives, electronic delivery may become the primary means of providing access. For film archives, this is a cultural as well as a practical challenge. We have to adapt to the idea of electronic delivery and electronic revenue, as well as the technical reality. Challenge 5: Working together Many film archives have grown up with an acute awareness of their own isolation - both geographical and professional. Though some in the region have belonged to organisations like FIAT (6) and FIAF, and this has given a sense of connectedness with like-minded institutions around the world, Asia/Pacific is a large region and contact with each other is not always easy - let alone practical or economic. Isolation, and the fact that the international bodies in our field tend to be based in Europe, has inhibited development and networking in the region. I think the time has come when this will change. Indeed, if we are to grow successfully in this part of the world, I believe it must change. To some extent, circumstances will help. To some extent, the change must come from within.		(6) International Federation of Television Archives. Secretary General: Steve Bryant - email: steve.bryant@bfi.org.uk