Upstate Modern MAKING METROPOLITAN AMERICA ALONG THE ERIE CANAL
Upstate Modern is a series of courses and public programs at Syracuse University examining the urban history of Upstate New York through transdisciplinary research that draws on archives, buildings, landscapes, and communities.
The Conditioned Containers of Celluloid Film
by Rebecca Soja.
There is competition in any industry; it leads to advancements in quality and technology, but also complicates standardization in the industry. The projector is a container for the reel that contains the film; it requires precise dimensions and connections to operate well.
Throughout its lifetime, celluloid film undergoes a series of phases during which precise environmental conditions optimize quality, performance, and longevity. It begins with transforming raw materials to manufacture a thin, pliable surface for emulsions, followed by producing a movie and developing the film, then projecting the film on theatre screens, and lastly preserving the films until they inevitably decompose; additionally between these steps are distribution and storage. Within each process, specifically controlled air conditions are implemented at different scales ranging from of vast factory floors to intimate cans. The delicate film is constantly enclosed in tempered, regulated settings; these are the containers of film. They create it, transport it, and protect it throughout its linear lifespan.
Because film stock changed over time, this research primarily focuses on nitrate-cellulose film, the first type of fi lm to be used for motion pictures. The nitrate base was fully replaced by a safer acetate base by 1951, and then later color dyes were added to the images. Each type of film base requires different conditions as a result of their different chemical and physical properties which is intriguing, but will only be slightly addressed at this stage of inquiry. Although nitrate-based film is no longer manufactured today, it does still exist, especially due to efforts made to delay an exponential rate of decay so that the stunning black and white snapshots captured on its surfaces can live forever.
This investigation begins with a comprehensive breakdown of the chemical properties of nitrate-cellulose film. The film is classified in the nitrate group and has cellulose as a raw material. Its properties due to its nitrogen compounds make it very unstable and combustible. Therefore it will decay, although at a slowed rate, even in the most favorable conditions and once it dissolves completely into a powder, its disposal must be handled as if it were an explosive. These properties pose challenges for working with the material and especially for storing it, but also create the clearest black and white images when compared to sequential film types. Nitrate-based film is favored for its ability to achieve an end goal of quality motion pictures, however, processes, machines, spaces, and buildings must then be designed in response to film’s chemical and physical composition with appropriate technologies for controlling artificial climates and reducing risk of fire. These considerations are made for the ‘containers’ the film passes through at each phase. Correspondingly, the analysis guides one through the journey of film from one container to the next with detailed explanations and interpretations of the air conditions and other related factors at play.
Furthermore, while the foundation of the research is material and spatial in scope, there is also the opportunity to evaluate how materials and space impact non-material spheres. For example, the entire experience or effect of viewing a movie is dependent on material processes derived from the meticulous fine-tuning of countless scientific experiments that involved measurable and observable data. A material-driven analysis regarding the film itself, as well as the materiality of other processes, machines, and equipment, can generate a deeper understanding about the ways we experience movies as recreational pastimes or educational ventures, and the ways we recognize and value history as memory. Film is believed to shape America’s cultural heritage, and consequently the continuation of its production and awareness of its preservation are important matters. The material ‘thing’ of nitrate-cellulose film not only informs the procedures, organizations, and mechanical equipment involved in its formation, operation, and storage, but also influences branching topics of consumption, economics, sentiment, culture, and politics within society- the reasons why these films are continually produced and saved for future generations to enjoy and learn from.
Celluloid film is a mass produced good, starting with raw materials that go through a series of containers and processes at a massive scale. Sixty-five million feet is a lot of film, and that’s only in one month! And if standard reels are made for 1,000ft or 2,000ft of film, that’s a lot of reels for distribution.
The national government is also involved with the preservation of films. It plays a significant role in developing effective programs at a national scale to improve preservation efforts. Film is a medium of America’s cultural heritage; it is an art form, educational tool, and record of history. Saving these films and making them accessible demands a great amount of funding and collaboration.
As written in the book, “Poorly handled or damaged films are like scratched, warped, and dirty phonograph records that make glorious music sound terrible” (10). Film and it’s related devices, containers, and machinery need to be treated with informed care.
Booklet Cover
Eastman Kodak Co. Storage and Preservation of Motion Picture Film. Booklet printed in the United States after 1951.
Although nitrate-based film once dominated the industry, it also had a bad reputation for fueling disastrous fires, which were somewhat common during the first few decades of the twentieth century. In 1959, films left outside in a courtyard waiting to be transported on a hot summer day at the Cinematheque Francaise rapidly burned, resulting in devastating losses. Without provisions for temperature control and fire protection, nitrate films are highly combustable and flammable. Therefore the film feeds fire which could ultimately destroy a film archive forever if precautions are not practiced in preservation.
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Pathe Works, 1916
Eastman Kodak Company, 1916
Pathe Works, 1916
Pathe Works, 1916
Cines Company, 1916
Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, Ltd. 1916
Eastman Kodak Company, 1916
Eastman Kodak Company, 1916
Eastman Kodak Company, 1916
Cines Company, 1916
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For image captions and credits, please see the associated spreadsheet.
Bibliography
Eastman Kodak Co. Storage and Preservation of Motion Picture Film. Booklet printed in the United States of America after 1951.
Frick, Caroline. Saving Cinema: The Politics of Preservation. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Gordon, Paul L. editor. The Book of Film Care. Copyright Eastman Kodak Company, 1983.
Gracy, Karen F. Film Preservation: Competing Defi nitions of Value, Use, and Practice. (Chicago, IL: Society of American Archivists, 2007).
Hitchins, Alfred B. “Testing and Maintaining Photographic Quality of Cinematographic Emulsions.” Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 13 (1922): 136-151.
Houston, Penelope. Keepers of the Frame: The Film Archives. (London: British Film Institute, 1994).
Lindsay, D. C. “Air Conditioning as Applied in Theaters and Film Laboratories.” Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 11 (1927): 335-365.
Matuszewski, Boleslas. “A New Source of History.” Film History. 7 (1995): 322-324. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815097.
Meloy, Arthur S. Theatres and Motion Picture Houses. (New York: Architects’ Supply & Publishing Company, 1916).
Richardson, F. H. “The Need for Improvement in Present Practice as Regards Film Reels.” Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 13 (1922): 116-119.
Slide, Anthony. Nitrate Won’t Wait: Film Preservation in the United States. (Jeff erson, North Carolina & London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1992).
Talbot, Frederick A. Moving Pictures: How They are Made and Worked. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1914).
Volkmann, Herbert. Film Preservation: A Report of the Preservation Committee of the International Federation of Film Archives. (London: National Film Institute, 1965).
Worthington, Cliff ord. The Infl uence of the Cinema on Contemporary Auditoria Design. (London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, LTD., 1952).