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Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop India

FPRWI2019

The 5th Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop India,
co-organised by the Film Heritage Foundation and FIAF,
took place at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad, India, from 8th to 15th December 2019.

Lectures

On Audio-Visual File Formats

The audio-visual file formats will be the guideline of this lecture which will discuss topics such as sampling, quantisation, compression and colour models. We will delve deep into the file structure and discover for example how video and audio codecs works together in a container. The advantages and the disadvantages of the different file formats will be discussed. (2 hours)

An Introduction to Television and Video

This lecture continues On Audio-Visual File Formats by providing an overview of two specific chapter of the media history, which allows to add topics such as subsampling. Students will learn how magnetic recording was used in video and television, for example how the transition from black-and-white to colour was realised and what it means for the archive today. (1 hour)

Data Storage and Data Migration

This lecture presents the LTO-based solutions, the most efficient possibility archives have to deal with the large quantities of digital media they must handle today. Not only the technical aspects are considered, but also how this technology can be part of the archival workflow and provide a reasonable level of security. The goal is to master the technology and not to become its slave. (1/2 hour)

Open-Source Tools and Resources

A wide ecosystem of open-source tools and resources has been developed during the last years by and for audio-visual archivists. This means that today there are many pieces of software and other resources that fulfil community’s needs. This lecture will present some of them which are widely used, because they extremely useful and simplify the daily work. (1 hour)

Practical Session

Exploration of FFmpeg Techniques

The students will learn how to use the FFmpeg software package in an archival context and how to integrate it inside an ecosystem of solutions. Of course, are included some recent developments which may simplify the archivist’s work. (3 groups, 2 x 2 hours each)

Resources

Video Identification

AMIA Open Source

  • The Cable Bible – A guide to cables and connectors used for audiovisual technicians
  • vrecord – An open-source video capture tool for archivists.
  • audiorecorder – A free tool for the calibration and recording of analog audio signals
  • ffmprovisr – Repository of useful FFmpeg command lines for archivists
  • LTOpers – Scripts for doing stuff with LTFS
  • Open Workflows – List of open workflows and resources for audio-visual archiving
  • Time-based media art resources – Resources on the care and preservation of software-based art and media art
  • Analog Inspection – List of analog media inspection templates/forms

Additional Bibliography

Presenter

Having graduated in mathematics and computer science, Reto Kromer became involved in audio-visual conservation and restoration 33 years ago. He has been running his own preservation company, AV Preservation by reto.ch, and lecturing at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in Donostia (San Sebastián). His current research includes colour spaces, look-up tables and codec programming and emulation. Previously he was head of preservation at the Cinémathèque suisse (the Swiss National Film Archive) and lecturer at the University of Lausanne. He served as an AMIA board member during two terms. His work has seen him honoured with an inaugural JTS Award.

2020-01-04