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© 1993–2025 by Reto Kromer

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On the Materiality of the Audio-Visual Heritage

Vinyl Video

The Courettes – Voodoo Doll
recorded on VinylVideo, an audio-visual phonograph record

 

At Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in Donostia (San Sebastián), Spain, from 15 to 18 October and on 4 December 2024.

Table of Contents

Abstract

How has sound and image been recorded and reproduced? We will explore the various approaches that have been undertaken during the one and a half past centuries and discuss why some succeeded and others did not. Understanding the original processes is the foundation not only for conservation but also for successful modern restorations.

This class is a technical history of both the sound and the moving image record and their reproduction. The acoustic, electrical, magnetic and digital era are considered for sound; the photographic, mechanical, magnetic and digital era for moving images. Not only the current archival media (radio, film, television and video) are explored, but also computers, video games and even space exploration. It includes also a four-hour FFmpeg workshop.

The lecturer is Reto Kromer.

Lectures

Tuesday 15th October

  • Organisation (PDF, 139 KB)
  • On Audio-Visual File Formats (PDF, 5.1 MB)
  • Exercise #1: A Quiz on Audio-Visual File Formats (PDF, 63 KB)
  • FFmpeg Workshop: An Introduction to FFmpeg (PDF, 874 KB)
  • FFmpeg Workshop: Used commands #1

Wednesday 16th October

Thursday 17th October

  • Exercise #3: Production Routes (PDF, 243 KB)
  • Analogue Sound (PDF, 136 KB)
  • Analogue Television and Video (PDF, 7.0 MB)

Friday 18th October

  • Deep machine learning applied to moving image restoration (PDF, 9.7 MB)
  • Appendix: We will be giving a talk on Playing with FFmpeg, OpenVINO and TensorFlow. The session will probably take place on 28 March 2025 with webcast. If interested, stay tuned.
  • Hybrid Cinema: from Analogue to Digital (PDF, 130 KB)
  • Answers to the Quiz on Audio-Visual File Formats (PDF, 45 KB)

Wednesday 4th December (poster presentations)

Some students refused to attend a validation session led by a Jew and the school supported their blatant antisemitism.

 

  • Carmen Alonso Álvarez: no topic submitted
  • Ana Karina de Fátima Barandiarán Urday: no topic submitted
  • Ester Borràs Sabaté: HitClips
  • Paola Buontempo: Laserdisc
  • Amina Ferley Yael: Cellulose nitrate
  • Esmeralda Flores Hernández: no topic submitted
  • Josué García Gomez: no topic submitted
  • Jorge Jaramillo: 3M Sound on Slides
  • Urpi Alejandra Larrea Galarza: no topic submitted
  • Andrés Martinez de la Viña: U-matic
  • Vanja Munjin Paiva: no topic submitted
  • Pablo Retuerta Nogales: Technicolor
  • Evelyn Ruiz Gomez: no topic submitted
  • Amanda Soares: ½″ open reel video

Resources

Media Handling

Sound Identification

Film Identification

Video Identification

  • Videotape Identification and Assessment Guide. Texas Commission on the Arts, Austin TX 2004 (PDF, 12.4 MB)
  • AV Artifact Atlas – A resource for identifying errors and anomalies in analog and digital video.

Software and Exercise Files

Please

  • install the programs:
    the three FFmpeg commands ffmpeg, ffprobe and ffplay for Linux, Macintosh or Windows
    (for our purpose a “build” is sufficient; there is no need to compile the code)
  • and download the exercise files:
    Dufaycolor 2K TIFF (ZIP, 1.06 GB, MD5 = c2fdc0fc9290ebaa4757d69fadf3f38c)

before the class.

Free and Open-Source Software

CLI = command-line interface
GUI = graphical user interface

Media Players
Metadata Extraction
File Transformations

Bibliography

  • Dominic Case: Film Technology in Post Production. Second Edition, Focal Press, Oxford 2001
    [Spanish translation: Nuevas Tecnologias aplicadas a la post producción cinematográfica, Escuela de cine y vídeo, Andoain 2003]
  • Paul Read: “A Short History of Cinema Film Post-Production”, in Joachim Polzer (ed.): Zur Geschichte des Kopierwerks (= Weltwunder der Kinematographie, n. 8), 2006, p. 41–132
  • Diana Weynand and Vance Piccin with Marcus Weise: How Video Works. From Broadcast to the Cloud. Third Edition, Focal Press, New York NY and Oxon 2016
  • Ray Edmondson: Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles. 3rd Edition, Unesco, Paris 2016
    [Spanish translation: Archivos audiovisuales: filosofía y principos, 2018]
    [Portuguese translation: Arquivística audiovisual: filosofia e princípios, 2017]
  • Nicole Martin: What Is a Digital File?, 2020-09-14
  • Agathe Jarczyk, Reto Kromer, Yves Niederhäuser and David Pfluger: Digital Archiving of Film and Video: Principles and Guidance, Version 1.2, Memoriav, Bern 2019
  • Nicole Martin: Why Use the Command Line for Digital Archiving and Preservation?, 2020-06-21
  • Ashley Blewer: Command Line Interface
  • Trevor Owens: The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2018
    [Spanish translation: La teoría y el oficio de la preservación digital, UNAM-IIB, México 2023 (PDF, 1.4 MB)]

2024-10-30