Project DELFT Digitizing
Ethnological Films - anExpedition from Analogue
to Digital
Miriam Reiche
No Time to Wait Conference, October 25-26, 2018

DELFT: The Film Collection
InstitutML2for Scientific Film IWF•••

11.500 film titles
33.000 film copies
One of the world‘slargest collections ofscientific films

Page 2

Diapositive 2
ML2

InstituteTeam TIB; 23/10/2018

DELFT: The Ethnological Films of theEncyclopaedia Cinematographica• Founded in 1952 by Gotthard Wolf
• Natural Sciences, Technology, Life Science, Medicine,
Cultural Studies, Psychology

Page 3

DELFT: The Ethnological Films of theEncyclopaedia Cinematographica

Page 4

DELFT: Film Stock 16mm Film copies (filmbase celluloseacetat,safetyfilm)
 black and white, colour
 silent films
 films with optical tracks
 SEPMAG, magnetictape
 asynchronous
audiotapes
 Digital Betacam
 additional material
Page 5

DELFT: Project Goals
 Project Duration: October 2017-September 2019
 Digitization of ca. 2000 film titles, approx. 500 hours of film
 Cataloguing of the films
 Making the films available via TIB‘s AV-Portal
 Clarification of legal rights
 Digital Object Identifier DOI for each film
 Digital preservation

Page 6

DELFT: Process

Step 1: Selection of the film copy
Step 2: Choosing target format
Step 3: Digitizing
Step 4: Quality control
Step 5: Digital preservation

Page 7

Step 1: Film Copy Selection
Each digitizing project starts with the selection and description ofthe analogue object!

• Filminspector RTI Pulsar• Selection of the film copy
• Recording data for each film:• Copy• Mechanical damage• Vinegar• Shrinkage• Colorfading
Page 8

Step 2: Target Formats 16mm Film
Original Format:16mm Films positive black/white or color
•
••
•
•

Resolution: 2K
Sampling rate 10 bit
Color model and subsampling RGB 4:4:4
Frame rate: comparable to the original (16/18/24FPS)
OverscanTarget Format• Container: Matroska (.mkv)• VideoCodec: ffv1, Version 3 (GOP of 1, 16 Slices, CRC-Checksums per Slice)• Audio-Codec: linear PCM 96 kHz / 24 bit
Derivative Copy
• Container: MPEG-4• Video Codec: H.264, CRF 20• Compression to 65%• original scanning resolution without scaling• 4:3 aspect ratio• Audio Codec: AACPage 9Step 2: Target Formats Digital Betacam

Original format: Digital Betacam black/white or color

•••••
•
•

Resolution: 720 x 576 Pixel
Framerate comparable to the original
Quantization/Bit: 10 bit
Color Space: Y′CBCR
Subsampling: 4:2:2
Master Interlaced
Derivative Progressive

Page 10

Step 3: Digitizing
Scanner: MWA Nova Spinner S••••

sprocketless and capstanless motion transportunlimited shrinkage, warped film
large rollers for reduced stress on splices or brittle film
stable filmtransport

Warped film in the scannerPage 11

Step 3: Digitizing

The scanner's diffuse light sourcereduces the effects of mechanicaldamage such as scratches etc.
Page 12

Step 4: Quality Control→ 7 hours Film per Week → 2TB SSD Harddrive Archival master ffv1/mkv
 Derivative copy H.264/mp4 and H.265/mp4
 Checksums framemd5
 Technical metadata
1. Correct name of the file
2. Content completeness: film title, film duration
3. Image quality (artifacts etc.)
4. Playability of the master5. File format validation
6. Policy alignment
7. Checksum check
Page 13

Step 5 Digital Preservation
AV Material in the Digital Archive
Collection: Projectnumber xyz (x films)
SIPPreservation
Digitized Filmffv1/mkv
Preservation ffv1/mkv
Master:Preservation
ffv1/mkv
Master:Master:Metadata:
Metadata:
descri
Metadata:
descriptive MD
technical MD
conservationconservation
MD (analogue
MD (analoguefilm copy)
filmcopy)
Derivative
H265/mp4
Derivative
H265/mp4
Copy:
Derivative
H265/mp4
Copy:
Copy:

SIP MAM Material
Preservation
Preservation H264/mp4
Master:Master:Metadata: supplementary
Metadata: material
Derivative(booklet)
Copy:
Metadata:
Derivative descriptive MD
Copy:
Derivative
AdvancedVideo
Copy:
Codec/mp4 (fordownload)
SIP Project xyz Material
Preservation Master:

SIP = Submission Information Package

Project files
photosdescriptions
etc.
Page 14

DELFT Experiences: Quality…an example: Digitizing 2007
1. Source material: 16mm - but which copy?
2. Resolution: SD and HD - but which film in which
resolution?
3. Retouching, color correction - no documentation!

→ The digitization took place 20 years ago and wealready have loss of information!

Page 15

DELFT Experiences: Definition of quality

1. Sustainability in the choice of digitization parameters
2. Collecting of standardized metadata
3. Documentation of the source material
4. Preservation of the originals
5. Retaining the authenticity of the original material

Page 16

DELFT Experiences: Retaining the authenticityof the original

mpeg1 (2007)

mp4 (2018)vob (2007)

mp4 (2018)

Page 17

DELFT Experiences

Know your stuff !
The potential of a digital representation
lies in the materiality of the analogue
object; the technical possibilities help totransfer this potential.

Archival copy

Distribution copy 1

Distribution copy
2
Page 18

DELFT Experiences

Additional materials contextualize the film!

Page 19

MORE INFORMATION:
www.tib.eu
TIB Digital Preservation:
https://www.tib.eu/de/publizierenarchivieren/digitale-langzeitarchivierung/
Project DELFT:
https://projects.tib.eu/delft/
Contact
Miriam Reiche
T +49 511 762-2587, Miriam.Reiche@tib.eu