Film Archivists
Hanson, K. (2015). You Are The Star Mural in Hollywood, California.
I graduated from Columbia College in Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Video in the Spring of 2011. I had always loved the film industry and thought that would be my future. A decade later, after a pivot into a photography career, I realized maybe it was the preservation of film which I had loved all along rather than the modern-day movie-making process. This has led me to research the Information Community of Film Archivists to find out who they are, what information needs they have, where they look for information and study their behaviors to preserve the art of cinema.
Hanson, K. (2021). Camera used to film 'Gone With The Wind & The Wizard of Oz' from the Hollywood Heritage Museum.
The main role of a Film Archivist is to help compile, document, store, and preserve all sources of film and video from the invention of the movie camera to the present. Film history would be a great skill to have since archivists deal with the historical aspects of the film industry; however, it is also important to know the latest technology since they also catalog the many assets of even the latest motion pictures released. As laid out by Gracy (2013), “the first film ‘libraries’ were not designed to be archival institutions; their primary purpose was to support commercial exploitation of motion picture products, specifically production, distribution, and exhibition of films” (pp. 371-2). Film preservation originally had little to do with saving the past: it was about securing the present for marketing and distribution. I had always associated film archiving with dealing in the past, so this was a new concept for me to grasp. This led me to think about Fisher and Bishop’s Five Characteristics of Information Communities and how they relate to film archives and archivists.
The first characteristic by Fisher and Bishop (2015) is the “emphasis on collaboration among diverse information providers” (p. 22). The film industry is perhaps one of the most collaborative industries that exist. It takes a hard-working crew of directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, cast and so many others to create a film. Preserving film takes an equal number of dedicated specialists to document each element from the images to the sound design. Without properly cataloging a film and each of its assets it loses its original meaning and artistic intent (Campagnoni, 2006).
The second characteristic is the “capacity to form around people’s needs to access and use information” (Fisher & Bishop, 2015, p. 22). The main purpose of archiving films would be to preserve them for future generations and allow for accessibility. Preserving film is important for the sake of archiving but allowing people to view and access is a greater benefit. This allows people to view, engage and promote films as an art form.
The third characteristic is the “capacity to exploit the information-sharing qualities of emerging technologies” (Fisher & Bishop, 2015, p. 23). Film archivists need to understand how a film was made in the past to use the technology of the present. When films went from analog to digital in the early twenty-first century, technology had evolved at an accelerated rate. Today, so many people stream their content which makes it a priority to make films accessible digitally by streaming.
Hanson, K. (2019). Film Projector from the historic United Artists Theatre in Los Angeles.
The fourth characteristic is the “ability to transcend barriers to information sharing” (Fisher & Bishop, 2015, p. 23). Digital technology allows for a worldwide network. People from any country can now have access to films that would have been originally difficult to obtain. Even as little as twenty years ago, it would have been difficult to obtain a copy of a foreign film that is now instantly available with the click of a button and transcribed in any language with captions.
The fifth characteristic is the “capacity to foster social connectedness” (Fisher & Bishop, 2015, p. 23). Films have always brought people together whether people go to the movies with family and friends or watch together online during a zoom meeting. Films often depict the struggles and hardships people endure and seeing the same themes in foreign languages can help unite and make the world a smaller place.
Film archivists certainly show each of the Five Characteristics of Information Communities as laid out by Fisher & Bishop. A typical gateway degree for this field itself is a master’s degree in library and information science. I look forward to studying film archivists and their information needs and uses as they preserve the array of assets and the relationship between historical knowledge and its role in the technology of today. In Information Behavior, Bates (2017) states that “with the excitement generated by each new technology, the relatively stable underlying human behaviors and reactions were sometimes forgotten” (Bates, 2017). It will be interesting to see if this applies to films. The excitement of the first black and white films must have had the same effect as a modern-day blockbuster. Perhaps films have a timeless quality that is endeared no matter when or how it was made.
Hanson, K. (2016). Marilyn Monroe's Dressing Room at The Hollywood Museum.
References:
Bates, M. J. (2017). Information behavior. In J.D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 2074-2085). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4
Campagnoni, D. P. (2006). The preservation, care and exploitation of documentation related to the cinema: An unresolved issue. Film History. 18(3), 306–318. https://doi.org/10.2979/FIL.2006.18.3.306
Fisher, K. E., & Bishop, A. P. (2015). Information communities: Defining the focus of information service. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (pp. 20-26). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Gracy, K. F. (2013). The evolution and integration of moving image preservation work into cultural heritage institutions. Information & Culture. 48(3), 368–389. https://doi.org/10.7560/IC48304