1. Saving Film Soundtracks by Robert S. Birchard
In many ways, the sound elements of pictures
are even more fragile than the picture elements. For the last 50 years movie sound
was mixed and mastered on acetate-based, magnetic oxide coated film stock [before
that it was optical]. "Vinegar Syndrome" is the layman's term for a
complex chemical reaction that occurs in acetate-based film stocks and causes
them to decompose," says Thom Piper, manager of preservation and senior optical
recordist at Chace Audio in Burbank. "As acetate film breaks down, it releases
water and acetic acid, which causes the vinegar smell. The catalyzing effect of
the iron oxide can intensify the problem significantly. As it deteriorates, plasticizers
appear on the surface of the film as a thick white powder, causing loss of contact
and dull, muffled transfers.
They've developed a machine which automates
several cleaning processes and replacing what otherwise would take 40 hours of
hand cleaning.
Chace was recntly contacted by 20th Century
Fox to restore the sound for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). The 35mm four-track
stereo magnetic sound master had sections with advanced stages of vineger syndrome.
The deterioration was so severe that the oxide was separating from the acetate
base. Even the small amount of friction created by running this over a magnetic
sound head can cause an unsatisfactory "chatter" or "screeching."
There was a strong prospect that the soundtrack would only survive in monaural
sound. Thom developed a proprietary lubricant Chace dubbed "ThomSlick."
"It took me about a year, on and off, to develop the formula." says
Piper, who declines to be specific about the ingredients,but says they contain
no carcinogens. "Others have used WD-40 to lubricate mag film, but we've
found that petroleum-based products rapidly accelerated the decomposition of the
film. What we came up with doesn't do that. The longer it stays on the film the
better the film starts to look, because it causes the film to relax so it lies
flat and runs more smoothly." The application of ThomSlick allowed the masters
to be transferred without screech or chatter, preserving the audio in the configuration
the filmmakers intended. [I wonder if it would work on audio tapes that have dried
out?-- DBH] American Cinemaphotographer SE 2007.
2. Movie pirates are going after
Blu-ray, using a technological twist that makes their illicit copies both cheap
to make and tough for consumers to spot. Pirates are taking advantage of the fact
that many viewers can't tell the difference between Hollywood's new high-definition
higher priced Blu-ray movie format and a bootleg format--called AVCHD--tha's a
gradelower: AVCHD uses 720 horizontal lines of resolution instead of Blu-ray's
1080, but still offers a sharper picture than an ordinary DVD on high-definition
television sets. The movies are pulled off Blu-ray discs using easily available
software. Because of the lower resolution, they can be put on ordinary blank DVDs
instead of more costly blank Blu-ray discs. That makes them quite profitable for
pirates to make. WSJ 12Nv08

President, Boston Audio Society
email me HERE
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