PRESERVATION INSANITY has moved!
Please visit its new location at (and reset your bookmarks to):
I have no idea how many people look at this blog, especially considering it's so sporadically updated. But sometimes people will mention to me that they check it periodically, so I guess somebody's looking at it.
Anyway, I thought I'd specifically solicit suggestions, request, comments, etc. at this point. Do you have questions about something general or something in particular that I might be able to answer through this blog? Requests for coverage of specific films/filmmakers/questions about film preservation? Random thoughts? General feedback? Students of film archiving are particularly welcome and encouraged.
I'd love to hear from people, both to get a sense of who's actually reading this thing, and with the idea that if people have specific questions or feedback, it'll probably prompt me to update more regularly.
Anyhow, thanks for reading!
-Mark T
P.S. For those of you in the Bay Area, hope you can make it to the SF Cinematheque screening I'll be doing on April 1 at Yerba Buena. It'll be a nice, hefty show of restored experimental works from L.A. in the '60s-'70s. Lots of beautiful and crazy stuff, including films by Thom Andersen, Morgan Fisher, Gary Beydler, Roberta Friedman & Grahame Weinbren, David Wilson, Diana Wilson, Fred Worden, Chris Langdon, and Pat O'Neill.
http://www.sfcinematheque.org/calendar.php
p.p.s. The "cut here" image is from a preservation project I've been working on for Picasso (1973) by Chris Langdon.
7 comments:
Hi Mark. I actually check in on this blos somewhat regularly. I think it's great. I love these weird anecdotes and bits of trivia—they really tell something about the culture these things emanate from. The only encouragement I would make would be to encourage you to, in addition to these blog postings, to write some more "serious" or extensive articles about your work, such as the article I believe was published in THE MOVING IMAGE in, I believe 2007. Keep it up!
—steve polta
Thanks Steve, that means a lot, I really appreciate it. I do need to get better about writing more focused stuff, mainly just to make sure things are documented and the information is shared. I wrote a piece on Nelson for the 2006 Oberhausen catalog I could send you, if you want to check that out. It's somewhat anecdotal, but I'm pretty happy with it.
I'm going to try to rewrite my presentation on Chris Langdon's films as an article soon, because the message I try to convey in that thing is, at least for me, a really important one that never gets conveyed in the archival world. Basically, the idea that what nearly everyone perceives as technical flaws shouldn't always be considered limitations, problems or mistakes, and furthermore, the idea that there isn't some idealized set of aesthetic criteria that should be used for restoring all films.
I check this weblog pretty regular. And I love it. Makes me feel a little like I've got a filmstrip in hand again.
Thanks Brian, it's much appreciated!
Hey there,
I have only recently discovered your blog, which I was linked to through another cinema blog. Just to clarify, I'm only seventeen years old, so although my fervent passion for film has been well established, my knowledge of film is still extremly limited. And as I suppose is often the case during this tender age in adolescence, my discovery of avant-guarde and "so-called experimental films" has really pushed me to learn about film on academic level. I've applied to UCL (University of the City of London) for a joint honours degree in Italian and Film Studies (which I think just means you learn Italian individually, then in a film context, and vice versa). I have an interview on Wednesday and I'm not quite sure how I can prepare for this "intellectual discussion on film" that they have warned me about... So I would truly appreciate any suggestions on which films/books/blogs might "expand" my knowledge, or at least give me some material (something, anything!) to impress them with, as this is the ideal course for me and I really want them to accept me. So if you could help out with any suggestions, I would be ever grateful!
Cheers (and I know I have to work on being more concise... sorry!),
Carmen :)
Don't stop!
Hey Mark!
I only recently added Preservation Insanity to my RSS feed, but I just wanted to show my sincerest appreciation.
I'm currently in the last few weeks of the Film Archiving Masters programme at the University of East Anglia. And since I'm particularly interested in the preservation of artists' moving image work (an area which simply isn't covered in the course), and I find your blog a constant source of information and inspiration, so definitely keep it up!
I don't have any suggestions or requests, aside from letting you know that as much as I love the more in-depth stuff about archiving (which I can find almost anywhere with a bit of digging), what I actually enjoy most about your posts is their anecdotal nature and your ability to find beauty in the non-filmic images supplied by film cans, or unravelling spools, or accompanying filmmaker notes etc.
Keep up the good work!
- Steve
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