Advances in technology have meant that anything that you may have considered defunct and unusable, can in fact be restored, fully modernized and a vital part of your life once more. Cine film is just one such example. Projectors are hard to come by, the film itself can become scratched or damaged in time, which has led many to simply discard their cherished memories.
So what use is a film that you can’t watch? Well, not a lot really. But now, rather than letting them go to waste in storage or find their way on to a landfill somewhere, you can get your films digitally restored and transferred. Too good to be true? Well, it ought to be, but thankfully the ability to convert your old cine film to a digital format DVD disk and even HD options like Blu Ray is now becoming commonplace. This means that prices are falling, helping make this technology a more accessible option for everyday consumers, not just Hollywood historians and professional archivists.
Of course, nothing can replace the feeling that those old reels provided. They brought character and a unique viewing experience. Whilst a DVD may not be able to compete with the aesthetics or nostalgia of an old fashioned film, it can bring it back to life and ensure it remains a part of your life in the digital age. All it requires is a well known, and relatively established process called telecine.
Not only can you convert the film, but you can also have it cleaned up. Over time scratches and dust may damage a film, causing it to lose some of its audio visual lustre. Whilst the most damaged items maybe beyond repair, there’s every chance that a professional restorer can ensure that the sound and picture can be as good, if not better than when it was first shot.
The joy of digitising all film, apart from just enjoying old memories, can be found in the ability to edit and share your old cine film. If you’ve got hours of old home video tapes lying around, you can get the whole lot converted and then start cutting it down into more palatable chunks. There’s no reason to lose your other footage, but once you’ve got a digital version of a film you’re free to manipulate it how you want. That means you can send snippets to family members, create small montages and put together your own film – complete with commentary, modern footage and even a soundtrack.
Whilst analogue film had the charm and tangible physicality to it, the digital revolution has afforded far greater flexibility when it comes to the creation, editing and distribution of movies. So release your inhibitions, take a look in your loft or garage and rake out those old cine film cartons. They are far from being redundant and it won’t exactly cost you the earth to get them converted. Digitising film is a largely mechanical process, so there’s very little that can go wrong and it should be done, re pressed and back with you within days if not hours.
The best thing is that your old film will still be usable afterwards. Just because you’re having it transferred onto DVD, it doesn’t mean that it will be lost or can be disposed of. Whilst the digital version has been optimised, can be edited at will and copied with ease, that original analogue reel can still stay with you. It may be nostalgic and it may not compare visually to the new version visually, but you never know when you might fancy dusting of the cine film again for a presentation.
Author Resource:
Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For a cost effective way of transfering old cine film to digital format or dvd, he recommends Save Those Memories: http://www.savethosememories.co.uk/
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