Re: [AMIA-L] AMPAS Digital Dilemma

[Milton Shefter <mshefter@earthlink.net>]

This report," The Digital Dilemma,"  was circulated to key decision makers
at the studios and other participating (interviewees) and "interested"
organizations. While the Academy wants to have a wide circulation, the
electronic download is not yet available. We want all members of AMIA and
all other archivists to see this report  and we will notify you through
this listserve and the AMIA office as soon as the on-line version is
available.

We also encourage your feedback to the AMPAS Science and Technology Council
once you've had an opportunity to review the findings.

Milt Shefter


> [Original Message]
> From: Anna Bohn <anna.bohn@GMX.DE>
> To: <AMIA-L@LSV.UKY.EDU>
> Date: 11/6/2007 12:30:38 PM
> Subject: [AMIA-L] AMPAS Digital Dilemma
>
> > The 74-page paper, titled "The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in  
> > Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials,"  
>
> Do you know if this report is published and accessible in the internet? 
> I didn't find it on the website of AMPAS, Science and Technology Council.
> The article says the report addresses to upper-level decisionmakers.
> I'd be interested in reading it, too.  
> More information would be appreciated.
>
> Best regards,
> Anna Bohn
>
>
>
> Dr. Anna Bohn
> Universität der Künste Berlin
> Institut für zeitbasierte Medien
> DFG-Projekt: Theorie der Filmrestaurierung
> Grunewaldstr. 2-5
> D-10823 Berlin
> Tel.: 030-3185 1267
> Fax: 030-3185 1247
> Mobil: 0151-12725187
> E-mail: anna.bohn@gmx.de
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Association of Moving Image Archivists [mailto:AMIA-L@LSV.UKY.EDU] Im
> Auftrag von Rubin, Nan
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 6. November 2007 17:16
> An: AMIA-L@LSV.UKY.EDU
> Betreff: [AMIA-L] AMPAS Notes Lack of Planning for Saving Digital Content
>
> Forwarded by our colleague Dave MacCarn at WGBH.
>
> Nan Rubin
>
> * * * *  *
>
>
> AMPAS panel notes digital dilemmas
>  'Archiving' focuses on lack of long-term plan
>  By DAVID S. COHEN
>  Variety
>
>
>  Just as Hollywood is preoccupied with keeping its content machine  
>  running, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has weighed  
>  in on the problems of preserving existing digital content -- and  
>  it's not a pretty picture.
>
>  In its long-awaited white paper on the biz's digital future, the  
>  Academy's Science and Technology Council describes an industry  
>  embracing digital filmmaking without any proven way to store digital  
>  information for the long term or retrieve it for later use.
>
>  The 74-page paper, titled "The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in  
>  Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials,"  
>  spotlights the risks of embracing digital without a long-term plan.
>
>  "Upper-level decisionmakers have to understand that there is a  
>  problem, shared by other business sectors and industries, and there  
>  is no solution currently," said Milt Shefter, leader of the  
>  Council's Digital Motion Picture Archival Project. "We're not saying  
>  not to (go digital). We're saying understand when you commit to  
>  digital, that's what you're getting into."
>
>  The document, distributed to a variety of filmmakers and  
>  decisionmakers with a letter from Academy prexy Sid Ganis, calls for  
>  industrywide cooperation in creating storage and archiving systems  
>  that are even better than film, and in establishing unified  
>  standards for what is archived and how.
>
>  Among many facts likely to give decisionmakers pause, the paper  
>  notes that the current 2K digital cinema standard is inferior to the  
>  quality of 35mm film and that digital storage media have a much  
>  shorter lifespan than film. The yearly cost of archiving a higher- 
>  quality 4K master is $104.28 per running minute as compared to $8.83  
>  per running minute for film.
>
>  Furthermore, since digital cameras don't require reloading the way  
>  film cameras do, directors are shooting much more footage and there  
>  is more material than ever to be cataloged and stored.
>  
> * * * * *
>
>
>
> Nan Rubin
> Project Director
> Preserving Digital Public Television
> Thirteen/WNET
> 450 W. 33rd St. 
> New York, NY  10001
> 212-560-2925
> www.ptvdigitalarchive.org
>