The Prague Post - Hollywood battles aging -- in film reels

EUR -
AED 4.26686
AFN 77.479286
ALL 96.72917
AMD 442.46749
ANG 2.080161
AOA 1065.407223
ARS 1651.559431
AUD 1.780324
AWG 2.091311
AZN 1.97974
BAM 1.954773
BBD 2.329576
BDT 140.855982
BGN 1.954773
BHD 0.436071
BIF 3438.892916
BMD 1.161839
BND 1.501711
BOB 8.009791
BRL 6.4194
BSD 1.156592
BTN 102.549112
BWP 16.419372
BYN 3.936132
BYR 22772.053647
BZD 2.326178
CAD 1.628609
CDF 2759.369166
CHF 0.928862
CLF 0.02828
CLP 1109.406116
CNY 8.266198
CNH 8.305357
COP 4495.137876
CRC 581.494434
CUC 1.161839
CUP 30.788746
CVE 110.207088
CZK 24.313355
DJF 205.96177
DKK 7.464591
DOP 72.931676
DZD 150.536895
EGP 55.013091
ERN 17.427592
ETB 170.500205
FJD 2.646032
FKP 0.873025
GBP 0.870129
GEL 3.149039
GGP 0.873025
GHS 14.168555
GIP 0.873025
GMD 83.652855
GNF 10031.728486
GTQ 8.862343
GYD 241.982842
HKD 9.042718
HNL 30.373039
HRK 7.532559
HTG 151.510384
HUF 392.719215
IDR 19291.879693
ILS 3.802473
IMP 0.873025
INR 103.121972
IQD 1515.203784
IRR 48869.877216
ISK 141.582206
JEP 0.873025
JMD 185.992264
JOD 0.82379
JPY 175.664365
KES 149.371508
KGS 101.603308
KHR 4655.55358
KMF 493.782182
KPW 1045.619133
KRW 1660.908062
KWD 0.356035
KYD 0.963893
KZT 622.592837
LAK 25092.814124
LBP 103575.772574
LKR 350.036062
LRD 211.089076
LSL 19.939622
LTL 3.43061
LVL 0.702786
LYD 6.290694
MAD 10.59883
MDL 19.63968
MGA 5197.268918
MKD 61.592634
MMK 2439.117531
MNT 4177.674878
MOP 9.271228
MRU 46.369633
MUR 52.852517
MVR 17.788202
MWK 2005.746012
MXN 21.60445
MYR 4.908817
MZN 74.245875
NAD 19.939622
NGN 1700.124026
NIO 42.567631
NOK 11.76177
NPR 164.078779
NZD 2.030301
OMR 0.444756
PAB 1.156592
PEN 3.966716
PGK 4.930409
PHP 67.764332
PKR 327.56527
PLN 4.263196
PYG 8115.73531
QAR 4.227279
RON 5.094322
RSD 117.108461
RUB 93.850683
RWF 1678.218123
SAR 4.34472
SBD 9.562568
SCR 17.182171
SDG 698.850713
SEK 11.04933
SGD 1.507956
SHP 0.913023
SLE 26.958936
SLL 24363.197061
SOS 661.052627
SRD 45.23394
STD 24047.731321
STN 24.487132
SVC 10.120682
SYP 15106.487725
SZL 19.931526
THB 37.963149
TJS 10.704575
TMT 4.066438
TND 3.40591
TOP 2.721149
TRY 48.465557
TTD 7.857871
TWD 35.692294
TZS 2839.707779
UAH 48.16469
UGX 3964.916499
USD 1.161839
UYU 46.325657
UZS 14022.63133
VES 224.302448
VND 30602.851687
VUV 141.439936
WST 3.241837
XAF 655.612486
XAG 0.023168
XAU 0.00029
XCD 3.13993
XCG 2.084505
XDR 0.815372
XOF 655.612486
XPF 119.331742
YER 277.621964
ZAR 20.334004
ZMK 10457.953618
ZMW 26.168249
ZWL 374.111836
  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    75.55

    0%

  • VOD

    0.0200

    11.3

    +0.18%

  • SCS

    -0.2400

    16.29

    -1.47%

  • BCC

    -1.5700

    72.32

    -2.17%

  • NGG

    1.1900

    74.52

    +1.6%

  • RELX

    -0.3300

    44.82

    -0.74%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1900

    15.16

    -1.25%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    51.54

    +0.35%

  • RIO

    -1.5600

    65.44

    -2.38%

  • JRI

    -0.2400

    13.77

    -1.74%

  • CMSD

    -0.1300

    24.14

    -0.54%

  • GSK

    0.1000

    43.54

    +0.23%

  • BCE

    0.4600

    23.9

    +1.92%

  • CMSC

    -0.0500

    23.64

    -0.21%

  • AZN

    -0.5100

    84.53

    -0.6%

  • BP

    -0.8000

    33.49

    -2.39%

Hollywood battles aging -- in film reels
Hollywood battles aging -- in film reels / Photo: VALERIE MACON - AFP

Hollywood battles aging -- in film reels

Reels of film and the Hollywood stars who fill them share one common enemy: aging.

Text size:

But while an actor can go under the knife or get a bit of filler in an effort to stay young, it's a one-way street for film, which eventually starts to break down into its original -- rather prosaic -- ingredients.

"Film base is actually wood pulp and acetic acid in its simplest form," says Tim Knapp of California-based film preservation specialists Pro-Tek Vaults.

"Acetic acid over time produces what is called 'vinegar syndrome' which degrades the base of the film... and prevents it from being used."

And no film star wants to end up like that.

Movie-making has gone through a number of evolutions as directors sought a way to immortalize their leading men and women.

When the industry was born at the start of the 20th century, pioneers like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were captured on nitrate film, a medium capable of capturing deep blacks, infinite shades and sharp lines.

But studios quickly noticed a significant drawback: nitrate is highly flammable.

Projection rooms had to be fireproofed in an effort to avoid the kind of blazes that killed dozens of cinema-goers in the 1920s.

Even when not in use, nitrate film was not safe -- with a relatively low flashpoint, it could ignite if the room it was stored in became too hot. Huge fires at film storage sites in 1914 incinerated much of America's early cinematic history.

- Acetate -

The introduction of acetate film in the 1950s was a cause for celebration among movie executives and cinemas alike; a material that allowed directors to capture images in life-like resolution without the danger of it catching fire.

The problem is that it doesn't age well, and -- if not looked after properly -- in as little as 15 years it can turn into an unusable reel of plastic that reeks of vinegar.

For a movie company that has spent tens, or even hundreds of millions of dollars on a film, that's bad news.

"Keeping film in the proper environment ensures its longevity," said Doug Sylvester, CEO of Pro-Tek Vaults.

"That allows you to have a pristine, often original copy that can be used to make additional prints and digital copies over time."

TV and movie companies are increasingly looking to their back catalogues for sources of revenue, whether that is licensing clips for commercials, a reformatted re-release -- think of the number of times "Star Wars" has come out -- or the wholesale resale of titles to a streaming service.

While many movies and TV shows are now recorded digitally, a number of top-flight directors like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino still insist on using film, whose 12K resolution still trumps even the very best digital reproduction.

Old and new films all have to be stored -- with the utmost care and under tight security.

- High security -

Around a million reels of Hollywood history sit coiled in metal cans in top-secret temperature- and humidity-controlled units in Burbank and Thousand Oaks, just outside Los Angeles.

Huge moveable shelves are filled floor to ceiling with tens of thousands of hours of movie magic -- alongside legendary television shows, footage from presidential libraries and music videos.

Closed circuit cameras watch over the approximately 1.5 billion feet (almost half a million kilometers) of film to ensure that no one makes off with the original negatives from an Oscar winner.

Sylvester's company is cagey about what titles they have in their care, but promotional posters from films including the original "West Side Story," "Back to the Future II" and Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" cover the walls.

Silvester said his customers are "very particular about mentioning the titles that we hold."

"But I can say that there are some classics, if you were to look at.... the American Film Institute's 100 greatest films of all time, you would see many of those here in our inventory."

The company is also involved in the cataloging and digitization of material that production houses might not even be aware they have in their own storage units.

That has included a project with record label Universal Music Group that unearthed never-before-seen footage of a Guns N' Roses concert, as well as restoring classic videos from the likes of Johnny Cash, Bon Jovi and The Cranberries.

Sylvester says uncovering hidden gems like these and then working to keep them safe is a rewarding task.

"It's part of our cultural history, and (we) love to play a part in preserving it for the future."

R.Rous--TPP