Preservation and Archives Professionals

MPT [MPA-R5]

Record Type Film Output from Motion Picture Film Reversal, Negatives and Prints
Expected Use Reproduction Master
Product Name MPT [MPA-R5]
Product Purpose

The goal of this product is to serve as a master for distribution copies to satisfy most customer requests as well as to protect preservation elements from loss, theft, and mishandling. This product is the next best physical condition copy to the preservation master; therefore this product may substitute for the original record if the original record is no longer viable.

Nature of Source Material

35mm or 16mm originating negative elements including ONT and DNT where there is a need to ensure that all significant auditory information is carried forward.

Film Stock

Kodak 2366 (35mm) and Kodak 3366 (16mm).

Other Information
  • Separate sound track elements may be combined with visual elements to make a composite element.
  • This product is a positive element made from negative source elements.
  • This product is usually kept on-site in climate controlled cold storage environment and retained to generate distribution copies.
  • This product has been known as the “I copy” and usually has a yellow color block on the film can.
Quality Control Density
  • Control strips are created on a sensitometer for each new processing batch and evaluated on the densitometer. Adjustments are made to the processing chemicals as needed to achieve the desired neutral visual density reading of “1” on the control strip.
Methylene blue testing (implementation underway)
  • ISO 18917 1999 compliance: Methylene blue testing to measure residual thiosulfate and its decomposition products is of use in appraising the adequacy of washing and therefore the permanence of the silver image on photographic films, plates and papers. Inadequate washing can cause a loss in image density and the formation of stain in low-density areas.
Rationale

For the most part, film-based product specifications are dictated by the source material’s film element type. There is some flexibility however in regards to combining separate picture and soundtrack reels into a composite reel. This can be done for convenience or space management without any compromise to product quality. Selected image improvements such as color correction and density correction are routinely performed during the reformatting process.

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