One of the biggest challenges in this project is the "data" aspect. The soul of the Scopitone machine is the collection
of films that run inside it. Each of these films is a 3-4 minute short recorded on 16mm film with a magnetic soundtrack
(the magnetic track is on the edge of the film -- picture later). The Scopitone machines to be restored came almost
completely loaded with films. The films are in one state or another -- some totally complete (including special
leaders) and some only in pieces.
The real "first step" is to recover the films from the machines. There hasn't been a tremendous rush on it - these
films were left to degrade in a dark, highly moldy basement for over 30 years (in the rotting machines) before they were found,
thus these aren't wonderful from Day 0. Nevertheless, we want to extract the films from the machines,
stop any further decay, and restore them as best possible.
Where are the machines currently? In a non-temperature controlled (but dry) barn in Michigan. This means that
they are in a fairly warm environment with high humidity - not good at all.
Initially, the author planned to pull the reels from the machines with the films on them. Upon closer examination,
however, you learn that you can't do that - the design of the Scopitone is such that the reels are integrated into
the mechanisms and one is supposed to load/unload films from other storage reels. There is even a little hand winder
that extends inside the back of the machine to assist in the loading/unloading.
Approximately two weeks ago, the author ordered and received plastic film reels and cans from
Larry Urbanski - who seems to be an excellent source of low-volume film handling/restoration materials. Several films were extracted
from Scopitone #1 using the built in loader/unloader winder - the technique will be shown in an upcoming entry here on ScopiBlog.
Today I ordered a more supplies to assist with the extraction, storage, and restoration of the scopitone films,
including:
- Film reels and cans - 5" plastic
- Cleaner for the film (Filmrenew)
- A pair of rewind, hand-crank reels (one geared, one dummy) to build a rewind/handling table.
It is unclear whether the cleaner will be the "best" for our restoration work, but that is secondary right now. The
first thing is to get those reels, pull the films, and take some inventory!
