The National Film Preservation Foundation is a  non-profit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America’s film heritage. They support activities nationwide that preserve American films and improve film access for study, education, and exhibition.

The process of the Board began in 1992, when Congress asked the Librarian of Congress to assess the state of film preservation. The report issued the next year under the direction of National Film Preservation Board, alerted Congress that motion pictures were disintegrating faster than archives could save them! The films most at risk were documentaries, silent-era films, newsreels, historically significant home movies, avant-garde works, industrials, and independent films-not the Hollywood sound features that had become synonymous with American film.  After 4 years of this process and research the NFPF was founded in 1996.

On their web site:  http://www.filmpreservation.org/preservation-basics/why-preserve-film

You can find helpful documents about preservation Basics:

• Nitrate Degradation
• Color Dye Fading
• Vinegar Syndrome
• Good Storage Practice

We have had many new clients in the past that were referred to us while reading the film-preservation-guide, since they knew that to be able to preserve for long-time storage they only needed to do this process once with the best cans that exist.. STiL polypropylene  film containers, the ones that have the top quality vented design!  This document is really good read and gives you all the information you need.

Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.  It was the second major process, after Britain’s Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952. Technicolor became known and celebrated for its saturated levels of color, and was used most commonly for filming musicals, costume pictures, and animated films.

Technicolor’s Canadian operations provide post-production services for film projects, television, sound and software in North America. Technicolor not only offers its services to local and foreign productions produced in Canada. In fact, the Canadian operations of the company provide audiovisual services to a wide range of international clients. Low operating costs, an educated workforce and government incentives offered competitiveness to have such a facility in Quebec.

Technicolor Creative Services is totally owned by Thompson, a French company that offers products and services to the media and entertainment market. Thompson is a vertically integrated media, one of its subsidiaries, Grass Valley Group, is a factory of production equipment and studio used by Technicolor.

Technicolor is separated into several divisions according to the type of services they offer. Like any other production activity, the cinema and television can transcend national boundaries. The structure of Technicolor shows the various components of the process of film production in Canada. Technicolor services are separated into four categories and are distributed in two locations in Quebec, seven in the rest of Canada, three in Mexico, eleven in the United States and seventeen outside North America.

Technicolor’s facility in Montreal offers a wide range of service distributions while Mirabel specialized in the production of film copies used by theatres or for post-production.

Increasingly, the films we see in movie theatres are in electronic form. The good old 35 mm film or 70 mm is constantly losing ground for the past couple of years. This time the axe fell on the Technicolor facility in Mirabel. They produced copies of films for movie theatres. The reproduction of films in film in North America will be made by Deluxe now and Technicolor will only by distributing.

Technicolor has been one of our clients for almost a decade now; our hearts goes out to the 178 employees who are unemployed today, all top notch specialists in their field. Good luck!

À l’usine Technicolor, on fait la reproduction de films pour les salles de cinémas et les ciné-parcs partout en Amérique du Nord.

Les opérations canadiennes de Technicolor fournissent des services de post-production pour les projets de films, de télévision, de sons et de logiciels en Amérique du Nord. Technicolor n’offre pas seulement ses services à des productions locales et étrangères produites au Canada. En fait, les opérations canadiennes de la compagnie offrent des services audio-visuels à une gamme très large de clients internationaux. Des coûts d’opération peu élevés, une main-d’oeuvre éduquée et des incitatifs gouvernementaux compétitifs offerts par Québec ont permis à Technicolor d’offrir des services qui ne sont pas directement reliés à la production.

Technicolor Services Créatifs appartient totalement à Thompson, une firme française qui offre des produits et services à l’industrie des media et du divertissement. Thompson est une entreprise media intégrée verticalement ; une de ses filiales, Grass Valley Group, fabrique une partie de l’équipement de production et de studio utilisé par Technicolor.

Technicolor est séparé en plusieurs divisions selon le type de services que celles-ci offrent. Comme toute autre activité de production, celle du cinéma et de la télévision peut dépasser les frontières nationales. La structure de Technicolor présente les différentes composantes du processus de production de films au Canada. Les services de Technicolor sont séparés en quatre catégories et sont distribués dans deux emplacements au Québec, sept dans le reste du Canada, trois au Mexique, onze aux États-Unis et dix-sept en dehors de l’Amérique du Nord.

Technicolor a une installation à Montréal qui offre une large gamme de services de distributions tandis que celle de Mirabel se spécialisait plutôt dans la fabrication de copie de films pour les salles de cinéma ou celle de pour la post-production.

De plus en plus, les films que nous voyons dans les salles de cinéma sont sur support électronique. La bonne vieille pellicule 35 mm ou 70 mm perd constamment du terrain depuis des années. Cette fois, le couperet tombe pour l’usine Technicolor de Mirabel dans les Laurentides.  Les installations de Mirabel produisaient des copies de films en pellicules pour les cinémas. La reproduction de films en pellicules en Amérique du Nord se fera chez Deluxe. Technicolor fera la distribution.

Technicolor étant notre client depuis près d’une décennie, nous sommes de tout cœur avec les 178 employés qui se retrouvent sans emploi aujourd’hui, des spécialistes dans leur domaine.  Bonne continuité !

Cette fête est devenue un jour de fête nationale qu’en 1880, après avoir été validée par l’Assemblée et le Sénat de cette même année après que le député Benjamin Raspail dépose la loi faisant du 14 juillet, la fête nationale annuelle française en commémoration du 14 juillet 1790 qu’est la fête de la Fédération. Celle-ci a été voulue par le général et homme politique qu’a été le marquis de La Fayette, ceci pour marquer la fin de la monarchie absolue en France et le premier anniversaire de la prise de la Bastille.

L’histoire en bref…

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When I was about twelve I had this old radio that crackled and made funny noises but it followed me everywhere I went. I remember hearing one day “I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time..”  I fell in love! Right after I heard “Your cheatin’ heart will make you weep you’ll cry and cry and try to sleep…”  That was it! I then became a major country music fan. So what can I say.. I always have a little fondness when I sell film cans to the The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.

This weeks post is about one of our loyal customers, just a brief description of who they are, for more information I strongly recommend you visit their website: http://countrymusichalloffame.org/

They are operated by the non-profit, educational Country Music Foundation (CMF). The mission of the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is to identify and preserve the evolving history and traditions of country music and to educate its audiences. Functioning as a local history museum and as an international arts organization, the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum serves visiting and non-visiting audiences including fans, students, scholars, members of the music industry.

It’s in 1961 that the Country Music Association created the Country Music Hall of Hame, the first inductees were Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams & Fred Rose. So many throughout the years, just to name a few: Patsy Cline in 1973, Johnny Cash in 1980, Elvis Presley in 1998, Alabama in 2005 and to finish off in 2011 with Bobby Braddock, Reba McEntire & Jean Shepard.

The Museum is open every day from 9am to 5pm. I do believe I will have to make a visit to Nashville one of these days!

“Country music is still devoted to the lyric and to the telling of stories, which people love and people need. Country music artists took what they heard around them, material that was in the air and that was common currency, and they made something entirely new. This is a museum that preserves their memory so that they can continue to inspire creators in the future. It’s also a museum that honors the people who their music was made for. Those people are all of us, people who’ve ever been lost or confused or sad or felt excluded. This museum helps to preserve these tributes to our condition.”

– Garrison Keillor

Thank you for the confidence you place in STiL products!

À la veille de cette fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste, j’ai voulu vous partager un peu l’histoire derrière cette fête maintenant devenu une journée fériée depuis 1925.

Les origines des célébrations du 24 juin sont immémoriales. Chez les païens, le solstice d’été qui, selon le calendrier julien, tombait le 24 juin, était célébré par des feux de nuit symbolisant la puissance fertilisante du soleil, ces feux de joie demeurant encore aujourd’hui le symbole le plus ancien de la fête. En plus de son caractère de rite de passage saisonnier, la fête du solstice d’été marquait également un jalon dans le cycle de production agricole, alors que s’entamaient les grands travaux agricoles qui ne s’achèveraient qu’à la fin de l’été.^[] Pour lutter contre le paganisme, les évêques implantent des sanctuaires de Saint Jean Baptiste dont la fête doit se substituer au culte des divinités barbares. Plus largement, la fête prit, au sein de la cosmogonie chrétienne, une importance non négligeable, marquant, à six mois exactement, le pendant de la naissance du Christ célébrée par la fête de Noël qui symbolise elle-même, avec le solstice d’hiver (le jour le plus court de l’année), le début du triomphe de la lumière sur les ténèbres.

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2011 Rockefeller Archive Center Visiting Archivist Fellowship

The Rockefeller Archive Center, in cooperation with the Association of Moving Image Archivists, has established The AMIA/Rockefeller Visiting Archivist Fellowship – a unique opportunity to encourage professional exchange and enhance professional development. Designed to provide both financial assistance and first-hand experience, the AMIA/Rockefeller Visiting Archivist Fellowship is awarded each year to a professional archivist from the developing world interested in improving their skills and knowledge through a program at the Rockefeller Archive Center and attendance at the AMIA Annual Conference.

The Visiting Archivist receives a $2,500 stipend to cover the cost of housing, food and local transportation, reasonable round-trip travel expenses from his/her place of residence to New York and to/from the AMIA Conference, up to $3,500, and complementary registration to the 2011 AMIA Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.

To apply for the 2011 Rockefeller Archive Visiting Archivist Fellowship, go to:  http://www.amianet.org/events/rockefeller.php The deadline is June 30, 2011.

Ils disent que du bon service à la clientèle est la capacité pour une organisation de dépasser les attentes du client en permanence et constamment.  Améliorer le service à la clientèle consiste à prendre un engagement à apprendre ce que les besoins de nos clients sont , et de développer des plans d’action qui mettent en valeur ce processus ainsi on établit des liens amicaux avec notre clientèle.

Nous tenons à remercier les organismes suivants, qui au cours des derniers mois, ont décidés de faire leur premier achat avec STiL Solution Boitier et ainsi on fait le saut à des produits de qualité!

• Alaska Moving Image Preservation

• Canadian Centre for Architecture

• Columbia University

• Office of Presidential Libraries

• University at Albany

• Demott / Kreines Films

Merci!

They say that excellent customer service is the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer’s expectations.  Improving customer service involves making a commitment to learning what our customers’ needs and wants are, and developing action plans that implement customer friendly processes.

We would like to thank the following organizations that in the past couple of months decided to make their first purchase from STiL Casing Solution and therfore made the leap to top quality products !

• Alaska Moving Image Preservation
• Canadian Centre for Architecture
• Columbia University
• Office of Presidential Libraries
• University at Albany
• DeMott/Kreines Films

Thank you!

We came across this press release this week and are happy to share this news of one of our loyal customers; Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT).

Belgian Broadcaster Will Deploy New Managed Digital Archive of Content on Some 150,000 CDs

VIENNA, Austria – May 30, 2011 — NOA Audio Solutions, provider of the world’s most functional and effective audio archiving systems, today announced that the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT), the major Flemish-language broadcaster in Belgium, will base its new digital music archive on NOA mediaARC.  The installation — which includes mediARC with 10 clients, associated software including mediARC Web and MediaButler transcoding, as well as several NOA IngestLine CD-Lector migration devices – will be complete later this year.

“We were really impressed with the comprehensiveness of the NOA bid and with the technology they can provide,” said Tom Caljon, VRT project manager. “NOA’s unique knowledge of archiving and search best practices will help make it possible for VRT users to find what they are looking for in our database for years to come — even with millions of entries to choose from.”

VRT also cited NOA’s commitment to making specific features developed for VRT available as part of its off-the-shelf mediARC and IngestLine products, thus ensuring continued availability, support, and upgrades so the broadcaster can be confident its technology stays up to date. Along with superior cost-effectiveness, that was a crucial advantage VRT identified in NOA over its competition.

NOA’s flagship mediARC system combines precisely targeted metadata association and a powerful workflow solution to enable successful storage, distribution, and repurposing — including transcoding – of media content. The NOA CD-Lector is a high-volume, semi-automated system that extracts audio from CDs into digital audio objects, delivering optimal results even when the original is heavily damaged. During the ingest process, CD-Lector performs both algorithmic analysis and advanced metadata retrieval.

Click here to know more about the VRT!