Chicago Area Conservation Group

CACG January 2001 meeting

Imaging Images of an Assassination: Film Conservation Issues in a
Digital Age
Joseph G. Barabe, McCrone Associates and
Alan F. Lewis, National Archives and Records Administration
Chicago Historical Society
Clark Street at North Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2001  6 pm

In March of 1997, McCrone Associates' Director of Scientific Imaging
Joseph G. Barabe went to the National Archives II facility in
College Park, MD to photograph each frame of Abraham Zapruder's film
of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The resulting 4" x 5"
transparencies were then scanned to produce high-resolution digital
image files.  The image files were then re-sequenced into MPI
Teleproduction's documentary "Images of an Assassination". This talk
will highlight the technical aspects of planning and producing the
photomacrographic images of significant historical and
conservational importance.

This project entailed numerous challenges. Camera, lens,
illumination source, film type and format all had to be selected and
calibrated in a very short time.  Also, a detailed plan had to be
developed to efficiently reproduce the almost 500 frames with
optimal quality, consistency and speed. In order to photograph each
frame, a film transport device had to be created that permitted open
access to the film frame being photographed but protected the film
during transport. A production crew had to be assembled. Finally,
all procedures and materials with which the film came into contact
had to be conservationally appropriate, as the subject was a
historical artifact of enormous importance.

Alan F. Lewis, Audiovisual Preservation Expert at the National
Archives and Records Administration, is the film's caretaker.  He
will contribute information on the film's history, current condition
and plans for the future.

For more information, please contact Craig Deller
<craig [at] deller__com>, 630.232.1708. Refreshments will be served, all
are invited.

Craig Deller
President / CACG


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:38
                Distributed: Saturday, January 13, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-14-38-012
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