Yeah, whatta place. Am I right?
For those of you who have visited, you know exactly what I'm talking about. For those of you who have yet to go...Good golly, Miss Molly! Do it!
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| Oh fried pickles, why can't I quit you? |
In any case, Austin was great. Not just the food and movie theaters, but the conference, the people, and all the standard things I've come to be so familiar with at annual events like The Reel Thing and the AMIA Conference. The first AMIA Conference I went to was 2 years ago in Philadelphia, and I was a kid in a candystore. Metadata, restoration, historical preservation, oh my! It was (to me) the Yellow Brick Road of the moving image archive world that I was so interested in getting involved in. I met the most exciting and wonderful people! I only found out afterwards that most of them weren't just exciting and wonderful, but had done extremely important work, too! SO COOL! Yeah, the AMIA Conference is not unlike going to a big rockstar convention in many ways. Sit down for dinner with someone, and by the time you get your salad you've already heard about some brilliant collection that they have managed to save or some perspective on information structures that you've never even considered. The AMIA Conference is like that for the whole time.
So, plant that in Austin? A town I already had familiarity with due to the Drafthouse and their print preservation and exhibition work? SOLD.
So I rolled in the night before the conference started, checked into my hotel and met up with another one of the fabulous UCLA MIAS students that was attending the conference. We had some food at a place that had been recommended to me, and made our way home, excitedly discussing what our plans were for the next few days. You could truly cut the anticipation with a knife!
The next morning, we found our way to the main hotel, grabbed some coffee, and checked in. It was cool! We got our AMIA bags full of goodies, schedules, name badges, and we were good to go!
We then boarded the bus with an assortment of other individuals, and made our way to our first "feature": The Reel Thing, Austin.
The Reel Thing ended, and we all went back to the main hotel where we had the Opening Night Cocktail event, always full of great people to meet and see again, always a great time. But I had to watch the clock. Couldn't get too comfortable there! I had some important TRIVIA to be throwing down!
So I wrapped up my conversations with new and old friends alike, and made it up to the top floor, where I registered and checked in my team and waited for the remainder of the others who were hurrying from the airport in order to make it there in time!
And they did! So we participated in Trivia Night and it was fun, as always. Our team, made primarily of UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies folk, went under the name Nitrate Ninjas! We won for best cheer, but...unfortunately, we sorta failed on the other levels. But we had fun which was what really mattered. Trivia Night is unbeatable. Lots of laughs, lots of frustration, lots of arcane bizarre knowledge shared...good times.
Then I was off to the event I had been drooling over since I had seen it announced: Reels of Steel. This was an event where everyone was to bring in their most rare and/or bizarre and interesting pieces to compete in a competition to see who would win! I was especially looking forward to this, as moving image archivists have more access than anyone else to the odd, strange and exceptionally AWESOME things I love to see. Let me just say right now: I was not disappointed.
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| A late-night event, Reels of Steel was really worth it, regardless. Fun beyond measure! |
Reels of Steel was hosted by one, Lars Nilsen, from the Alamo Drafthouse. I had met him at a previous point when the Drafthouse guys had come to Los Angeles and presented some films at the New Beverly Cinema, so I was excited. After a short presentation and the display of the trophy (an amazing gold necklace with a spinning disc in the center! Totally Run DMC-style!), we got started.
Wow. There was so much that I saw. Stephen Parr from Oddball Film in San Francisco showed a piece with Andy Warhol and Gerard Malanga. Marc Toscano brought this crazy little educational film called The Electrolysis of Brine from 1965 and had totally altered it in the best way. Doug McClaren tied together a bunch of really fun trailers ranging from Skatetown U.S.A to Can't Stop the Music. Sean Savage brought a bit of Phyllis Diller into our evening (and who doesn't need a crazy cooking piece starring Phyllis Diller at 1:00am?). My personal favorite, however, was the one that was brought in by the incomparable Skip Elsheimer of A/V Geeks. He presented one of the strangest and best things I've ever seen in my life. It was called Humanoid and it was some sort of old advertisement for a kitchen appliance, only...it was really really creepy. I LOVED IT. In any case, Doug won the final battle, and took home the necklace, after which we all left and passed out. What a first day!
The next day, I was unsure what I wanted to attend first, there were so many amazing panels! First off, I went to the Newcomer's Mixer, which was a great deal of fun. The Newcomer's Mixer is a really great event that pairs up experienced (or, in my case, semi-experienced) conference attendees with new ones, and they get to "mix," so to speak. I wish that I had gone last year, but I was new so I was so unaware of everything going on around me that it was all a little overwhelming. But this year it ended up being extremely rewarding and loads of fun.
Post-mixer, I headed off to the BFI panel called "Hierarchical Datastructure and Fully Integrated Workflows in BFI's New CID System." As someone who is really interested in databases, data entry and record keeping, this was very much the right seminar for me. I was able to learn quite a bit about the way that they have been doing things in the UK, and how they are seeking to standardize them at this juncture. It was truly fascinating. I was squirming in my seat. I love that junk!
Next up, I went to the panel on Archive and the Commons. THIS panel made me more goofy than the first one! I'm so into the Open Source thing and learning more about it that this took cool to a whole new level. They discussed how web standards are largely closed, but their take is not. Dealing with things like the Internet Archive and Open Video Alliance the topics ranged from using people to harness collective intelligence and the concept of a volunteer effort for subtitling (which blew my mind) to the evolution of rights and open access models. Panels such as this make me grin and know I'm in the right field.
Between Ben Moskowitz, Peter Kaufman and Rick Prelinger, I could've listened to them talk for ages. But there were more panels!
I saw a fantastic discussion on the digitization of Texas-related films for the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, and learned much about their access models.
I went to a panel on Orphan Films, and saw what a challenging situation it can be to have your archive tied down to a governmental system that has a constantly changing administration and does not believe in your vision. That panel was unique and quite fascinating. To say that it was inspirational would not be an understatement. The work that Audrey Young is doing for the Cineteca National Mexico is not only the first work of its kind, but it is work that defies not only bureaucracy but also politically-charged attempts to keep an archive like this from existing and flourishing.
Sadly, I had to leave the Orphans panel early, as I had to hurry down to the restaurant so as to be there on time for our event with the New York Student Chapter of AMIA. The event that I titled "East Meets West" took place at a quaint little location with a decent happy hour and great food. It was exceptionally successful and I really hope that we can make it just as good (if not better) next year! The great part (aside from getting to hang out with all the other students from the other side of the country, which totally rocked!) was that there were some local students who showed up to the event. I'm still unclear as to how they had heard about it, but they were unable to afford to go to AMIA, as they were going to ALA conferences and SAA conferences, but they didn't want to miss out on a chance to meet other moving image archive students. We all thought this was simply fabulous.
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| Generations of AMIA Student Chapter Presidents! L-R current pres. Ariel Schudson (me!), Stephanie Sapienza (pres. 2007-2008) and Meredith Reese (pres. 2008-2009 and current AMIA student chapter liason) |
As that wrapped up, we rushed off to the glorious Paramount Theater, as it was time for the always-delightful AMIA Archival Screening Night. Last year's archival screening night left me in awe of the field. The things that I saw were...so cool! My brain was buzzing. I was a-glow. I was completely unaware of the extent to which moving image archiving went to. The archival screening night was instrumental in changing that. Needless to say, I was truly looking forward to it this year!
There were a little over 20 entries total in this year's screening night, ranging from silent work and montages about pinball to Alice Cooper and drag queen remakes of Psycho. Once again, I will say, without hesitation, the AMIA Archival Screening Night is one of the best and most fun nights of cinema you'll get. Half of the fun, however, is also knowing that these pieces are in an archive and being preserved in some manner. Many of these items are things that might have gotten lost, forgotten about, ignored. Being able to witness something as amazing as the film that Kristin Pepe submitted, Mona's Candle Light, about a lesbian bar in San Francisco in 1950, complete with a well-known drag king, is a real treat.
The next day was just as exciting as the first. There is always so many things to talk about at these conferences it is hard to make it concise! The first panel I went to was one that involved the 16mm nitrate films at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, as presented by Sabrina Negri as well as an excellent presentation on the Zapruder footage by Iwonka Swenson (National Geographic Television) and Dan Sullivan (Image Trends). The real coup for me on that panel, however, was the portion that was presented by Cassie Blake from the Academy Film Archive about the SabuCat Trailer Collection. I can't lie. I'm a sucker for trailers. And I've had many a discussion on the ways that trailers have evolved over the years and I think they are absolute treasures to our moving image archive world. Seeing Cassie's work (and Jeff Joseph's work before her) was truly legendary. I was moved, excited and thrilled. Even better? We got to see a fantastic trailer reel that included things like Lady in a Cage (1964) and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)!
Directly after that was the AMIA Awards and Scholars Luncheon which was quite lovely. The food was nice, the company (as always) was great and I had a chance to reconnect with a few women I hadn't seen since Philadelphia last year. Plus, the chair of our Moving Image Archive Studies program, Jonathan Furner was there with us for the lunch, so that was fun too!
Post-lunch, there was still more learning fun-and-games to be had. I went to another panel on the BFI and the building of their collection, after which point I went to the most insane panel of the whole day: Fatally Flawed Formats.
Chaired by Snowden Becker, the speakers were Dino Everett (Hugh Hefner Moving Image Archive), Tom Aschenbach (Colorlab), and Devin and Marsha Orgeron (The Moving Image and North Carolina State University). It was a fabulous panel. Each of the individuals presented issues of cinema that people had thought would work, but did not. How long each of the formats lasted...that was also fascinating.
The first format, Stereo Bolex, [presented by Aschenbach, had its general 3D flaws (eye-strain, focal plain problems, light loss) but it had deeper ones of no parallax correction, it used the smaller part of the 16mm frame with severe light fall-off, and had a very specialized lens and screen. On the other hand, as Aschenbach discussed, it also made some headway. It was the 1st available 3D format for amateur filmmakers, it had decent rendering, and it had some longevity.
The next format Dino said would beat everyone else's format in the "fatally flawed" category. The Pathe Monaco Camera was a practice in futility, frustration and, ultimately, obsolescence. The camera sold whopping less than 100 in total. It was released in June of 1956...and ended in December of 1956. And Dino actually has one. Even better?? I got to see stuff projected on it!!!
OK, so what's the big deal on this camera? Why is it so problematic? OK, so first of all, it's a small, small gauge. Not just small, it's tiny. This is 4.75mm. It's the smallest consumer invented. It has a lens for 9.5mm, but then you would have to turn the entire machine on its side and...you would end up scratching the film. That would be the first really fatal flaw.
Other big time problems associated with this are that the film falls off the reel continually. Not only that, but the film itself is dense, it relies on tension (not sprockets), and it had to be watched the entire time. While the system was probably, for all intents and purposes, intended to be for home use, it was still completely inadequate and totally, completely, unarguably flawed. However, it was soooo much fun to watch work!
After the final presentation on Kodacolor (also super exciting! Really want to look into the Bigelow Film Collection!), it was time for the Education Committee Meeting, which I think went really well. It was my first in a series of many communications with the committee, I hope, and I think it will be fruitful. I believe very much that moving image archive studies is important more now than ever, and that meeting was a good establishment for us to move forward.
After that, we had a lovely dinner together at Threadgill's, where I was able to meet some amazing people who had been at the education committee meeting and chat with them on a more intimate level.
I truly love the AMIA conference for nights and activities like that where we just get to hang out, have some great food, talk about film, databases, the future of moving image archiving and, perhaps, just random subject matter! Having fun with like-minds is totally priority at AMIA conferences. Luckily for me, it's the one place I really feel like I am able to do so. It's like Disneyland!
After dinner, I nipped off to one of the cool night events that AMIA had arranged! Film projected on fog by the lake! Remember that Phyllis Diller thing from Archival Screening Night?? It looked great on fog.
After I hung out with the fog and the films, I returned to the lounge at the hotel and reconnected with an old pal that I had spent time with last year in Philadelphia. He introduced me to some women that he was hanging out with, and we all sat around for an hour or two, had a drink, relaxed, talked, and it was one of the nicest evenings ever. Intelligent conversation about archiving, art, history and technology. Relaxation. Laughter. Could I have asked for more? This is why I love the AMIA conference!
The next day I was volunteering, so I didn't get to take many notes, but the rooms I was placed in were brilliant. The first one was about the American Archive Content Inventory Project.If you have not checked this out, I highly advise you do so immediately. Some of the most incredibly women in our field have been working on it and were there at the conference speaking to it, and it was a pretty incredible experience. I was rather bummed that I couldn't take notes, but...there's always next year!
The next panel I was at was a discussion about access to family collections chaired by Melissa Dollman, but led by Ned Thanhauser, Kim Stanton and Rick Prelinger. Once again, ideas of access, funding and online archiving came to the forefront, all of which I found not only interesting but personally utilitarian.
The final panel I volunteered for was one I was very thrilled for. The panel included Tim League from American Genre Film Archive (and the Alamo Drafthouse), Skip Elsheimer from A/V Geeks, Stephen Parr from Oddball Film and Walter Forsberg from NYU. All the presentations were absolutely marvelous! The title of the session was Really, What Are You Going to Do With That?: Preservation Perspectives on Unconventional Moving (and Not Moving) Images
The professionalism of each individual was delightful and the discussion of their archives and/or their specialty areas was fascinating. My interests do tend to lie in alternative areas, so I am aware of much of the work of these folks to an extent. However, the presentations themselves were not only enlightening but also furthered my knowledge of how their work fits in with the larger picture of the archiving world, an extreme crucial feature that I know that not everyone has considered. Much of the work that Tim League has accomplished with the American Genre Film Archive is quite specifically tied to 35mm, something that is in a very sticky place right now. That said, if you speak to him, that archive is exceptionally well-organized and doing quite well.
Indeed, there is a sense amongst all of these archives that the elements within their vaults may run a tendency towards the obsolete (or what is sadly becoming obsolete) at times. What concerns me about this is that I don't want to see the pieces described within this session go to dust. My dream would be to make sure they get funded for preservation, even if it is simply within their own archive. While the titles or subject matter of the "unconventional" may seem, well, unseemly at times, we should also remember that home movies were not always the "in" thing and neither were orphan films. I will champion the unconventional archives like American Film Genre Archive and Eyeball, etc., because they will provide us with the same social resonance that the orphan films and home movies do, simply in a fictional capacity. *steps down off soap box*
Finally, I attended the general membership meeting this year, because I swore to Wendy Shay up and down last year that I would. It was actually pretty cool. Learned a bunch of things about AMIA, got updated on what's going on, had a soda, and then scooted off to the final closing night cocktails (awwww!).
We had a great time connecting with people in the final cocktail hour (albeit hurried), and handing out the final slew of cards. My compatriot and myself socialized to the best of our exhausted abilities, after which we needed food. Actually, we needed BBQ (well, I needed BBQ, I think she was being nice. She's an exceptional individual. I am lucky to call her friend). So off to BBQ we went! And seeing as we were in Austin, it was damn good! After the BBQ, we both realized that we hadn't taken Austin up on her local music scene, so we did a bit of that as well, and went and saw a band at a bar that we had been recommended to. It was really great! Great music, great people, so very un-L.A.
We had plans to go to the LBJ Library early the next morning, but we slept a bit late, and she had to leave for her flight early, so we didn't end up going together. I did end up going, and BOY HOWDY. Wanna talk archives?? And an animatronic LBJ and history and...just so very much. But I have yet to have anyone in their right mind explain to me how Los Angeles, a city full of so very many taquerias, does not have the incredible invention that is known as the BREAKFAST TACO.
And if we do have somewhere that serves them, why has no one bothered to tell me where this place is? These things are pure, unadulterated magic. Much like the fried pickles. And close to the Jackalope which seems to run rampant throughout Austin and served as my dinner companion just before I left for the airport.
The next day was just as exciting as the first. There is always so many things to talk about at these conferences it is hard to make it concise! The first panel I went to was one that involved the 16mm nitrate films at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, as presented by Sabrina Negri as well as an excellent presentation on the Zapruder footage by Iwonka Swenson (National Geographic Television) and Dan Sullivan (Image Trends). The real coup for me on that panel, however, was the portion that was presented by Cassie Blake from the Academy Film Archive about the SabuCat Trailer Collection. I can't lie. I'm a sucker for trailers. And I've had many a discussion on the ways that trailers have evolved over the years and I think they are absolute treasures to our moving image archive world. Seeing Cassie's work (and Jeff Joseph's work before her) was truly legendary. I was moved, excited and thrilled. Even better? We got to see a fantastic trailer reel that included things like Lady in a Cage (1964) and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)!
Directly after that was the AMIA Awards and Scholars Luncheon which was quite lovely. The food was nice, the company (as always) was great and I had a chance to reconnect with a few women I hadn't seen since Philadelphia last year. Plus, the chair of our Moving Image Archive Studies program, Jonathan Furner was there with us for the lunch, so that was fun too!
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| Flawed Projectors!!! |
Chaired by Snowden Becker, the speakers were Dino Everett (Hugh Hefner Moving Image Archive), Tom Aschenbach (Colorlab), and Devin and Marsha Orgeron (The Moving Image and North Carolina State University). It was a fabulous panel. Each of the individuals presented issues of cinema that people had thought would work, but did not. How long each of the formats lasted...that was also fascinating.
The first format, Stereo Bolex, [presented by Aschenbach, had its general 3D flaws (eye-strain, focal plain problems, light loss) but it had deeper ones of no parallax correction, it used the smaller part of the 16mm frame with severe light fall-off, and had a very specialized lens and screen. On the other hand, as Aschenbach discussed, it also made some headway. It was the 1st available 3D format for amateur filmmakers, it had decent rendering, and it had some longevity.
 | |
| Stereo Bolex camera |
The next format Dino said would beat everyone else's format in the "fatally flawed" category. The Pathe Monaco Camera was a practice in futility, frustration and, ultimately, obsolescence. The camera sold whopping less than 100 in total. It was released in June of 1956...and ended in December of 1956. And Dino actually has one. Even better?? I got to see stuff projected on it!!!
OK, so what's the big deal on this camera? Why is it so problematic? OK, so first of all, it's a small, small gauge. Not just small, it's tiny. This is 4.75mm. It's the smallest consumer invented. It has a lens for 9.5mm, but then you would have to turn the entire machine on its side and...you would end up scratching the film. That would be the first really fatal flaw.
Other big time problems associated with this are that the film falls off the reel continually. Not only that, but the film itself is dense, it relies on tension (not sprockets), and it had to be watched the entire time. While the system was probably, for all intents and purposes, intended to be for home use, it was still completely inadequate and totally, completely, unarguably flawed. However, it was soooo much fun to watch work!
 | ||
| Only 100 in existence, and I got to see one of 'em do its thang! I got lucky in Austin, yo! |
After that, we had a lovely dinner together at Threadgill's, where I was able to meet some amazing people who had been at the education committee meeting and chat with them on a more intimate level.
I truly love the AMIA conference for nights and activities like that where we just get to hang out, have some great food, talk about film, databases, the future of moving image archiving and, perhaps, just random subject matter! Having fun with like-minds is totally priority at AMIA conferences. Luckily for me, it's the one place I really feel like I am able to do so. It's like Disneyland!
After dinner, I nipped off to one of the cool night events that AMIA had arranged! Film projected on fog by the lake! Remember that Phyllis Diller thing from Archival Screening Night?? It looked great on fog.
 |
| Bat Educational film- reminiscent of the bat that flew into the Paramount Theater during the Archival Screening night... |
The next day I was volunteering, so I didn't get to take many notes, but the rooms I was placed in were brilliant. The first one was about the American Archive Content Inventory Project.If you have not checked this out, I highly advise you do so immediately. Some of the most incredibly women in our field have been working on it and were there at the conference speaking to it, and it was a pretty incredible experience. I was rather bummed that I couldn't take notes, but...there's always next year!
The next panel I was at was a discussion about access to family collections chaired by Melissa Dollman, but led by Ned Thanhauser, Kim Stanton and Rick Prelinger. Once again, ideas of access, funding and online archiving came to the forefront, all of which I found not only interesting but personally utilitarian.
The final panel I volunteered for was one I was very thrilled for. The panel included Tim League from American Genre Film Archive (and the Alamo Drafthouse), Skip Elsheimer from A/V Geeks, Stephen Parr from Oddball Film and Walter Forsberg from NYU. All the presentations were absolutely marvelous! The title of the session was Really, What Are You Going to Do With That?: Preservation Perspectives on Unconventional Moving (and Not Moving) Images
The professionalism of each individual was delightful and the discussion of their archives and/or their specialty areas was fascinating. My interests do tend to lie in alternative areas, so I am aware of much of the work of these folks to an extent. However, the presentations themselves were not only enlightening but also furthered my knowledge of how their work fits in with the larger picture of the archiving world, an extreme crucial feature that I know that not everyone has considered. Much of the work that Tim League has accomplished with the American Genre Film Archive is quite specifically tied to 35mm, something that is in a very sticky place right now. That said, if you speak to him, that archive is exceptionally well-organized and doing quite well.
 |
| American Genre Film Archive |
Indeed, there is a sense amongst all of these archives that the elements within their vaults may run a tendency towards the obsolete (or what is sadly becoming obsolete) at times. What concerns me about this is that I don't want to see the pieces described within this session go to dust. My dream would be to make sure they get funded for preservation, even if it is simply within their own archive. While the titles or subject matter of the "unconventional" may seem, well, unseemly at times, we should also remember that home movies were not always the "in" thing and neither were orphan films. I will champion the unconventional archives like American Film Genre Archive and Eyeball, etc., because they will provide us with the same social resonance that the orphan films and home movies do, simply in a fictional capacity. *steps down off soap box*
Finally, I attended the general membership meeting this year, because I swore to Wendy Shay up and down last year that I would. It was actually pretty cool. Learned a bunch of things about AMIA, got updated on what's going on, had a soda, and then scooted off to the final closing night cocktails (awwww!).
We had a great time connecting with people in the final cocktail hour (albeit hurried), and handing out the final slew of cards. My compatriot and myself socialized to the best of our exhausted abilities, after which we needed food. Actually, we needed BBQ (well, I needed BBQ, I think she was being nice. She's an exceptional individual. I am lucky to call her friend). So off to BBQ we went! And seeing as we were in Austin, it was damn good! After the BBQ, we both realized that we hadn't taken Austin up on her local music scene, so we did a bit of that as well, and went and saw a band at a bar that we had been recommended to. It was really great! Great music, great people, so very un-L.A.
 |
| Holy archives, Batman! LBJ-irific! |
There are secrets in them thar' hills, I tells ye, there are secrets! Fried pickles, jackalopes, breakfast tacos, beautiful theaters that screen 35mm prints and serve you drinks and delicious food...Is Austin Shangri-La? Will I be able to find my way back? Do I want to do so? Once there, would I be allowed to leave? Is it my Lost Horizon? It may be too soon to tell, but what I can say is that the AMIA Conference of 2011 sure gave me a decent taste, and if I wanted to give it a shot...I would give it my all to go back for more!
-Ariel
-Ariel
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