Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

Recreating Motion Pictures From
Visual Artifacts
Daniel Woodruff
My mission as a preservationist has been to save films from the silent
era. It is common knowledge to most film historians that only 10% of all
films made during the silent era still exist. As I read about films in old
motion picture trade magazines that are now considered lost, I am filled
with curiosity about how certain films looked on the screen.
When I became the film curator for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences in 1981, my objective was to preserve all of the uncopied
silent-era films that were still stored at the Academy. By 1990 all of the
silent nitrate films that were in the Academy’s vaults were copied onto
safety film. However there were thousands of images from lost silent
films in the form of individual film frames that were awaiting conservation
in the Photographic Department in the Academy’s Margaret Herrick
Library. I decided I wanted to accomplish conservation on these fragile
images so that there would remain a visual record of these silent-era film
productions for future study.
As a special project, I combined the synopses (from either trade paper or
studio synopsis) and images (stills or frames) from a group of these
productions and recreated individual motion pictures in a silent-era
lantern “slide show” format. The most difficult part of this recreation
work is deciding where and how the appropriate image should illustrate
the story line. On average there are about seven images to represent one
reel of film. However, this is not always the case. Many times it is necessary
to repeat images or repeat image details (cropped enlargements of
images) of previously used images in order to better illustrate the story.
Although this process does not preserve actual motion picture footage,
it does preserve many aspects of the original motion picture production.
The physical look and gestures of the actors, sets, locations, art
direction, lighting, make up, etc. are all depicted in the new film
recreations.
After recreating a few lost films in this manner, it became apparent that
there was still an emotional pull derived from the presentation of the
series of images combined with the original synopses. In other words, in
this format, the presentation of the synopses and the corresponding
images was still entertaining as well as informative. The two collections
that yielded the most material for the film recreations were the William
N. Selig Collection of motion picture film frames and the Thomas H.
Ince Collection of still photographs.
The William N. Selig Motion Picture Frame Collection
The Selig Polyscope Company was one of the earliest of the major
American production companies, just as its founder, Colonel William N.
63 Journal of Film Preservation / 58/59 / 1999
Historical Column / Chronique
historique / Columna histórica