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Preservation and technical research

All audio-visual materials are subject to degradation and require conservation and sometimes transfer to new formats. To help safeguard and provide access to the NFSA’s collection, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has teams of expert technicians, skilled in handling all audio-visual media using extensive technical facilities.

We are acknowledged as a world leader in scientific archival research, and some research projects are detailed in the following technical papers.

  • Re-adhering a lifted magnetic stripe

    The mid 1950s saw the expansion in the use of magnetic-optical projection systems and the increased demand from television for film with magnetic sound. This was achieved by adding a thin stripe of magnetic material along one side of the film. Over time the striped magnetic coating can lift from the film leading to the loss of the audio component. This project was to look at the modes of failure of the adhesion of the stripe and to develop a technique for readhering the stripe to the film restoring the audio component.

  • The effect of decomposing cellulose triacetate motion picture film base on the gelatin emulsion and silver image

    In conjunction with the State Library of Queensland we are examining the conditions, due to base decomposition, that lead to changes in the structure of the silver image within film emulsion. In particular this project is looking for the physical condition of the emulsion at the point where changes in the silver image affect the modulation transfer function of the film.

  • Surveying the state of audiovisual archiving in Papua New Guinea

    One of the directions the NFSA is actively pursuing is further developing our relationship with the audiovisual archiving community within the SE Asia and Pacific region.