Northern Region Film and Television Archive

Handling and identification

Whether you’re concerned about the longevity of your home movie collection or have decided to actively pursue a personal collection having just found a box of old Super8s at a car boot sale, you’ll probably want to maintain your films’ physical condition for as long as possible. To help ensure this, a few simple measures are necessary, entailing identification, a basic knowledge of film care and future storage considerations.

First of all it is crucial to establish a few identifying features of your film. It is possible to perform a useful inspection without a myriad of equipment. First of all have a look at the can or container and record any information written or printed (you may wish to keep a record of each film or create a database). It could be the name of a holiday location or it could be a label with data referring to chemical processes used in the developing stage. If the metal canister housing the film is very rusty or if it is in a cardboard box it would be well worth investing in a new plastic can (but for now simply note this).

• Find a hard, flat, dust-free surface and make sure your hands are clean (lint-free cotton gloves are useful but not essential). Note the gauge by measuring the width of the film in millimetres from outer edge to outer edge. Unroll a few feet of film and see if you notice any markings or titles printed in the adjoined ‘leader’ (a constituent buffer between the end of the reel and the actual beginning of film content).

• Now unroll the film a bit more (taking care to hold the film by the edges) beyond the leader until you see images and examine it the same way, i.e. looking for any titles or noticeable markings (a photographic loupe is ideal but a magnifying glass will suffice). To identify the film base, date codes, perforation sizes, type of sound stripe (if there is one) and other useful characteristics there are numerous useful resources available on the web.

Continue to Film care

Useful external links and information related to this section:

Stocks and soundtracks

Film stock date codes

Film specifications