Metadata Collection and the Archiving of Analogue and Digital Films

While film archiving, collecting and preservation practices go back to the origins of cinema in the 1890s, approaches to film annotation and metadata collection have changed dramatically and continue to transform exponentially in the digital age. The purpose of the Media Ecology Project-Domitor Library of Congress Paper Print Pilot (MEP-LOC-PPP) is to start from the beginning of film history while also taking advantage of technological advances. The MEP is currently in its beginning stages, holding a small digital collection of films (currently at 150, set for a total of 3000) from the early 1900\u27s, including movies directed by D.W. Griffith and starring the first recognized actress, the Biograph Girl , Florence Lawrence. Each film that is within the collection is being closely examined frame by frame and second by second. Through the work conducted on the MEP, I have been able to collect and analyze metadata pertaining to actor movements, editing, mise-en-scène and shot sequencing. This collection of metadata allows for the MEP to use this comparable data throughout the archive of early cinema films to examine and study the similarities and differences and to garner a greater understanding of film in our ever changing digital world. In contrast, through my work on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Mellencamp 16mm film collection, I have been able to gain hands on experience in preservation and archiving that has a more physical application in the study of classic film prints. By conducting these comparative examinations we intend to show how annotating and analyzing film in its multitude of formats can provide a greater understanding of film in a historical context, as well as aid in efforts to preserve these prints and their history for future generations