| Millimeter Magazine: July 1999
RISING STOCK - THE BOOM IN LICENSED IMAGES CONTINUES
Archival Footage: While theoretically, footage
can be considered archival the moment is has been shot, technically,
it must be around for a little longer than that. "I
think that 10 years makes something archival," says
Joe Lauro, president of Historic Films. "We always try
to keep 10 years behind the times."
In the business for the past eight years, Historic Films owns
thousand of hours of transferred and logged vintage (1890 to 1990)
footage from silent films. Hollywood features, short comedies, industrial
films, travelogues, fashion footage, contemporary beauty shots,
early television shows, TV commercials, and home movies. The company
also offers one of the world's largest libraries of musical performance
footage, with offerings from jazz, blues, disco, rock'n roll, and
country. "We have about 40,000 different performances
dating from the 1920's to the 1990's," says Lauro.
All footage exists in its original format, which Lauro says is
generally 35mm nitrate negative or 8mm for film and "everything
from the old 2-inch quad tapes down to VHS" for tape. However, the
company can provide the footage in a number of present day formats,
from SuperVHS to DigiBeta to film negatives," says
Lauro, adding that the company plans to convert to high definition
in the future. |
