In this research presentation, I will report on the work in progress of the project DREAM-Film. This project aims to develop methodologies and tools that meet audiovisual archives’ needs, reducing cinematographic film costs in time and resources by combining technical-scientific sciences with humanities and social sciences.

In the first part of my presentation, I will overview the principal methodologies used to study film materials through imaging systems, such as multi-spectral and hyper-spectral acquisition, and pointwise spectrophotometric analysis. Different film materials’ physical and chemical characteristics will be presented, commented and related to the digitization process.

In the second part, I will present the results of some experiments and tests on different commercial film scanners, and I will outline the main parameters and functions that usually control image acquisition and processing. This analysis will lead to the first result of my project, which is the development of guidelines for digitization and film acquisition to be shared among different archives, considering their different resources and infrastructures.

In conclusion, I will present concrete examples of the application of material studies not only for digitization purposes but also for image and video restoration and quality assessment.

Bio - Alice Plutino

Alice Plutino (Ph.D., Università degli Studi di Milano, 2021) is MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam with a project entitled “Democratising Research and Restoration of Audiovisual Media and Film (DREAM-Film)” (https://dream-film.humanities.uva.nl/).

Her research interests are Color Science, Colorimetry, Image Enhancement, Image Digitization, and Archiving, with a particular interest in Cultural Heritage applications. She is the author of the book “Tecniche di Restauro Cinematografico” and several journal and conference papers of national and international relevance. She is an Adjunct Professor at Università degli Studi di Milano and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, teaching digital film restoration and digital media conservation. She is a member of the Italian color group, deputy editor of the Color Culture and Science Journal (CCSJ), vice-coordinator of Division 1, and coordinator of Division 8 of NC CIE Italy.

If you want to receive the readings, please contact: Floris Paalman  <F.J.J.W.Paalman@uva.nl>