CFPL-TV (F 4396-1-1)

In 2002 the Archives received a donation from CHUM Television’s London station, The New PL. This donation consists of 2,700 cans of mostly black and white 16mm film – about 450 hours worth – many with accompanying scripts. This substantial contribution represents a significant portion of the news film originally recorded for CFPL-TV in London, Ontario, from the day it first began broadcasting in November 1953 until December 1968.

CFPL-TV was the second private television broadcaster to go on-air in Canada. The CFPL-TV footage is a significant historical record of life in southwestern Ontario over a 15-year period. CHUM Television has also provided significant financial support to fund the stabilization and re-housing of the CFPL-TV material.

Here, a Special Projects Archivist examines a reel of 16mm news film looking for evidence of damage or excessive wear.

Sometimes information has been completely lost from a damaged film. When this occurs, a customized patch is created to fit and fill in for the missing information. This is done so that when it is copied the film can properly feed through a printer or scanner. The patch is created using a piece of black leader which masks the white flash that would be seen as the missing section passes by the lens. This way it will block the light and thus not be as harsh on the eyes when viewed.

The top image above shows a section of film from the CFPL collection with information missing from a series of frames. The lower image shows where the customized patch or slug was created to fit the exact area where information was lost. This patch is carefully traced and cut to fit the missing section and then held in place with splicing tape.

Sometimes, if the damage is more extensive, frames may have to be cut out in order to rejoin the film and make it playable. Once the damaged material is cut away, the strip of film is then rejoined using traditional film editing techniques that are accepted as archival.

At a film speed of 24 frames per second, the loss of a frame or two to facilitate a repair represents minimal loss of information.

If needed, the bond can always be broken mechanically without damage to the film.

In some instances only the sprocket holes are damaged and not the image area of the film. Sprocket holes are repaired using a perforation repair tape that has its own built-in adhesive.

Some facilities are able to reconstruct missing or damaged images digitally. It won't be before this technology becomes more widespread.

All of the CFPL-TV film donated to the Archives is on cellulose acetate film and most of it was stored in metal cans. Like many older bases, cellulose acetate is inherently unstable, and unless kept in carefully controlled cold storage will deteriorate. This particular example from the T. Eaton Co. fonds shows the characteristic “spoking” of a film reel that has been improperly stored.

A standard practice in many newsrooms was to label films with a piece of adhesive – in this case, surgical tape. Over time the adhesive bonds to the film and becomes very difficult to remove.

Some tape adhesives can be acidic and can be damaging to the film. This causes both chemical changes in the silver crystals and discolouration of the transport base.

At the Archives, staff carefully pry away the tape and remove any remaining tape and adhesive with a solvent-based film cleaner. Any identifying information on it is transferred to new strips of leader that are spliced onto the head and tail (beginning and end) of the reel.

Here we see a picture of a full-coat magnetic soundtrack that is suffering from Vinegar Syndrome. It is a particular problem with magnetic film, because the metal particles react with the acetate transport base. Notice the spots of rust to the left of the reels. The acetic acid has penetrated the metal can causing it to rust.