Another major attribute of motion picture film, relative to video, is longevity. Amongst the family archives I inherited were a number of reels of 9.5mm Pathe (B+W) and 8mm Kodak (B+W and color) shot by my grandfather between 1925 and 1960 or so. I bit the bullet, so to speak, and had high-quality digital transfers made for the family.
These two images have particular significance:
- Joe_2 is the only known image of my dad's cousin, Joe, as an infant, shot in late 1925 or early '26.
- Paula_01, shot in early 1938, is one of the only images I have of my great-grandfather smiling as he plays with one of his later grandchildren.
Long way of saying that motion picture film, like still image film, is something that can be "discovered" by future generations and provide context for those who came before. I have no such expectation that videotape or d*****l will be around 20 years from now, let alone 100 or more.