AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Studios seeing the dollars and sense in preservation - Hollywood Reporter

Many indie films still gathering dust

Much is made of the need to preserve old films for art’s sake. Funds are raised, grants given out to ensure that even cinematic historical footnotes like the 1945 Fox melodrama “Leave Her to Heaven” are given as much care and attention as, say, the Mona Lisa. But in the end, the real reason more and more movies are being preserved these days is about economics. After decades of letting films decay, the industry has seen the light, which came — as many Hollywood epiphanies do — in the form of flashing dollar signs.

Credit Blu-Ray Disc, its antecedent DVD and high-definition television. The proliferation of such technology has educated the consumer, creating a demand for high-quality images and audio, and has given studios an ideal economic motive for keeping their libraries in top condition. And once most consumers become accustomed to crisp visuals and booming audio, nothing less will do.

Michael Pogorzelski, director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Film Archive, points back to the jump from VHS to DVD as film preservation’s turning point. “The picture quality and audio quality went up so astronomically compared to VHS, everyone at the studios said, ‘We’ve got to make sure that all the films look and sound as good as they can, and the only way to do that is to go back to the original elements.’ And that’s when you saw them seeing a real economic incentive to get their libraries in shipshape.”

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