In the preservation world of magnetic tape media, mold is an enemy. It is a hard stop in the process to digitize one's media. This means, if it is identified, the tape must not be played before being cleaned. For many for-profit digitizing companies, this means handing back the tape to their customers while letting them know there is nothing they can do about it because they don't offer mold cleaning services.
T.A.P.E. has been interested in making sure we never have to have that conversation with our patrons. We are consistently impressed with how intact the media is underneath the mold after a cleaning. In this post we're going to discuss the cleaning process used to digitize Nancy Lomeli's birthday party, documented in 1996 in Jalisco, MX at her grandfather's ranch Santa Martha, that is now a historical landmark.
Footage of mold-cleaned VHS, courtesy of Nancy Lomeli
We've recently acquired a cleaner specifically for mold cleaning tapes, donated by our volunteer Jason Flood. But we'll get into how this specific cleaning was done by hand and why.
3D Printed Tape Cleaner
Why does mold grow on tape-based media? We're working on a more technical post about these questions, but for now let's talk about the basics. Magnetic tape media loves a dry, relatively cool and stable environment. Unlike film, the coldest temperatures are not required for healthy tape storage - a stable neutral temperature that is on the cool side is ideal - and humidity levels might be the more important factor for tape storage.
In an environment that is both fluctuating in temperature and humidity, not only will the quality of tape playback be affected due to the physicality of the tape being stressed as their materials loosen and tighten their physical structures - materials that make of the tape base and the binding agent potentially become misaligned, shifted and even detached from the other - but this is a perfect scenario for mold to grow on the media. It's kind of gross but just like mushrooms growing out in the woods, if your tapes are exposed to moisture, and a relative humidity level is maintained or fluctuates high and low, that is a perfect scenario for mold to grow.
How do we know if tapes are moldy? You can physically see it! It can look like a very obvious growth, as in the picture above with the tape on the cleaner where you can easily see the mold present on the tape. It can also be more subtle, sometimes just small dots that you might confuse as dust or dirt. Sometimes the mold is more attached to the spool plastic than the tape itself, but this still would warrant a cleaning, especially if the mold is still active and growing.
If you play a moldy tape in a player, not only are you putting your tapes at risk of damage, but the player itself. You would need to perform a very thorough cleaning for that player and even after that you can't be totally sure mold was not released into the player, providing the potential for it to latch on to your next tapes and affect playback.
Dried mold on Lomeli's tapes
So these tapes belonging to Nancy looked a little different but we knew immediately that it was a moldy situation. As we attempted to wind Nancy's tapes back and forth on their spools we noticed the tape was sticking to itself. Immediately we noticed the mold seemed more dried and sticky, even brownish, potentially a scenario where dust had interacted with the mold when it was more active and in its moist environment. If we were to put the tape on a cleaner the tape likely would have ripped.
Cleaning by hand
We decided to switch modes into a more meticulous and time-consuming method for cleaning - by hand. We used 91% isopropyl alcohol on a small foam swap and saturated the tape underneath its spools enough so that it could begin to unstick itself from the rest of the tape and the sides of the spools. As we cleaned in this way we hand-wound it, making sure the other spool was clean as the tape arrived on it. Once we painstakingly accomplished this hand cleaning and winding, the tape was able to move more easier onto it's spools and looked much cleaner so we assembled it back together and was able to finish the cleaning by using our tape cleaner.
It was a time-consuming process, but there is no other way this tape could have been rescued from becoming not only "lost" media, but lost precious memories for our Patron Nancy Lomeli and her family. We love being able to provide this service - and it's all the more worth it when we to hear feedback like this:
"All my cousins who appear in the videos were very grateful for T.A.P.E. saving our VHS" - Nancy Lomeli
Her mother will be traveling from Mexico for a visit this year - and we're very excited to hear she is bringing us more tapes to transfer!
T.A.P.E.
is a 501(c) 3 non-profit dedicated to faciliating access to analog
media making, preservation, and exhibition. To support our work and
access great benefits, join our patreon at just $5/month.
You'll get access to exclusive rates for our rental equipment library,
access to our digital and physical videotape library, and other member
benefits like free workshops.
We've launched a $6,000 goal for GoFundMe to buy essential digitization equipment to provide more archival transfer services for more tape formats. A donation will advance the work of people-oriented digitization services!
Over a handful of Tuesdays in September, T.A.P.E. workshops led a series of analog filmmaking proficiency workshops, free to members of our Patreon.
Celebrating a summer of amazing preservation efforts, including the launch of Home Video Day in August, we were ready to get back to filmmaking workshops. Past participants have asked us for more hands-on time with the cameras and developing tanks, with the goal of developing greater knowledge and fluidity with these tools. And as a rental library for our equipment, we want to prolong the life of our tools by handing them off to confident technicians.
Bolex H16 Rex 5 Proficiency Series
Tuesday, August 27 & Tuesday, September 3, 2024
We are able to offer these classes for free through the generous donations of Jessica G.Z. and Darrell Brett. Jessica, T.A.P.E.'s founder, is passionate about sharing their knowledge gained with over a decade of analog filmmaking and projection experience. Darrell graduated from CalArts where his focus was the photochemical process, cinematography and projection. He is the head projectionist at Brain Dead Studios on Fairfax, where Jessica projects film and video as well.
The first two workshops covered essential skills and knowledge about the Bolex Rex-5 camera, currently available for rental at just $25/day for T.A.P.E. members. Participants learned essential skills such as:
Identify all the parts of the camera
Read a light meter
Set diopters to their eyesight
Focus their image
Load 16mm film
Understanding shutter speed & shutter angle
They also got to play with some of features that make a Bolex Rex-5 magical such as:
Double exposure with the frame counter and wind key
In-camera transitions
With their combined experience, our teachers offered advice on analog and digital workflows, including essential knowledge on accessing affordable developing and scanning lab services. These conversations empowered new filmmakers to be informed so they can talk to these technicians fluidity and with confidence, getting the results they want.
Before renting the Bolex, we require passing scores for a proficiency test, ensuring that the filmmaker can confidently care for our equipment. Those who attended the workshop were prepped for this proficiency test!
Lomo Tank Proficiency Series
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
The following week, Jessica led a Lomo Tank Proficiency workshop to prepare filmmakers for the essential skills in home developing motion picture film. Home developing can often be intimidating, so these essential skill workshops break down some of the more technical aspects to loading film into these specialty tanks.
Donated to T.A.P.E. by Mono Non Aware, the Lomo 8mm/16mm tank allows you to wind 2 rolls of small-gauge film into slotted grooves for even distribution of developing liquids.
It's magical to see how filmmakers get excited about home-developing projects, realizing the potential of saving money and experimenting visually.
In
February of this year MONO NO AWARE visited from Brooklyn NYC to teach
10 moving image related film workshops! Founder Steve Cossman took a break
from the nonprofit's regular year-round programming to join us and impart many
different tactile and DIY filmmaking techniques for all participants.
After a fun and free screening night where our participants were introduced to Mono's activities at their learning lab in Brooklyn, NY we embarked on a 10 day journey through many different film stocks, teachings around our gear, and community oriented styles of learning and guiding eachother through new information.
Our all volunteer staff learned so many different techniques and gained a very thorough understanding of the Bolex Rex cameras that our participants shot most of their workshop film on.
Many different offerings were on the table for this week, including:
FULL COLOR FILM TO FILM WORKFLOW, shooting color negative film and working with a lab for processing work and answer prints.
16MM MACRO CINEMATOGRAPHY, shooting macro images on a Bolex camera without macro specific lenses.
35MM MOTION AS STILL FILM, bulk
loading motion picture 35mm film into used still photography canisters
for full-frame photography.
16MM COLOR PHOTOGRAMS, creating experimental images using objects and film images on color film.
TEST-IT-YOURSELF SUPER 8 CAMERA
WORKSHOP, allowing participants to bring in their Super 8 cameras for a
thorough function assessment.
DESKTOP PRINTER FILMMAKING ON 16MM CLEAR LEADER, learning special digital methods for creating frame based direct animation from video that then get printed directly onto film from table top laser printers.
COMPLETE DIY B&W FILM FLOW, learning how to operate the Bolex Rex camera, shooting b&w negative film, then how to edition one's work into prints in a DIY fashion.
16MM PHYTOGRAMS, using plant materials and non-toxic developer recipes for creating abstract moving images on film.
BRING YOUR OWN B&W NON-TOXIC PROCESSING PARTY AT 818 DARKROOM IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, a big accessible party that allowed you to bring your shot rolls of b&w films to then be processed in group-made non-toxic caffenol developers.
The week+ of workshops ended with a free to attend screening of all moving image work made during the workshops. This took place where most of our workshops happened - Whammy! Analog Media in the Echo Park/Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Everyone was encouraged to invite a loved one and especially anyone curious to see what 10 days of community oriented filmmaking can look like.
We all learned a lot and much fun was had!
Thank you to MONO NO AWARE for an unforgettable visit !
If you're ever in NYC, think of MONO NO AWARE as a great resource, and check to see if you can make an event or workshop!! You won't regret it.
The last direct animation we hosted at Whammy! occurred in the month of May 2023 and was split up into 2 separate groups to accommodate all the interest we were receiving at this point and was facilitated by our founder Jessica GZ and board member Dro Watson. We emphasized a history of direct animation techniques and accessibility of tools and supplies, providing Sharpies, ink and teaching the film loop.
More direct animation workshops were hosted in 2022, this time with the Echo Park Film Center! It was a free summer event that took place outdoors on the Whammy! patio with art supplies, snacks and outdoor projection!
This was a FREE, fun and casual introduction to the moving image through direct animation on film.
In most of these workshops participants are discovering direct animation techniques for their first time. This workshop in particular had an emphasis on accessible techniques and tools such as Sharpie pens and found footage manipulation.
Big thank you to EPFC for hanging on the patio and making films with us!
One of T.A.P.E. Collective's first events in 2022, an event that helped shape what we wanted to be, was this cameraless 16mm animation workshop facilitated by artist and local to Los Angeles filmmaker Erica Sheu, held at Whammy! Analog Media in the Echo Park/Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Erica has years of experience working primarily with moving image small gauge film in various ways that celebrate and center the defining characteristics and nature of the medium. This session was called Scratches, bubbles, fingerprints:
Erica Sheu
Everyone was provided with art supplies and tools to draw or ink directly onto the acetate clear leader film, or manipulate found footage by scratching and removal techniques, and were encouraged to play with the found sound tracks as well.
What comes out of direct cameraless animation is in the realm between fine and modern art. Participants were encouraged to expand their preconceived notion of what is deserving of our attention on screen, how far these techniques have woven their way into pop culture moving images we're familiar with and how fun and accessible filmmaking can be.
BIG THANKS to Erica Sheu for teaching us new techniques and encouraging the fun and exploratory elements of film!!
