Selection

Selecting data for long-term preservation is an important first step to defining a workflow and dedicating resources to the project. Archives develop specific collection strategies based on the mission of the institution and the scope of existing collections. Filmmakers preserve for commercial purposes and to increase awareness and discourse about their personal work and the art of filmmaking.

Personal archiving is more manageable when decisions about what to keep and why are identified:

  • Filmmakers who produce commercial or industrial films may only desire to save their final distribution files.

  • Explore donating the corpus of your work to an audiovisual archive. The archive will have collection guidelines that may help you to prioritize a long-term strategy for eventual donation.

  • Narrative or documentary filmmakers might want to preserve files that represent the artistic development of their projects and their personal decision-making process. Archives serve researchers who are interested in that artistic process and would value those materials.

Preservation activities should respect the unique aspects of a collection as a reflection of the artist.

  • Each filmmaker's process and organization is unique - that unique process and intellectual integrity should be retained in the digital materials.

  • Avoid reorganizing or renaming files unless it is part of the production process. There is no need to conform to any other organizational structure.

Storage and time to manage digital files can be expensive, and defining what to preserve will inform the financial and intellectual decisions needed to develop an efficient personal archiving workflow. Questions that guide selection include:

  • What is the significance of the digital files? Do they represent the intellectual process or commercial deliverables of a production?

  • Can the files be repurposed for future productions?

  • Does the filmmaker own the intellectual rights to the digital files selected for preservation?

  • Could anyone else make a copyright claim for any of the materials?

  • Are the materials unique or do they document a historical, political or cultural event or person?

  • Could the materials be used as evidence in a court of law?

The goal is to define what materials are worth the cost of long-term preservation and to develop a strategy for preserving those materials.