Oddball Films

Internship Portfolio
John F. Kennedy University

Fall 2016

Overview

Goals and Outcomes

Evidence

An overview statement of
my overall experience
while interning at Oddball
Films.

A list of my learning goals

and accompanying
activities for my internship
at Oddball Films.

Photos and descriptions of

the work I performed
during my internship at
Oddball Films.

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Overview Statement
I began interning as Oddballs Film and Digital Media Archivist Intern
in August 2016. My duties were to assist in day-to-day operations
including researching footage requests, film and digital image archiving,
film and video logging, off-line time code editing, database entry and
other technical and organizational duties as needed.
Over the course of 4 months I researched and cataloged 78 new films
into Oddballs permanent collection. I also uploaded and described
approximately 80 clips onto Oddballs website. These projects fit in
with the organizations mission overall because if new films are not
cataloged into the database then they wont be easily found or
researched for potential licensing. Same goes for clips uploaded to
Oddballs website. If footage is
not uploaded to the site for
people to preview then it
means they have to contact a
staff person to perform
research. Uploading clips to
the website is a faster way to
get footage identified for
licensing projects.
I was able to do a few small
projects from start to finish;
researching, cataloging,
condition reporting, digitizing, shelving, breaking up into clips and
uploading clips to the website. The experience of being able to do these
projects from start to finish is extremely valuable because now I know
everything that needs to be done and in the event that I work for an
organization that has a need to do these things but does not have the
capacity, I am now knowledgeable enough about the process that I can
outsource for the necessary processes to be completed.

Oddball Films is a unique

stock footage company
specializing in offbeat
footage. They have an
extensive collection of
rare, entertaining,
eclectic and eye-opening
subjects, as well as
classic archival, historical
and contemporary clips to
support any project.
Their images have been
used in feature films,
television, music videos,
industrials and
multimedia projects
worldwide.
http://www.oddballfilms.com/

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Learning Goals and Outcomes

I became interested in this position because I want to learn more about caring for film
collections. In my experience I have found that a lot of smaller archives and historical societies
dont know how to care for the film they acquire and accession into in their collections. There
are so few dedicated film archives out there to gain hands-on experience and Oddball Films
was offering a unique opportunity to get some hands on experience in managing their
collection.
Learning Goal 1: Best practices for
managing film collections
A: Learn the best practices for physically handling
and storing film reels, video tapes, etc
Activity:
Learned the history of different film bases
Learned the best environments for storage
Learned new terms to condition report
Learned acquisition and accessioning procedures
Learned to store new acquisitions
Learned to deaccession
Product:
Researched, condition reported, cataloged and
stored 78 films
B: Learn the best practices for migrating and
digitizing film reels, video tapes, etc
Activity:
Learned to clean films for transfer
Learned to operate ELMO, patch bay, monitor,
Final Cut Pro 7, Black Magic for transferring
analog materials to digital
Learned to build and break down a compilation
reel
Learned resources for out of house transferring of
analog materials
Product:
Cleaned and transferred 5 films
C: Learn the best practices for creating and
maintaining metadata for digital files and database
research
Activity:
Learned the principles of time code
Learned how to research films using edge code
and internet resources
Learned how to create object identification

numbers and best file naming procedures

Learned to break up films into clips
Product:
Broke up 7 films and 15 television episodes into
clips and created metadata for uploading to
website

Learning Goal 2: Learn the best practices

for making archival moving images
accessible to the public

Activity:
Learned to operate and troubleshoot legacy
analog equipment used for transfer
Learned back up procedures for digital materials
Pulled films for twice weekly film screenings
Learned to use metadata to catalog clips for
public access on website
Product:
Cataloged and uploaded approximately 80 clips
for viewing on Oddball Films website

Learning Goal 3: Make professional

networking connections with Oddball Films
and other related agencies
Activity:
Meet others interested in the film archive
Attend one film screening
Product:
Attended Seasonal Seminar Series with guest Mark
Huestis- Notes From the Underground Archives:
How a Tacky 50s Educational Film Found In a
Trashcan Jump Started My Film Career October
4, 2016
Attended Schoolhouse Schlock screening on
September 30, 2016

Researching films can be done

online in WorldCat and
general internet searches. The
way to get the most
information is to watch the
film and pay careful attention
to the beginning and end
credits.

Did you know?

Researching

Film is the longest lasting moving image medium.

Evidence

Storage
Finding the space to store 78
newly acquisitioned films proved
challenging. These new films
took up almost all of the
remaining storage space.

Editing
Every film that is transferred
requires approximately 5
hours of editing and working
with the digital file. The edit
suite contains all of the legacy
equipment used for
transferring analog materials
as well as storage for hard
drives with backed up digital
files.
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Cleaning
Inspecting, repairing,
condition reporting and
cleaning film are an
important parts of
managing a film
collection. I learned how
to clean film using Solvon
film cleaning solvent with
a cloth on the rewind
reels. It is especially
important to clean film
before running it through
a telecine for transfer.
This will remove a great
deal of dust and give the
best quality digital
transfer possible. The
solvent used to clean film
is toxic and requires the
use of goggles, a
respiration mask and
rubber work gloves.

Weve seen growing awareness

of film preservation, yet the
deterioration and eventual
disappearance of films have not
come to an end. Theres still a
race against the clock to save
what we can at some point.
-Martin Scorsese

Inspection and Repair

Repairing bad splices and torn

perforations are important for
the film to run smoothly
through the projector during
transfer.

Thank you to the staff at Oddball Films for teaching this

museum nerd everything about film.

Ashley Franks-McGill
(714) 933-0073
afranksmcgill@gmail.com
Visit my blog to read more about my internship experience:

http://ashleyfranksmcgill.weebly.com/blog