Are We To See A New Wave of Lost Media?

[George White]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/digital-preservation-film-tv-shows-archives-1235851957/ Interesting and scary article predicting that we're already in a BBC in the 70s-level archive purge, thanks to the fragility of digital files.

[Noodle Lizard]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/digital-preservation-film-tv-shows-archives-1235851957/ Interesting and scary article predicting that we're already in a BBC in the 70s-level archive purge, thanks to the fragility of digital files.

As someone who works in post-production, this article is just baffling to me. There are so many copies made of every cut, which are then disseminated to countless people both on physical drives and through online storage (not only Dropbox etc., but most major companies have their own dedicated FTP servers and systems), and the file types are so basic that even if they did one day fall out of favour, conversion would be an incredibly easy process (much moreso than finding the technology to interpret physical media, for instance).

The prevalence of streaming and on-demand services also means there are plenty of companies out there with full libraries of officially-sourced DCPs, not to mention physical releases. It's not remotely comparable to the days where a film had degradable masters and limited numbers of prints which could easily get lost or damaged.

Sounds like people trying to justify their jobs, tbh.

(P.S. I think most people agree the Toy Story 2 story is face-saving bollocks)

[Noodle Lizard]

Sorry, a late addendum to this: I think there is an increasing risk of media being lost to the public, just not the studios themselves. Fewer physical releases, things coming and going from streaming services, things being retroactively altered or censored for streaming, boring copyright disputes which sometimes result in even relatively well-known films and shows going "out of print" and becoming unavailable through legal means etc. There was a good long while where you couldn't watch Oscar-winning Leaving Las Vegas anywhere on demand, and could only buy overpriced and/or dodgy Blu-Ray/DVD copies from resellers. It's not the norm, but it can happen.

In some ways, piracy might be one of the most important tools for media preservation.

[famethrowa]

boring copyright disputes which sometimes result in even relatively well-known films and shows going "out of print" and becoming unavailable through legal means etc. .

This is true, movies can very quickly be taken off streaming services if they realise they might have to pay someone to use it, or get involved in ancient legal tangles.

A while back, I wanted to watch Local Hero, a very well known film. But it wasn't on any streaming, nothing on the pirate stuff and only old VHS tapes on eBay. So how was I going to see it? It seems to have appeared on Netflix or one of those now, but for how long?

[madhair60]

if something isn't available legally there's no moral issue with pirating it

if something IS available legally you should still pirate it though because it's free

people should be aware of this money saving tip

[Brundle-Fly]

My parents have drawers stuffed full of those newspaper cover mount free DVDs, hundreds of them. Classics like Brief Encounter, In Which We Serve, The Sea Hawk, Alfie... etc. They never get around to watching them so I was going to suggest to bin the lot to make space for their seventy years worth of greeting cards they've received over the course of their lives, but now I'm not so sure.

[Pranet]

I had one of those free DVDs I finally got round to watching something like 15 years after I got it. So you never know I suppose.

[mjwilson]

A while back, I wanted to watch Local Hero, a very well known film. But it wasn't on any streaming, nothing on the pirate stuff and only old VHS tapes on eBay. So how was I going to see it? It seems to have appeared on Netflix or one of those now, but for how long?

See also: 28 Days Later. (Or rather, don't, because you can't.)

[notjosh]

I don't think the situation is worse than it used to be for older films as they're still available on physical media, so streaming services are just another option.

The problem is newer stuff commissioned by streamers that has never been released physically at all. Was just looking for an example, and the first I found was Netflix's 2018 rom-com Set It Up, which I'm extremely fond of but is not available on DVD or blu-ray. I'm sure there are thousands of titles which will slip through the cracks when streamers get sold or go out of business, and will end up existing only as pirated files on various hard drives.

[Alternative Carpark]

A while back, I wanted to watch Local Hero, a very well known film. But it wasn't on any streaming, nothing on the pirate stuff and only old VHS tapes on eBay. So how was I going to see it? It seems to have appeared on Netflix or one of those now, but for how long?

That's odd, it's been available on DVD for years and there was a Blu-ray in 2019. Plenty of those are currently listed on eBay, I've just checked a few minutes ago.

[Memorex MP3]

Yep, but it's not gonna be shows on streaming services, that stuff mightn't be accessible legally but backchannels will persist; it'll be a combo of:

- huge chunks of Web 2.0 onwards that have been increasingly hard to archive
- virtually anything that relies on a discord community to stay alive/supported
- a loooooot of videogames that either require a centralised closed-source server to run or have arbitrary server requirements to prevent piracy; it's already hard enough to get custom servers made for PS2 online games that had relatively primitive systems to replicate

[Capt.Midnight]

Sometimes, you just gotta let go. Only the strongest media will survive, like Harry Potter..