Sometimes bad things happen to good films.
In this case three feet (or about five seconds in running time) of perforations and about ¼th of the image area were stripped away on this 16mm original negative.
Matching up the tear is time consuming and requires precise registration. Multiple pieces of tape must be laid down and used to cover the tear only and not the entire image area to avoid introducing air bubbles or other defects that would show up in the image when being transferred.
Razor blades are used to pick up the ends of Mylar tape to avoid getting fingerprints, lint, or other debris transferred onto the tape as the repairs are being made. The blades are also used to make clean cuts where the tape will be laid down along the frame line so that the breaks don’t appear in the footage. White paper tape is used to keep the film from sliding around during the repair work and doesn’t leave any residue on the film or harm it.
The repair is then reinforced on the back and the tape is excised from the perforations.
Et Voila! The film is now repaired and we can move on to the rest of the preservation process. We’ll be creating a new print of this film so that the public can work with one of our vendors to receive the copies for their particular needs.