历史上的电影纸拷贝

Paper Print Copy of Film in History

1912年以前,由于电影对于美国的著作权法还是一个新鲜的事物,电影的著作权还没有包括在内。为了保护电影的著作权,人们想出了一种办法,那就是将电影印到相纸上,形成电影的纸拷贝,使其成为静止的照片,从而转变成为受著作权法保护的对象。这种做法用今天的眼光看似乎过于迂腐笨拙了,然而在当时的条件下,这种方法确实起到了保护知识产权的作用,而且令人完全没有想到且应该颇感庆幸的是,这一时期实际的电影连同其底片由于硝酸片的不稳定性,后来陆续都衰变损毁了,而存放在国会图书馆无人过问的纸拷贝,却因为其黑白银影像连同相纸固有的长期稳定性和保存性而被基本保留下来。通过介质形式的转换,今天的观众终于又可以亲眼目睹100来年以前电影的风采,甚至可以通过互联网调阅观看这些电影了。本文介绍了美国早期电影纸拷贝的来源和物理特性,以及电影纸拷贝介质转换的三次努力和最近的数字化工程。

Before 1912,during the early days of the history of cinematography,the copy right law didn’t cover motion picture films,the film makers had to make paper print copies of their films to protect their right.Since ancient films were made with cellulose nitrate film base which is unsafe and unstable,these films deteriorated during the long time storage.Fortunately,the paper prints copies of ancient films kept in the library of National Congress are intact during the storage,now they become very valuable and can be used to make new copies of ancient motion picture films by using modern digital imaging devices.This paper expatiated on this subject,introduced the origin of the paper print copies of motion picture films and their physical characteristics and the three struggles of their media transfer and also their recent digital engineering.