Atempo Digital Archive Customer Story: Preserving 70 years of Film History at NFB

Customer Story: Preserving 70 years of Film History at NFB

Recognized worldwide for artistic excellence and innovation, the National Film Board of Canada serves as an unmatched laboratory where Canadian filmmakers can take artistic and technical risks in creating otherwise difficult-to-produce cultural content. Today, NFB is at the crossroads of innovation in the 21st century, bringing the NFB’s tradition of trailblazing to the multi-platform digital universe. Their challenge: making their collections available to all Canadians and the film industry, on the platform of their choice, while preserving this priceless audiovisual legacy for generations to come. Full Story >>

Objectives

Improve accessibility of NFB works in digital formats, including new media.
Restore NFB works that have deteriorated.

Challenges

Digitally preserving the extensive NFB collection.
Making works accessible for viewing and content repurposing.
Containing exponential data volume growth due to digital content.

Solution

Atempo Digital Archive is used to archive all digital masters and source files, including related meta-data, for restored and new works.

Results

70 years of digital history preserved and a solid archiving system in place for future projects.

About the National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produces and distributes bold and distinctive social issue documentaries, auteur animation, alternative drama and innovative digital content that provide the world with a unique Canadian perspective. Since the NFB's founding in 1939, it has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies.

Profile: NFB Filmmaker Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren was a constant innovator, pushing the boundary of traditional animation. McLaren would scratch, paint and even put holes directly on film, coming up with new ways to combine visuals and sound. In his 1952 film, Neighbours, McLaren used stop motion to animate real people, two neighbors, whose friendship deteriorates when they fight over a single flower that blooms between their yards. The eight-minute film with its strong anti-war message is considered one of McLaren’s best works.