Alyosha Nowlin, Bay Area Video Coalition, Summer 2021
This internship has focused on a collection of materials that were assembled over time from a variety of productions, and which in large part represent a cross-section of work by Bay Area video artists. Tapes in the collection consist primarily of programs that were either produced at BAVC or with the assistance of BAVC staff, sometime since the late 1970s.
Formats found in this videotape collection include various open reel formats such as 1/2", 1" EV, 1" SMPTE, and 2", as well as various cassette formats including U-matic, BetaSP, Digital Betacam, VHS, S-VHS, DVCAM, and MiniDV. Having assigned identifiers to as many tapes as possible, and having inspected each tape during that process, a central objective of this internship has been to, then, preserve the content digitally according to the rigorous standards of BAVC’s workflow, prior to their move to new facilities.
Above all, this internship has keened my focus to a number of specific video errors of which I was not previously aware. Moreover, I have learned a variety of techniques which can be used to mitigate such errors, if not eliminate them entirely from a capture. The distinction between flagging versus tracking errors, the use of tracking control to improve RF performance, and the tense, mechanical feel of U-matic “skew” have been particularly well-imprinted. Daily and repeated use of both digital and analog waveform monitors and vectorscopes has enhanced my familiarity with these machines, how they relate to hardware components, and with what the modification of their settings may offer to improve the image and thus obtain a truly ideal and “boutique” capture.