Annual report (1997-1998) of the Film Librarian of UNICA
Hans SCHOBER, Sankt-Gallen (Switzerland)

Good quality images in the Film/video Library of UNICA

Lately, films have been returned with negative remarks as for the quality of images. As the film librarian, I seek to provide the best possible image to federations. As vou all know, the quality of video copies decreases with each generation. In the last three years, I have sought to obtain a copy on the spot, immediately after projections during of the UNICA Contest so as to have the best possible quality. However, this ambition has not always been crowned with success, for two reasons :

1. the equipment available for the copy were not always optimal
2. the quality of the video presented did not allow to prepare a new generation (copy of a copy).

For these reasons, the Committee of UNICA has decided to ask authors to mention on the entry form for the UNICA Contest if they give permission to keep the video selected for the Film Library, immediately after the decision. This is probably the best way to guarantee optimal quality for the item sto be stored in the Library. If this permission is not given, we will have to ask national federations to provide an excellent copy for the Library, which will probably translate as additional work for all parties.

I am sure that all authors will be prepared to give such permission for the copy provided for performance to be kept for the Library , as soon as the selection has been done.

I hope that I will be thus in a position to solve the problem of the quality of images in the case of video copies and I thank in advance authors and federations for their cooperation.

This year again, orders made to the Film Library for films and videos have been numerous and regular. I would like to thank you all for the prompt returning of items borrowed.

At the same time, I would like to request the presidents of federations to indicate clearly the registration numbers of the items ordered as film are stored and listed by numbers. Moreover, it is advisable to indicate alternatives in case the items ordered are not currently available.

Hans Schober,
UNICA Film-Librarian.