Film, Advertising and Data Loss

By: James Walsh

If you win the war, it’s your victory, but if you lose, then anything might happen to you, no matter how good the intention was.

In the midst of all these variable factors, digital data loss has come up as a terrifying threat, and is actually more unpredictable than even the mood swings of Hollywood divas. In the world of advertising, the havoc and loss is even greater.

A Bit of History

But are not films shot on, well, films? This is where the history comes in. Films have traditionally captured on strips of celluloid popularly called reels, since they are still carried as wound around a spool in tin or plastic cans. The problems of celluloid were quite obvious. It is a highly combustible substance, totally susceptible to damp and temperature changes. As if that is not enough, celluloid undergoes wear and tear each time it is run for editing or viewing. That is why the master copy of a film is such a precious thing, and many priceless old films are now being digitally restored with utmost care.

Digital Technology and Celluloid

Given this situation, digital technology was looked upon as a saviour when it came. Most of the initial hiccups such as matching the speed of video and film, managing the aspect ratios, correcting the colour, retaining the correct textures, depth of the picture etc have been largely overcome by now. There are versions of high definition digital video that have caught the magic flavour of celluloid. The processes of film making between shooting and distribution have been shifted entirely to the digital platform now, saving millions of pounds, and making life so much easier and safer for all those who are involved in the audio visual industry. But the most important aspect of it all is that audio visual products can now be preserved, copied, and distributed in a format that is cheap and long lasting.

The Problems

So far, it all sounds very good – in fact – too good to be true. Be it a film, ad, or music video, there are certain problems that continue to plague the industry precisely because of the digital format.

• Though not as bad as celluloid, digital formats are also delicate enough, and data loss can happen through water, fire, heat, dust, humidity or electric discharges. DVDs can get scratched, digital tapes can get affected by damp, and a hard disk can simply crash.


• Piracy is a massive threat in this industry. China and USA are booming in the business of video piracy and India is also coming up in the world order of digital pirates. Copyright laws are unable to trace or stop digital copies of movies and music videos from being produced and distributed all over the internet and sold in the market.


• Software problems can be the nightmare of any director or producer. Imagine the scenario – an ad of a lifestyle product is shot on an exotic tropical island at great expense, dumped on a disk, edited, and then the disk crashes. Of course, there will be a back up, but the edited version will be gone, and the work will have to start from scratch again, sometimes doubling the cost.


• Media files are usually very huge in their uncompressed format, and it is a fact that compression reduces quality. These huge files are difficult to store, get corrupted easily, and once lost, it is terribly difficult to organise everything again.


• There is also the chance of human errors. An accidental deletion can doom an entire project and run into millions of pounds worth of loss. Editing and sound studios are constantly trying to fortify themselves against the risks posed by digital data loss, but sheer carelessness or foolishness cannot be stopped otherwise.


• A peculiar problem is loss of back up. If the back up of the original film is taken in the digital format, and the back up is lost, the situation can be very sad indeed. One takes an extra copy precisely to preserve it, and when that copy disappears, it might seem that the heavens are being very unjust.

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James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk

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