Please contact us by fax or email to send us your name, location, phone number, questions and the best time to reach you by telephone.
Please understand, due to their complex nature, we cannot repond to technical questions or requests for estimates in writing; in all cases we prefer voice contact.
Treadway [at] LittleFilm [dot]org.
FRAME RATES / FILM SPEED
ON ARCHIVAL FILM WE STRIVE TO REPRESENT ORIGINAL CAMERA FRAME RATES so that the motion is natural.
On artists' films, WE CAN RENDER IN DESIGNATED FRAME RATES, VARIABLE FROM 1 TO 24 FRAMES PER SECOND as instructed by the artist or the director.
CAREFUL HANDLING
WE DO CAREFUL FILM HANDLING, INSPECTION, REPAIR, RECONDITIONING, and RESPLICING AS NEEDED.
WE CAN TRANSFER SHRUNKEN OR DETERIORATED ORIGINAL 8mm, SUPER 8 OR 16mm reversal MATERIALS. THIS IS OUR SPECIALITY.
SOUND
WE TRANSFER SYNC SOUND from "all the usual suspects"
including
SINGLE SYSTEM SOUND-on-FILM
1 track or 2 track or stereo sound on film;
MAGNETIC 8mm, Super 8,
FULLCOAT 8mm, Super 8,
OPTICAL or MAGNETIC 16mm,
FULLCOAT 16mm interlocked, to 16mm picture or to Super 8 picture
and
SOUNDTRACKS FROM OTHER SOURCES
LIKE OPEN REEL AUDIO TAPE, or AUDIO CASSETTE.
We can do sync corrections in the above formats, or you can in post.
CLEANING
There is NO CHARGE FOR CLEANING unless unusual circumstances present themselves, such as advanced mildew, sticky tape or chewing gum. It is our prerogative to make our work as clean as possible. We check and clean film by hand. We will advise you when we need to charge for special handling, repair or assembly.
FAST TURN-AROUND
We work by appointment only. Most often we transfer and ship work on the same day when scheduled in advance with you. Please plan your production carefully. We encourage you to book time with us 10 days in advance, much longer if the job is large or if you are combining a transfer session with other travel to New England.
PAYMENT
We ask for a check as deposit on work booked in advance based on our estimate. We are very old-fashioned; we do not accept credit cards. If you have overpaid, we will refund the balance immediately. Small balances due are often billed. We reserve the right to add a surcharge for work performed with less than 48 hours notice, for nights, weekends or for jobs requiring unusual or extra documentation. If you are well organized and reasonable to work with, you may well avoid surcharges.
RIGHTS AND RELEASES
We transfer original materials which are usually carried to us in the hands of the original owner. If you are asking for service on a film not made or owned by you, we need you to get permission and clear all rights and releases prior to working with us. We infer that your contracting for our work means that you have the right to copy the material.
LIABILITY
Your films have artistic, historic and sentimental value to you or even perhaps monetary value to your production. We treat your films with great care while they are in our hands, but we do not assume responsibility for loss or damage to your films while they are in our possession nor in transit. Common carriers have advised us they will not insure films for content but will only insure for replacement value of raw film stock.
SUPERVISION
In some instances the films need to be hand carried in which case a supervised transfer session is recommended. Supervising the transfer can save you money if you have done the work to be very familiar with the footage, have organized it and assembled it. In some cases, a documentary producer will want selected shots from a very large collection. In this paper, we recommend ways, unique to our studio, of organizing and marking the selected shots which can speed the work along. Instructions for producers on selecting and marking shots.Please follow our instructions to mark shots.
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OUR CLIENTS
Brodsky & Treadway have handled unique original film materials for filmmakers and institutions as diverse as these:
FILMMAKERS AND MEDIA ARTISTS
Jem Cohen, Joe Gibbons, Saul Levine, Poli Marichal, Anne Charlotte Robertson, Michael Stipe, Sanjiban, Rea Tajiri, to name a few......as many as 300 visual and performing artists came to work with us a year for two decades.
PRODUCER/DIRECTORS
Jane Weiner, Orlando Bagwell ("Malcolm X: Make It Plain"), Ken Burns, Natatcha Estebanez, Ricky Leacock, John Marshall, Robert Gardner, Glenn Holsten, Lawrence Hott ("Imagining Robert"), Spike Lee ("Four Little Girls"), Ricardo Mendez-Matta, Michael Moore ("Bowling for Columbine" first documentary invited to Cannes), Bill Moyers, David Sutherland and others ...
TELEVISION SERIES
For 25 years we have handled the historic personal film records that are unique footage in great Public Television series like Ken Burns' The War, Frontline, The American Experience, Eyes on the Prize, Nova, Zoom, and P.O.V. We have also restored mving images used in ABC's The Twentieth Century and for documentary production at the BBC.
When you see old home movies in a documentary film looking wonderful, clean, scratch-free, with good shadow detail, and the movement on screen was rendered at the proper frame rate, it is quite likely we transferred it. Alternately, when in a music video or reenactment Super 8 is used for a flashy, degraded or a trendy look in a cutaway, it is likely we did NOT handle it.
MUSEUMS and ARCHIVES
The Academy Film Archive, The Human Studies Film Archive at the Smithsonian Institution, The Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum, George Eastman House, The Japanese American National Museum, The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis, Northeast Historic Film, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the J.F.K. Library, The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library, Yivo Institute, local historical commissions, state archives, and private family collections.
RATES
Our rates are not published at this time. Work is done by hand for restoration and transfer is only done scene by scene so our work can get expensive very quickly. We coach filmmakers with a large collection to do triage, hand viewing film to make a basic sort, as some films merit our attention. We will write a link here soon to explain how we recommend you check the condition of and sort your film to save Bob's eyes and your money. Until she finishes that note, please call Toni to estimate your work. 978-948-7985 (9-6 EST)
TECHNICAL CONSULTATION
Transfers: one hour minimum. We have day rates for training staff people at archives on site. Call.
SPECIAL FILM HANDLING
Rates by the hour and then quarter hour increments for evaluation, condition reports, recommendations, reel assembly, repairs, re-splicing, removing mildew and reconditioning as required. Call.
WET GATE TRANSFER SCENE-BY-SCENE ONLY, REVERSAL FILM ONLY.
This means that base scratches will be greatly diminished or disappear and your film will look as clean as a possible. Bob Brodsky is only happy doing scene by scene transfers of reversal film because that is his speciality. We do not offer one light, best light, straight through transfers. Call Toni for a quotation. When you call, she will want to know the gauge, number of reels, length of film and condition of your film. We have a 1 hour minimum, thereafter by the 1/4 hour.
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TAPE
We provide new Fuji (and only Fuji) videotape at cost. We master to NTSC Beta-SP or Digital Betacam. The choice is up to the producer or archive.
If time allows, we can make a viewing copy of the Beta or DBeta master on miniDV, DVCam (same Time Code as master), DVD or even VHS (straight or window dub). We urge you to develop a relationship with a tape duplication house in your area for multiple copies.
SHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS
We track all packages in and out, so you must call before shipping with carrier and tracking number. We handle original materials which are irreplaceable.
Master videotape and original film are shipped separately for safety. This insures that an original film and master video are never in the same airplane, truck or location in transit.
Please telephone us to work out strategy for delivery so we know shipper, tracking numbers and date of arrival. We highly recommend services with tracking barcodes that require signatures, such as FedEx Express (not Ground), USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation, or UPS next day air service.
Please pack film in a cardboard box with adequate padding. Never ship any media, film, audio or videotape in a fiber-filled bag; NEVER!
SHIPPING ADDRESS:
Brodsky & Treadway
69 Warehouse Lane
Rowley, MA 01969 USA
MAILING ADDRESS:
for USPS (classic mail) please send to:
Post Office Box 335
Rowley, MA 01969 USA
Tel: 978-948-7985 (9-6 EST)
More contact details below, but first: Announcing BRODSKY's NEW BOOK!
Location
Rowley is located 35 miles north northeast of Boston. The town is bisected by Interstate Route 95. We live and work near the Plum Island Great Marsh east of old Route 1-A. We work a lot of the time so we cannot encourage visitors. Please call for an appointment.
Contact B&T
Instructions for producers on marking selects.
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NEED MORE INFO? Please visit our sister site www.LittleFilm.org as there we have information about small gauge filmmaking today, lists of labs as well as tips on restoration and preservation of old home movies, independent film and artist's films.
PLEASE SAVE YOUR OLD MOVIES and RECORD NEW MOVIES ON FILM
for the culture, for your great-great-grandbabies, for posterity.
for the culture, for your great-great-grandbabies, for posterity.
Tech assistance: if your film was submerged in a flood.
2005 special announcement: Bob's new book
We prefer you telephone us with questions or to schedule work. Tel: 978 948 7985 from 9-6 EST. If you reach voice mail, please leave your name, your phone number, your region, best hours to reach you and any technical details. Thank you, Toni & Bob
