About

You might have some questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did this site come from?

This work is a derivative of Horizontal Boundaries Film Stocks Database, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Who is the audience for this site?

This site began its life as a resource for film preservationists working with small-gauge motion picture stocks: 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8. The site should also be useful for film historians and contemporary filmmakers working with celluloid-based media. For example, motion picture stocks differ from still photography stocks in that expiration dates are rarely, if ever, found on the packaging; this database strives to include dates-of-production so that the age of that roll of film you found at an estate sale or in the back of your fridge can be better estimated.

What's the technology behind this site?

The site was built using the Python-based Django web framework. PostgreSQL is the underlying relational database; Zurb Foundation is the front-end responsive framework. The site is hosted on Amazon Web Services' EC2 using S3 as an asset store.

Can I get involved?

Certainly. Contributing new, verifiable data is the most immediate way to get involved in making this a better resource. Small additions or corrections to the data can be submitted via email. Contributing information on multiple "new" film stocks can be accomplished via spreadsheets, csv files, a database export, or through your own account on the system. Procedures for contributing images or PDFs are still being ironed out but those assets are welcome, too.

Are there other ways I can support this site?

Yes. Initial development of the site involved more than 160 hours of unpaid programming and system administration, mostly during the summer of 2020. The monthly cost of hosting the site is roughly 20$US. I've signed up for a Liberapay account through which you can, if you find this site valuable, make a monthly micro- (or macro-) donation. If you'd prefer to make a one time donation in support of my work you could pluck something off my Bookshop.org or Amazon wishlists. I'd be very grateful.

– last updated: 6 Feb 2021