New Concord-Based Video Production Studio Focuses on Preserving Family Memories and Corporate Archives on DVD

Emmy-winning TV News Reporter and Internet content pioneer applies digital media expertise to saving old videotapes and films.

Concord, Massachusetts, March 4, 2002. As a former TV news reporter and video archivist for one of Bostons leading performing arts organizations, Michael Kolowich has experienced first-hand what happens to old videotapes and films: they deteriorate, fade, and can even literally fall apart -- sometimes as little as a decade after they were created.

Now, after a successful career starting and running businesses in software, publishing, and digital media, Kolowich has applied his experience to a vexing problem: how to save from doom the video and film memories accumulated by area families and businesses. After just two months of operation in Concord Center, his company, DigiNovationsTM (34 Main Street, Concord), is helping scores of customers seeking help in how to preserve and showcase those precious films and tapes on DVD and other digital media.
The Problem with Videotape
In the 1970s. videotape represented a breakthrough in the cost and convenience of recording important family events," observes Kolowich. But it was a huge step backwards in preserving those memories, because videotape simply doesnt last much more than 10 to 15 years."

Videotape is a magnetic medium, and is subject to damage from magnetic fields, heat, and even the physical act of playing or rewinding it. Precious moving pictures of births, school performances, vacations, weddings are all riding on the most fragile, thin piece of polyester foil you can imagine," Kolowich says. To me, it was really quite frightening to learn that the only moving pictures of my grandparents and my childrens earliest days were on such thin ice."

Traditional videotape is also an analog rather than digital medium, which means that every copy made from that tape is less crisp and clear than the original. Those whove tried to preserve their videotapes just by copying them have generally been disappointed with the results," Kolowich says.

Film is a somewhat better archival medium, observes Kolowich. But even the major motion picture studios are finding that the master prints of their 50- and 60-year-old films are suffering the inevitable damage of time. While my generation documented our family life on videotape, my parents and grandparents used largely 8mm film. That, too, is in need of attention if were to want to share that rare look at our familys history."

DigiNovations is a trademark of DigiNovations Incorporated.
DVD: 100+ year storage for moving pictures
Help arrived with the introduction in 1996 of digital video on CD-like discs called DVD (digital versatile discs). Until the last six months, producing these discs has been so expensive that their use has been limited to Hollywood and big commercial companies. Now, though, a cost breakthrough has brought the expense within reach of families and small businesses, and thats where DigiNovations has stepped into a wide-open market. Prices for preserving a two-hour videotape on DVD start at $49.

DVD authoring is still too expensive and complicated to attempt to do yourself," says Kolowich. But a community-based studio company like DigiNovations can easily handle the task of converting the tens of thousands of valuable tape cassettes around here into durable, convenient DVD media. In fact, weve had some clients walk in with a huge box of tapes saying 'Help me. We have."

Kolowich points out that theres art blended in with the technology of preserving video memories on DVD. Those who try to make this a mass-production process do their customers a disservice," he says. Many artistic judgment calls need to be made, depending on the material. Each of these precious memories deserves the special care that a community-based business will give."

Businesses, too, are starting to realize that DVD is a superior way to distribute training and marketing materials. Building on his recognized expertise as a technology marketing leader over the last 20 years, Kolowich is ready to help local businesses take advantage of this rapidly growing medium.

In April, DigiNovations expects to start teaching customers how to make DVDs and creative edited video productions in a unique shared studio called StudioPlace. The company will offer workshops and coaching sessions to the growing number of people who want to use the technology without the hassle and risk of setting it up themselves.
Showcasing Video Memories
DigiNovations client work does not stop at simple copying and transfer. People bring their videos in because they know conversion to DVD is necessary. But while theyre at it, they often decide to make something special out of those memories -- an edited anniversary or birthday present, a special compilation for Mothers or Fathers Day, or a fun memento for a graduation, wedding, or retirement" says Kolowich. A former Emmy-award-winning TV news reporter and producer for WGBH and WBZ TV in Boston, hes teamed up with young filmmaker Benjamin Eckstein and graphic artist and animator Kristie Lassiter to form the core of the DigiNovations staff.

Every project has been very different from the previous one," says Kolowich. In just the last couple of months, weve set a 25-year-old silent wedding film to music, created a rocking championship season video for a local soccer team, produced a tear-jerking retrospective for a retiring employees tribute, and made a three-generation video Christmas card from still photos and music."

Says Kolowich, It all fits with my objective in starting this business: to apply what is sometimes cold, mysterious digital technology to capture the pulse, emotions, and memories of a community."
About DigiNovations
DigiNovations Incorporated is dedicated to placing the power of today's cutting-edge video production capability in the hands of the people and businesses of Concord, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in early 2002 by former AT&T New Media president and ZDNet founder Michael Kolowich, DigiNovations provides production services, instruction and coaching, and hands-on access to a state-of-the-art digital studio at 34 Main Street in Concord Center.

DigiNovations is on the web at www.familymemories.net.