Decayed 8mm Film Presents a Creative Opportunity

My grandfather kept his family 8mm films in a shoebox in a damp basement.  Over the years mold attacked the film's emulsion, essentially obliterating the film's images.  

Four reels were sent to me by my cousin who claimed them after my grandfather's passing. I had the film scanned in high resolution knowing results would be disappointing but in case a section of the movie could be salvaged, or, a frame saved for still image as if a photograph.  

Below are a few frames illustrating the state of decay.  It's a wedding but not our family's, possibly a friend of my grandfather's at the time. The people are thus unknown, but the date is believed to be 1957 from notes written on the film's box for the small 8mm reel.

When the film arrived from the scanning company (ArchivalWorks), I was stunned by the beauty of the decay. Most frames had no image except the decayed emulsion, but it was beautifully artistic.  As I moved through the digital file frame-by-frame, every so often a human face would appear as if the human form was making one last attempt to be remembered before vanishing forever. .  

OBLIVARA: Vestiges of a Forgotten Wedding

"OBLIVARA: Vestiges of a Forgotten Wedding" Is the title of a short experimental film I would like to develop from this decayed film.  Like my previous work "Intangible" using fragments of 8mm film to invoke memories from the past, "Oblivara" would explore the nature of life's impermanence and ghosts left to linger in the shadows of their own mortality.

But like my short film "Intangible", "Oblivara" would need the appropriate music accompaniment to provide a psycho-dynamic texture to the work.  The woven texture of imagery and sound will be utilized to extract memories-of-meaning, hidden then suddenly revealed between the realms of light and shadow.

This is a surprise opportunity to again create something unique and original.  I was telling a friend the other day that I don't think of films to make; rather the opportunities appear and I recognize their potential.