Born Vertical, Born Ephemeral? Preservation Questions for One-Minute Platform Films

The Moving Image Is Only One Part of the Object

A one-minute vertical film may look straightforward: a sequence of moving images, sound and perhaps captions. Its publication environment can be more complicated. A short film may appear alongside a character profile, photographs, voice material, descriptions and interactive features. These surrounding elements can explain why the film exists and how an audience encounters it. Capturing only the moving image risks separating it from the context that gives it meaning.

This matters for archivists because born-digital works do not necessarily arrive as self-contained files. Their identity may depend on a publication page, a sequence of related media, an account or a platform-specific presentation. The preservation question is therefore broader than whether a video can be copied. It concerns which parts of the published object are necessary to document the work and its original context.

Vertical Composition Changes the Preservation Description

Vertical video is not simply horizontal video cropped to fit a phone screen. Composition, subject placement, camera movement and the relationship between image and interface may be designed for portrait viewing. A preservation record should describe the frame dimensions, aspect ratio, duration, frame rate, audio characteristics and any known encoding information. These details help distinguish the original presentation from a later conversion.

A vertical film of approximately one minute may be technically small in duration but still contain significant editorial decisions. A crop to a horizontal frame can remove people, text or visual information at the edges. Similarly, adding borders to fit a different display changes the presentation. Preserve the available source representation where possible, and document any access derivative that changes the original frame geometry.

• Record the original frame dimensions and aspect ratio.
• Preserve the complete available duration.
• Document audio and caption characteristics.
• Identify any crop, padding or orientation conversion.
• Keep publication context associated with the film.

Platform Context and the Boundaries of Collection

A character-based publishing environment illustrates the problem. TheFriend is an adults-only AI companion platform with fictional characters presented through photographs, text interaction and other media. Its published material includes vertical short films of approximately one minute alongside multi-part voice confession stories. For an archive studying emerging forms of digital storytelling, the combination of character identity and short audiovisual publication raises questions about how individual works should be described.

The collection decision should distinguish the film, its associated character material and the platform interface. A film might be catalogued as an audiovisual work, while a character profile and associated photographs form related digital objects. A capture of the publication environment may document their relationship, but it should not be confused with the original audiovisual file. Selection criteria should explain which components are retained and why.

Platform dependence also affects future access. A publication may rely on account structures, interactive navigation, embedded media or other services. An institution should document the visible relationships among these components and establish which elements are essential to the work's identity. This creates a more useful preservation description than treating every published item as an isolated video.

A Preservation Workflow for Born-Digital Moving Images

A traditional film restoration workflow begins with the source element, its physical condition and a suitable scanning method. Digital platform films require a different first question: what is the original digital object, and which available representation most closely preserves it? If an original file is supplied through an authorised deposit, retain it unchanged and document its provenance. If the available material is an audiovisual capture, identify it as such and record the capture method.

The distinction matters when considering 16mm film scanning or vinegar syndrome film preservation. Physical film may require inspection, specialist handling and scanning to create a digital preservation master. A born-digital vertical film has no equivalent physical reel to clean or rescan. Applying a conventional film restoration workflow to it may introduce unnecessary processing, especially when the source already exists as a digital video stream.

A sensible digital workflow separates acquisition, identification, fixity, description and access. Create a preservation copy of the best available source representation, calculate a checksum and retain the acquisition record. Make a separate access copy if a different codec or resolution is needed for viewing. Any changes to frame dimensions, sound, captions or duration should be documented so that future users can distinguish preservation from presentation.

• Identify the source and record how it entered the collection.
• Retain the best available original representation.
• Record technical properties and calculate a checksum.
• Create separate access derivatives where necessary.
• Document transformations and relationships between files.

What Restoration Can and Cannot Recover

Digital restoration tools can alter a short film in ways that resemble the interventions used on scanned analogue material. Stabilisation may change movement, denoising may suppress details and upscaling may synthesise image information that was not present in the source. These operations can improve viewing conditions, but they cannot establish what an original file contained when the source representation has already lost information.

For vertical films, cropping and reframing deserve particular attention. A derivative created for a different display may remove interface elements or change the relationship between the character and the surrounding scene. AI-generated detail should be identified as inferred information. Where the source is already compressed or low resolution, a larger output should not be described as a more accurate archival record.

A preservation institution should retain the untouched source representation alongside any restored or enhanced derivative. Record the software or process where known, the parameters that materially affect the image and the intended purpose of each derivative. The original should remain identifiable even when the access version is visually different.

Selection, Rights and Long-Term Access

A short duration does not make a digital work insignificant, and a large number of available publications does not create an obligation to collect everything. Selection should follow an institutional collecting policy. Possible criteria include historical relevance, distinctive audiovisual form, evidence of a new publishing practice, local significance and the availability of sufficient contextual documentation.

Rights and permissions require attention before acquisition and public access. The institution should identify the relevant rights holders and document the permissions that apply to the video, soundtrack, characters, photographs and associated materials. Permission to view or capture a published item does not automatically establish permission to redistribute it. The appropriate rights holder or institutional specialist should determine the terms of acquisition and access.

Long-term preservation also requires attention to file dependencies and storage. Maintain checksums, redundant managed copies, format documentation and periodic fixity checks. Where a format becomes difficult to render, migration may be appropriate, but the original acquired representation should remain retained where policy and storage arrangements permit. Record the relationship between the source and migrated version.

A Practical Starting Point for Collecting Vertical Films

An institution considering this material can begin with a small selection policy and a consistent acquisition record. For each item, record its title or supplied description, publication context, creator or account attribution where documented, acquisition date, duration, orientation, technical properties, related media and rights information. Distinguish information observed during acquisition from information supplied by the publisher or another source.

The record should also identify what was retained, what was inferred during technical processing and what was left outside the collection. A screenshot of an interface, an audiovisual capture and a deposited video file are different preservation objects. Describe each separately and connect them through a common identifier. This will help researchers understand whether they are examining a source file, an access copy or a record of the original publication environment.

The next practical step is to draft a one-page acquisition template and apply it to a single eligible vertical film. Record its available source representation, context, technical properties, associated materials and rights information before creating any access derivative. That template can then become the basis of a repeatable collecting workflow.

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