Surviving Preservation Elements vs. Surviving Elements

[mwalls]

The latest notice from Warner Archives made a distinction that I was wondering if someone would explain please. For the film "Libeled Lady" it notes that there was a 4K scan of Best Surviving Preservation elements. On the next film, "The Mortal Storm," it notes a 4K scan of the Best Surviving elements.

So my question what does it mean surviving Preservation elements as opposed to just surviving elements?

Thanks,
Matthew

[milefilms]

Best Preservation Elements should be the print, negative, fine grain or interpositive that was created for preservation from original materials that might be too fragile/damaged to use or has already disintegrated. Surviving Elements should be original material. On the other hand, that's how I would describe them. Remember, not all box copy is created by archivists.

[Spiny Norman]

Surviving Elements should be original material.

Or perhaps that could also mean "anything that still exists", 35mm copies that have been in circulation for example or even 16mm.

[FilmGauge]

The Eastman House has a huge MGM collection of material. The archival material it does hold, however, varies in quality. There was a vault fire at MGM in 1965 which wiped out the surviving elements of many of their nitrate-era movies. Subsequently, many of the MGM negatives at Eastman are not the original camera negatives, yet some are (i.e. GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ). Since there are different generations of preprint material, the studio's output quality varies, like with some of the other studios. 2K and 4K is merely the resolution used for the transfer of the material to video. Dupey material will always look dupey.