So a couple of months ago, now that the company is involving me much more into the post-production world as well as with production, I got familiar with the term Degaussing.

Basically what this means is to electronically wipe all information/footage on tapes that we film on so they are blank and can be used again. People generally refer to tape stock as fairly cheap. But I think that’s because these people are usually individuals who have huge expenses related to production so in comparison yeah tape is cheap. However, I think the tapes I took over to degauss ran around $36 a tape, and I believe no Joke I probably have erased easily over 150 to 200 over the past couple of months. So in my mind that equals big bucks saved, as a tape can usually be used up to three times before it is deemed not worthy.

The process is extremely simple and not to mention really mind dubbing but I was glad to be exposed as I really never knew that film and tape stock could even be reused. Basically the process involves a large machine which I believe was built in the 60's as the technology hasn't much changed for this particular process. It has a conveyor belt that you place the tapes on in which it runs them through the machine. Just to make sure it works it's best to run each tape through at least 2 times and in some case three if it's a large one. You have to be careful not to wear any electronic devices on you as there is a good chance they will never work again. As well as you need to make sure you don't put any of your hands into the machine or chances are they won’t work either. So fun, exciting, not really, but always good to learn new things.

Ohh also, the hardest part which I couldn't believe I didn't mention is taking off the old labels that are on each tape. You have to use some serious chemicals to get everything off which can take a bit of time not to mention really messy!