The “La Camera Ottica” lab was founded in 2002 with teaching-training and scientific research purposes. For Its focus in the conservation, restoration and enhancement of the audiovisual heritage it became a center of excellence at European level, and a national leader in the digitization of sub-standard films (9.5mm [Pathé Baby], 16mm, 8mm, Super8) and obsolete videos (½ '' open reel, ¼ '' open-reel, VCR, U-Matic, VHS, Video8, etc.).
Part of the headquarters of the Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage at the Udine University, “La Camera Ottica” is also, and above all, a learning and research space, promoter of a wide-ranging training activities which draws on the most rigorous approaches of film history and philology on the one hand and on the more experimental and innovative ones of media-archaeology, in line with several other MediaLabs in Europe.
Thanks to a state-of-the-art technological instrumentation and the expertise of its members, it is able to provide a crucial support for all the three levels of teaching, i.e. for the Bachelor Degree course in DAMS, for the Master's degree course in Science of audiovisual heritage and media education and for the PhD in History of Art, Cinema, Media, Audiovisuals and Music. More specifically, here are carried out most of the activities of the Preservation and Enhancement of Film Heritage course for the Bachelor Degree, and the Methodology of historical research, Theories and techniques of film restoration, Audiovisual practices of media art and Media archeology courses, as well as several projects, workshops and seminars related to doctoral training, and to the organization and programming of film festival and national and international events such as FilmForum, Premio Amidei, Cinefest.
With the help of students and trainees we design preservation and access protocols for small, medium and large-scale collections, design editorial products, develop multimedia solutions for re-use, presentation and display of audiovisual assets. In close contact with "new technologies" of the past and with media and devices that are now obsolete, the history of film, media and audiovisual arts stop being a mere concept and becomes something that can only be learned “with your own hands”.