THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF FOCAL INTERNATIONAL N E W S

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF
FOCAL INTERNATIONAL
SPRING 2016
ISSUE NO. 97
FOCAL International Awards – the shortlist
ECL – the challenge is ready
Visual China and Getty link archives
Colourisation – the debate continues
The Archive industry source for
NEWS
•
F E AT U R E S
FOCAL
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
FEDERATION OF COMMERCIAL AUDIO VISUAL LIBRARIES
•
EVENTS
•
REVIEWS
SHOW STOPPERS
The Entertainer – Bruce Forsyth
FremantleMedia Archive
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44(0)207 691 6733
www.fremantlemedia.com
EDITORIAL
Editorial
Collectors’ items
For very different reasons, this edition
of Archive Zones and its immediate
predecessor (Winter 2015) are destined
to become ‘collectors’ items’ – that is for
those of our readers who actually like to
collect them!
Winter 2015
was what you
might call ‘the
ghost edition’.
No one at our
end of the
production
process noticed
until it was
published that
it carried the
title and issue
Michael Archer
number of the
AZ published in Autumn 2015! So, there
are two versions of that particular issue –
and no Winter 2015. OK – so that’s down
to ‘human error’ and perhaps “Christmas
spirit”!
What about the current edition? What
makes that so special? Answer: It is the last
Archive Zones that you will receive as a
‘hard copy.’ From Summer 2016 onwards all
members and those on our distribution list
(up to 8000 – so more readers!) will be sent
an email with a link to a page turning digital
copy. The only way to read Archive Zones
will be online at the FOCAL International
website www.focalint.org; editions will be
‘archived’ on the website for all to read
Editor
Michael Archer
Copy
[email protected]
and there will also be a new function for
searching different topics etc.
Yes, Archive Zones moves boldly into the
digital era and we promise you that nothing
will be lost in the quality or the familiar
eclectic blend of news and features right
across the archive spectrum. Same product;
easier access.
Archive Zones’ ‘century’
So, as the AZ team prepares to make
this bold new step into the future, it is an
appropriate opportunity to mention that
our final issue of 2016 – the Winter
2016 Archive Zones – will be the 100th
edition of your favourite archive magazine.
Already the ‘thinking caps’ are on as the
editorial team plots the ‘super, bumper’
edition that will mark the century of AZs
and 25 years of news, views, change and
challenges in our industry. Needless to
say (as the cliché writers put it), we need
your contributions and ideas to help us
make it a very special celebration. So,
dig deep, marshal those memories, let us
know what’s moved you, motivated you,
maddened you in 25 years - or since you’ve
been an AZ reader. Offer us an anecdote,
a word of wisdom, a picture maybe. All
contributions welcome and the sooner the
better! I look forward to receiving them at:
[email protected]
Michael Archer
News
Voices of Democracy
4
Indian movies saved from dump
Mystery Brazil nitrate fire
Berkeley’s new museum & archive
Events
EU Screen conference report
5
Library Managers talk ECL
8
Features
Thai Archive encourages youth
6
‘Bye, bye archive: hello Pop!’
14
Colourisation debate continues
23
In quest of Oasis ‘Holy Grail’
27
Legal
Update on Fair Use
10
Copyright extension on 3D
12
FOCAL International
Awards XIII
Awards night preview
16
Lifetime Achievement Award
17
The Final nominations 18
FOCAL Questionnaire
Transit Film – German Federal archive 21
Advertising
FOCAL International
management
+44 (0)20 7663 8090
(to change)
[email protected]
ISSN
Contents
Review
How Films were made and Shown
30
1471-0633
Layout Rob Linton
[email protected]
Printing
Premier Print Group
Archive Zones is the journal of FOCAL International
Ltd, the Federation of Commercial AudioVisual Lib­
raries and is printed quarterly for private subscription.
Robert Gitt – Lifetime Achievement
Award winner 2016
All opinions expressed in the magazine are those of
the writers concerned and do not necessarily reflect
the views of FOCAL International or its Executive.
The editors reserve the right to edit contributions.
Please note that FOCAL International Ltd
will be moving in May to 79 College Road,
Harrow, MIDDX, HA1 1BD (Tel no. TBC)
No material – whether pictures or copy – published
in Archive Zones may be reproduced in any other
publication without the express permission of the
holder of the copyright for that material. This may
be FOCAL International itself, a contributory writer
or a picture library or agency.
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Wembley
London HA9 0NP
Tel
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Email
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3
NEWS
AAPB now offers Voices of Democracy in its online Reading Room
The American Archive of Public
Broadcasting (AAPB) has acquired New
Hampshire Public Radio’s digital collection
of interviews and speeches by presidential
candidates from 1995-2007. The entire
collection—nearly 100 hours of content—
has been digitised and is now online, along
with other presidential campaign content
from the AAPB collection, in a new curated,
free presentation, Voices of Democracy:
Public Media and Presidential Elections at
americanarchive.org/exhibits/presidentialelections.
AAPB, a collaboration between the Library
of Congress and the WGBH Educational
Foundation, preserves and makes accessible
the most significant public television and
radio programmes of the past 60-plus years.
Voices of Democracy features historical
interviews, panel discussions, speeches and
debates among presidential candidates from
1961 to 2008.
AAPB in October officially launched its
Online Reading Room, which now features
2.5 million inventory records and more
than 11,500 audiovisual streaming files of
historical content dating back to the 1940s,
from public media stations across the
country.
The Library of Congress, WGBH
Boston and the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, in collaboration with more
than 100 stations and archives, have
embarked on an unprecedented initiative
to preserve historical public television and
radio programmes. More information is
available at americanarchive.org.
Casey E. Davis
Project Manager, American
Archive of Public Broadcasting
WGBH Educational Foundation
[email protected]
+ 1 617 300 5921
Indian movies, poster and pictures rescued from the bulldozers
It took an out-of-the-blue tip-off, an
emergency flight from New York to LA
and a donation from the Louis B Mayer
Foundation to save a huge cache of Indian
feature films, posters and prints about to
join the landfill of a building development in
Lakewood, California.
Flying to the rescue came Deborah Stoiber,
Collection Manager of the George Eastman
Museum, Rochester, NY, who, in the
storeroom of an abandoned multiplex
movie theatre, discovered two tractortrailer loads of 1,300 boxes including 6,000
posters, 597 movies – all in 35mm format
made between 1999 and 2013 – and
776 prints. The films were not only Hindi
language epics from “Bollywood” but also
productions in 11 other languages. They
were all transported back to Rochester
on 31 December, 2014 where, for over a
year the museum has been cleaning and
organising the reels.
The Eastman Museum originally budgeted
$6,000 for the project; it finished up costing
just under $15,000. They hope that one of
the films will be ready for screening at the
Dryden Theatre this spring.
Eastman.org
+1 585 271 3361
Mystery nitrate storage fire adds to the woes at Cinemateca Brasileira
In the early morning of February 3, an
unexplained fire in the nitrate film storage
area of the Cinemateca Brasileira (CB) –
the Brazilian national archive, in Sao Paulo –
destroyed a feature film and some 1,000 as
yet unidentified original newsreels.
Luckily the Cinemateca designed their
storage areas explicitly to prevent the
spread of fire, and countless thousands of
rolls were saved when the conflagration
was contained to one limited area and
extinguished in 30 minutes.
The loss represents slightly below 0.4%
of the archive, the institution claims, and
most of the material burned is preserved in
other media or formats and is in the public
domain. Other estimates say that 25% of
the nitrate collection has been destroyed.
The CB is generally seen as a role model
to other film archives in Central and South
America but unfortunately, it has been
suffering a financial and institutional crisis
over the last two years. Most of its staff
were fired and its lab was closed.
+55 113512 6111
www.cinemateca.gov.br
Berkeley opens new $112million art museum and archive
The University of California, Berkeley
Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive has
opened its extraordinary new downtown
building. Designed by the high-profile New
York-based firm Diller, Scofidio + Renfro,
the $112 million project, which broke
ground in 2012, is a 82,760-square-foot
building with 25,000 square feet of flexible
exhibition space and two film theaters, with
4
seating for 232 and 33.
Its design, which incorporated the reuse of
an Art Deco-era university printing press
building, is distinctive. Stainless steel panels
hug and curve from white exterior walls
at dramatic angles, creating what architect
Charles Renfro calls a “cipher.” The new
building replaces the iconic concrete 1970
Mario Ciampi building near the UC campus,
which was deemed seismically unsafe.
Berkeley Art Museum and
Pacific Film Archive,
2155 Center St., Berkeley
+1 510 642 0808
www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
EVENT
Online archive access under scrutiny…
No future without new funding
FOCAL International Chair,
Sue Malden, reports on the
EUscreen XL Conference –
Warsaw, December 2015
During the 2015 international EUscreen
conference, hosted by NINA (the newly
established National Audiovisual Institute
and future hosts of the 2016 FIAT/IFTA
conference) in Warsaw, the main theme
for consideration was the benefits and
challenges of memory institutions in making
their collections available online.
In the past 20 years or so, massive amounts
of audiovisual content have been made
accessible online, on the homepages of
archives and museums, on video sharing
sites and on the portals of dedicated
European projects such as Europeana or
EUscreen. The conference contended that
these collections of audiovisual materials
need curation before they can grow to
be meaningful as living documents of the
European political, social and cultural
history.
“Ideally, curation creates a context for
heritage that makes it relevant for our
present, makes it speak to us and helps us
understand our history and our future.”
This is how the EUscreen network, part
of the Europeana family, understands their
mission when making heritage accessible
and re-usable online. The programme of
this conference reflected on their work in
the past few years, and particularly analysing
the challenges we have experienced.
Speakers with diverse backgrounds
and affiliations in the heritage sector
demonstrated best practices during this
two-day event. They were Harry Verwayen
of Europeana: Liam Wylie of RTE; Alicja
Knast of NINA. Casey E. Davis outlined
the challenges for the American public
television archive; James Davis talked about
Google’s innovative technology to enhance
the experience of musical performances.
John Ellis demonstrated his very interesting
project – Adapt TV – examining How
Footage Was Originally Created.
The second day looked at Historical Views
on Curation with Lisa Kerrigan plundering
the archive and the recurring joys of
television; Matteo Treleani on Misusing
Archives and Jean Christophe Meyer on
Histoire Parallèle/Die Woche vor 50 Jahren
– Lieu de mémoire?; Peter B. Kaufman
– Visual Education and the University of
the Air; Elsa Coupard & Claude Mussou –
Curating History with French Audiovisual
Archives; and Steven Stegers – Moving
Images in History Education.
Behind the scenes, the last meeting of the
EUScreen XL project took place. Without
EU Funding the project will now need to
find means to support its sustainabiity.
Sue Malden
Chair, FOCAL International
+44 (0)7885 891481
[email protected]
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5
FEATURE
Cinemobile: It’s the first cinemobile in Asia. It can
be transformed to be a proper 100 seat theatre
with standard projector and sound system.
“Cinema Enlightens”…
So Thailand’s Film Archive is
bringing School Cinema and Cinemobile to the (young) people –
The Film Archive (Public Organisation) was originally established in
1984 as the National Film Archive of Thailand. Previously there had
been no agency in charge of preserving the country’s rich cinematic
legacy, which dates back to the very first years of the motion
picture industry. The aim of the organisation is to serve the public
in the areas of cultural preservation, academic research and public
education. Its ‘Missions’ can be defined as:
1. To seek and collect films, audiovisuals, and other
related subjects to preserve as intellectual properties
and national heritages.
Since its beginning, the Archive has gathered more than 150,000
Thai film titles. The collection includes features, shorts, newsreels,
documentaries and home movies of all formats including film print,
tape and digital. The Archive is attempting to preserve the collection
in the standard conditions.
The Archive also promotes the importance of film preservation.
This important strategy aims to encourage public engagement on
film preservation via campaigns like the National Film Heritage
Registry, which was initiated in 2011. Inspired by the US Library of
Congress’s National Film Registry, each year the Archive selects 25
films from various genres, including features, shorts, documentaries,
newsreels and home movies and officially announces the selection
every 4th of October, Thai Movies Conservation Day. The project is
considered a social contract by the Film Archive to secure the best
available film elements for each registry title. They are conserved
under the best possible physical conditions in order to be preserved
as long as possible for the next generation.
School Cinema : Each year, more than 10,000 students participate in
the programme. Some of them have never been in the theatre before.
So, besides film literacy, the programme will provide them the
cinematic experience, which they cannot find outside the theatre.
2. To research and build knowledge on films,
audiovisuals and other related subjects.
Filmmaking began in Thailand in 1897. The long history of Thai
filmmaking was ignored by academia due to many reasons such as
the scattered evidence and lost film material. Besides
6
cataloguing each material in our collection, the Archive also aims to
complete the Thai film database, which will cover all Thai theatrical
films since 1927, when the first Thai feature, Chok Song Chan (Double
Luck), was released.
The Archive staff researches newspapers and magazines in order
to gather all Thai film titles, release dates and other information as
much as possible. In 2014, the Archive successfully published the
first volume of Thai Filmography from 1927 to 1956, which is an
authoritative database for Thai film studies.
3. To offer public service for education and research
on films while encouraging and promoting the use of
films to their utmost potential.
The Archive’s motto is “Cinema Enlightens”. Against the
common attitude toward cinema as entertainment, the Archive
started various screening and non-screening programmes, which
strategically develop film audiences.
Besides our daily screenings, the Archive hosts three film festivals,
the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival, the Silent Film
Festival in Bangkok and the Thai Short Film and Video Festival. The
Archive organises School Cinema, which offers an opportunity for
school students to enjoy selected films. After each screening, there
is a talk and discussion on related topics with the aim to promote
films as a learning tool for children as well as to seed film literacy
into younger audiences.
In order to expand the screening programme, in 2015 the Archive
obtained a cine-mobile for travelling across the country. The cinemobile – a large truck which is able to transform into a proper
100-seater theatre, serves the School Programme during the day,
while it hosts the community theatre in the evening.
Furthermore, the Archive holds non-screening programmes; film
talks, seminars, masterclasses, workshops, film study conferences
and also a Thai Film History course, which, surprisingly, no
university in Thailand has offered before. Finally, the Archive has
provided films and books on film via library service as well as the
one and only Thai Film Museum.
Running the Film Archive requires funding, specialised labour and
knowledge. It is impossible to make a profit from the Archive’s
works. This fact brings the Archive difficulties when the Archive
must defend its value in the face of questions from government or
higher officers.
To continue to accomplish the above three missions, therefore, the
Archive is conscious of the need to be acknowledged by the public
and hopes for public support in return.
Film Archive (Public Organization), Thailand
+66 2 482 2013 Ext 114
[email protected]
EVENT
Library Managers’ Meeting
FOCAL International waits to challenge the first
application for Extended Collective Licensing
At the FOCAL International Library Managers’ meeting on 21
October, 2015 at Creative Skillset, Mary Egan reported on the
effects of new UK legislation on Extended Collective Licensing.
On 1 October, 2014, regulations to introduce Extended Collective
Licensing (ECL) into copyright legislation came into force under a
secondary statutory instrument. This will affect any rights-holder
who sells their work in the UK, including International agencies.
The Draft Instrument can be seen at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
ukdsi/2014/9780111116890
The Secretary of State has invited existing Collecting Societies
(CMOs) to apply to run an ECL provided they could demonstrate
that they had significant support from rights holders in a specified
sector and their application is made in accordance with Regulation 5
and meets the set criteria/procedures. If an ECL licence is awarded
to a CMO:
zzThey would not need to seek additional permission to license
zzThey would set the rate
zzTake a management fee
zzPay the remainder to the rights holder.
Should the CMO not know the rights holder, they would hold the
fee until the relevant archive came forward. Rights holders had the
right to opt out.
Before the Secretary of State (SoS) decides to award an ECL
licence/scheme they will issue a Public announcement 14 days after
the application has been submitted – followed by a minimum 28
days’ period for comments from relevant parties.
One ECL Scheme will be granted in each sector; however an
applicant can apply for multiple schemes in different sectors. As yet
the sector is not defined.
Several points to note that the ECL application must show are:
zzThe applicant must be an approved licensing body and have a
“significant” representation amongst their membership.
zzThere is a (regulated) code of practice in place, which includes
the protection of non-member right holders.
zzThere are opt out arrangements in place, including those
for multiple works intended to protect the interests of right
holders.
Full details are available on the Draft Instrument. As at September
2015 – no applications to the SOS have been made.
Worldwide usage rare
Instances of use of ECL around the world are very rare. The main
examples are in the Nordic countries where CMOs can be given
the legal right to license works (usually literary works) where
they believe the owner of such works would not object. These
instances of use generally relate to low population countries
where few people outside the country speak their native language
(e.g. Norway) and if a work is not published or translated into
another language it could disappear and die. Where ECL is used in
the Nordic countries it is on a very limited basis and very strictly
controlled.
8
*Britain is a signatory to the Berne Convention which obliges our
Government to protect the copyright in Britain of foreign copyright
owners. Britain is also signatory to The European Convention on
Human Rights which guarantees us control and ownership of our
property. Copyright ownership is considered a property owning
right.
FOCAL International wants to challenge the first application for ECL
with a Judicial Review (JR). The first application may cover any form
of copyright protected rights, not necessarily audiovisual archive,
cine or photo related. We have already consulted Counsel (Richard
Spearman QC) and he believes we will succeed in such an objection,
principally based on the above*.
Having hopefully succeeded with the first opposition to an ECL
application, this should result in no further application being
considered by the IPO (with new case law having been created) or
for the relevant Statutory Instrument to be revoked or significantly
amended.
Hyperlinking and Framing
BAPLA drew to the attention of FOCAL International that they
were extremely concerned by points raised in the Reda report (see
online at: https://juliareda.eu/copyright-valuation-report-explained)
particularly the following:
13. Calls for the adoption of an open norm introducing flexibility
in the interpretation of exceptions and limitations in certain
special cases that do not conflict with the normal exploitation
of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate
interests of the author or rightsholder;
Subsequently contradicted by the following point on hyperlinking:
15. Stresses that the ability to freely link from one resource
to another is one of the fundamental building blocks of
the internet; calls on the EU legislator to make it clear that
reference to works by means of a hyperlink is not subject to
exclusive rights, as it does not consist in a communication to a
new public;
The inflexibility of point 15 does indeed prejudice the legitimate
interests of the creator/rights holder because certain ways of
hyperlinking, namely framing, can very much conflict with the
normal exploitation of images.
Framing occurs when a hyperlink from one website (or search
engine) to another website displays the whole or a substantial
amount of a copyright work appearing on the linked-to website as
part of the hyperlink.
The website (or search engine) creating the framed hyperlink can
give the impression that the copyright work is published on its
website when it is not, it remains hosted on the original website,
thus placing bandwidth pressure on the original website rather than
the website containing the framed hyperlink.
However, the website containing the framed hyperlink may post
advertising around the frame thereby removing the context in which
the copyright work is originally published.
EVENT
This ultimately reduces the incentive of a user to click-through
to the original website, depriving the original publisher of the
opportunity to monetise its publishing of the copyright work, obtain
data on the user viewing the work and otherwise promote its
services or to interact with the user.
This destabilises the normal process of business for the creator/
rights holders as they can no longer control the context in which
their content is communicated nor share in any monetisation
thereof.
Relevant websites:
http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/201402/cp140020en.pdf
http://eulawradar.com/case-c-34813-bestwater-internationalobjecting-to-the-embedding-of-videos/
FOCAL International agrees with these points and has
communicated our view to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO)
Photo: Creative Skillset
Increased enforcement burden
The removal of the original context, combined with the
ease with which photographs may be copied by right-clicking
also leads to a proliferation of unauthorised use by third
parties not appreciating they need to obtain permission to
re-use the photo. This further prejudices the interests of the
creator/rights holder as it causes lost licensing opportunities
and imposes an increased enforcement burden.
We have several examples ranging from https://images.
google.com/ to http://www.thesportfeed.com and http://
www.news-cloud.co.uk/(newsquiz), which all use framing
methods to show content.
Even though the photography community has at its disposal
technologies to find infringements such as Picscout, this
still leaves the hassle and costs of enforcement with the
creator/rights owner.
Recent case law in this area is short sighted and unhelpful,
namely the European Court of Justice decisions – Svensson
(Feb 2014) & Bestwater (Oct 2014). Therefore we would
call for a re-examination of this area of the law under the
current EU reform proposals.
The current law is extremely damaging to the creative
community’s future prospects as this online technique of framing
effectively legitimises free-riding on copyright-protected content by
permitting the embedding of content without credit or benefit to
the creator. It will impact not only on the photo licensing industry
but also on fellow creators and B2B customers that pay to licence
content online in order to attract B2C consumers.
It has the potential to encourage more online publishers, such as
newspapers that pay to license photographs, to introduce paywalls.
To be clear, hyperlinking that does not frame whole or substantial
parts of copyright works is fine, it is only the type of framed
hyperlinks described above that need to be distinguished and
recognised as a new communication to the public and therefore as
an exclusive right belonging to the creator/rights holder.
Finally, imposing a new or harmonising power, providing greater
flexibility or interpretation could potentially broaden the
exploitation of exceptions by more affluent companies.
This would inevitably lead to those that dominate online to test
the limitations, forcing the creator/rights holder to use the courts,
which in many cases is not economically feasible for someone like a
photographer to undertake.
BAPLA believes that:
zzAny consideration for new or harmonising copyright exceptions
should not be introduced in the absence of compelling evidence,
and not without always being underpinned by Fair Dealing.
zzIf there is consideration for the harmonisation of copyright
regulations, it should focus on enforcement and enable crossterritorial infringement claims.”
Creative Skillset Training Scheme
Raelene Rawlings (Sky News) and Ben Jones (Science Photo
Library) both reported favourably on their experience as host
employer and Mentors for the Archive Technical New Entrant
Scheme. Madeline Bates of Creative Skillset thanked all the mentors
and the employers who gave placements to the students. This
Traineeship had been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund for 2015
and 2016. The Scheme runs from May to December each year, and
next year there will be 10 students. The success of employment for
the trainees could be an issue when looking at the feasibility from
2017 onwards.
Researchers’ Portal
Ben Jones reported that over the past two years, FOCAL
International has been working along with the Source to Screen
project, hosted by BAFTA. The latest project for Archive
Researchers is to enable them to upload into a cloud all their
sources of footage (this could be from many suppliers), have the
ability to change the original format to the format required for the
edit and add any wrappers if needed. This tool would provide a
one stop window for the client/producer to view and decide which
clips would be suitable for their programme etc. Ben Jones (Science
Photos) Massimo Moretti (Studio Canal) and Raelene Rawlings (SKY
News) all up-loaded content into the cloud for the experiment.
Amazon will be the “cloud” provider. There will be continuing costs
for the site especially for the storage. This project is ongoing and we
will be reporting on future developments.
9
FEATURE
Beware! Beatles’ ‘Lost’ Concert verdict has
driven UK closer to US Fair Use doctrine
Photo: © Holly Webster
European definition of parody
FOCAL International lawyer
Margaret Briffa finds new evidence
in the Fair Dealing v Fair Use issue
Don’t quote or parody me – but are we moving towards a US Style
Fair Use defence to copyright infringement?
What is and what is not Fair Dealing in a copyright work has always
been a thorny issue that has created tension between copyright
owners and users. In the UK what is Fair Dealing is defined by
specific exceptions set out in legislation rather than by a general
concept of ‘Fair Use’ which prevails in the US. Until recently in the
UK those exceptions were limited broadly to use for the purpose of
criticism and review, reporting current events and for private study
and research.
In terms of the detail, whether something is Fair Dealing is an
objective test established by the UK Courts and involves deciding
how a fair minded and honest person would have dealt with the
work. Relevant factors include the amount of the copyright work
that has been used and whether that use affects the market for the
original, e.g. by competing with it.
By contrast the general principle of Fair Use in the US is far more
flexible. Any use may be fair as long as it is deemed to be so judged
against four factors, which are:
1. The purpose and character of the use
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market.
In October 2014, the Fair Dealing exception for the purpose of
criticism and review was expanded to include among other things
use of a copyright work for the purpose of ‘parody’ and ‘quotation’.
10
The new parody exception does not attempt to further define
caricature, parody or pastiche. The European Court of Justice has
provided some helpful guidance as to the meaning of “parody”.
In Deckmyn v Vandersteen (C-201/13) where it ruled that the
only essential characteristics of a parody are to evoke an existing
work while being noticeably different from it; and to constitute an
expression of humour or mockery.
Beyond that as with all exceptions to copyright infringement the
purpose is to strike a fair balance between the interests of rights
holders and those who want to use copyright material. Notably,
however, the court found that if a parody conveys a discriminatory
message, the holders of rights in the parodied work may have a
legitimate interest in ensuring that their work is not associated
with that message. It will be for the national courts to perform
the necessary balancing act between copyright infringement and
freedom of expression in each case.
From this it can be seen that the treatment of parodies in the UK is
now more similar to their treatment under US law, where parodies
may be permitted under the general ‘Fair Use’ doctrine and has
been welcomed by many using video parody, via social media or
otherwise. It should not be forgotten that the exception has no
impact on either the laws of defamation or the author’s moral right
to object to derogatory treatment of their work.
As with the new parody exception the new quotation exception
does not define quotation but simply allows subject to certain
conditions. These are that there is sufficient acknowledgement of the
copyright work. That the ‘quotation’ uses no more than is required;
and that the original work has been made available to the public.
The UK Intellectual Property Office’s guidance suggests that short
quotations of a copyright work in an academic paper or history
book are permitted under this exception, but long extracts are
not. Interestingly, however it also suggests that, in exceptional
circumstances, quoting a photograph will be allowed, provided the
use does not conflict with the copyright owner’s normal exploitation
of it.
Discussions – but no contract
For a guide as to what a court may make of this new exception
the recent case of Sony/ATV v WPMC Ltd and Lambic Media Ltd
(2015) sheds some light. The case concerned a dispute regarding
the soundtrack to a documentary entitled The Beatles: The Lost
Concert. Sony sued in the UK where the documentary was made
and in the US its intended market. The focus of the case was
whether WPMC could rely on discussions between the parties that
were ‘subject to contract’ to say that there was a collateral contract
to grant a synchronization licence to WPMC to exploit the work.
WPMC conceded that if there was no contract then they infringed
copyright subject to it being fair.
The UK Court found that there was no contract in place and
went on to look at the Fair Use and did so by reference to the
US doctrine of Fair Dealing set out above. In addition, the court
considered works of a leading copyright academic who argues that
in order to be Fair Dealing the use must be ‘transformative’ of the
original work.
FEATURE
The Court rejected Sony’s argument that to succeed in a Fair Use
defence, WPMC must show that no more has been taken of the
copyright work than is necessary for the transformative purpose.
The Court held that “what the defendant must show is that the
amount taken is reasonable, and not excessive.”
The court accepted WPMC’s contention that “it can be Fair Use to
copy the whole of the copyright work where this is justified by the
transformative purpose, particularly but not exclusively if the copy is
not a high quality one (e.g. where an image is reduced in size).”
In considering whether the use made of the copyright works could
amount to Fair Use, the Court held that the use was commercial
and partly transformative.
With respect to the nature of the Works (it held that) the copyright
works are fully expressive works falling within the core of copyright
protection. With respect to the amount and substantiality of the
work that has been used the documentary reproduced the entirety
of each of the copyright works.
Excessive usage
Not only does the usage exceed what is necessary to illustrate the
nature and effect of the Beatles’ performances of the copyright
works, it exceeds what is reasonable for that purpose.”
Finally, with respect to the effect on the market or the impact on
the value of the work, the defendants failed to establish that the
documentary would not damage the market for, or potential value
of, the copyright works if permitted as Fair Use. On the contrary,
the Court found it “likely that this would damage the market for,
or potential value of, the copyright works.” In all the circumstances
therefore the court concluded that inclusion of the copyright works
in the documentary did not amount to Fair Use.
Bearing in mind that what is a ‘quotation is not defined’ and could
have a very broad meaning, what is of interest here therefore
is the Court’s analysis along the lines of the US doctrine of Fair
Use suggesting that the new quotation exception has brought our
approach closer to the doctrine of fair use in the US.
In light of this case those using works without securing licenses may
do well to consider the US doctrine of Fair Use and whether the
use they propose would safely fall under it.
Accordingly, the Court found that “the amount copied is clearly
excessive. If the documentary had merely used a number of
excerpts from the concert video, and hence of the copyright
works, then that might well have been reasonable having regard to
the transformative purpose. As it is, however, the Documentary
goes well beyond that. What WPMC are presenting amounts to a
package of the concert video with additional material. Furthermore,
there is substantial additional use of the copyright works as part of
the soundtrack.
Margaret Briffa is an Intellectual Property lawyer
with special interest in copyright and media law.
She advises and supports FOCAL International in
its work, looking after the interests of members.
STOP
PRESS
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7288 6003
www.briffa.com
Visual China Group takes over
Corbis Images from Bill Gates and
links its huge archive with Getty’s
Corbis Images, owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and one of
the largest photo collections in the world was sold in January 2016
for an undisclosed sum to Visual China Group, the rapidly-expanding
image licensing company which has now followed its purchase by
declaring its intention of investing $100 million in Getty Images.
Visual China, which came into existence as the first internet image
company in China in 2000, set up a joint venture with Getty Images
in 2005, distributing Getty’s content exclusively in China. In 2012,
it acquired TungStar, the biggest entertainment content provider
across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In 2014 VCG was
listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and is currently valued at
$2.5 billion. It has become China’s biggest visual communications
and new media company and one of the largest businesses in the
image industry worldwide.
Corbis Images owns a collection of over 100 million photos and
800,000 videos. The photos include some of the most famous and
significant images, dating from the 19th century to the present day.
Over the coming months these images will be migrated to Getty
Images, combining with Getty’s archive of 200 million items to
create a massive online photo archive.
11
FEATURE
Public Domain 3D articles to become
subject to copyright again.
The law which limited the term of copyright protection for 3D*
industrially exploited works to a maximum of 25 years has been
repealed. The effect is that works which are currently considered
to be in the Public Domain will once again benefit from copyright
protection calculated as life of author plus 70 years following
their death. This repeal has come about due to the efforts of the
furniture and lighting industries who regularly have their products
copied and sold at knockdown prices.
The change however has a broad impact and there are
consequences for the library and archive industry.
Currently no distinction is made between a 3D and a 2D copy
of the work. All reproduction of a work covered by copyright
would be unlawful. A government consultation into the transitional
provisions that will apply once the law takes effect has now closed
and the result of the consultation are expected in the next few
weeks. Meanwhile, libraries should consider the assets they hold
that may be affected and plan for how they may continue to use
them within their business.
Points to note for the time being are:
1. The law may come into effect as early as 1 April, 2016 and no
later than April 2020
2. If the repeal covers the reproduction of 3D works in 2D
format as well as copying of 3D products, there will be a
period of some time (months) in which businesses can remove
infringing works from their libraries or seek permission for their
use.
3. There may be a scheme under which copyright owners will be
obliged to grant compulsory licences for works which benefit
from this restored copyright.
*
The Intellectual Property Office guidance issued at the time of
the introduction of this exception in October 2014 stated that ‘in
exceptional circumstances, quoting a photograph will be allowed
provided the use does not conflict with the copyright owner’s
normal exploitation of it’. No details are provided as to what
exceptional circumstances might be.
FOCAL International submitted its response to the Consultation. It
argues against the restored copyright term applying to 2D images
of works which will benefit from a newly restored copyright on the
basis that such use does not detract any value from the designer
who makes money from selling the 3D works. The effect of the
change on the library and archive industry is disproportionate and
unnecessary to remedy the problems 3D designers suffer currently
and should be reconsidered. The responses to the consultation are
currently being considered and the results will be published soon.
Further information will follow.
Margaret Briffa
Solicitor
T +44 (0)20 7288 6003
F +44 (0)20 7288 6004
www.briffa.com
When we refer to 3D we mean any 3 dimensional object. So, for example, if archivists have in their collections images of classic chairs
(such as the Eames Egg Chair) these images can no longer be reproduced without the permission of the designer. In this context
therefore 3D means any three dimensional work that could be considered as a work of artistic craftsmanship.
Elizabeth Klinck
12
4. It may be possible to rely on the Fair Dealing exception of
‘quotation’ which was an exception introduced into copyright
law in October 2014 as an extension to the defence of use
for the purpose of ‘criticism and review’. To succeed in such a
defence the user would need to show that the use is no more
than is required and that the work is credited.
282 Napier Street
Collingwood Ontario Canada L9Y 3T3
Tel. 705 445 9962 Fax. 705 445 9630
Email [email protected]
AP ARCHIVE
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FEATURE
Bye Bye Archive as
The Beach Bullies
ride again!
James Smith’s exclusive tale of how his research
career gave way to ‘pop’ thanks to YouTube
Rather fittingly, it ended much as it began. Music
took me into the world of film archives, and music
was instrumental (Ha! Ha!) in me leaving it.
I moved to London in 1977, at the age of 22, determined not to
end up in the dead end jobs I had endured since leaving school at
16. Summer of 1978, and things were looking up. I was working
as a NATTKE freelance stagehand – odd days in television studios,
and evenings in various West End theatres. However, I had just
formed a band, and needed my nights free for gigs and rehearsals.
I had worked in a film lab from 1976 to 1977, and the film handling
experience took me unexpectedly to Thames TV, as a holiday cover
film examiner. Compared to the rigours of get-ins, get-outs, and
lugging stage weights, it was light, pleasant work.
I became a regular freelancer in the Film Library, and a few months
later, I was taken onto the staff as an assistant film despatch clerk.
The job supported the band better than I expected, and paid for
the instruments, amplifiers, and rehearsal studios I needed so
badly. After a few ups and downs with bands, in 1980 I discarded
everything but the guitar, drum machine and a girl singer, and made a
very low-budget album, We Rule The Universe by The Beach Bullies,
for a small independent record company. It could have been the
beginning of something bigger, but recession intervened, and halfway
through the recording of the follow-up, my parent label bit the dust.
The ensuing debts kept me hard at work for several years, and by
then, I felt my time had passed in the music world, and something
called film research was beguiling me.
Film Researchers were frequent visitors to the Thames Film Library,
asking us to bring up past Thames programmes for viewing,
sometimes stopping in for a chat during tea breaks (Oh, those tea
breaks of yesteryear, when the trolley came round and Gladys had
the egg roll you coveted, or in the afternoon, that nice jam tart!),
because the library under the care of Bob Cleary was a convivial
place, where editors and their assistants, in fact anyone on the
second floor, could pop in for a gossip.
Just as my music career was sputtering towards an uncertain
conclusion, I was moved up and over to the Thames News library.
Local news, current affairs, daily deadlines, endless shot-listing, and
inevitably index cards in their thousands, all needing to be carefully
cross-referenced and filed. Painstaking work, that took some
14
getting used to, but the lessons were well learned and invaluable
for the future.
Film Researchers worked on Thames News as well, and others
visited to find something for Reporting London, or TV Eye. My
conversations with them continued, I helped out when I could, and
more and more I came to think that, with my memory for detail,
love of film, and pleasure in research, if I was not going to be a rock
‘n’ roll star, then Film Researcher was a potential career path.
The bosses’ revenge
Thames was an old fashioned company; promotions were slow
and hard to come by. I managed to get an attachment to the Film
Research department, but this was 1984, and industrial unrest was
rife. The union – I was a member of ACTT by then – called for
strike action over the sacking of a documentary director caught in
an expenses fiddle. Though I was a strong supporter of the union,
this was one fight I did not want to be involved in, having lost plenty
of income to other more justifiable strikes already.
And when the dispute was over, the bosses took their revenge. My
attachment was terminated, and not re-instated. “You’ll have to
apply again next year,” I was told, rather callously. I chose another
route. The Beach Bullies were enjoying a brief renaissance on the
alternative comedy circuit. I could do some freelancing to make
ends meet. I handed in my notice.
A mixture of luck and serendipity now led me to Archive Research.
I gigged sporadically, worked in various Thames departments as
holiday cover for few weeks here and there. I bought a cottage
in Wales, meaning to move there. The man I bought the cottage
from was a production manager and designer on a film festival
in Birmingham. He offered me a job, running the film side of
things, preparing films for exhibition; keeping the library, making
up clip reels; calling on most of my skills. I made contacts; I met
Victoria Stable, who introduced me to Helen Bennitt, who kindly
employed me at London Weekend Television. On the Royal Variety
Performance, 1987, I received my first Film Researcher screen
credit. At the age of 32, my career was finally off and running.
In those days, being a Film Researcher (the difference between film
and stills research was distinct then) meant travel, and a certain
independence from the usual office routines, all very agreeable to
someone who had always disliked being stuck in an office all day
FEATURE
1985… …2016
long. 1989, I was in Washington, Austin Texas, Nashville, Memphis.
1990, the first Berlin Film Festival after the ‘Fall of the Wall’. I
wangled prints from distributors, ran them across town to telecine
clips, returning them before the evening showing. Contacts became
friends, knowledge accrued rapidly. I spent most of the 1990s
working on cinema programmes and social history documentaries.
Flying visits to Dallas, to Paris, longer stays in LA, and Berlin… I
loved my job.
I acquired an email address in 1995, but it was five years or so
before the Internet began to seriously affect the job. At first it
seemed benign; soon it became malign. The international travel
went first. ‘It’s all online’ was the cry, and the lie. Every benefit of
the Web was matched by a reduction in the freedom I had known.
By 2005, even travel within the UK, perhaps Granada in Manchester
or Leeds, Glasgow for STV or BBC Scotland, was severely curtailed.
Budgets tighter; rewards smaller
Update:
Great programmes were still being made, but the making of them
became harder, the budgets tighter, the rewards smaller, the
contracts often shorter, and broken up. Five days on, eight weeks
off, one or two days a week for a five-week edit, no time left to
clear up afterwards…
Meanwhile I was still tinkering doggedly with music. In the 1990s
I made experimental computer music with an old school friend,
Simon Kunath, which gained a degree of international recognition,
including the praise of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – the
electronic equivalent of getting your record played by John Peel!
Music was now a good counterpoint to research – each kept the
other on its toes.
The new century brought another interest to the fore. I had
always written, songs, poems, stories. Almost overnight, I began
to write novels, and my first, a sexy summer comedy romance,
came achingly close to publication. Unfortunately interest shrivelled
away, as it was sent to several publishers for bidding during the
week of September the 11th 2001! The zeitgeist left me there, but
I carried on writing, and one day by hook or by crook at least some
of the seven completed novels (so far) will appear. Archive Zones,
meanwhile, became a regular outlet for my ‘pen’.
2009, and I was feeling distinctly stale. Work was plentiful and
some of it very rewarding, but the industry was changing, and
not, I felt, for the better. I stepped sideways for a while, spending
a year and a half at AP, working on the restoration of the UPITN
newsreel, which I enjoyed enormously. I returned to archive
production refreshed, with the wonderful Story of Film, but
somehow knew that I was not going to be able to carry on for
another decade, with work becoming ever more stressful, and the
job sometimes appearing to be more about logistics and avoiding
litigation, than actual research. My health began to suffer. The
(near) final challenge was the feature film documentary 10 Billion
which eventually aired in December 2015, 50% of what was on
screen was archive. It was a fantastic project, close to my heart,
and it seemed a fitting way to leave.
During my final year of television work, I was contacted, out of the
blue, via YouTube, by a record company executive from Booklyn,
NY! To my astonishment, he was a big fan of the album I had
recorded way back in 1980, and he’d been trying to get in touch
with me for years. When I posted some old demo recordings by a
previous band, The Containers, on the archive researcher’s bane
and blessing, it gave him the contact opportunity he needed. I was
offered a deal, and naturally, I took it. Why deny fate its opportunity
to change a life? It wasn’t the only reason I decided that 2015 year
would be my last in television, but it was a huge contributory factor.
So now the album has been released, and it has garnered a few very
nice reviews. Sales will never be spectacular, but holding a brand
new white vinyl copy of the record I had scrimped, saved, and
sweated to produce over 35 years ago, was a moment to cherish. I
have formed a new version of the Beach Bullies, I’m writing, playing,
rehearsing, planning, enjoying this late burst of creative sunshine
with no more expectations
than I am determined
to enjoy every
James A Smith
moment
[email protected]
of it.
Album available from Rough Trade in the UK,
or via Manufactured Recordings:
www.omnianmusicgroup.com/products/
we-rule-the-universe
The Beach Bullies:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBeachBulliesOfficial
Leonheart
soundcloud.com/leonheart
Bettina Schroeder:
bettinaschroeder.net
29 January, 2016 – Scaledown, King & Queen, Foley Street, London
W1 – 10.15pm. We’re on stage – at last – nervous, excited. To my far
right, Bettina Schroeder tests the volume of her electric ukulele,
beside me vocalist Leonheart clears her throat and smiles. I touch
my guitar strings in readiness, position my foot above the drum
machine foot switch. “One, two, three, four…” Twenty-five minutes
later, we are playing our second encore; the crowd at the front are
dancing furiously.
30 January, 2016 – The New River Studios, N4 – We are Top of the
Bill, and we do it all again. The Beach Bullies are back, in style!
15
FEATURE
EVENT
FOCAL International unveils its
as the worldwide archive
The most highly-prized
Awards in the archive
industry will again
attract a star-studded
worldwide audience to
The Lancaster London
Hotel on Thursday,
May 26. Presenting the
13th annual FOCAL
Kate Adie
International Awards,
in association with AP, will be former BBC
Chief News Reporter, Kate Adie.
The Awards cover every activity in the
archive industry and associated media.
Producers, directors and technical headlinemakers honour their own in 17 categories
which recognise the creative use of footage
in all variety of genres, across all media
platforms as well as the contribution made to
the global production industry by archivists,
film libraries, researchers and technicians,
plus the work done to restore and preserve
those irreplaceable assets.
Unprecedented!
Organiser of the Awards competition, Julie
Lewis, promises, “It’s going to be another
gripping competition. We received 191
submissions from 17 countries – amazing
archive heavy productions featuring, for
example, Amy Winehouse, Steve McQueen,
Marlon Brando and Kurt Cobain all vying for
a place in the final nominations – and that is
just in the Cinema category! We also have
an unprecedented 12 nominations for the
Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year
Award. So it’s going to be a very tight race in
all categories.
Our amazing team of over 50 international
jurors have been watching submissions for
weeks to compile the shortlists in all 16
categories.”
“And the nominations are…
The United States is well represented in the
Footage Researcher of the Year nominations
– from a very strong field of 12 entries. And,
adds Julie Lewis, “We are delighted with both
the international turnout and the prevalence
in this year’s shortlist of so many highlyacclaimed archive-based films such as Amy,
Cobain and Best of Enemies.”
16
Tickets
Tickets are on sale already, so you’ll need to hurry if you want to book
tickets or a table http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards.
And there are still some Sponsorship Opportunities available – please
talk with ANNE JOHNSON at FOCAL International if you are interested
+44 (0)20 7663 8090 or +44 (0) 7712 6635 05.
To see the full list of 191 submissions and final nominations, click
on the category drop-down list here http://www.focalint.org/focalinternational-awards/2016/the-focal-international-awards-2016.
Lifetime Award for lifetime preservationist…
FOCAL International honour
Robert Gitt – “national
treasure” and ‘King’ of
stunning restorations
The climax of the FOCAL International Awards Gala will be the presentation of
FOCAL’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award. The ‘gift’ of the FOCAL International
Executive, this year it goes to arguably the most famous living archivist, whose
international reputation has been forged in a career spanning over 50 years.
Robert Gitt is recognised as one of the foremost experts in the preservation
and restoration of motion pictures. Director Martin Scorsese who endorsed his
nomination, commented, “Bob Gitt has dedicated his life to film preservation, and in
all honesty I can’t think of anyone more deserving of FOCAL’s Lifetime Achievement
Award.”
In 1970, Gitt joined The American Film Institute in Washington, D.C., where he
served initially as Film Booking and Technical Manager of the AFI Theater at the
Kennedy Center. Three years later, he became AFI’s Technical Officer and began to
work on film restoration projects, including Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1937), which
he completed at UCLA, and The Blot (1921), influential in cementing Lois Weber’s
reputation as an important pioneer woman director.
In 1977, he began work at UCLA Film & Television Archive as its first Preservation
Officer, where he was actively involved in the preservation and restoration of
hundreds of classic Hollywood films, both silent and sound. Most recently he
was asked by Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker to supervise the digital
restoration of perhaps the most beautiful Technicolor film of all time, Michael Powell
and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948), in collaboration with the BFI and ITV.
STOP
PRESS!
F O C A L I N T E R N AT I O N A L AWA R D S 2016
FOCAL International’s Chair Sue Malden was delighted to
announce: “Bob has also accepted our invitation to present
the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture which will take place at
ITV on the Southbank 24th May, just two days before the
Awards Ceremony on 26th May. It will be a wonderful bonus
to a thrilling week of archive industry events.”
FEATURE
EVENT
13th Awards night extravaganza
industry honours its own
Testimonials
“Bob has led the preservation and restoration team at UCLA for
many years and is one of the world’s most admired and respected
conservation and restoration experts,” said film historian Clyde
Jeavons. “He has restored probably more important American
movies – silent and sound, classic and obscure – than all the other
US archivists put together, and has been a pioneer of techniques
to recover early and late Technicolor and to restore the first
Hollywood sound-on-disc systems, even working from cracked and
broken shellac recordings. In short, he has helped to make available
to the highest possible standards countless films threatened by loss
and decay.”
“Bob Gitt set the standard for what we call film restoration,”
said Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures EVP Asset Management, Film
Restoration and Digital Mastering. “Film preservation existed prior
to Bob Gitt, but the kind of restoration we know of today is the
result of Bob’s standard-setting work for almost 40 years.”
Gitt has also specialised in resuscitating early sound films, including
over a hundred 1926-1931 Vitaphone one-reel short subjects, and
has lectured widely on the subject of film and sound preservation.
His latest project is Part II of his epic History of Sound on Film
(A Century of Sound, 1933-1975) – described as “a gold mine for
specialist researchers and technology buffs” – which was launched
earlier this year on BluRay.
These are extracts from key endorsements of Robert Gitt’s
nomination received by FOCAL International:
“Thelma and I had the pleasure of working very closely with Bob
on the restoration of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger’s
The Red Shoes (1948). During what became a nearly three-year
project, Bob carefully and patiently led his team at the UCLA
Film & Television Archive through the painstaking process of
reviewing over 200 reels of 35mm nitrate and acetate materials,
including the original nitrate negatives that were the source of the
restoration and several vintage Technicolor dye-transfer prints
that were used as reference. This was the first digital restoration
carried out by The Film Foundation and UCLA. Bob brought his
deep knowledge of nitrate film, his expert eye, and his passion for
preservation to the project, translating it beautifully to the digital
realm. The result was a truly stunning restoration.”
Martin Scorsese
Bob is not only one of the world’s greatest living experts in
the field of film and sound preservation and restoration, he is
also one of the most generous collaborators in the film archive
business. Many archivists around the globe owe a great deal to
him for the way he has shared his knowledge and expertise over
the years, and in the USA he has trained many of its leading film
preservationists.
Anne Fleming
Ex-Curator, NFTVA/BFI
Robert Gitt
Sony Pictures and UCLA collaborated on a number of film
restoration projects throughout the 1990s that were mostly
overseen by Bob Gitt. It was working with and observing Bob that
helped me to develop our own restoration programme. It was his
leave-no-stone-unturned approach to evaluation and testing on
every project, and a decidedly unique dedication to perfectionism,
that I frankly stole and have emulated ever since.
Grover Crisp
Sony Pictures EVP
Working with Bob was always a pleasure as he would generously
share his insight and technical expertise. Of all the many
restoration projects supported by TFF, the one that stands out
is The Night of the Hunter with the incredible out-take footage of
Charles Laughton directing that Bob preserved and produced as a
two-hour presentation. The resulting film and Bob’s narration are
a master class in filmmaking. His contribution to cinema history is
immeasurable and he is truly deserving of this honour.
Margaret Bodde
The Film Foundation
Robert Gitt is a national treasure. Through his work as senior
film preservationist at UCLA Film & Television Archive, Bob
Gitt helped establish modern methods of film preservation
and restoration…His restorations of such films as Becky Sharp
(1935), Stagecoach (1939), and My Darling Clementine (1946) are
legendary. Over his long career until his retirement in 2007, Bob
Gitt also trained a whole generation of film preservationists.
Dr. Jan-Christopher Horak
Director, UCLA Film & Television Archive
17
EVENT
Final Nominations – FOCAL International
Best Use of Footage in a
History Production
Best Use of Footage in an
Entertainment Production
Best Use of
Sports Footage
Sponsored by
Sponsored by
Sponsored by
A German Youth (Une Jeunesse Allemande)
Local Films/Alina Film/BlinkerFilmProducktion
(France, Switzerland, Germany)
Every Face Has a Name
Auto Images (Sweden)
Red Gold (L’Or Rouge)
Vivement Lundi ! (France)
A City Dreaming
Indie Movie Company for BBC NI (UK)
Best of Enemies
Tremolo Productions/Magnolia Pictures (USA)
Children Over Time
RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana (Italy)
Building Jerusalem
New Black Films Limited (UK)
Free to Run
Point Prod/Yuzu Productions/Eklektik
Productions (Switzerland, France, Belgium)
I Believe In Miracles
Baby Cow Productions and Spool Films (UK)
Best Use of Footage
in a Current Affairs Production
Sponsored by
Clockwork Climate
Artline Films (France)
India’s Daughter
Assassin Films (UK)
The Queen of Ireland
Blinder Films (Ireland)
Best Use of Footage
in a Factual Production
Sponsored by
USEFUL
LINKS:
Best of Enemies
Magnolia Pictures (USA)
The Black Panthers: Vanguard
of the Revolution
Firelight Films, Inc (USA)
The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor
DeepFocus Productions, Inc (USA)
18
Best Use of Footage
in an Arts Production
Sponsor sought
Arena: Night and Day
BBC (UK)
By Sidney Lumet
A Production of Augusta Films and American
Masters Pictures in association with RatPac
Documentary Films, Steven Spielberg’s
Righteous Persons Foundation, Matador and
Anker Productions, Inc. (USA)
Imagine: The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson
Essential Arts Entertainment/Nitrate Film/
BBC (UK)
Best Use of Footage
in a Music Production
Sponsored by
Amy
On The Corner (UK)
Cobain: Montage of Heck
End of Movie, LLC (USA)
Eurovision at 60
BBC Entertainment Production (UK)
Best Use of Footage in
an Advert or Short Production
Sponsor sought
Gatorade ‘Heritage’
Stalkr/TBWA/Chiat/Day (USA)
Lenor ‘Odes to Clothes: Marvellous Scarf ’
The Director Studio for Grey Düsseldorf (UK/
Germany)
MTV ‘Tagline Here’
Stalkr/ Ghost Robot (USA)
Best use of Footage
about the Natural World
Sponsor sought
Beasts Behaving Badly
Barcroft Productions (UK)
The Nature of Things: Jellyfish Rule!
CBC (Canada)
Wild 24
NHNZ / Nat Geo Wild (New Zealand)
To see the full list of 191submissions to the FOCAL International Awards from 17 countries click on the
category drop-down list here
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EVENT
Awards In Association With AP Archive
Best Use of Footage on
non-Television Platforms
Best Archive Restoration/
Preservation Project or Title
Sponsor sought
Bitter Lake
BBC Productions (UK)
Britain on Film
BFI (UK)
The Beatles 1+ Video Collection
Apple Corps Limited (UK)
Best Use of Footage
in a Cinema Release
Sponsored by
Amy
On The Corner (UK)
Cobain: Montage of Heck
End of Movie, LLC (USA)
Free to Run
Point Prod/Yuzu Productions/Eklektik
Productions (Switzerland, France, Belgium)
The Jane Mercer Footage
Researcher of the Year Award
Sponsored by
Colleen Cavanaugh Anthony,
Alexis Owens (Stalkr/USA)
Transparent – Title Sequence Season 2; The Big
Short; MTV Tagline Here
Jessica Berman Bogdan (USA)
Cobain: Montage of Heck; Narcos
Prudence Arndt, Deborah Ford (USA/France)
Free To Run
Footage Employee
of the Year
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Sponsor sought
Who Will Be the
Winners This Time?
La Noire de...
Restored by The Film Foundation’s World
Cinema Project in collaboration with the
Sembene Estate, INA, Eclair Laboratories
and Centre National de Cinematographie.
Restoration carried out at Cineteca di Bologna
(USA/Italy)
Marius
Compagnie Mediterraneenne de Films-MPC and
the Cinematheque franÇaise, with the support
of the CNC, the Franco-American Cultural Fund
DGA-MPA-SACEM-WGAW, the help of ARTE
France Cinema Department, the Audiovisual
Archives of Monaco, and the participation of
SOGEDA Monaco/Digimage Classics (France)
Cobain: Montage of Heck
The Memory of Justice
Restored by the Academy Film Archive in
association with Paramount Pictures and The
Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided
by The Material World Charitable Foundation,
Righteous Persons Foundation, and The Film
Foundation. (USA)
Varieté
The Black Panthers: Vanguard
of the Revolution
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung and
Filmarchiv Austria (Germany/Austria)
Sponsored by VGF Verwertungsgesellschaft
für Nutzungsrechte an Filmwerken mbH
Förderverein „Freunde und Förderer des
deutschen Filmerbes e.V.“
Footage Library
of the Year
Amy
Sponsored by
Historic Films Archive
Huntley Film Archives
Kinolibrary
Lifetime Achievement
Award
A gift of the FOCAL International Executive
Children Over Time
Robert Gitt
Tim Emblem English
(BBC Studios and Post
Production)
Paul Davis (Getty Images)
Bhirel Wilson (BBC Motion Gallery/Getty
Images)
The Queen of Ireland
19
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20
[email protected]
FEATURE
FOCAL
INTERNATIONAL
Company Questionnaire
Transit Film –
your access route to the
German Federal Archives
Background
Transit Film GmbH was founded in 1966. It is a federally-owned
company. Transit Film was appointed to manage exclusively the
worldwide commercial sales of newsreels, factual films and other
filmic works held by the German Federal Archives. Transit Film
also exploits its own film stock. Currently Transit Film has three
employees. Our turnover last year was Euros 1.6m.
How you operate
How much archive stock do you hold? In what principal categories
and covering how many years?
Belonging to the pre-1945 German Federal Archives film collection
are films from the beginnings of film making up to the end of the
Second World War. Silent and sound newsreels of the DeuligWoche, Messter-Woche, UFA-Wochenschau, Terra-Wochenschau,
Tobis-Wochenschau, Emelka-Ton-Woche, the Deutsche Wochenschau
and various documentary films.
Since 1 January, 2014 Transit Film has also been appointed to make
accessible and to exploit commercially German Federal Archives
newsreels from 1945 to the 1970s as well as productions that had
been commissioned by the Federal Press Office between 1945 and
2004. These include Welt im Film, Welt im Bild, UFA-Wochenschau,
Neue Deutsche Wochenschau and Deutschlandspiegel.
Transit Film also exploits its own film catalogue consisting of
German feature films from the 1930s, 1950s, up to the 1970s. The
catalogue comprises many genres; comedies and heimatfilms, crime
and agent films, adaptations, biographies and New German Cinema
films.
Is it all digitised/searchable online? How much of the collection has
been meta-dated?
The German post-war newsreels are almost entirely digitised and
represent 750 hours on the digital portal. Selected films are being
digitized and added to the portal continually. All of the digitised
content has meta-data and content descriptions published on the
website (also in English) and is searchable online: www.filmothek.
bundesarchiv.de / www.transit-digital.de
A big project that Transit Film hopes to undertake together with the
German Federal Archives is the digitisation of pre-1945 newsreels,
especially of the war newsreels. Because of the sensitivity of the
content and the vast quantity of material we don’t have a time-scale
for this project yet.
Delivery
How quickly can material be turned round for programme use?
What is your principal means of delivery?
Digitised footage can usually be delivered on the same day or within
24 hours. The principal means of delivery for digitised footage
is digital files delivered via a download link. We hardly ever have
requests for delivery on external hard drives or tapes, although we
do offer this option.
What percentage of your business is international, as opposed to
‘domestic’?
Approx. 50 / 50
How many of your staff are qualified librarians, dealing with
personal enquiries?
One member of the staff is a trained audiovisual archivist but since
the physical material is located at the German Federal Archives it
is not the task of Transit Film to care for the physical audiovisual
carriers.
In one sentence what singles out your company from rival archive
companies?
Our content – Transit Film is exclusively appointed to manage
the worldwide commercial exploitation of films belonging to the
German Federal Archives.
The future
Have you had to adapt/revise charges etc. to cope with the
recession?
No
What, if any, effect has YouTube had on your business? Is it good or
bad for the archive industry?
YouTube doesn’t have a real economic impact on our business.
The bigger worry is that the sensitive footage from the Nazi era
circulates uncontrolled and without context.
Do you see better years ahead for the archive industry and your
sector in particular?
In my view the archive industry won’t undergo big changes in the
next years. For our business in particular we see potential for
growth through the expansion of our digital portal.
What do you think is the biggest single threat to your viability /
success?
The huge cost for digitising audiovisual archive material in order to
offer it online.
What is your personal recipe for tackling that threat?
We try to secure public funding to receive financial support.
What is FOCAL International’s most important role as far as you &
your business are concerned?
To help us in raising awareness of our digital portal within the
industry and expanding our business internationally.
Mark Grünthal
Geschäftsführung, (Director)
[email protected]
+49-89-59 98 85-12
www.transitfilm.de
21
FEATURE
The Colourisation Debate continues…
“No magical transformation… it’s like a police investigation… accuracy
is the priority… and it’s attracting a broader, younger audience”
says Composite Films’ Head of Research
As Head of Research for Composite Films in France, I have worked
on the colourisation of many historical documentary films alongside
producer and art director Samuel François-Steininger. I have often
had to overcome certain misconceptions about the nature of my
work. I always thought that this fairly new technique – even though
colourisation per se has practically existed since the invention of
cinema – deserved recognition. For example, unlike what many
people seem to believe, our colourisation software doesn’t
magically transform shades of grey into colour!
The reality of our work is much more complicated than that.
Historical research, applied to colourisation, requires time and
dedication. Even though our software guarantees a quality of
colourisation yet unseen, our work can’t be complete without
proper historical research.
I am taking advantage of this column to address Professor Stephen
Badsey who, in the Winter edition of Archive Zones, expressed his
doubts about colourisation, questioning in particular the little time
apparently dedicated to historical research. With this article, I want
the reader to understand our workflow. Particularly, I will go into
detail about the importance we give to historical research. I am not,
in any case, approving every colourised film ever made and will only
be talking about my own experience. In my opinion, colourisation
should not be condemned because of poor execution.
Let’s first go back to the beginnings of Composite Films, founded
by Samuel François-Steininger in 2013 in Lyon, France. Samuel had a
long prior experience working as production co-ordinator on many
important historical documentary films. He created Composite
while France Télévisions was seeking to broadcast more colourised
documentary films having realised, with the success of Apocalypse,
The Second World War, that colourisation attracted a broader
audience. Samuel seized the opportunity of a growing market to
establish Composite alongside the pre-existing French company
ImagineColor.
Indian partners
Composite has a partnership with Indian-based company Live
Pixel, which had developed an advanced software dedicated to the
colourisation of Bollywood feature films. Composite has worked
hand-in-hand ever since with Live Pixel, adapting its software to
the specific needs of historical documentary films in order to give
history back its colours.
We have worked with major French documentary filmmakers:
Patrick Jeudy, Jean-Christophe Rosé, David Korn-Brzoza, Michaël
Prazan, Luc Jacquet (Ice & Sky by Luc Jacquet was screened on the
closing-night of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival). Composite Films
is currently expanding internationally, working on several historical
documentary films produced by British and American companies.
We are mainly colourising prime-time documentaries as well
as documentary films intended for theatrical release, essentially
because, production-wise, they have a special budget dedicated to
colourisation.
We like to believe that our approach to colourisation is an expertise
much more than a technique. As I stated before, our software,
developed and regularly updated in collaboration with Live Pixel,
guarantees a great quality of colourisation. But unfortunately – or
fortunately – it can’t ensure its own historical accuracy. Here, I
want to address the main criticism developed by Professor Stephen
Badsey.
Unlike what he says in his article, we take archive footage very
seriously. “Historical accuracy” is “a priority” and we do have the
“historical knowledge” required, being ourselves historians and
having dealt with Microhistory for many years. The quality of our
software does not spare us from historical research. In fact, half the
time spent on colourisation is dedicated to this very research.
Our work begins when we receive the final edit of the film, ‘greenlighted’ both by the production company and the broadcaster.
While the black and white shots are sent away for restoration,
our team of researchers begins its analysis, treating each shot
individually – whether it stretches two seconds or 15. The significant
elements of each scene are isolated – trees, tanks, uniforms,
insignias, etc. – and linked to visual references in colour – colour
photographs, drawings, colour films, etc.
When dealing with war footage, we take extra care on uniforms
and details such as shoulder tabs, sleeve patches. In a nutshell, we
conduct extensive research on any element that can be verified
historically. Some complicated shots may require several hours
of research. We also dedicate a lot of time to finding the proper
references for the environment, nature, and the buildings. When the
23
FEATURE
information is available, we look at the
year, the season, and the city where the
films were shot before giving any colour
indication. And when needed, we return
to the original newsreel to access the
correct information.
Jerseys and bikes
conundrum
This technique proved itself very
helpful on Poulidor Ier, a documentary
film directed by Patrick Jeudy about
French bicycle racer Raymond Poulidor.
Poulidor participated in 14 Tours de
France and every year racers wear
different jerseys, depending on the
sponsors involved in the Tour. A
lot of shots contained racers in the
background, who were not the main
focus of the scene. Nonetheless, we had
to find the right colours of jerseys and
bikes for each racer seen on screen.
To make sure we had the right
information, we went back every time to the original newsreels
in order to watch what was happening before and after our shot,
unveiling details that would help us determine the right colours.
Like in a police investigation, we follow every possible lead to
avoid an historical faux pas. Plus, because we have a powerful
colourisation programme, allowing us to colourise even the smallest
details of a frame, we can exploit our historical research to the
fullest, adding the right colour on a military medal or on a tiny
ribbon pinned on an officer’s chest. The easy path would be to mask
those details by applying a sepia tone on the whole image, giving an
illusion of colour. This is not how we see colourisation.
Of course it would be nonsense to affirm that every element
analysed can be historically fact-checked. In an anonymous crowd,
no one can say for sure that a shirt is either red or green. This
is when historical research has to pair up with artistic direction.
We have developed an important database of Agfacolor and
Kodachrome films, family pictures in colour, fashion catalogues, and
drawings giving useful information on the popular patterns, tones
and trends used in the fashion industry throughout the years. The
artistic director dips into this database for plausible references,
matching colours and taking into account the shades of grey in the
black and white frames.
There is indeed an empirical aspect to our work due to the diversity
of archive footage. Among the material we receive – sometimes
more than 70 minutes of archive footage – we are dealing with bits
and pieces originated from different sources of various quality and
stages of conservation.
Different treatments
We first restore each shot in order to eliminate scratches or stains
that might interfere with the colourisation process. But we won’t
for example apply the same colour treatment to a very damaged
shot and a shot made of a 4K scan. If good quality footage allows
us to work on the details of a frame, we’ll have to treat colour on
the damaged shot really lightly otherwise the rendition won’t be the
same. It is the art director’s job to ensure continuity throughout the
film and give it the colour and the texture that the filmmaker had in
mind.
24
Das Reich, a Route Paved with Blood by Michaël Prazan provided
us with miscellaneous material including photos, fiction films in
colour, black and white footage, as well as Agfacolor films shot by
the Germans during WWII. The artistic director’s challenge on this
particular film was to match original colour shots with colourised
shots. We were quite satisfied with the result, having been able to
provide both historical and visual accuracy, thanks to a strong artistic
direction and in-depth historical research.
To sum it up, colourisation, when done properly, adds precious
information to an historical documentary film by unveiling details
unnoticeable on black and white films. Going back to Poulidor Ier,
black and white footage alone would for example fail to inform the
viewer of the actual colours of Raymond Poulidor’s jersey – purple
and yellow. This is one of the many examples when colourisation
actually provides new historical information. And as the purpose of
historical documentary films should be to learn more about history,
colourisation should be considered a positive tool.
And if one wants to use the reality argument, saying that
colourisation is perverting the truth, let’s just say that historical
documentary films in themselves are modern constructions, being
an edit made of different newsreels shot at different times and
places, by various cinematographers that have been assembled for
a new purpose. Colourisation is only a new step forward in the
direction on the path opened by historical documentary films.
Films are in their essence a construction that should be considered
as such. It is a medium to deliver a message, not necessarily the
truth, and that difference might be something that will permanently
dissociate the film industry from the scholars.
After all, we remain part of an industry, but we do specialise in
history. We have a profound respect for archive material. So yes,
colourisation does draw an audience in France and that’s a fact. But
it should not necessarily be considered as a bad thing. It is our job to
seize this opportunity, and, having attracted a broader and younger
audience, provide television with
high-quality documentaries
Marie Corberand
that will use this new
technique properly.
Composite Films, Paris
+33 1 79 85 81 01
[email protected]
FEATURE
Letter to
The Editor
Colourisation – comments
from an ancient film maker
Professor Badsey’s article in the Winter issue of Archive Zones
16mm Kodachrome reversal film was available pre-war but it was
raises many questions about the quality and integrity of history
an amateur stock and treated as such by the industry. The American
programmes. Having been involved in film production since the
military used it and indeed shot the original Memphis Belle using
early 1950’s – before television ratings were a consideration – I
16mm with 35mm Technicolor release prints. By the ’60s television
might be able to shed some light on the early use of colourisation.
production was largely 16mm but remained black and white in the
UK. From a researcher’s point of view, some important work was
Originally, black and white films were shot on orthochromatic
produced in 16mm colour by the industrial and scientific sectors; a
stocks which were ‘colour blind’. They did not provide the tonal
good example being the Wellcome film unit with Douglas Fisher, a
range of the later panchromatic emulsions available and used by
very interesting film maker, at the helm.
still photographers from the early 1900s onwards. Because of cost
factors, they were only made available to film makers in the ’30s.
35mm documentary/factual films continued to be made until the
One of the problems encountered with orthochromatic materials
early ’90s. Their decline had been gradual as colour television took
was a tendency for sky areas to have a reddish cast. This was
over the genre. However they contain a wealth of historical colour
overcome by producing sepia prints.
footage, particularly the ‘overs’ or material not cut into the final edit
– often the most valuable library footage as the original unedited
In reality, shooting wartime scenes in colour was not an option
35mm negative has not suffered wear and tear. This footage is
because 35mm colour film was still at the Research & Development
now proving popular as authentic background material in television
stage. Colour feature films were made employing the original
drama and feature movies set in the ’60s and ’70s – especially where
Technicolour three strip cameras using black and white stocks.
4K resolution is required.
Kodak only released Eastman Colour 35mm negative in the
early ’50s. This was the first successful single strip colour stock
which could be used with standard camera equipment – an
important milestone in cinema history as it made possible the
Gerald Weinbren
economic production of colour feature movies, commercials and
documentaries.
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NEVER LOOKED
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Still in search of
his ‘Holy Grail’…
Who were they then?
© J McDonald
James
McDonald’s
quest for the
‘lost’ footage
of the 1992
television debut
of Oasis
Oasis in 1992 were a band at the
end of the music industry in many
ways. They played every gig they got
offered until people queued round
the block for tickets for the biggest
concerts the country had ever seen.
Those queues have vanished in
place of a hundred thousand people
hovering over a laptop in their
bedrooms. I’m sure they’re warmer
and drier nowadays, but we as
archivists, film-makers and custodians
of our visual heritage are striving to
be able to look back and see how it
was then.
The most precious resource – people
Of all the resources available to the modern day researcher, the
most precious is not the database, the file-naming software, nor
even the huge resource that is the internet. The greatest resource in
my experience has always been… people.
And no matter how well catalogued an archive collection might be,
there will always be more information to be gleaned by talking to
the people who filmed, logged, or processed the footage along the
way. This was never more the case than in research I undertook
recently to find the ‘lost’ footage of Oasis’s first television
appearance.
The event, the myths and the misrememberings
I had heard mention of Oasis’s never-seen television debut in
books such as the biography of Tony McCarroll, the band’s first
drummer and also on internet fan forums. Tony recalled the event
being the 1993 Red Nose Day supporting glam rocker Alvin Stardust!
(Remember the high-heeled leather-fisted ‘Coo Ca Choo’ guy? That’s
him!)
Kate Arthurs, the partner of the band’s rhythm guitarist, Paul
‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, had since published her scrapbook1 of photos
and press cuttings, which included two photos of the band playing at
what she named ‘Blackpool Roadshow (Telethon) June 1992’.
This was quite confusing as, according to McCarroll their first TV
appearance was for Red Nose Day, not the Telethon, and at Granada
studios in Manchester, not Blackpool. As Tony imagininatively recalls
in his book, Oasis: The Truth about the gig in question:
“As usual when nervous, Liam became defensive and was stood
staring wildly at them. Even at this early stage he was perfecting
© J McDonald
FEATURE
his glare. Rather than a stadium of
testosterone-filled males as an audience,
though, he had members of the
Salvation Army, St John’s school choir
and a handful of technicians. They all
looked nervously back at the aggressive
singer with the long hair and face like a
hooligan, all set to attack. I laughed, as
I knew that Liam meant no harm. Not sure if the little girl who
was crying at the front did, though.’2
So was it in Blackpool or Manchester? Telethon or Red Nose Day?
Time to ask some people some questions…
First stones unturned – ITV, Granadaland and
beyond
The first stop on my search for the footage was the obvious one of
Granada.
Granada studios, looking down over Manchester for generations,
is an icon in the city’s skyline. But ‘Granadaland’, as it’s known to
many, also has a place in the hearts of many televsion viewers and
indeed many of us archivists and was merged with another regional
broadcaster, Carlton, in 2004 to form ITV. The old Granada library
system in turn was merged with the rest of the ITV network in
2008.
So, I made enquiries with a number of people at ITV, where quite
coincidentally I found myself working on a freelance contract for a
few weeks last year, but there was no apparent record of Oasis at
the Telethon. Perhaps the performance was at Red Nose Day after
all. But there was no Red Nose Day in 1992, and there was no major
Blackpool events at Red Nose Day in 1991 nor 1993. And anyway, in
1993 Oasis weren’t doing these kinds of gigs (they were on national
radio by then), and in 1991, they were still recording their demo. It
must have been the ITV Telethon in ’92 and Tony McCarroll had just
1. Kate Arthurs scrapbook, http://cdn.oasisinet.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/Scrapbook_BlackpoolPhoto_
News_1992-.jpg
2. ‘Oasis: The Truth’, Tony McCarroll and Richard Dolan, 2010.
Photo: Pit-yacker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granada_Studios#/media/File:Granada_TV.jpg
27
mis-remembered it in his book.
My colleague Tom Haigh, archive producer at ITV Studios, had
previously looked for this footage when working on a series called
Pop Gold. Tom’s exceptional knowledge of the ITV cataloguing
system allowed him to pick out the items that were most likely to
contain the long-lost clip. He also advised me to get in touch with
Elspeth Hanna who had been the archive researcher on Goodbye
Granadaland and was a mine of information on all things Granada.
She also said the footage was unfamiliar.
I contacted a company called Kaleidoscope, as they’ve retained
some old VHS off-air recordings from Granada Regionals, and you
never know – one of them could have the performance in it. They
didn’t.
Chris Perry at Kaleidoscrope had a good trawl and dug so deep on
footage of Oasis that he uncovered everything down to a 1992 item
on the ‘Oasis’ shop in Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield.
Alas, not quite what we were looking for… this time.
Knowing the needle you’re looking for
It’s a lot easier to find something when you know what it looks like
and many thanks must go to Tom Haigh in the next leap for finding
a discussion thread on the Missing Episodes online forum confirming
that the Blackpool Roadshow was an event – presumably usually
held in Blackpool – that was commissioned by Granada Studios to
provide outdoor live music on the weekend of the 1992 Telethon.
We finally knew what we were looking for.
1992 19th July – Tim – Blackpool roadshow opt out with The Urchins
on stage 2 at 17 20 from LAN_V_1122
With a bit more searching Tom and I had found the name of the
organiser of the Blackpool Roadshow, found a contact number
for her and then I just phoned her up. What an out-of-the-blue
phonecall that must have been for her but she remembered lots
about the show and confirmed that Oasis appeared at the event
and may even have performed twice. She couldn’t recall if they
were broadcast, but said that they were definitely scheduled to be
on television for one of the national opt-outs when they go to the
regional coverage. Shirley’s brother Johnnie had in fact been friends
with guitarist Bonehead’s brother Martin and that’s how they got
the gig. As Johnnie recalled:
“What a day that was. I was the engineer – I’m surprised that
day didn’t kill us both off or at least persuade us to leave the
industry! It was Martin Arthurs, who asked me if there would be
3. Missing Episodes Forum, http://missingepisodes.proboards.
com/thread/6700/oasiss-1st-appearance-nose-lost?page=3
28
Photo: Ben Jones
FEATURE
J McDonald at work – deep storage January 2016
any chance of a slot for his brother’s band on the Telethon gig.
Shirl’ already had a stacked schedule of artists but said to me
“Sure, I’ll get the guys slotted in”. The day before the event, we
were down at Granada TV’s grounds, setting up the two stages
and organising the PA and OB cabling links. I was working away
and noticed Martin and a bunch of guys standing over on a
corner of Granada’s buildings. So we went over to meet him and
the guys. The next time I saw them it was on Top of the Pops in
October”3
Shirley dug out some old schedules for the Roadshow event and
it did indeed seem that Oasis appeared twice that day, not quite
‘supporting’ Alvin Stardust, but certainly performing later on the
same stage. The national broadcast of the Telethon on ITV would
regularly go to the regions, similar to how the evening television
News does now. These opt-out items were broadcast from regional
studios such as Granada in Manchester.
As I watched through these items, being introduced to up-andcoming television presenters who never quite up-and-came, I was
reminded of how far television graphics have come in 20 years.
However, the opt-out tapes that have been kept at ITV do not
coincide with Oasis’s performance times. If anybody out there
recorded the North West regional broadcast of the ITV Telethon in
1992 on their state-of-the-art VHS recorder, please do get in touch
with me! Or even if you remember seeing it on television. I haven’t
even had that confirmed as yet.
A dozen or more people later and collectively we had pieced
together a puzzle that was initially only offering a few broken jigsaw
pieces of clues. Others that deserve a mention are David Huggins
whose private research into Oasis’s recording history is second to
none. See www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk for lots of useful info if
you ever find yourself needing it!
James McDonald
Freelance archive producer; archive
research and management consultant
[email protected]
www.shanakee.org
REVIEW
Breathing new life into the
‘celluloid’ story
Kevin Brownlow thinks this ‘epic’ deserves BFI or BAFTA recognition
When sailing ships were becoming obsolete, there were
several attempts to record the procedures without which a
ship could not sail. Now the era of celluloid film is ending,
what is needed is the same kind of thing – and thanks to the
indomitable efforts of David Cleveland and Brian Pritchard,
here it is.
It must have taken an incredible amount of work. A book
which documents – largely from a British perspective –
the processes that go to make a film, and those involved
in showing it. How tragic it would be if we forgot such
procedures and the incredible people who invented them.
Despite my fascination with the subject, when I was asked to
write this review my first instinct was to run. I had no time
to read such a lengthy and complex book, let alone to write
about it. But I realised what a labour of love it has been and
felt it my duty to tackle it – all 453 pages. Expecting it to be
the literary equivalent of rounding Cape Horn, I was surprised
to find myself more and more engrossed. And I’m somebody
whose eyes glaze over when technical matters are discussed.
The authors have the ability to make such descriptions
comprehensible and they give new life to facts you read
years ago – as late as 1915, for instance, Charlie Chaplin was
protesting against the Essanay company’s practice of editing,
projecting and generally ruining the original camera negative.
As we know, the pioneers were invariably brilliant, tenacious
and resourceful. You will read about an 1899 camera which
could take films, print them and then project them as well.
Yet lurking in the shadows is something rather reassuring,
something that links these outstanding characters to all of us
– plain, old-fashioned stupidity. R W Paul, filming Blackfriars
Bridge in 1896, said it took two attempts to get the shot, the
first one failing because “we forgot, in our excitement, to
attach the lens.”
And yes, film was dangerous. Nitrate’s volatility, however,
has been greatly exaggerated over the years, resulting in the
unnecessary destruction of thousands of films. Certainly it’s
alarming when you hear that nitrate has the propensity of
gun-cotton, but do you call the fire brigade when you discover
that inflammable stuff called ‘petrol’ in your car? Showmen
could have had safety film from the start, but they avoided it
because they considered it inferior (more likely because it cost
more.) In France, where they had several notorious fires, the
authorities made it law that when children were present, all
films had to be on safety stock.
How Films Were Made
and Shown
by David Cleveland and Brian Pritchard.
453 pages; over 900 illustrations
Published by David Cleveland 2015
£45 including UK delivery
Home movie craze
I have often wondered how many children were hurt when
playing with toy projectors and rolls of 35mm nitrate, which
could be bought in markets for sixpence. The introduction
of home movies must have saved a great deal of anguish.
The craze began when Pathescope introduced the 28mm
gauge. There was understandable resistance against having
professional projectors in one’s home. Husbands wouldn’t
have minded on the whole, but class-conscious wives did not
consider it ‘nice’ to
29
REVIEW
have machinery in the sitting room. The KOK projector was
therefore designed to resemble the one mechanical apparatus
accepted in every home – a sewing machine!
In the early years of the century, many homes lacked
electricity so Pathescope thoughtfully provided a dynamo, like
the one on a bicycle, powered by cranking the handle. The
28mm catalogue listed hundreds of titles printed on safety
stock of high quality. You could buy a newsreel of Russian
battleships bombarding the Turks in 1914, a comedy with
the first superstar, the dazzling Max Linder, or an American
feature with a stage actor soon to make a similar impact,
Douglas Fairbanks. But the war seriously affected 28mm when
the non-flam chemicals were needed for aircraft.
In 1922, when 9.5mm was launched in France as PatheBaby, the British company’s trademark was a triangle
reading “Pathescope Safety Film”. Cameras and raw stock
were made available the following year but the outfits were
already popular because of the films. Pathe-Baby produced a
handsome illustrated catalogue which has historians gasping
even today when they see frame enlargements of so many
titles long since lost. It was my first glimpse of Abel Gance’s
Napoleon on 9.5mm that drove me to restore it on 35mm.
The gauge provided us with glimpses of many other great
films which would never otherwise have been rescued –
right up to the present and the near 7-hour version of Les
Miserables (1925) which transfixed audiences at the 2015
Silent Film Festival in Pordenone, Italy.
Pathescope not only abridged the films, so that ordinary
people could afford them, they also changed most of the
titles and even the names of the characters. I have no
evidence, but I can’t help feeling this was to avoid having to
pay the distributors, an early example, perhaps, of Fair Use.
( Otherwise, why do it? ) MGM refused to allow their films
to be marketed even by the high-quality 16mm Kodascope
libraries. But on 9.5mm in France you could buy Lon Chaney
in Tod Browning’s masterpiece The Unholy Three (1925)
concealed under the title of Les Trois X. And who would have
thought that a long-forgotten Vitagraph production, Pampered
Youth (1925), released on 9.5mm as Two to One, would turn
out to be the first version of The Magnificent Ambersons –
nearly 20 years before Orson Welles?
The book’s coverage of 9.5mm is exemplary, although they
don’t list the amateurs who graduated from Pathe-Baby
9.5mm to front-rank features – from David Lean and Jacques
Demy to Ken Russell, via the great cinematographer Douglas
Slocombe. It is hard to believe that such an anorexic gauge as
9.5mm could accommodate an optical sound track.
outdoor sequences, in which the characters were suddenly
struck dumb on emerging into the open air, only to regain
their voices when they went indoors again.” This same
projectionist recalled ‘silents’ lasting as supporting features
well into 1931. “But at last I showed a slide reading ‘You have
just seen the last silent film to be shown at this theatre.”
Illustrations? We’ve got 633 b/w and 363 in colour. I
guarantee you’ll have seen hardly any of them before. They
were collected by the authors throughout their working lives
– Cleveland running the East Anglian Film Archive for 28 years
and Pritchard as Technical Director at Filmatic, Humphries and
Henderson’s. Other unique images came from the collections
of Ron Grant at the Cinema Museum and Tony Scott at Film
and Photo Design. “We photographed unusual things,” said
Cleveland, “kept samples and squirreled away documents
and information. It was almost as though we knew one day
we were going to put it all in a book.” The reproduction is
sometimes of such high quality that you can use a magnifying
glass to discover extra details. Others have not been so
satisfactorily printed, while those taken from faded colour
originals, look well – er – faded.
Gaps – but it still deserves a Fellowship!
There are a few inevitable gaps – there is no mention of the
French Keller-Dorian lenticular system which gave rise to
Kodacolor (although released in black and white, the Jacques
Tati comedy Jour de Fete (1949) was originally filmed in this
process.)
With its attention-grabbing, fire-engine red cover, the book
is a lavish production which, one feels, must have received
huge financial support from the British Film Institute or The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Well, no in
both cases. It doesn’t even bear the name of a publishing
house. ‘Published by David Cleveland’ appears in discreet,
rather apologetic lettering on the back cover. That such an
important volume has to be self-published while books of film
theory stream from the university presses, says a lot about
our priorities.
The authors deserve a BFI or BAFTA Fellowship at the very
least. This is the third volume in the series– the first two, both
written and published by David Cleveland, are Films Were
Made – Vol 1 – The Region at Work (about films and film
makers in the East of England 1896-1996); and Films Were
Made – Vol 2 – Local History, about factual films and their
value as research material.
Part-talking movies
But the whole business of sound is presented as both
surprising and amusing; one projectionist comments “Many
of the films were only part-talking. They would start off as
silent films with subtitles and synchronised music and halfway
through everybody would suddenly start talking and banging
things about….More incongruous were the films with lengthy
30
Kevin Brownlow
[email protected]
FEATURE
Keep these dates free:
Wednesday 21st
September
Researching Footage and
Content Conference
Thursday 22nd
September
Copyright and
Archive Forum
Venues in Central London
Registration will be open soon
www.focalint.org
BOB GITT – Lifetime Achievement winner,
FOCAL International Awards 2016 to
deliver the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture
Tuesday 24th May, 2016
Time: 1800 for 1830 start
London Television Centre
FREE entrance and
bookable via the FOCAL
International website –
www.focalint.org
Upper Ground
London SE1 9LT
31
F O C A L I N T E R N AT I O N A L AWA R D S 2016
JOIN THE WINNERS!
Showcasing the best use of library footage in all
forms of production and best archive film and
video restoration and preservation work
Tickets now available!
Ceremony:
26 May 2016
Lancaster London Hotel
www.focalint.org