2004 Archive

The Machine Room (Churchill: Eps 1 Destiny)

Director:

Lucy Carter

Producer(s):

Lucy Carter

Footage Archive Researcher:

Adrian Wood

Production Company:

A TWI & Carlton Production

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

This major three-part documentary series charts Winston Churchill's life from his boyhood days at Blenheim palace to his death in 1965.

Archival highlights

TWI would have liked to have shot on film to get that dramatic filmic quality. However, a documentary budget meant that DigiBeta was the only option. The Digi footage was imported into The Machine Room's Discreet Smoke to give it that 'filmic quality'. To restore the archive film footage, some of which dated back as far 1900, it was put through TMR's unique and specialised film treatments prior to telecine transfers. Smoke editor, John McLaren, blended archive footage with modern-day drama reconstructions shot on video. This entailed re-sizing all the archive footage to fit today's 16 x 9 television formats and treating the video with a film effect to match the archive shots. Time was spent conforming, cleaning, de-spotting and stabilising the original footage, removing film flicker and adding film effects and grain. Following this a full tape grade provided finishing touches in the 'Shadow Suite'.

Carlton International Media

Archival highlights

Carlton have undertaken a comprehensive programme of CRI restoration on their Rank and ITC Libraries. Colour Reversal Interneg was a process undertaken in the 1960's and 70's whereby the interpositive stage was missed out of the film process to reduce costs. It has subsequently been discovered that CRI's fade rapidly. The restoration involves going back to original negatives and re-making the film protection elements of the internegative and interpositive. During this process the film was regraded and picture stability re-gained. Sound was also restored and new optical track negatives created. In some cases they went back to original YCM negs and also transferred from original Techniscope negs. Following the film laboratory work a new high end telecine transfer was made using the latest digital technology to further enhance the material, removing scratches, dirt and sparkle. The result was a new digital video master up to DVD quality as well a having preserved and restored the original 35mm picture and sound elements. During 2003 they completed, To Paris With Love, Capricorn One, Cassandra Crossing, Doctor in the House, Deadlier Than the Male, Countess Dracula, Escape to Ethena, Farewell My Lovely and The Medusa Touch.

Blur

Director:

John Hardwick

Producer(s):

Mike Wells

Footage Archive Researcher:

Mike Wells

Production Company:

Silvergnome & Helen Langridge

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

A stunning emotive pop promo creating a sense of pathos exclusively from BBC Motion Content.

Archival highlights

Demonstrates the kind of innovative uses that creative producers put BBC Worldwide Library Sale's library footage to.

La Camera Stylo (Website Trailer)

Country of Production:

Germany

Synopsis

La Camera Stylo's Showreel on-line (http://www.stockfootage.com/company_profile.cmf?D=173&action=none)

Archival highlights

Winner of World Gold Medal for the Best Trailer at the New York Festival.

Renault Scenic: Park the TV

Director:

Joe Public

Producer(s):

Paul Ure

Production Company:

Publicis

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

Partizan's surreal vision of role reversal, in the indolent landscape of a summer time suburb, draws heavily on the visual aesthetic of 1950s Americana and "retro cool". We are led through a series of slow pans across driveways, Edward Hopper style alleyways and street scenes. Garage doors slowly close across vast television screens displaying an eclectic array of milestones from both the large and small screen. A drifting piano sets the leisurely pace as the television screens are closed in. The sense of conclusion leads us through a fade to the end of a family's day at the beach with their Renault Scenic. As they pack their belongings and the children sleep healthily through the journey home, we are urged by the tag line to Park the TV. Reason for Submission: Uses programme and feature film clips and stock footage to good effect.

The Imperial War Museum Film & Video Archive

Country of Production:

UK

Valerie Combard for Les Martin

Director:

Jean-Claude Guidicelli

Producer(s):

Alain Wieder, Arnaud Hantute

Footage Archive Researcher:

Valerie Combard

Production Company:

La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse

Country of Production:

France

Synopsis

Les Martin - a 6 hour television series, tells the story of a French family from 1945 to 1975. Their personal life is fictitious, but their historical surrounding is genuine. Alain Wieder, the author, wrote his narrative through a carefully knitted chronological frame. The Martins could have existed. General de Gaulle visited their town of Saint-Précy!

Archival highlights

80% of this programme is made of archival material: home movies, newsreels, educational films, propaganda footage, industrial and promotional pictures, advertisements, television archives. Alain Wieder provided me with a first script, and off we went on an archival quest which lasted over 18 months. The family saga evolved as the footage came in. Characters were added because they looked so wonderful on film. For instance we found wide amounts of priests, and l'Abbé Ribière was born; he appears in each episode, organizing gymkhanas, marrying young couples, exercising in a forest. We used home movies from over 30 different families, and they all bring Les Martin to life, in a spirited and typical manner. The Martin clan is embodied by actors who appear in the series on a regular basis. In the family 'vault' (a set which was built in the production facility), main characters recall their experiences. They are thus personified throughout the programme. The experience was unlike any other. The research interplayed with the narration, and the Martin family became our own and when we saw a toddler walking, we thought 'these are Marie-Jeanne's first steps!' We designed a 'Martin' footage database comprising 3000 logs. This allowed us to search through different entries: character, location, episode, date, type of footage, type of event. Our footage providers (there were about 20) were incredibly resourceful; they came up with suggestions and reels galore! We ended up screening 800 hours of footage." Valerie Combard

Bodysong

Director:

Simon Pummell

Producer(s):

Janine Marmot

Footage Archive Researcher:

Anne Hummel & Aileen McAllister

Production Company:

Hot Property Films

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

A panoramic view of the experience of being human, from the microscopic elements of our very flesh and blood to the challenge of trying to understand ourselves as a fragment of the universe. The story of life itself! Reason for Submission: A truly unusual, even unique, use of archive footage - the story is told through conceivable, kind and moving images recorded in the last 100 years.

The 50s & 60s in Living Colour

Director:

Steve Humphries

Producer(s):

Steve Humphries

Footage Archive Researcher:

Neil Maddocks

Production Company:

Testimony Films

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

A fresh and entertaining look at the 1950s and 60s social revolution. The three part series uncovers spectacular and long forgotten colour archive from all over Britain. The footage is interwoven with memorable stories of everyday life, told by an extraordinary cast of characters. Reason for Submission: The series vividly brings to life a ground-breaking era that until now has usually been seen in black and white. Colour film was still thought of as an exciting novelty often described as 'living colour'. It draws on an array of beautifully shot documentaries, home movies, newsreels, advertisements and feature films most in glorious Technicolor. The aim is popular entertainment but also informative modern social history.