2005 Archive

Inamedia

Adrian Wood & Polly Pettit for Japan's War

Producer(s):

David Batty

Footage Archive Researcher:

Adrian Wood, Polly Pettit

Archival Sources:

NARA, NHK & Private Sources, IWM, Footage Farm, Technovoid

Production Company:

TWI/Carlton

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

Using unique colour film, combined with readings from letters and diaries, it tells the story of Japan's involvement in the Second World War. From China through to Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the atomic bomb, the programme shows remarkable film that gives an entirely new perspective on the events of the period.

Archival highlights

First, these researchers have provided an insight into the lesser known history of Japan by searching out material that has never been seen before. Secondly, that it is in colour makes it even more remarkable, particularly as it often required expertise and great perseverance to establish this. Finally, their researches encompassed libraries and archives throughout the world, which over a period of time have contributed to an altered perception - in a very positive way - of the archival film record of 20th century history.

Japan's War

Producer(s):

David Batty

Footage Archive Researcher:

Adrian Wood, Polly Petit

Archival Sources:

NARA, NHK + Private Japanese Collections, Imperial War Museum, Footage Farm, Technovid

Production Company:

TWI/Carlton Production

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

For eight years the Japanese fought what they believed was a Holy War that became a fight to the death. Using never-before-seen colour footage, Japan's War tells a previously untold story. It recounts the history of the Second World War from a Japanese perspective, combining original colour film with letters and diaries written by Japanese people. It tells the story of a nation at war from the diverse perspectives of those who lived through it: the leaders and the ordinary people, the oppressors and the victims, the guilty and the innocent.

Archival highlights

The 1,000 stitch belt is an army film shot during the occupation of China. Fragments from a rushes reel were found in a Russian archive. In a bad state of repair, the clips were comped together, hand cleaned, then wet gate telecined. A sequence was edited together, stabilised and speeds changed to give a more natural motion using Arid Symphony. It was passed through puritan to remove some of the vertical lines, and then hand painted on the MTI box to remove as many of the remaining lines, splats and marks as possible. Finally the sequence was graded. The 1937 Tokyo street scenes were shot with early Kodacolor, a 3 colour lenticular system which produces a high speed print containing vertical lines. The colour was first recovered using a system developed by Film Technology in Hollywood. The sequence was cut, slowed down and stabilised in avid, and was then graded on poggle with electric sunroof and finally de-spotted in smoke. The 1937 Prince Chichibu film was discovered mouldy and cracked. After extensive hand cleaning and re-sprocketing, some portions were able to be wet gate telecined. After a one pass grade, colour was brought back but the mould had left green marks. With a re-grade on the final programme and time in smoke painting out some of the larger splats, the results are a watchable colour film, never seen before on television.

The General - USA, 1927

Production Company:

Lobster Films

Country of Production:

France

Synopsis

To digitally restore this classic early film. Johnnie Gray is a Southern railway engineer who has "only two loves in his life'' -- his locomotive (The General) and the beautiful Annabelle Lee. As Civil War is declared in 1861, he is turned down by the Confederacy because the government believes he is more valuable as an engineer. 'I don't want you to speak to me again until you are in uniform,' Annabelle declares and leaves him. Soon Union spies steal The General. Annabelle who was a passenger on the stolen train, becomes a prisoner of the Union troops and is rescued by Johnnie.

Archival highlights

One of the first silent films to be completely digitally restored. Important for distribution in cinemas.

Immigration DVD

Director:

Paul Byrnes, Penelope McDonald

Producer(s):

Paul Byrnes, Penelope McDonald

Footage Archive Researcher:

Bev Dalgairns, Anna Nolan

Archival Sources:

Film Australia Library, Film World and Cinesound, Movietone Productions, UN High Commission for Refugees, ScreenSound Australia

Production Company:

Film Australia

Country of Production:

Australia

Synopsis

An exploration of immigration and Australia - the people, policies and propaganda.

Archival highlights

Film Australia has made more than 100 films relating to immigration since 1946 - the largest single archival source in Australia for films on this topic. The producers set out to make a DVD that looked at the intersection of film, migration and politics. In particular, they wanted to look at the way film was used to promote the government's migration schemes and to encourage the acceptance of new migrants to Australia. The aim was to bring the best of the rich source to light in a DVD for a general audience and for use in schools and tertiary colleges.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Director:

Michael Moore

Producer(s):

Michael Moore

Footage Archive Researcher:

Carl Deal

Production Company:

Westside Productions/Dog Eat Dog Films

Country of Production:

USA

Synopsis

Fahrenheit 9/11 is Michael Moore's expose of the Bush administration's actions following the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. With humour and commitment to uncovering facts, the film shows how President Bush exploited 9/11 to implement a radical right-wing agenda. It examines how -- and why -- Bush avoided pursuing the Saudi connection to 9/11, and shows a nation paralyzed by fear and lulled into accepting a legislative assault on civil rights, The USA Patriot Act. It is in this atmosphere that the Bush Administration makes a headlong rush to war in Iraq, without serious questions from the media. Fahrenheit 9/11 takes the viewer inside the lies to illustrate the awful human cost of war.

Archival highlights

Sixty percent of Fahrenheit 9/11 is made up of archive images from an unusually broad array of traditional and non-traditional sources. The use of archive footage to present facts, create emotion, debunk the political culture, and convey point of view was essential to the tremendous impact the film has had.

Forum Barcelona - Voices Exhibit

Director:

Simon Taylor

Producer(s):

Abi Hodson

Footage Archive Researcher:

Anne Hummel

Archival Sources:

BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive, Granada Collection, National Geographic Film Library, APTN Library, Moving Image Communications

Production Company:

Tomato Films

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

Audio visual content for Forum 2004 Voices exhibit, which ran from May 2004 for 5 months in Barcelona. Voices is dedicated to diversity, one of the core themes of the Forum. The objective of the exhibition is to celebrate human communication and linguistic and cultural diversity. The central dome structure comprised of 28 screens of various sizes positioned around an amphitheatre 32m in diameter. The film, directed by Simon Taylor, was programmed through a central server to incorporate the 28 screens. Multiple and single images along side typography were choreographed making the most of the three dimensional space creating an immersive environment. In addition a 100m wall, comprising of 24 screens, featuring 96 separate languages ran along side the central audio visual, resulting in a total of 52 different films shown simultaneously. Sometimes the screens showed the same image everywhere; other moments featured different images on every screen. The films were synchronized to merge in a moment of 'collapse' at one point in the ten minute show. Reasons for Submission: Combines specially shot with archive footage to make a linear film 52 mins in length, which when projected onto 28 screens has a screening duration of 10 mins. Technically this was a challenge when editing and programming server. Graphics and music are combined with footage to create a stimulating experience. The languages, images and graphics featured explore diversity through linguistics, The film includes diverse cultures from around the world, and shows how they communicate in their own individual ways. It looks at communication through gesture, facial expression, language, the written word, music, clothing, This exhibit proved to be both stimulating and informative, educating audiences in a non traditional way and promoting those languages nearing extinction.

Avril: Be Yourself

Director:

Patrick Volve

Producer(s):

Jeremy Rochigneux

Footage Archive Researcher:

Jeremy Rochigneux

Archival Sources:

Tele Images Nature, National Geographic, Getty Images, Film Images

Production Company:

Metronomic

Country of Production:

France

Synopsis

This music video is composed with documentary film archives about monkeys living in their natural environment. This is a rhythmic research, an ironic diversion of the text of Avril's song that evoke the area of fashion and its protagonists. .

Archival highlights

Usually Pop Music Videos show the artist singing. The use of Archive Footage is very rare in this field. The creative bias was to show wild and natural life in opposition to the lyrics evoking the trendy world of fashion. This unexpected Pop Music Video, largely broadcasted on M6, has contributed to the success of the title

Charal: The Race

Director:

Remy Belvaux

Producer(s):

Nicolas Duval

Footage Archive Researcher:

Valérie Massignon, XY Zebre

Archival Sources:

ITN Archive, Granada Wild Collection, Leo Production, Getty Images

Production Company:

Quad

Country of Production:

France

Synopsis

Charal meat product.

Archival highlights

Inventive and humorous.

The Fight - Eps. The Rules of the Ring

Director:

David Hutt

Producer(s):

Tom Ware

Footage Archive Researcher:

Lawrence Breen

Archival Sources:

ESNP, HBO Sports, Steve Lott, BBC Motion Gallery, UCLA

Production Company:

BBC

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

The Fight is the story of boxing, in and out of the ring, from the bare-knuckle era to the $ multi-million business of today. This first programme traces the brutal origins of professional boxing and shows that, even though the rules have changed, the sport's most popular champions have always been its most vicious fighters.

Archival highlights

This programme contains a wealth of archive footage dating from 1919 to 2002, putting the history of the sport of boxing in its social, cultural and political context.

Animal Games

Producer(s):

John Downer

Footage Archive Researcher:

Rob Pilley, Matthew Gordon

Archival Sources:

John Downer Productions, BBC Natural History Unit, ITN Archive, Granada Wild Collection, Getty Images, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet Archive

Production Company:

John Downer Productions

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

Competitors from the animal world gather to stage their greatest athletic contest. Animal athletes from the Mammals, Birds, Insects, Herptiles and the Fish nations are scaled to human size so everyone is on a level pegging as they compete in the 100m, high jump, long jump, shooting, weight lifting and swimming. State of the art digital graphic effects blend specially shot and archive material seamlessly. All the tricks of multi-camera shooting, action replays and photo finishes are used to analyse each event. On screen graphics impart facts and figures while commentators John Motson and Jonathan Pearce add to the excitement.

Archival highlights

Animal Games brought together archive material and digital effects in a totally innovative way, transforming traditional natural history library shots beyond recognition. By coupling archive with the latest in digital special effects, the programme has revolutionised the way that we can reuse natural history footage.

The Ultimate Film

Producer(s):

Don Perretta

Footage Archive Researcher:

Mel Timson, Alex Leigh

Archival Sources:

BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive, Clips & Footage, NBC News Archive

Production Company:

North One Television

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

The Ultimate Film was a rundown of the 100 most popular films at the British box office based on stats provided by the British Film Institute. Presented by John Cleese, the list was revealed over two 3-hour episodes on Channel 4. It was the first time the BFI had publicized this list based on British audience attendances and it made for an interesting and eclectic journey through the history of cinema in this country.

Archival highlights

APTN suggested we submit our programme for this category and we thought it was a good opportunity to illustrate the quality of our archive based programming. The programme is a fascinating journey through the history of cinema in this country, which also provides an insight into our social history, all done through the use of archive from a wide range of sources. North One Television, formerly Chrysalis Television has a long history of producing quality archive based Entertainment and Factual Entertainment programming, which stretches back to the original Top Tens on Channel 4. The Ultimate Film has continued that tradition and managed to gain significant coverage in the printed media and an audience share that peaked at 30% with a figure of 4.9 million viewers.

Body Talk

Director:

Mike Christie

Producer(s):

Mike Smith

Footage Archive Researcher:

Liz Fay

Archival Sources:

ITN Archive, ITN Archive/Reuters Collection, BBC Motion Gallery, CNN Videosource, NBC

Production Company:

ITN Factual

Country of Production:

UK

Camarades, il était une fois les communistes français

Director:

Yves Jeuland

Producer(s):

Jean Labib

Footage Archive Researcher:

Marie France Pirotte

Archival Sources:

Cine Archives, INA Media, Gaumont Pathé Archives

Production Company:

La Compagnie des Phares et Balises

Country of Production:

France

Synopsis

One page in the history of French society seems to have been turned over for good with the advent of the 21st century, it is that of communism. The communist electorate collapsed, the Party lost its social bearing, and a whole universe broke down. However, it was not so long ago that French communists made up a counter-society. At that time PCF, the French communist party, was the biggest in France, with its own offices, departments, and cultural and sporting organizations: its own regional newspapers and its untouchable bastions, from the Greater Paris belt to the Red South, from the northern region of Lille to the southern one of Limoges. Going into the 'Party' was like going into religion. It had its own heroes, legends and myths. You were either for or against it.

Archival highlights

Sixty years of communist life in France is shown and illustrated in this documentary, supported by exceptional archive documents, militant films, songs, previously unseen reports from the famous faces of the time, and enriched with interviews of militant families - miners from the southern 'Gard' region, agricultural workers from northern 'Haute-Vienne' and railway workers from the Pas-de-Calais region bordering the English Channel, to name but a few. This is a collective and intimate adventure, it is the sum of many fates, by turns moving, funny and cruel, which helps to show the rites and values of France at a certain time, shedding light on the 'comrade' culture.

The Power of Nightmares: Baby It's Cold Outside

Producer(s):

Adam Curtis

Footage Archive Researcher:

Stuart Robertson

Archival Sources:

BBC Motion Gallery, APTN, CNN, Getty Images

Production Company:

BBC

Country of Production:

UK

Synopsis

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams weren't true - neither are these nightmares. This series shows dramatically how the threat of Islamist terrorism has been distorted and exaggerated by politicians. While there is a terrorist threat from radical Islamism, the idea that we are faced by a terrifying hidden organisation of unique power orchestrated by an evil mastermind Osama bin Laden is a fantasy. At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neoconservatives and the radical Islamists. Together they created today's nightmare vision of an organised terror network. A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age.

Archival highlights

The aim of the Power of Nightmares was to use the past to look again at the present and cut through many of the myths that now surround the War on terror. Because of this archive film from a multitude of sources was central to the project. Archive was used in a creative and often surprising way not just to illustrate past events but also to imaginatively understand the present in a new way. It was a modern collage that showed the extent to which archive film can be used in new ways that allow the audience to step back and view the present day in a new and informative light.