Projects per year
Abstract
Archiving practices of amateur film collections tend to foreground the evidentiary value of such films, stressing visual records of local or national culture through the capturing of specific events or locations. This article looks at two projects which offer alternative approaches to this traditional stress on place-making, focusing instead on different production practices, technological choices, and aesthetic approaches.
The Women Amateur Filmmakers in Britain project revealed a rich vein of women-produced films that spanned seven decades of the twentieth century and featured films from a variety of genres (drama, comedy, animation, documentary, travelogues) and modes of production (single author, team, husband-and-wife collaboration). The second project, ‘The Eastmancolor Revolution and British Cinema, 1955-85’, identified and digitised seven amateur films that utilised a range of different colour processes.
This article offers a reflection on these two projects, and their different approaches to understanding aspects of British amateur film collections. Intellectually distinct in terms of subject matter, the projects share a methodological interest in the challenges around identifying and selecting ‘appropriate’ films for digitisation, locating contextual materials around the production of each film, and engaging a wider audience with non-place-based amateur archival material.
The Women Amateur Filmmakers in Britain project revealed a rich vein of women-produced films that spanned seven decades of the twentieth century and featured films from a variety of genres (drama, comedy, animation, documentary, travelogues) and modes of production (single author, team, husband-and-wife collaboration). The second project, ‘The Eastmancolor Revolution and British Cinema, 1955-85’, identified and digitised seven amateur films that utilised a range of different colour processes.
This article offers a reflection on these two projects, and their different approaches to understanding aspects of British amateur film collections. Intellectually distinct in terms of subject matter, the projects share a methodological interest in the challenges around identifying and selecting ‘appropriate’ films for digitisation, locating contextual materials around the production of each film, and engaging a wider audience with non-place-based amateur archival material.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 129–137 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Screen |
Volume | 61 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 27 Apr 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2020 |
Keywords
- amateur
- gender
- women filmmakers
- British cinema
- colour film
Projects
- 3 Finished
-
The Eastmancolor Revolution and British Cinema, 1955-85
Johnston, K. M. & Street, S.
Arts and Humanities Research Council
10/10/16 → 9/10/19
Project: Research
-
Women Amateur Filmmakers in Britain: Cultural Engagement
I.A.C Film and Video Institute
1/05/16 → 30/06/16
Project: Other
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Raising the Profile of British Women Amateur Filmakers
Arts and Humanities Research Council
1/02/16 → 29/04/16
Project: Other
Research output
- 2 Article
-
Making women amateur filmmakers visible: Reclaiming women’s work through the film archive
Johnston, K. & Hill, S., 28 Jul 2020, In: Women's History Review. 29, 5, p. 875-889 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)36 Downloads (Pure) -
From the margins to the mainstream? The Eastmancolor Revolution and challenging the realist canon in British Cinema
Street, S., Johnston, K., Frith, P. & Rickards, C., 2019, In: Cinema & Cie. 32Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile
Activities
- 2 Festival/Exhibition/Performance
-
'A Movie World Tour: How 1930s Amateur Filmmaking Conquered the World'
Keith M Johnston (Speaker) & Paul Frith (Participant)
17 Mar 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Festival/Exhibition/Performance
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HippFest 2022
Keith M Johnston (Participant) & Paul Frith (Participant)
17 Mar 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Festival/Exhibition/Performance