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| Issue 54: Summer 2005 |
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2020 Foresight
The urge to forecast the future has all too often led to unwise predictions of flying cars or protein pill dinner parties. Such dubious pleasures are probably as far off still as that long-awaited time when labour-saving technology burdens us all with excessive leisure time. Nonetheless the business of archiving the past, however recent, does require some thought about what is yet to come.
The Film Archive, as it approaches its 25th anniversary, is going through a period of reflection and planning, responding to an emerging sense of its own permanence and to a time of hectic change in the cultural landscape created by new technology. The digital revolution is close enough at hand to be a fairly safe prediction and the expectations of it are mounting daily. Our role is to find a place in it for the values and knowledge that the Archive has developed since 1981.
What does the word “digital” mean in the language of moving pictures? It can be a description of where a production has come from or, equally, of where it is going. Images and sounds can be produced digitally or with analog technology, before being processed, exhibited and stored in either or both domains. For example, much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was shot conventionally on 35mm film, but that footage was scanned and transferred to computer drives so computer-generated imagery could be added before it was printed back to film stock. The finished films were projected optically in cinemas and subsequently released on DVD. How digital is that? The Film Archive has preserved 100-year-old motion pictures by copying them to modern film stock, later transferred them optically to DV tape and most recently posted clips from them on the internet. Does that mean we are already a digital archive?
It may not be entirely true that “digital” can mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean, but the word can certainly be used in a bewildering variety of ways. For the production industry it describes a powerful new set of tools; for exhibitors and distributors, new markets; for archivists, new problems and new opportunities. One point must be made strongly at the outset, however. “Digital” is not a synonym for “on-line”. While the fact is that, in order to be available through the internet, material must be digital, there are many other forms and uses of digital technology – many of them as important as on-line accessibility.
From the earliest days of the international film archiving movement it was a basic principle that material should remain in its original format wherever possible. It was generally considered both aesthetically and ethically questionable to move film-based images to video tape for anything other than research and reference purposes. This is no longer a tenable position.
The overpowering quantities of material pouring into archives all over the world – driven by the obsolescence of successive waves of analog video technology – have changed everything for those archives who have moved beyond the relatively circumscribed world of celluloid film. It is not possible to apply the 20th century approach of meticulous, frame-by-frame restoration and duplication onto comparable physical media to collections of video tapes numbering in the tens of thousands. If this material is to be preserved before the tapes and machinery are completely broken down then new, industrialised processes will have to be developed.
In this context digital technologies offer a number of highly desirable properties some more certain than others. Once footage is held in the digital realm it can be organised, edited, modified and copied on an unprecedented scale and with relative ease. Moreover, these functions can be carried out losslessly – that is to say without the inevitable degradations of quality which result from generations of copying of analog material. Digital material, depending on its storage, also has the capacity to be accessed far more rapidly and accurately.
It is those properties and possibilities which will dominate the next 15 years of the Film Archive’s history. By 2020 it is forecast that the Archive will hold close to 200,000 titles and that more than half of them will have been digitised to prolong their lives and to make them more widely available.
While the work will go on to collect material on all formats and from all the eras of New Zealand’s film and video history, more and more people will experience that material digitally. They might call it up on their home computer or on a community access appliance in public library; visit it in a museum; settle back and watch it on the big screen of a digital cinema; download it to their video iPod ...
Or maybe even watch it while waiting for the traffic jams to clear in their flying car. — Frank Stark, Chief Executive
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The Little Archive That Could
Next year the Film Archive celebrates its 25th anniversary. To mark the occasion we have planned a number of articles for Newsreel looking at different aspects of the Archive’s history. In this article, Diane Pivac, Public Projects Developer, takes a look at the first years.
At the time the Film Archive was established in March 1981, New Zealand’s moving image heritage was in a state of woeful neglect.
Although the idea for an archive had been ‘on the table’ since the Salvation Army filmed the royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York in 1901, nothing substantial had eventuated. This is not to under estimate the work of the National Film Library, particularly supervisors Walter Harris and Ray Hayes who, through the 1950s and 60s, worked hard to locate, identify and copy films of “New Zealand significance.” However, archiving was not part of the Film Library’s brief and while some films were located and stored, no conservation work was carried out. At best, 16mm reduction prints from 35mm films were made for inclusion in the NFL’s lending collection.
The rebirth of the film industry in the late 1970s and the establishment of the Film Commission created a focus on New Zealand film and a climate more conducive to archiving. There was a greater awareness of what had gone before and what was missing, along with a growing sense of the importance to preserve what was currently being made.
The 1978 Act of Parliament that established the Film Commission included a responsibility for film archiving. This gave impetus to a Film Archive Committee established in the late 1970s and convened by Clive Sowry from the National Film Unit. The group consisted of Sowry with Peter Millar (National Archives), Wendy Osborne (TVNZ) and Mike Nicolaidi (Federation of Film Societies). Already over-committed, Mike Nicolaidi was soon replaced by Jonathan Dennis, a persuasive and tireless publicist for the cause.
A Trust Deed was registered with the Department of Justice on 9 March 1981, legally incorporating the New Zealand Film Archive as an independent Charitable Trust. A Board of Trustees was convened, representing the Film Commission, National Archives, National Film Unit, Broadcasting Corporation, Education Department (responsible for the National Film Library), the Federation of Film Societies and the Minister for the Arts.
With an establishment grant of $5,000 from the Film Commission, and sharing space and facilities with the Federation of Film Societies, the Archive commenced operation on 1 April 1981. Jonathan Dennis was employed as founding Director, and sole employee. David Fowler (Film Commission) was elected Chairman of the Board and Ron Ritchie (Film Societies) Treasurer.
The Archive’s early years can be characterised by a precarious balance of enthusiasm and dedication, coupled with insecure funding and insecure accommodation. From the start, Jonathan toured the country with a slide show: his mission was to convince New Zealanders that fragile moving image artifacts are integral to cultural heritage and as valid and important an archival resource as books and documents. With the support of David Fowler, he successfully led the Archive in a calculated, long-running series of highly publicised media dramas to procure funding and to emphasise the Archive’s cinematic rescue mission in the face of poverty and neglect. The strategy worked and $33,000 was raised in the first six months.
Nevertheless film archiving is an expensive business and by the end of 1981 Minister of the Arts, Alan Highet, had given the Archive an emergency grant of $50,000 to keep it afloat – it was to be the first of many “one-off, never-to-be-repeated, emergency grants.” Financial and accommodation insecurities were to haunt the Archive until 1992 when the John Chambers building was acquired.
Without a requirement for the legal deposit of moving images, the Archive has always relied on donation and bequest to grow the collections. Early publicity campaigns also worked to raise its profile and right from the start the collections came rolling in. Along with a foundation collection of nitrate from the National Film Library and repatriation of films discovered overseas, films were found in homes, on marae, in sheds, junk shops, rubbish tips, even under a backyard tarpaulin.
Within a decade, more than 20,000 titles were held in the collection and the Archive’s presence within the cultural sector was firmly established. Over twenty-five years the Archive has continued to strengthen and grow. In 2005 there are in excess of 100,000 titles in the collection, financial and accommodation insecurities are no longer as pressing and around 40 people are employed.
Watch for more about the Archive’s history in the next issue of Newsreel.
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Memory, Myth and Melodrama
Zoe Roland is a South Island documentary filmmaker with a passion for archival film and oral histories.
Zoe’s documentaries have screened at galleries and museums around the country and at the New Zealand Film Festivals. Her films have also found an international audience, screening in the USA, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.
As the Artist-in-Residence at the Christchurch Arts Centre, Zoe has used her time to create Memory, Myth and Melodrama, a short film using footage from the Archive’s collections.
In association with the Film Archive and with the support of those who deposited the original footage, Zoe selected film shot in the Canterbury region, some of which dates from as early as 1912, including glorious garden parties, farming, skiing in the Southern Alps, A&P shows and local architecture.
In order to create the film’s uniquely personal soundtrack Zoe asked individuals from the Canterbury community to view the footage and later interviewed them about the thoughts and memories the film evoked.
Students from the Young Writers’ School were also invited to watch a short clip and record their personal responses to it.
These musings imbue the film with unusual warmth, bringing the footage and consequently the history of the province to life.
The “humorous, poignant and historically relevant” film was screened throughout the day on 9 October in the SOFA Gallery as part of the Christchurch Arts Centre Open Day celebrating Heritage Week 2005. Over 100 people stopped to enjoy Memory, Myth and Melodrama and Zoe has been thrilled by the positive response from viewers.
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The Return of Fly My Pretties
This year the film archive collaborated with loop recordings Aot(ear)oa and Nektar Films on the production publicist, Rebecca Adams, spoke to Markus Sawyer from Nektar Films about the collaboration.
So what is The Return of Fly My Pretties?
In 2004, Barnaby Weir, the front man for Wellington band The Black Seeds, brought together a group of Wellington’s top musicians to produce the musical performance ‘Fly My Pretties’ for five shows at Bats theatre. The five sell-out performances were recorded live and an album released on LOOP Recordings Aot(ear)oa.
This year marked the return of the concept – to bring together a diverse range of top New Zealand musicians, create new music born of this collaboration and perform the music in an environment where the audience’s focus is on the musicians and the music. The best takes from the live record were once again mixed and mastered for an album.
In September and October this year, the eight shows were performed at Wellington’s Paramount Theatre and Auckland’s Hopetoun Alpha. Fourteen of the country’s best musicians, from a range of musical backgrounds; including Module, Adi Dick of Seven Suns, Hollie Smith, Sam Scott of the Phoenix Foundation, Age Pryor, Tessa Rain and Mike Fabulous of The Black Seeds were involved. This year the production had grown, with a cast and crew numbering more than 30 people for The Return of Fly My Pretties.
Nektar Films was commissioned to produce a DVD of the event. This entailed developing the visual backdrop to incorporate into the live performances, filming the shows and producing a documentary on the Fly My Pretties story.
Who are NEkTAR Films?
Nektar Films is an emerging production house founded in 2003 by Gareth Moon, Mike Bridgman aka Mike Busy and Daveyboy Payne. The company was formed to produce cutting edge creative products for both commercial and underground markets. From documentary and music videos to specialised corporate projects with creative flare, Wellington-based Nektar Films is generating national attention for its work.
Gareth and Mike share roles within Nektar and their working relationship is a complementary one. Both play intrinsic parts in the concept development and visual aesthetics of a project. Gareth, with a background in photography and art direction, focuses more of his time as the producer at pre-production and development stages of a project, while Mike, with eight years experience as an integrated media specialist, realises these concepts in production and post production. Gareth Moon explains: “Nektar Films emerged out of a need for an infrastructure for communication between creative and commercial marketplaces. Nektar facilitates all stages of product development – conceptualisation to implementation and completion. We provide solutions for specific client needs – whichever industry or market they seek to communicate with.”
What’s your involvement with NEkTAR Markus?
In 2005, Nektar Films has grown to include Nektar Creative – a branch of the core company with the flexibility to develop tailor-made solutions for specific communication needs across a range of media. This year at New Zealand Fashion Week, Nektar produced a visual installation, using 15 projectors in an Auckland warehouse, for the Insidious Fix fashion runway show – an event that garnered extensive media coverage and international praise. Gareth and Mike invite like-minded professionals with specialised skill sets, into Nektar for particular projects. I was brought in, with my background in journalism, to work as a director on the Fly My Pretties documentary and shoot camera for the live record. Gareth believes this approach is an advantage for the company and its clients: “Nektar Creative incorporates small, multi-disciplined crews who explore new technologies for use in a creative capacity. Taking new approaches to traditional production techniques, we are able to produce cutting edge, high-end products quickly, as seen in the Insidious Fix fashion show and The Return of Fly My Pretties.”
What attracted NEkTAR to the Film Archive?
Having assembled the team, Gareth approached the Film Archive with his ideas about the visual backdrop for The Return of Fly My Pretties: “I wanted to introduce the audience to some early stories of New Zealand and its cultural and geographical heritage. From old landscapes of Wanaka and Te Anau through to the early images of settlers breaking the land and Maori heritage material, the aim was to take the audience on a visual trip while complementing the music being performed on stage.”
After three months of researching and working closely with the Film Archive, permission was sought to use the material in the show and ensure that its acknowledgement and context were appropriate.
So what happened next?
With the content selected, the material was given to visual director Mike Bridgman to shape with the music for the live performances, as Mike explains:
“I looked through the Film Archive footage and tried to link it to the tunes to be performed in the show. I wanted each tune to possess its own visual representation and deliver a narrative for the audience. For the song ‘Catch the Light’, a ballad performed by Barnaby Weir and Lee Prebble, I chose the New Zealand pioneering footage, showing giant trees being felled using bare hands and ropes on pulleys, to provide a visual storyline in the show.”
Judging by feedback from audience members, and seven of the eight shows selling out, the melding of music and visuals was a success. Musician Rhian Sheehan, an artist who incorporates live visuals in his performances, was impressed: “I was blown away by the show, from an audience perspective the visuals took the performance to a whole other level.” The performance drew similar reactions from reviewers around the country.
“... And if the spectacle of such and array of talent wasn’t enough, the images provided by Nektar that served as a backdrop were nothing short of spectacular. As the musicians toiled, human achievement and nature’s glory – courtesy of the New Zealand Film Archive – shone for all to see. Ya’ know it was really hard not to watch those images, filmed in an era of experimentation, and not be moved. You could marvel at crusty pioneers, all of whom have now left this mortal coil, manually reducing the Kauri into ship spars, to witness the devastation wrought by the flipside of progress as gleaming silver bombers circle the sky to wreak havoc on the enemy below. It was uplifting and humbling at the same time...” — Phil Reid, Real Groove, October 2005
Nektar films is currently in post-production of the return of Fly My Pretties, with the live record DVD on shelves in November and the documentary to be broadcast on C4 music channel. There is already talk of Fly My Pretties heading to Australia in 2006.
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Feedback
The Film Archive welcomes your feedback and suggestions. If you wish to share your thoughts please email newsreel@nzfa.org.nz
I am inspired by your work and someday hope to live in Wellington and work in the Film Archive. It is neat that your company has decided to have a small theatre inside the building. Bledisloe School
Largely due to your hard work, our evening was a roaring success. I loved the combination of information and humour that you managed to bring together. Travelling Film Show host
The information you gave us is still in my head. The saddest one was the story about Te Waka Wahine. Since I’ve watched the movie I can feel the misery from the disaster. Bledisloe School
To the Film Archive Team, A very special “thank you” for making Kuia’s day such a memorable celebration, the family sincerely appreciated your fabulous efforts. Harris Whanau
Just ringing to say how much I enjoyed the Touring Film Show that I saw in Lyall Bay. I thought it was wonderful. The hall was packed & people laughed... your selection of films was so interesting... Film Show patron
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News Clips
Education
2005 was a record year for visiting groups with over 8000 children attending Education screenings at the mediaplex.
Imagem dos Povos Festival
In late October the inaugural Imagem dos Povos Festival and Seminar was held in historic Ouro Preto, Brazil. The festival was established to explore the cinematic culture of a different country each year and New Zealand was top of the list. A comprehensive programme was curated by Bill Gosden of the New Zealand Film Festivals and Film Archive CEO, Frank Stark. The Archive was represented by Auckland Office Manager Michael Brook who participated in seminar discussions about archival issues facing Brazil.
Placement
The Film Archive hosted Victoria University student Ailsa Cain for a four-week stint as part of her Masters in Museum and Heritage Studies. Ailsa compiled a programme, SHIP/WRECK about the life of New Zealand’s naval vessels.
Messines Screening
To commemorate a 30-year relationship between the towns of Featherston, NZ and Mesen [Messines], Belgium, a special New Zealand weekend was arranged on 11/12 November. The NZ Embassy in Brussels invited the Film Archive to curate a short WWI compilation to screen to visitors and guests. Mesen has special significance in NZ as the scene of a successful attack by NZ troops in 1917. The twinning relationship between Featherston and Mesen started in 1975 and recognises the link between the two towns. Many of the NZers who fought in Belgium set out from the Featherston Military Camp. Featherston Square in Mesen, has a map of NZ with a spotlight on Featherston.
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