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The National Film Record – On Video

ScreenSound Australia — The National Screen & Sound Archive — has been making
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parts of the national film collection available on video for general public consumption
for some years now — one of very few national film archival bodies to do so — and
the story of the genesis and development of this program is an interesting one.
Ken Berryman, Senior Project Manager at ScreenSound Australia, reports.

he Archive’s first foray into releasing film on video other medium could have given a more vivid historical view of
came in 1988. Three well-known Australian feature the city of Melbourne in the first decade of the new century.
Tfilms — The Sentimental Bloke (1919), For The Term Encouraged by the strong public response to Living
Of His Natural Life (1927), and His Royal Highness (1932) — Melbourne: 1896-1910, the Archive commissioned Chris
were transferred to video to coincide with the Archive’s Long to produce further video compilations through its
Bicentennial Travelling Exhibition, Take 88. Melbourne Office. With the advent of video now providing
But the regional video program really took off with the new access to the Archive’s collection of 35mm nitrate films,
production of the first of the Archive’s Chris was able to put together a selection
historical compilation-style videos — of some of the better shorts from Australia’s
Living Melbourne — in the same year. first talkie studio — Efftee Films — founded
This project was initiated through the by Frank Thring Snr in 1930.
Archive’s Melbourne Office and grew The simultaneous release in 1989 of
from research by Melbourne film and two one-hour video compilations Efftee
sound historian, Chris Long, who was Entertainers and Efftee’s Australia
commissioned to develop an illustrated allowed a new appraisal of the early
lecture on the city’s first films for the talkies — often dismissed by film fans
Royal Historical Society of Victoria. and critics — to be made. Until then, the
The positive response by RHSV large Efftee output was primarily judged
members to Chris’ presentation suggest- on the quality of 16mm viewing prints
ed that this was a topic and program Pathe's Ballarat Gazette newsreel then in circulation. These prints were
package worth ‘bottling’. While much of filmed the winners at the first Ballarat characterised by poor sound, severe crop-
the material in this package was more or Kennel Club dog show on 1 June 1912. ping of the image, and frequently poor
less available from lending libraries or definition. But purely by chance, the orig-
the Archive as ageing 16mm or 35mm mute viewing prints, it inal 35mm negatives of many of the Efftee shorts had found
is doubtful whether any of these shorts could continue to stand their way to the Archive’s vaults still in mint condition and
alone in a normal film screening context. The emerging with no sign of nitrate decomposition, other than a little
domestic video formats, however, seemed to offer real possi- shrinkage. As Chris observed at the time:
bilities in re-packaging local film history in an informative,
entertaining, and cost-effective manner, and with a much “I knew that this would permit their restoration if only some
wider audience reach. better method than printing on 16mm could be made available.
And so it proved. The opportunity to view in one’s own with the [National Film & Sound Archive’s] acquisition of a
lounge room the earliest moving pictures of Melbourne taken 35mm Rank Cintel telecine machine, it is finally possible to
by pioneers of Australian cinema between 1896 and 1910, view these materials with a fidelity indicative of the Efftee stu-
with supporting stills, detailed commentary and period music, dios’ high technical standards. Thring had Mitchell cameras
struck an immediate chord with many and RCA sound. For the first time, these
Melburnians — who formed long queues videos show the early 1930s ‘state of the
outside the Archive’s office in South art’.”
Melbourne on learning of the release of
the new video in December 1988. The Archive’s next regional video
They were rewarded to see complete project arose from an approach by the
versions of Melbourne’s oldest surviving then curator of Ballarat’s Gold Museum,
films, arranged chronologically, rejuve- Barbara Cooper. She sought copies of
nated and, in some cases, reordered, each films held by the Archive featuring
of them transferred to video directly from Ballarat, to use for reference purposes at
the 35mm originals by the Archive’s then Regent Theatre Orchestra (1931) the Museum. Rather than copy the films
chief video technician, Erik Liepins. from NFSA video release individually — a comparatively expen-
Chris Long provided the research, wrote Efftee Entertainers. sive one-off exercise — it was suggested
and recorded the commentary, prepared that the footage be transferred to a single
the titles, and supplied all the music and most of the stills. master tape, adding commentary and music. The resulting
Although this was regarded by the Archive as very much an video tape would not only be a comprehensive reference tool
experiment — a tentative dipping of the toe into uncharted but would be duplicated for retail purposes, again giving the
water — it was difficult to imagine, even then, whether any public easy access to local historical material.

26 Autumn 2001 CINEMARECORD