On 14 December 2016 the History Project screened our documentary, Women in West London Film Laboratories. The documentary is of particular interest to members because it draws upon interviews from the History Project collection, as well as archival footage and interviews we conducted. For those who weren't at the meeting here is a link. Do let us have your comments.
WOMEN IN WEST LONDON FILM LABORATORIES, 1960-2000 (ANDREW DAWSON AND SEAN P. HOLMES, 2016) 39 minutes
Women in West London Film Laboratories documents the bittersweet experience of women in West London film laboratories. It is the first and might be the last attempt to visually record the lives of lab women.
Bill Aitken from BBC Radio Oxford has produced a documentary about one of our interviewees, BBC producer, Bernie Andrews, who broadcast every major UK rock band before they were famous. The documentary makes extensive use of our HP interviews, as much of the programme is built around our two interviews with Bernie Andrews, conducted by Mike Dick.
Some tasters from BBC Radio Oxford’s forthcoming documentary about Bernie Andrews, one of the most influential radio producers of the 20th Century:
FROM START TO FINISH - FROM A TECHNICAL POINT OF VIEW
Thanks to Ian Noah, Alison and others, there is quite a comprehensive guide to the Workflow needed when undertaking an interview for the History Project. I thought it would be good to set out below my experience of filming interviews for the History Project, through editing to archiving and uploading to the web. The process probably throws up more questions than answers but I thought it would be a good exercise and a starting point for other people to contribute their knowledge . I don’t pretend to know all the technical language. Some of the procedures I have undertaken a certain way I have done because I have been advised it is the best way..
The recent re-release of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, in a new print from the BFI, has been a triumph.
When Barry Lyndon first came out in 1975 it went off like a damp squib. Kubrick’s previous films – Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange – covered a range of themes and a variety of moods, but each in its own way kept the story moving along at a brisk canter. When it was known that Kubrick was working on a screenplay of Thackeray’s novel set in the eighteenth century, one obvious point of reference was Tom Jones, Tony Richardson’s bawdy celebration of life and lust starring young Albert Finney. Of course, Kubrick was a very different filmmaker – but even so, the eighteenth century was all about frock-coats, oaths and wenches, wasn’t it?
The use of Speechmatics to obtain a printed text is a great saving on employing a stenographer to do the work. I have experimented with different files to obtain the most correct printed text from the voice. Speechmatics themselves say that a good level is essential for the system to work. Strangely the results do vary enormously.. One male voice can sound very similar to another but the resulting text print out can be totally different. By way of experiment I recently tried a female archive voice and only used one side of the recording. The result I think was slightly better in that A) The female voice works better with Speechmatics anyway and B) The use of one side of the recording produced near perfect results especially when there were few technical terms and/or proper names. It is always worth an experiment to do a short before getting the whole interview processed.
In August 2016 the following interviews have been digitised and uploaded to the website. Peggy Gick ( Interview number 403) ; Tony Garnett ( Interview number 560) ; Kitty Wood ( Morrison) ( Interview number 6) ; Peter Morley ( Interview number 166) ; Rodney Giesler ( Interview number 312)
In August 2016 the following interviews have been digitised and uploaded to the website. Peggy Gick ( Interview number 403) ; Tony Garnett ( Interview number 560) ; Kitty Wood ( Morrison) ( Interview number 6) ; Peter Morley ( Interview number 166) ; Rodney Giesler ( Interview number 312)
