MACE trains YMCA youth workers in film handling for “Century of Youth” film project

YMCA Training day at MACE: Richard Shenton (right), Head of Access & Learning at MACE, demonstrates film handling to James and Anthony from the YMCA

One of our biggest Full Circle groups is the YMCA at Nottingham. MACE is working with them on their new “Century of Youth” film project. We are helping them  to safely view and transfer relevant archive footage into digital formats. Anthony a  Film and Video youth worker and James a youth worker from the YMCA  attended this training course so that they could pass on the necessary skills in film handling to the young people they are working with. The project explores the lives of people in the East Midlands over the past 100 years  combining archive footage and interviews with local people.

Anthony and James examine 8mm film

On the training day Richard talked Anthony and James through the different gauges of film: Standard 8mm, Super 8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm and 35mm. As the project involves collecting (some possibly quite old film) – they learnt how to identify cellulose nitrate stock, which they may come across, and what to do if they find any. Nitrate film stock was only used for 35mm film stock pre 1950s while safety film stock was developed for the home movie market  (8mm and 16mm).   Richard had looked through the MACE film archive and found a short film on the dangers of nitrate stock made by the Royal Navy who had to be extremely careful when screening film on board because of its flammable nature:

For more information on nitrate films check out the British Film Institute site http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/383 and watch a short film clip. They hold the largest collection of nitrate  film stock in the world.

Nitrate film found through the Full Circle project, the nitrate film has reacted with the can. This rare 90 year old film has been sent down to the BFI. They have the facilities to handle this film stock and will transfer it to safety film for Full Circle to use in a community film screening in Ripley

In the afternoon the training course covered  black and white and colour film stock, vinegar syndrome and sound on film (optical and magnetic). They learnt about the different print processes, reversal process and edger markings which help denote the type and age of film. After a very nice lunch there was a tour of the MACE film archive, the film transfer suite and the use of the Steenbeck film editing and viewing machine.

James Patterson, Director of MACE viewing 16mm film on the Steenbeck.  Steenbeck is a brand name that has become synonymous with a type of flatbed film editing suite which is usable with both 16mm and 35mm optical sound and magnetic sound film.

For more information on the YMCA “Century of Youth” project contact Tom Holland on 07584 582063 or email him on film@nottsymca.org. This project has been enabled by EM Media and the UK Film Council’s Digital Archive Fund supported by the National Lottery.

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Aston on Trent Local History Group jump aboard the Full Circle quest for film

Aston on Trent Local History Group Committee (L - R) Fred Hinds / Richard Coates / John Holloway / Carole Bagnall (Chairperson) / Dixie Dean / Liz Whitaker / Bob Read / Barry Thompson

 

 So far the Media Archive for Central England has had a fantastic response from Community groups wishing to participate in the Full Circle project. The Aston on Trent Local History Group is no exception and were determined to get involved! They are a dynamic and fast growing part of the Aston on Trent Community and have been running for six years with over 60 people regularly attending their monthly programme of speakers and visits.

John Holloway, a member of Aston on Trent LHG, told Full Circle that the group thought the project was “an innovative and valuable idea”. He explained that they plan to promote their search for film through local contacts, village notice boards, magazines and their monthly meetings where they will put the word out for videos and cinefilms from residents who had footage depicting past events, people and occasions over the last forty or fifty years. After putting out their request for film John explained that within a few weeks they had around fifteen finds and are convinced there is more out there. The group are even going to motivate members of the community who are ‘car-booters’ to scour for old home video or cine footage that may have been thrown out!

 ”It really is a ‘win-win’ project and I defy anybody not to be fascinated by scenes from the past.”

Visitors pore over the History Group's heritage images at their 'History of Aston' photo exhibition. All Saints' Parish Church, Aston on Trent, 2009

By participating in The Full Circle project the Aston on Trent LHG believe that they will be able to raise the profile of local history, and provide a fascinating and permanent record of village life – which not only will be a fantastic resource to offer local schools wishing to add to their curriculum, but will also provide material for their monthly meetings.

“We share a belief that recording, developing and maintaining our 1300 year old history should be conducted with as much community involvement as possible and with around £70,000 of grant funding over the last few years we’ve run plenty of projects involving all ages, the village school, individuals and groups, producing DVDs, publications, oral reminiscences, photo exhibitions and a vast archive of thousands of photos and hundreds of valuable documents and artefacts. We now have the funding to develop a village Heritage Centre to display, store and make available our resources for the public.”

 For more information about Aston on Trent LHG please visit:

http://www.astonontrenthistory.org.uk

Midland Journey – A Success Story

The end of June saw the conclusion of the second series of curated cinema programmes based on MACE’s collections and promoted under the banner Midland Journey.

In the course of the year long project MACE delivered twenty four bespoke programmes of local interest into thirteen venues and three rural cinema touring schemes across the Midlands.  The screenings were attended by a total audience in excess of 2,700 people.

The popularity of these programmes drew a wide range of different people to cinemas as far apart as Hereford and Sleaford in Lincolnshire.

We are in the process of planning the next series of local programmes so keep an eye on the news section of this website.  In the meantime, if your local cinema is interested in hosting an archive based screening then why not ask them to contact Phil Leach, who researched and curated each of the programmes in Midlands Journey II.

Of course none of the screenings would have been possible without funding support from EM Media and Screen WM, for which we are grateful.