THE FORGOTTEN SOURCE - THE MOVIES

RESEARCH WORK: Movies as a

source for the research.

A forgotten source when you wants shots of certain aircrafts and cars like FIAT - Topolino
,a dress, a bottle and so on?

To find the shot of wanted

scenes, you have to work hard making the content of the catalogue reliable. The film

" Head in the Clouds " is not a film about cars. It is a good film.

The screenplay focuses on the choices young lovers must make

surrounded by increasing political unrest in late - 1930s Europe. And you find my favorite car in the film too.

THE FILM-THE SOURCE -THE CREDIBILITY

James Jones (1921-1977)

American author.

A report about archive footage used in the film " From Here to Eternity ". The Norwegian title

is: " Herfra til evigheten".

Photos taken from the Norwegian edition of the book.

Douglas SBN Dauntless and Japanese plane Mitsubishi AGM2 - called " Zero ".
What kind of aircrafts have been used to illustrate the attack on Pearl Harbour?

It is not Japanese plane but USA planes attacking the naval base at Pearl Harbour-

but only in the movie!

The photos taken by Tedd Urnes

FILM RESEARCH-FIAT TOPOLINO

Searching after " the reality - the real shots " used in movies is a time consuming business left for professional researchers like Lasse Nilsson and Bengt Lorentzon both working for SVT.

News of events believed lost might be found in films made for light entertainment only. To find shots of the old FIAT car " Topolino " was on my agenda for some time. Lasse Nilsson, former General Secretary of FIAT/IFTA, and Bengt Lorentzon were contacted and the car was found in

the movie called " Head in the Clouds ". A film about the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and a complicated love story. Not a film about cars.

Shots
of the famous car was also found in a movie called: " Charlotte Gray " at the end of the film. The film " Charlotte Gray " was released in 2001. The Australian actress
Cate Blanchett is playing Charlotte Gray and the film is directed by Gillan Armstrong. But that is another story. My concern is the car: FIAT Topolino.

MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY

PEARL HARBOUR DECEMBER 7, 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbour is done by American planes.

The statement could have made newspaper headlines worldwide if it was a true story. Hollywood is bombing Pearl Harbour by using incorrect archival footage about the Japanese air attack on the island. The famous movie " From Here to Eternity " was released in year 1953. I had viewed the film many times without noticing the use of archival footage at the end of the film where the air attack on the American military base takes place. By reading a critical comment on the movie, I was informed about the use of stock shots of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
The shots of the American dive-bombers were a surprise to me. Douglas SBN Dauntless dive-bombers were attacking the American battleships! The film company who was selling the shots was easy to find searching on internet. To my surprise I even found the same shots used in a documentary about the Second World War where the American planes again were bombing their own soldiers.
The historian facts checkers had made a mistake. The movie industry is a money making industry. The lack of critical source investigations has made it possible to repeat the use of uncorrect footage. This is a challenge for the researchers in the future. Be critical to the archival
footage and question the content information of the archive. Good luck.

MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY

Tedd Urnes in New
York searching for movies. Photo Lasse Nilsson

American historians made this study published in 1995.

The Mexican National Phonoteque is setting up a conference in
Mexico City, November 9- 13. Join us.

Ingmar Bergman used archival footage in his films: " A Passion "

and " Persona ".

"... political activity to-day is precipitated by the news, by television's immediate closeness to what is going on all over the world. In this respect art has missed the boat completely. Artists

are hardly the social visionaries they uesd to be. And they mustn't

imagine they are! Reality is running away from artists and their

political visions " - so far Ingmar Bergman.

Presentation of some facts about movies and archival footage reported in my paper for the conference in La Ciudad de Mexico, November 9 - 13, 2009 - hopefully not postponed again

due to an international flu!

Some reasons for making the collections of audiovisual archives accessible to film productions are

the following arguments:

-For economic reasons. It is less expensive making copies of film made during the Battle of Stalingrad than making a reconstruction of the battle.

-To make moviegoers aware of the time of the historical events dealt with in the film.

-To avoid making reconstructions of the events in a studio.

-Because the reality is better on television news than made in the film studio.

-Copyright is no problem when it comes to use German made news films from the Second World War.

-It is better to use real shot of the person dealt with in the film than actors.

To search after the reality used in movies is a time consuming business but very interesting

for those who are working with media archaeology.

See you in Mexico City in November.

.

MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY

A CRITICAL APPROACH TO THE POLICY OF ACTIVE REUSING OF ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE.

THE AIM
The main aim of my paper and presentation at the conference in Mexico City arranged by The Mexican National Phonoteque are to make students and those who are working in different audiovisual archives aware of the importance of reusing of the material.

Archival footage has been used in many historical documentaries and studies produced at universities worldwide.

Famous film directors like the late Swedish director Ingmar Bergman (1918-2008) has made use of real shots in some of his movies too.

HISTORICAL MOVIES
American historians have been worried about the influence of movies in school education in USA.
The result of the studies has resulted in the publication of the book called: " PAST IMPERFECT.
History according to the Movies. 1995 ".

TOURRETTES-SUR-LOUP:LIBRARY

PROVENCE: Tourrettes-sur-Loup.

The French philosopher and journalist, Bernard-Henry Levy, Simone Signoret, Yves Montand and Andre Malraux decided to pay attention to the village Saint-Paul de Vence - a nice mediaval

village not far from Vence and Tourrettes- sur- Loup.
Due to the fact that Vence and Saint-Paul are famous, my short report is concentrated on the beautiful Tourrettes because of the small public library. Among the pictures presented ,you will see a small building which is the police station. The opening hours of the library is also presented. Take a close look at the information of the sign. The library has collections of movies and sound recordings too. Not only books. Two retired nice ladies are running the library. If you want to pay the village a visit, I recommend you to see the library and the ladies. And the village has also at least three splendid restaurantes if you want to enjoy French wine and cooking. Have nice time.