Archival Storytelling

More about why you should oppose SOPA

2012-01-02T12:04:00.000-05:00

From David Carr, an excellent article in the January 1 issue of The New York Times -- a recommended read.

What do you think?

2012-01-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

We're looking for feedback -- who's reading Archival Storytelling (where you're from, what your production role is), what's useful, what's not, and what you'd like to see in a new edition if one were to be produced. Please respond here or, even better, click through to a brief (six-question) online survey. Thanks!

Rent Archival Storytelling online

2012-01-01T19:41:00.001-05:00

Just discovered that you can rent Archival Storytelling from Safari books online -- a digital library. http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/-/9780240809731 . Cool.

LOC announces Viewshare

2011-12-17T13:04:00.002-05:00

"A new site, Viewshare.org, a platform for empowering curators, archivists, and librarians to provide access to the digital cultural heritage objects they are preserving." See article by Susan McManus, http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2011/10/viewshare-org-create-and-share-interfaces-to-our-digital-cultural-heritage/.

Great Amazon reviews - and sale price!

2011-12-13T09:18:00.003-05:00

Thanks to readers for some terrific reviews on the book's Amazon site! "One of the most informational textbooks I ever purchased....I reference it often" (November 2011). "An essential edition to any filmmaker's library....an inside/out perspective of the business of filmmaking and the complexities of its intellectual property issues" (July 2011). The book is on sale for just $21, and a Kindle edition is available ($19).

Kenn Rabin at Coolidge Corner May 11

2011-05-18T11:13:00.002-04:00

Author Kenn Rabin moderated a May 11 panel at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Ma.: Film Restoration and Access in the Digital Age. Click for details about the all-star line-up of panelists. The Coolidge Corner Theatre, in operation since 1933, is a cultural landmark run by the not-for-profit Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation.

"A Wealth of Information" -- review in The Moving Image

2010-11-30T13:38:00.003-05:00

Thank you to Snowden Becker for a detailed and thoughtful review of Archival Storytelling in the Spring 2010 issue of The Moving Image (pp . 155-157), available this month.

An excerpt: "Archival Storytelling effectively conveys what experienced footage researchers and film producers feel everyone working in their field should know about working with archival media. Archivists who work with those same footage researchers and film producers can get from the book a better sense of what expectations, assumptions, and needs storytellers bring with them to the archive. Finally, and perhaps most important, it illustrates how broadly (and sometimes contradictorily) archives are defined by an influential community of users."

New finds in the Warner Music archives

2010-11-12T18:32:00.002-05:00

"Scratching Under the Vinyl Era," by Tim Arango (11/8/2010, The New York Times), chronicles "an ambitious project to recover the company's story--and a good chunk of American cultural history as well--by excavating the content of nearly 100,000 boxes from warehouses around the globe, whose accumulated photographs and other memorabilia track popular music from the Edwardian and Victorian ages to disco and jazz, from Beethoven to Miles Davis." Read the article.

"A Film Unfinished" discussed

2010-08-20T11:21:00.004-04:00

An excellent reminder that archival footage can be deceptive: On NPR and in today's Los Angeles Times, film critic Kenneth Turan discusses A Film Unfinished, a documentary about Nazi propaganda footage, including staged material, that was filmed in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. The documentary was directed by Yael Hersonski, an Israeli filmmaker interviewed by Micah Sachs of Indiewire earlier this month.

Smithsonian: 9 Archives That Will Spill New Secrets

2010-08-10T13:24:00.002-04:00

See Mark Strauss's August 2010 article at Smithsonian.com -- "Nine Historical Archives That Will Spill New Secrets: Declassified records and journals to be released in coming decades will shed new light on pivotal 20th-century figures and events."

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/40th-anniversary/Nine-Historical-Archives-That-Will-Spill-New-Secrets.html

Stanley Nelson's "Freedom Riders" in DocuWeeks, July 30-Aug 19

2010-07-27T13:34:00.002-04:00

Director Stanley Nelson's Freedom Riders is among the films (full length and short) to be shown during the International Documentary Association's 14th annual DocuWeeks(TM) -- in New York July 30-August 5, 2010 and in Los Angeles August 6-12, 2010. Click here for details and a schedule. (More information on the film can be found at the filmmaker's website.)

One of the filmmakers featured in Archival Storytelling, Stanley Nelson's films include Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple and The Murder of Emmett Till. To learn more about Freedom Riders, read the interview with him at Documentary.org. (And if you're not already a member of the International Documentary Association, please consider joining!

Doc Filmmakers Granted Greater Fair Use Access to "Locked" DVD Content

2010-07-26T20:09:00.003-04:00

"The Library of Congress added five new exemptions to its Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Monday," as reported online by PC World.

For additional information on what this means to documentarians, see director Pat Aufderheide's blog posting at the American University Center for Social Media site.

American Archivist review!

2010-06-22T20:10:00.003-04:00

Many thanks to Grace Lile (WITNESS Media Archive) for her detailed review of Archival Storytelling, in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of American Archivist, published by the Society of American Archivists. Preview: "The excellent new resource Archival Storytelling is really two books in one: a detailed how-to guide for filmmakers in the process of researching, acquiring, and clearing rights to arhival materials; and a deeper exploration of the implications, ethical and creative, of using these materials to tell new stories." TO READ IT ALL: Click here, scroll to pages 278-281: http://archivists.metapress.com/content/y6k6p23uu1255377/fulltext.pdf.

Archives and Access -- Controversy

2010-06-22T19:54:00.003-04:00

From Witness.org, an interesting post: "An Archivist's Perspective on Access and Privacy" about the May 2010 US District Court decision to allow Chevron to subpoena footage from Joe Berlinger's documentary Crude: The Real Price of Oil. [According to the filmmaker's blog, a "stay" of the order to turn material order has been granted pending a hearing of the appeal in July 2010.]

Australia!

2010-06-22T14:22:00.003-04:00

Archival storytelling issues cross international borders. The book (now available for just $24.30 from Amazon -- and $19.22 for Kindle) offers detailed information about finding, using, and licensing third-party stills, footage, music, artwork and more, with discussion about U.S. and international approaches to copyright, fair use, fair dealing, moral rights, and more -- AND it features interviews with researchers (and clearance experts) in Moscow, Toronto, Washington, and Sydney: Australian researcher Lisa Savage, www.lisasavage.tv.

Co-author Kenn Rabin himself heads to Australia on June 30 to discuss his own archival storytelling. On July 6, the closing night of Mexico: The Revolution, Independence and Beyond (an academic conference sponsored by the Australian National Center for Latin American Studies), Kenn will be screening and discussing the making of The Storm that Swept Mexico, a two hour history of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) produced by Kenn and Ray Telles of Paradigm Productions. The film is funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities, the Independent Television Service (ITVS), and Latino Public Broadcasting.

New lower price - $24.55!

2010-05-20T15:42:00.004-04:00

Whether you're working on Hollywood dramas or indie docs, if you're struggling to find and license music, stills, or footage to which someone else holds the rights, you may be interested to know that Archival Storytelling is now available at deep discount from Amazon! (And if you've read it and found it useful, please write a review, they get picked up worldwide.)

"This book is a great resource because it surveys the entire landscape from ethical/creative considerations to fair use to changes in the digital age, and the focus is always on the importance of telling stories. Which is what it's all about after all!" (Shooting People)

Available on Kindle!

2010-05-07T14:14:00.003-04:00

Archival Storytelling can be purchased for your Kindle -- just $19.22! This book has information for filmmakers and television producers across the board -- whether your work is fiction or nonfiction, drama or documentary, for broadcast or theatrical release.

The Storm That Swept Mexico

2009-12-30T18:13:00.004-05:00

From the GFEM Media Database, a trailer and other information on The Storm that Swept Mexico -- a two-hour documentary that will debut in 2010, on the centennial of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Producers Raymond Telles and Kenn Rabin; director, Telles; writer and archivist, Rabin.

From WITNESS Media Archive

2009-10-12T18:57:00.003-04:00

From Grace Lile, an interesting posting on "Archival access: ethics, rights, obligations" in which she refers back to the June conversation on archival use and storytelling, launched by Rick Prelinger on his blog.

Lile also notes, "I am still working my way through Rand Jimerson’s excellent Archives Power: Memory, Accountability and Social Justice (2009: SAA). It is a wide-ranging book encompassing the history of archival theory and practice in societal terms, addressing the relationship of archives and documents to memory, justice, accountability, diversity, and societal power." Another one to add to the reading list!

Documentary Ethics - new report

2009-09-08T09:57:00.002-04:00

Just released today: Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work -- a new report from American University's Center for Social Media. Written by Pat Aufderheide, Peter Jaszi, and Mridu Chandra, the report summarizes the results of 45 extended interviews with documentary filmmakers and is presented as the beginning of an important conversation. Jon Else, Bill Nichols, and Sheila served as advisors.

CSM also authored the invaluable Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.

Identifying the "Real Deal"

2009-08-01T14:50:00.002-04:00

From Kenn: Currently, I’m co-producing a two-hour history of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) for PBS with Paradigm Productions in Berkeley. In many ways, the Mexican Revolution was the first war that could be watched by the public, virtually from start to finish, on film, much as Vietnam was considered the first true television war. The footage we’ve collected starts as early as 1898; there is journalism, there is fiction, there is propaganda, and there is even the participation of Hollywood. Almost all of it originated on 35mm nitrate, that fragile format, subject to disintegration and afraid of the lit match. 35mm nitrate is also, probably the most beautiful visual format ever – capable of rendering a tremendous range of tonal values and detail.

Some archives and collectors are currently restoring their footage, given the upcoming centenary next year, and the anticipated need for a variety of producers, researchers, and others to access this material. This is exciting for us, but will the restoration work be done in time for our production deadlines? Other archives either don’t have the financial resources, or have not made restoration a priority. Since (as is good archival practice) they don’t want us touching their original film, and we hardly have the budget for major restoration ourselves anyway, we’re often faced with later generation film or, in some cases, outdated videotape formats of this material.

Stills are less of a problem – they’ve been maintained lovingly by those who have held them for a century, and there may be cases where we use these stills in lieu of footage that is hard to decipher, or doesn’t look as good. We all know that still photographs can be made to live with a little visual choreography.

The project is interesting, from another archival point of view as well: in many cases cataloguing is scarce, and the film, which has been edited again and again into different documentaries and news pieces, exists in various conditions and states of completeness in various places. Often the silent film intertitles or other clues we have found contradict each other. Therefore, we are often left guessing whether that wide shot of a field with plumes of smoke in the distance is from one battle or another, from 1911 or from 1921. In fact, over 50% of the smoke we see from guns and canons is white, leaving us to wonder if these weapons were firing “blanks,” meaning those shots are probably re-creations. We look for the occasional black smoke, which might signify this is the “real deal.” Even archivists and scholars who have examined the film over the years continually revise their own ideas of what they are looking at: A lovely corn harvest scene that originally was identified as 1908 prompts further examination and is revised as being from 1910. Going back to the film later, the owners conjectured that 1920 is more likely, “but we can’t be sure.” Just like the Mexican soldiers, we’re shooting at a moving target.

I'm thinking about how to develop a compelling way to address all this in of our film, in order to both acknowledge our own awareness of these issues and to cue the audience in on what I call our “working vocabulary.” Key to documentary ethics is making sure the audience isn’t mis-led regarding what they are seeing and hearing.

How do we make these “problems” into a positive, rather than a negative? The Mexican Revolution, for a century, has been very much about revisionism and myth-making. There are so many false assumptions and misunderstandings because there have always been both political and artistic reasons to paint some figures as heroes, others as villains, ignore still others, develop false causes and effects, and generally “use” the history for one’s own purposes. Rather than add to this myth-making, we want to address this issue of history versus mythology head-on, throughout the film. We hope to invite the audience to join us on this exploration and have them appreciate the uniqueness of what they’re seeing; the historical and audiovisual mysteries we ourselves are grappling with. If we do this right, between the film and its accompanying website, the audience will join us in examining this material as an archeologist might examine an unearthed fragment – sometimes sure of what they are looking at and how it fits into the pattern of events long-gone, but sometimes only at the beginning of a journey of understanding.

Taking History Back from the "Storytellers"

2009-06-23T10:36:00.003-04:00

From noted archivist and filmmaker Rick Prelinger, a challenge to the conventions of historical documentary storytelling, and two proposals:

....The first is easy. Let's put original, unedited archival material out in the world in such a way that it competes with documentaries.... it will insure that audiences can see original documents without the imposition of artificial layers of narrativity.

The second:

We have all noted that the cost of production and distribution is going down quickly, even though it isn't zero. Why then aren't archivists making more documentaries, and why isn't production seen as an integral archival mission?

Read the full piece at his blog, blackoystercatcher.

Jaszi: Fair Use for Students

2009-05-18T17:20:00.004-04:00

Attorney and intellectual property expert Peter Jaszi (featured in Archival Storytelling) is now blogging as the IP Scholar for the University of Maryland University College's Center for Intellectual Property -- see ©ollectanea for his posts on fair use in secondary and higher education and more!

...The Price is Rights (WGBH-TV)

2009-05-04T10:00:00.003-04:00

From The Boston Globe (May 4, 2009) an article about WGBH in Boston and the challenge (and expense) of rights clearance -- http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2009/05/03/to_put_shows_online_the_price_is_rights/

We're on Kindle!

2009-04-30T17:55:00.001-04:00

You can now buy Archival Storytelling as a Kindle book!

Prison terms and fines for founders of The Pirate Bay

2009-04-17T08:44:00.003-04:00

According to an article by Eric Pfanner in the April 27, 2009 The New York Times, a "court in Sweden on Friday convicted four men linked to the notorious Internet file-sharing service The Pirate Bay of violating copyright law, handing the music and movie industries a high-profile victory in their campaign to curb online piracy."

Kenn Rabin, Focal Press at NAB (April 18-23, Las Vegas)

2009-04-16T18:57:00.002-04:00

If you're attending this year's NAB Show, look for Kenn Rabin as well as publisher Focal Press! NAB is being held this year in Las Vegas, NV, April 18-23.

From the website, www.nabshow.com/default.asp: "For more than 80 years, the NAB ShowTM has served as the premiere event for content professionals. Leading this ever-changing industry, the NAB Show has evolved to remain the world's resource for high-level insight, training, education and state-of-the-art technology powering the future of content creation, management, commerce and delivery." NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters, is "a trade association located in Washington, D.C. that advocates on behalf of more than 8,300 free, local radio and television stations and also broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts."

Orphans: A Film Symposium: call for presentations

2009-04-16T18:49:00.003-04:00

Orphans: A Film Symposium willl be held April 7-10, 2010, at the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center; www.nyu.edu/orphanfilm/orphans7/. "Orphans 7 will focus on transnational and global issues. How have moving images circulated across national and other boundaries? How are neglected archival materials accessed and used across and within borders?"

Proposals for presentations are currently being sought -- for details, go to www.nyu.edu/orphanfilm/orphans7/docs/Orphans7flyer2.pdf.

What's an "orphan" film? From the 2005 website: "Narrowly defined, it's a motion picture abandoned by its owner or caretaker. More generally, the term refers to all manner of films outside of the commercial mainstream: public domain materials, home movies, outtakes, unreleased films... [etc]... For examples, visit the National Film Preservation Foundation, an institution dedicated to saving orphan films."

We Shall Remain

2009-04-13T08:32:00.003-04:00

Starting today (April 13), the five-part series We Shall Remain from American Experience. Episode 2, Tecumseh's Vision, was produced and written by Ric Burns (interviewed in Documentary Storytelling) and directed by Chris Eyre and Ric Burns. Episode 5, Wounded Knee, was produced and directed by Stanley Nelson, co-produced by Julia Brannum, and written by Marcia Smith. Stanley Nelson discussed Wounded Knee in chapter 10 of Archival Storytelling, in a roundtable (also with Claire Aguilar, Rick Prelinger, Jon Else, Bill Nichols) on the ethics of archival use.

Review -- Boston Final Cut Pro User Group

2009-03-24T13:40:00.003-04:00

Thank you to Loren Miller of BFCPUG for his March 3 review of Archival Storytelling! He writes: "Archival Storytelling puts producers straight about fair use, public domain, licensing, and clearance of media-based intellectual property: original films, books, music, newspaper headlines, photos and artifacts. It is both scholarly and very readable... This authorative book belongs on every producer’s shelf."

Fact checking and MILK

2009-03-02T11:09:00.005-05:00

Documentarians aren't the only ones who need to keep careful track of historical evidence. Read the February/March issue of Written By (WGA), Richard Stayton's interview with Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award-winner for his excellent spec script, Milk. Black reports: "There are mountains of research...Three years' worth...There are also binders filled with newspaper clippings, photographs, bags with campaign buttons and posters, all of the usual stuff. When I finally set this script up with Groundswell and Focus, they asked for an annotated draft and the list of sources came in somewhere north of 300."

"Wild West" article in Current -- now online

2009-02-22T13:48:00.003-05:00

Read "Rights Laws Dysfunctional in Media Wild West" -- an exploration of the legal issues involved in licensing footage and music, excerpted from Archival Storytelling and featuring a discussion with Rick Prelinger, Anthony Falzone, Jan Krawitz and others. (The article was first published in Current on January 12, 2009.)

Photo on Flickr

2009-02-13T16:21:00.003-05:00

Just found a photo of the book in progress, taken on his iPhone and uploaded October 25, 2007 by Steve Rhodes. This is the panel assembled to discuss ethical issues in archival use, hosted by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism Documentary Program (see Chapter 10 of Archival Storytelling). From left to right, Sheila Curran Bernard, Kenn Rabin, Rick Prelinger, Stanley Nelson, and Bill Nichols.

Fair Use and Obama portrait

2009-02-11T08:05:00.003-05:00

The February 9 issue of the New York Times includes a report on a lawsuit filed by artist Shepard Fairey, involving Fairey's use of an AP image as the basis for his iconic portrait of Barack Obama. Attorney Anthony Falzone, featured in Archival Storytelling, is on the team asking the court to protect Fairey against copyright claims. According to the Times, "The suit asks the judge to declare that Mr. Fairey’s work is protected under fair-use exceptions to copyright law, which allow limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like criticism or comment."

NYT article: Historical Photos in Web Archives

2009-01-19T09:33:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's New York Times has an article by Noam Cohen, "Historical Photos in Web Archives Gain Vivid New Lives." Included in its discussion of the availability of billions of images online (most of them not historical) is a description of the German national archive uploading "nearly 100,000 historical photographs to the Wikimedia Commons, the virtual archive for material used in Wikipedia articles..." The archive "hopes to harness the Wikipedia editors to improve the cataloging of the photographs, said Oliver Sander, who is responsible for the collection at the archive."

For similar reasons, the article notes, the U.S. Library of Congress has been adding photos to Flickr at the rate of about 50 a week.

Excerpt of book in CURRENT

2009-01-15T10:21:00.004-05:00

Check out the January 12, 2009 print edition of Current, the newspaper about public broadcasting in the United States, for "Rights laws dysfunctional in media Wild West" -- an article excerpted from a legal roundtable in Archival Storytelling. (For more information about Current, go to www.current.org/current/ ) The article features discussion with Anthony Falzone, Rick Prelinger, Sam Green, Kristine Samuelson and others.

Flickr and the Library of Congress

2008-12-10T20:47:00.000-05:00

Flickr.com makes available over 5,000 images from the U.S. Library of Congress. Using their tags system and powerful search engine, you can locate many of these images more easily than on the LC website. Or start at www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/ and browse through over 270 web pages of images. The images are available at a variety of file sizes and as they are in the public domain, can be freely used.

LIFE Magazine teams up with Google!

2008-12-10T20:46:00.000-05:00

Good news: LIFE Magazine and Google have teamed up to make 10 million images shot by the magazine's photographers (and other non-photographic images in the LIFE Collection dating back to the 18th century) available to the public. The photos can be freely used for non-profit and educational purposes that do not require a license. The Google search engine for the 20% of the images already digitized can be found at http://images.google.com/hosted/life and more of the collection is being added each day. Each high resolution image bears a LIFE watermark in the corner, but clean prints will be obtainable through www.life.com in the near future. For Google's blog about the project, see http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/life-photo-archive-available-on-google.html .

Rabin article in Samzine

2008-12-01T13:14:00.002-05:00

From Kenn Rabin, "Telling Stories with Archive" -- posted November 2 on Samzine, an indepth look at the ethical use of archival visuals, focusing on the PBS series Vietnam: A Television History.

Stills Audio Motion -- review!

2008-12-01T13:10:00.002-05:00

In a November 30 posting on Samzine, "Steve Bergson reviews a new book that stands out because it tackles a difficult subject in a striking way....not so much a different approach as a new trail being blazed..." Read the review ... Thanks!

Thanks to "Shooting People"

2008-11-25T17:11:00.002-05:00

A shout out to Shooting People for blogging about the book and for posting an excerpt we adapted for them, from the interview with U.K. intellectual property attorney Hubert Best. Thanks!

If you've read the book and like it, please consider submitting a brief review on Amazon -- they make a big difference!

Lawrence Lessig's "Remix"

2008-11-14T17:08:00.003-05:00

Lawrence Lessig's latest book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, is now available from Amazon and other booksellers (and will soon be available under a Creative Commons license; see his website). Press materials: "For more than a decade, we’ve been waging a war on our kids in the name of the 20th Century’s model of 'copyright law.' In this, the last of his books about copyright, Lawrence Lessig maps both a way back to the 19th century, and to the promise of the 21st." Prof. Lessig was interviewed for Archival Storytelling.

The Rape of Europa airs November 24

2008-11-12T18:16:00.003-05:00

The Rape of Europa, which "tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and the Second World War," airs on PBS on Monday, November 24, 9-11 pm (check local listings). Moscow-based archival researcher Alexander Kandaurov discussed doing research for this film (among others) in Archival Storytelling.

The prize was eyed

2008-11-11T14:48:00.003-05:00

A shout out to colleage James DeVinney for his letter to the Boston Globe on November 10, recognizing the Obama victory and wondering if the 14-hour series Eyes on the Prize -- created and executive produced by Henry Hampton -- might have played a small part in this historic achievement.

McCain vs. YouTube on fair use

2008-10-18T20:27:00.004-04:00

In a recent post on CNET, blogger Chris Soghoian criticized presidential candidate John McCain for requesting special treatment from YouTube when it came to his campaign's fair use of copyrighted material. The October 13 letter, written by general counsel Trevor Potter (and copied to Barack Obama's general counsel), was posted by Prof. Lawrence Lessig at Stanford, who said "Bravo" to the campaign for demanding that YouTube "start getting real about the response they're giving to notice and take-down demands of material that 'are clearly privileged under the fair use doctrine.'" But Soghoian argued that fair use is fair use, and special treatment for some would make the battle harder for everyone: "The minute a special set of rules are made for those in Congress, the incentive to fix the [copyright] system will disappear."

In any event, YouTube said no: Here's their response, posted by The New York Times blogger Saul Hansell.

Thanks to WITNESS Media Archive

2008-10-09T16:24:00.002-04:00

A big thank you to the WITNESS Media Archive blog for listing Archival Storytelling among "10 things to read/do/think about" in October, which is American Archives Month! If you're not familiar with them, check out WITNESS, which "uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations."

Published!

2008-09-27T13:24:00.002-04:00

Archival Storytelling has been shipped from the warehouse! Order it now through Focal Press, Amazon, and other booksellers!

If you like it, please be sure to post a review at Amazon -- reviews get picked up worldwide and make a big difference!

Ethics of archival storytelling

2008-09-17T21:18:00.004-04:00

Check out the current issue of Documentary (IDA's e-newsletter), with an excerpt from Archival Storytelling featuring a roundtable discussion on the ethics of using archival materials, with Claire Aguilar, Jon Else, Stanley Nelson, Bill Nichols, and Rick Prelinger.

Who Uses Archival Materials? (Excerpt, Ch. 1)

2008-09-07T18:36:00.002-04:00

...When people think of archival use, they probably think first about historical filmmakers such as Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, whose World War II series, The War, premiered on American public television in 2007. But a surprisingly diverse group of people uses archival materials, including not only documentary filmmakers but also advertising agencies, public relations firms, news organizations, fiction filmmakers, makers of educational material, students, and the general public. Any time you order a photograph from the collection of ship images at Ellis Island, or search through military records at Ancestry.com, or visit a local museum or historical society, you’re benefiting from the preservation and accessibility of archival materials.

Among the most influential users of archival materials are advertising agencies, whose (relatively) high budgets have shaped today’s market and, to some extent, driven prices up. These agencies tend to rely on commercial stock houses; while fees may be higher than elsewhere, turnaround times are often shorter. In contrast, independent filmmakers may have less money but more time to do the digging that’s often required to find material in alternative, less expensive places.

Nearly all filmmakers, at some point in their careers, will want to use third-party materials or will be asked to license their own work to someone else. And despite perceptions, this use does not need to destroy your budget or schedule. With some creative thinking and perseverance, even filmmakers with limited funding should be able to find useful and affordable materials.

Want to read more? Click here for a link to a sample chapter!

Gus Van Sant - trailer for Milk

2008-09-06T13:23:00.005-04:00

The dramatic feature Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Pean (on which Kenn served as archival film researcher) will be released in September. Watch the trailer!

Fans of documentary might also want to check out the 1983 feature, The Times of Harvey Milk, by Rob Epstein and Richard Schmeichen.

Thanks to IAMHIST!

2008-09-03T10:48:00.001-04:00

Thank you to the International Association forMedia and History for posting us on their website!

Disney's Mickey Mouse copyright in contention?

2008-08-29T16:00:00.003-04:00

According to a Los Angeles Times story by staff writer Joseph Menn (August 22), "Film credits from the 1920s reveal imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney's long-held copyright." See the article for details.

A fresh look at "Happy Birthday"

2008-06-13T18:07:00.001-04:00

Prof. Robert Brauneis at George Washington University Law School has published a lengthy argument that the song "Happy Birthday to You," frequently cited as an example of copyright excess, is not subject to copyright protection. See Robert Brauneis, "Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song" (March 14, 2008), at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1111624.

Is your use of third-party materials a "fair use"?

2008-06-13T11:03:00.001-04:00

The Documentary Film Program at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society "provides filmmakers with information about fair use, access to insurance for liability arising out of copyright litigation, and access to lawyers who will defend copyright claims pro bono or at reduced rates." You can submit your film for their evaluation of your fair use claim; visit the site for details. Beforehand, be sure to closely read the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.

Resources page on the website

2008-06-13T09:57:00.002-04:00

Please check out the resources page on the Archival Storytelling website!

It features an alphabetized listing of archives, associations, distributors, and trade organizations that are referred to in Archival Storytelling -- with lots of additional information and web links and more!

Errol Morris's blog

2008-05-20T12:42:00.002-04:00

If you haven't done so already, check out filmmaker Errol Morris's extraordinary blog, Zoom, for The New York Times -- and plan to spend some time reading through the archive of older posts.

Coming in September from Focal Press!

2008-04-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

Archival Storytelling will be published mid-September -- stay tuned for details.