Sponsored film

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Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist Rick Prelinger, [1] is a film made by a particular sponsor for a specific purpose other than as a work of art: the films were designed to serve a specific pragmatic purpose for a limited time. [2] Many of the films are also orphan works since they lack copyright owners or active custodians to guarantee their long-term preservation.

Contents

Types of sponsored film

The genre is composed of advertising films, educational films, industrial videos, training films, social guidance films, and government-produced films. [3] [4]

While some may borrow themes from well-known film genres such as western film, musicals, and comedies, what defines them is a sponsored rhetoric to achieve the sponsor's goals, rather than those of the creative artist.

Sponsored films in 16mm were loaned at no cost, except sometimes postage, to clubs, schools, and other groups. [5] America's largest companies - AT&T, DuPont, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, Republic Steel, Standard Oil, and Westinghouse Electric Company - were for decades active sponsored film producers and distributors; others included airlines who offered travelogues on their destinations. In the early years of commercial television, local television stations often used sponsored films as "filler" programming. Specialized distributing agents packaged films from various sponsors into TV programs with titles like Compass, Color Camera, Ladies' Day, and Adventures In Living.

Usage

The films are often used as B-roll in documentary films, for instance, the social guidance film The Terrible Truth (1951, Sid Davis) appears, desaturated, in Ron Mann's Grass (1999) as an example of what he perceives as hysteria over drug abuse, as well as an example of the slippery slope fallacy.

Prelinger and other film archivists [6] generally consider the films interesting for their sociological, ethnographic, or evidentiary value: for instance, a mental hygiene film instructing children to be careful of strangers may seem laughable by today's standards, but the film may show important aspects of society which were documented unintentionally: hairstyles, popular fashions, technological advances, landscapes, etc. [2]

Prelinger estimates that the form includes perhaps 400,000 films and, as such, is the largest genre of films, but that one-third to one-half of the films have been lost to neglect. In the late 20th century, the archival moving-image community has taken greater notice of sponsored film, and key ephemeral films began to be preserved by specialized, regional, and national archives. [2]

A number of British films in this style were re-evaluated and released commercially by the British Film Institute in 2010 as part of its Boom Britain / Shadows of Progress project.

Examples of sponsored films include Design for Dreaming , A Touch of Magic , [7] and A Word to the Wives . Technicolor for Industrial Films is a sponsored film about sponsored films.

See also

Related Research Articles

Social guidance films constitute a genre of propaganda films attempting to influence children and adults to behave in certain ways. Originally produced by the U.S. government as "attitude-building films" during World War II, the genre grew to be a common source of indoctrination in elementary and high school classrooms in the United States from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. The films covered topics including courtesy, grammar, social etiquette and dating, personal hygiene and grooming, health and fitness, civic and moral responsibility, sexuality, child safety, national loyalty, racial and social prejudice, juvenile delinquency, drug use, and driver safety; the genre also includes films for adults, covering topics such as marriage, business etiquette, general safety, home economics, career counseling and how to balance budgets. A subset is known as hygiene films addressing mental hygiene and sexual hygiene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film preservation</span> Historic preservation of motion pictures

Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the widest sense, preservation assures that a movie will continue to exist in as close to its original form as possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ephemera</span> Transient items, usually printed

Ephemera are items which were not originally designed to be retained or preserved, but have been collected or retained. The word is etymologically derived from the Greek ephēmeros ‘lasting only a day’. The word is both plural and singular.

In library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal process to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable in the long term. It involves planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies, and combines policies, strategies and actions to ensure access to reformatted and "born-digital" content, regardless of the challenges of media failure and technological change. The goal of digital preservation is the accurate rendering of authenticated content over time.

The Prelinger Archives is a collection of films relating to U.S. cultural history, the evolution of the American landscape, everyday life, and social history. Originally based in New York City from 1982 through 2002, it is now based in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Prelinger</span> American film director

Rick Prelinger is an American archivist, writer, and filmmaker. A professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Prelinger is best known as the founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002 after 20 years' operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ephemerality</span> Quality of existing only briefly

Ephemerality is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, from digital media to types of streams. "There is no single definition of ephemerality". With respect to unique performances, for example, it has been noted that "[e]phemerality is a quality caused by the ebb and flow of the crowd's concentration on the performance and a reflection of the nostalgic character of specific performances". Because different people may value the passage of time differently, ephemerality may be a relative, perceptual concept: "In brief, what is short-lived may not be the object itself, but the attention we afford it".

<i>Mr. B Natural</i> 1956 short film sponsored by C. G. Conn company directed by Phil Patton

Mr. B Natural is a short sponsored film produced in 1956 by Kling Film Productions for the C.G. Conn Company, directed by Phil Patton. It is also the name of the film's main character, played by Betty Luster.

An orphan film photos is a motion picture work that has been abandoned by its owner or copyright holder. The term can also sometimes refer to any film that has suffered neglect.

Northeast Historic Film (NHF) is a regional moving image archive located in Bucksport, Maine. It is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing film and video related to the people of Northern New England.

The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization established to advance the field of moving image archiving by fostering cooperation among individuals and organizations concerned with the acquisition, description, preservation, exhibition and use of moving image materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial video</span>

An industrial video is a video that targets “industry” as its primary audience. An industrial video is a type of sponsored film which prioritizes pragmatism over artistic value. While the primary purpose of an educational film is to inform an audience, the purpose of an industrial video can vary depending on the client.

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film heritage. The organization has three main projects: the TAMI Online Collection, the Texas Film Round-Up, and Teach Texas. Its offices are located in Austin, Texas.

Collage film is a style of film created by juxtaposing found footage from disparate sources. The term has also been applied to the physical collaging of materials onto film stock.

FOCAL International is the trade association representing stock footage companies, post-production facilities and individuals involved in the use of footage, still images and audio in all forms of media production. It represents more than 300 companies and individuals involved in media production, asset management, preservation of historical archives, film restoration and post-production.

<i>Last Clear Chance</i> 1959 American film

Last Clear Chance is a 1959 American short film produced and directed by Robert Carlisle. Sponsored by the Union Pacific Railroad, Last Clear Chance is a safety film intended to warn young drivers to be careful at railroad crossings. The film's cast consists of William Boyett, Harold Agee, Mrs. Harold Agee, Tim Bosworth, William Agee, Christine Lynch, and Lou Spraker. Written by Leland Baxter, the film was shot in parts of Idaho. Wondsel, Carlisle & Dunphy Inc, based in New York City, served as the film's production company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Prelinger</span>

Megan Prelinger is a cultural historian and archivist. She is the co-founder of the Prelinger Library in San Francisco and author of two books: Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957–1962 and Inside the Machine: Art and Invention in the Electronic Age.

<i>From Leadville to Aspen: A Hold-Up in the Rockies</i> 1906 American film

From Leadville to Aspen: A Hold-Up in the Rockies is a 1906 American black-and-white short silent Western film from American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. It was directed by Wallace McCutcheon and Frank J. Marion (uncredited) with G.W. Bitzer as cinematographer.

<i>Something Good – Negro Kiss</i> 1898 American film

Something Good – Negro Kiss is a short silent film from 1898 of a couple kissing and holding hands. It is believed to depict the earliest on-screen kiss involving African Americans and is known for departing from the prevalent and purely stereotypical presentation of racist caricature in popular culture at the time it was made. The film was a lost film until its rediscovery in 2017, and was added to the American National Film Registry in 2018.

Panorama Ephemera is a 2004 collage film by film archivist Rick Prelinger.

References

  1. ↑ EPHEMERA: The Prelinger Archives (March 2013 Edition) on Vimeo
  2. 1 2 3 Prelinger, Rick (2006), The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, San Francisco, California: National Film Preservation Foundation , retrieved 10 July 2023
  3. ↑ Learning to Love Sponsored Films|Arts & Culture|Smithsonian
  4. ↑ Godfried, Nathan (2014). "Labor-Sponsored Film and Working-Class History: The Inheritance (1964)" . Film History. 26 (4). Indiana University Press. doi:10.2979/filmhistory.26.4.84. JSTOR   10.2979/filmhistory.26.4.84.
  5. ↑ Navigating the well-curated, deeply weird Sponsored Films online archive-The Verge
  6. ↑ Ephemeral Films by Rick Prelinger on Vimeo
  7. ↑ EPHEMERA: POPULUXE on Vimeo
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