Yorkshire Film Archive

• YFA is one of eight English Regional Film Archives

• ERFA’s work with the BFI National Archive, the Imperial War Museum Film Archive and the home nations’ film archives in Scotland, Ireland and Wales

• Public sector archives from a UK wide network known as the UK Film Archive Forum

• The Film Archive Forum represents all of the public sector film and television archives which care for the UK's moving image heritage. ...www.bufvc.ac.uk/faf/

Yorkshire Film Archive

• Yorkshire is the largest county in England

• 15,000 sq kilometres• Population of 5.4 million• Geographically and culturally

diverse• Urban, industrial, coastal and rural

areas• YFA needs to find a way of

providing a service to the whole region – hence plans around digitisation of the collections.

Yorkshire Film Archive

• YFA is an independent registered charity, with a Board of Trustees

• The aim of the YFA is find, preserve, and show moving image made in, or about, Yorkshire

• YFA moved to new premises in York in 2004, and has collections of around 15,000 items of film, video and now digital images

• YFA has 5 full time, 2 part time staff –archival and administrative – it has to be entirely self sufficient

How YFA provides access to the Collections

YFA is committed to making it’s collections open and accessible to everyone• On site viewing – for researchers, small interest groups, students etc• Community Outreach Programmes – touring film shows and events across

the region• Education programmes – from primary school projects to Higher Education

degree modules• Curated material as ongoing displays in museums, galleries and libraries• Television programmes – regional and national - such as ‘The Way We

Were’ and ‘Nation on Film’• Sell through themed DVD compilations• Access via the YFA website• Access via specific on-line projects with partners – regional and national

All of these have been successful, but as we enter the digital world, there are new opportunities and YFA needs to respond to these positively

Research into online resources

• BFI Screenonlinewww.screenonline.org.uk• British Pathewww.britishpathe.com• Northern Ireland Digital Film Archivewww.digitalfilmarchive.net/dfa/• Britons at War onlinewww.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Learning/britonsatwar/home.asp• YFA websitewww.yorkshirefilmarchive.com• Moving Historyhttp://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/archives/index.html( now incorporates Films from the Home Front )

A Digital Film Archive for Yorkshire

Questions

• Why do we want to do this?• Who are we doing it for?• How are we going to build it?• What footage will be included?• Do we have the skills and/or

capacity?• Who would fund it – and why?• What are the risks?• Where will we be at the end of the

process?

Principles of the Plan for the DFAY

• Beware of simply creating another online resource – always keep in mind who we are doing this for

• Look at what we already do well:Community outreach programmes,Education programmesWorking with partners across the region

• Create a resource that provides structured, mediated and meaningful access

• Incorporate those principles into the DFAY Plan

• Make the project beneficial to everyone involved in the process by planning audience development programmes and active participation throughout the lifespan of the project

Partners for the DFAY• National Media Museum, Bradford

Great regional/national audience figures, but has difficulty in attracting very local audiences, predominantly Asian community.

Plan: outreach programmes of screenings, film searches for local material• The Showroom Cinema, Sheffield

Good ‘cinema literate’ audiences, but wants to build programmes for children and families

Plan: schools workshops, teacher training, footage in Children’s Film Festival• Hull Archives Services

Wants to provide outreach to hard to reach and disadvantaged audiences including older people

Plan: outreach reminiscence programmes, community film shows• Rural Arts North Yorkshire

Provides access to the arts in rural communities, want to incorporate moving image

Plan: screenings in communities where there is no other film provision

YFA + DAFY Implications

• Skills and/or capacity?• YFA already at full stretch, DFAY needs staff team of 3• Project Manager – work with partners on programmes and manage

development of the DFAY• Film Technician – preparation of the collections for telecine and encoding• Information Officer – cataloguing and collating of contextual information

DFAY will also involve the core staff:YFA Director’s time in overall managementYFA Head of Learning in helping to develop the education sectionYFA Head of Access in supporting outreach work with partners

YFA will need to work with specialist contractors, TMR, to telecine, encode, design, build and host DFAY.

The Archivist System

• In early 2006, TMR launched The Archivist, a unique online management system designed specifically for the archive market, allowing one, flexible, affordable system.

• The Archivist allows any archive to: – • Store, search, preview, verify, download and upload video and still

images – • Track orders and run audits – • Securely access archive material from anywhere in the world – • Allow researchers, students or the general public to browse the entire

archive without the need for viewing copies – • Content manage and administer the archive database

Funding for the DFAY

• Little statutory funding for the regional film archives• Would not be possible to take on a project of this size without additional

funding• YFA applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund• The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look

after and learn more about our diverse heritage. We fund the entire spread of heritage – including buildings, museums, natural heritage and the heritage of cultural traditions and language.

• Since 1994 the HLF has awarded over £3.97 billion to more than 26,000 projects across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• 6 month application process, but in March 2007 YFA was awarded over 80% ( £363,000 ) of the total project costs ( £420,000 ) to create

The Digital Film Archive for Yorkshire

Where are we now?

3 year project goes live in July 2007RisksAs with all projects there are risks, which can be split into 3 categories:

• Time – is there enough time to do all the outreach work, address the technical and cataloguing needs of the collection, and export all of this to a newly designed online resource?

• Quality – the images have to telecined and encoded to high standards, and the website itself must be clear, informed and easy to use

• Cost – both of the above have to work within the set costs of the project. Any overspends would have serious consequences for the YFA.

This is why the project has been planned around a ‘pilot, test, evaluate’ model, so that YFA has checks and balances at key stages during the project.• Risks are minimal to the collections – nothing changes in the way we

acquire, care for and preserve original film collections

Where will YFA be at the end of the Project?

• Core work will have continued, so the YFA collections will continue to grow• Traditional forms of access work will have continued, but the DFAY will be

planned into this work, giving YFA more flexiblity and greater access to new audiences

• DFAY will be completed with:

At least 50 hours of moving image material on lineDetailed catalogue notes and contextual informationBackground information including stills, journals etcDedicated education section for National Curriculum useFlexible system that will allow for dedicated viewing stations at partner venuesPortable laptop/projector viewing for community audiences, and ability for largescale projections.