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Post by richardwoods on Sept 13, 2023 13:58:43 GMT
Nice to get to hear the episode rather than have it locked away! That page says the BBC only have 7 episodes from the 40's, anyone have a list of the dates? (I know two of them are 1942.10.29 & 1943.02.16) Looking on tvbrain.info it says that eleven episodes (ranging 1950-63) exist as domestic recordings. As far as I can remember there were a lot of episodes in the collection at the factory, let’s hope they haven’t all been junked.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 13, 2023 13:13:28 GMT
Response from my friend doesn’t sound too hopeful.
“Will ask but think most of the stuff got binned”.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 13, 2023 8:38:27 GMT
Message sent 🤞
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 13, 2023 8:30:24 GMT
Way back in the mid 80’s I worked for a transformer company in Louth, Lincs as technical support to the MD. The firm was a very eccentric place to work in all sorts of ways I won’t go into here but the boss had a massive collection of Workers Playtime recordings he used to put on mid afternoon as the older ladies working on the production line enjoyed them. Sadly I heard that the boss passed away a few years ago and unsurprisingly the firm folded not long afterwards. Apparently there is a small company operating in one of the old units still connected with the family I believe, & I’m still in contact with one of the guys who works for them. Will drop him a WhatsApp & see if he thinks any of the recordings may still exist.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 12, 2023 6:51:51 GMT
I was recording episodes to DVD until recently, my machine started to be a bit temperamental so I just use a hard drive recorded these days & hope it behaves itself. I was in a similar situation & managed to get a decent Sony DVD Recorder with 160Gbs hard drive off eBay for £40. There’s bargains to be had if you are prepared to take the risk. Mind you I always found the eBay guarantee to be good so far. Very good results on HQ setting & the hard dive allows easy editing.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 11, 2023 9:41:55 GMT
but wouldn't most landfills from yonks ago have been redeveloped on after their lifespan, gee I can imagine some film hunters with diggers and tools coming up to the householders with "we believe you may have lost films buried under your house" "Do you mind if we level your living room, you know, just in case? My friend here has a JCB so we shan't take too long - and we promise to make good when once we're done." [several hours after said house is completely destroyed] "Well, there's nothing here, sorry about that. I don't suppose you know when your neighbour gets back from work, do you?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Absolutely hilarious
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 11, 2023 8:51:57 GMT
Well, me for a start. Apple software is still designed to let you burn & reload from a plug in drive, thank goodness. I do use the cloud for our 39,000 and growing photo archive but that’s our private life, stuff that’s in the public domain I prefer hard copy.
I will stream ephemeral stuff for entertainment but if I particularly like a series I will consider buying a copy for my own collection and always will if it’s an old series that I really want to see.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 11, 2023 6:57:16 GMT
I think that the best conclusion to draw is that no archive is ever “safe”.
As we know buildings and their contents can be destroyed in war or riot.
To my mind, It’s always about risk reduction & the proliferation of hard copy in the form of vinyl, tape, cd, dvd & Blu-ray has been a great help in securing the country’s broadcast legacy.
Which ever way you look at it, the move to streaming for both audio and video material is bad news for security of material, if the masters get destroyed, then what?
It also gives too much power to anyone with an agenda to distort the past by censoring or otherwise restricting material and thereby preventing the masses from accessing it.
How should we deal with this? Multiple copies in multiple locations to give multiple masters, strict guidelines & rules over access, personally as pretty much a free speech absolutist, I would like to see open access to material in some form, but appreciate that might be difficult.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 10, 2023 12:24:06 GMT
The Gang of Four, mmm, I quite like the sound of that despite the echoes of Chinese Politics. What do you recon guys? Though it has SDP connotations too! Difficult times lie ahead for the high priests of PC as they're in the minority (probably even on here) and more and more ordinary people see it. Must order extra popcorn for the general election next year Yeah, had completely forgotten about the SDP Gang of Four 🤣🤣👍🏻
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 10, 2023 8:32:32 GMT
I have this on a cassette. A musical version of A Christmas Carol. Has the BBC tended to keep things like this? Unlikely to have been kept I would have thought but not really sure
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 10, 2023 8:28:27 GMT
Yep, they were early adopters of colour, with Stingray in, iirc, 1963/4 and Lew Grade bankrolled them. I wonder if lower speed, finer grained film was used too in the 1960s with brighter lighting? Perhaps the economic crisis of the 70s led to a reduction in light levels on set and the use of faster film? On top of the technology improvements as the 70’s rolled on, there was a fashion trend in the 70’s toward low level moody lighting as well as mumbled dialog, to give a sense of realism. This was evident in TV productions as well as movies of which Alien is a good example.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 9, 2023 17:51:24 GMT
TV Brain has UNFORGETTABLE25.01.1986 Start of New Series (missing) At the BFI is BFI identifier311868TitleUnforgettable[25/01/86] (Original) Date1986-01-25 (Television) Production countryUnited Kingdom Production companyMike Mansfield Enterprises SynopsisSeries of programmes featuring the music of the stars of the 50's and 60's, with guest appearences and archive film. (Synopsis) CategoryNon Fiction SubjectSoul music CreditsProduction Company: Mike Mansfield Enterprises Producer: Mike Mansfield CastThe Platters (Musical performers) The Chi-Lites (Musical performers) TitleUnforgettable[25/01/86] (Original title) Film / Video Materials held in the BFI National Archive Accessible materials to view (1) DVD - Video - 625 - PAL - - C-1471675 Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access Video materials (3) 1-inch C-Format - Video - 25.21 minutes - 625 - PAL - - TX date: 1986-01-25 - C-181409 Master - Restricted access to preserved videotape Digital Betacam - Video - 25.23 minutes - 625 - PAL - - TX date: 1986-01-25 - C-1470430 Master - Restricted access to preserved videotape DVD - Video - 625 - PAL - - C-1471675 Viewing - Videotape can be requested for access I remember watching it & being a bit disappointed with the style of the program being a bit hammed up & OTT, bursts of “unforgettable” etc. Some of the music was OK though if some of the artists were perhaps a little past their prime. 6/10 maybe. Much preferred Gas Tank. Still, it’s good that it still exists.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 9, 2023 17:09:57 GMT
Well, if archive TV was still produced and sold to the public in hard copy such as DVD & Blu-Ray then I would feel a lot happier with the reduced risk of loss offered by multiple high quality copies being out there. I think we are in danger with the move towards streaming as pretty much the only way to view old programs of losing more historic material as we are potentially finding ourselves back in the pre home recording era, and we all know how well that went with centralised archiving. In addition we have the issue of perceived unsuitability of material by some and all that entails. Potentially we could be heading in to quite a high risk time for old material.
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 9, 2023 10:56:32 GMT
I’m wondering if we have another bicycling route here?
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Post by richardwoods on Sept 9, 2023 10:49:43 GMT
When I started working at the COI in 1983, one of my jobs was checking and cleaning 16mm prints that were sent to British Embassies. These were recent films that were either British-made or had a strong British involvement. Some of the films I remember were Star Wars, Gregory's Girl, Gandhi, Local Hero, Educating Rita and Clockwise. We didn't handle any TV programmes so, if they were sent, it was through other channels. It's possible it happened before my time but AFAIK it was feature films only. It’s funny isn’t it? Sometimes going over old thread stuff generates new direction of travel and this embassy film route is very interesting.
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