Post by Andy Henderson on Oct 8, 2003 14:43:41 GMT
This might be one of the most delayed bits of information to yet appear on the web. When I was reasearching material for my website I came across this letter in the '405 Alive' documents for issue 29. Contrary to what I thought, the BFI seems to have had this material for quite some time, though it never seems to have been used or, indeed seen. I'll bet most people posting to this forum would like to see it!!! Great shame it wasn't publicised.
From Vaughan Stanger, Wealdstone:
As readers of issue 23 may remember, during the last year or two I have been trying to obtain 16mm films containing elements of the BBC's broadcasts of the Apollo 11 moon-landing. Brian Hemingway's letter on the subject in issue 26 was actually printed some months after I obtained two such films from him, one of which is presumably the film he referred to his letter. I offered both films to Steve Bryant at the BFl; they have since been transferred to D3 videotape, in which format they are now held in the permanent collection of the NFTVA at Berkhamsted.
The contents of the films may be of interest to some readers. The first film is a B+W positive mute print of roughly 16 minutes duration. it contains four sequences: James Burke demonstrating NASA's moon-walking simulator (1m 24s); footage from inside the Lunar Module while en-route to the moon, including a BBC caption (11 m 34s); a clip of James Burke talking to camera in the Apollo 11 studio (22s), and shots apparently taken from the Lunar Module after landing but before Neil Armstrong's descent to the surface (2m 27s)
The second film is a negative with an optical soundtrack – the latter not noticed by me during my initial inspection of the film! This 12-minute film contains several sequences of Armstrong and AIdrin on the lunar surface, although regrettably it starts just after Armstrong has uttered his historic speech. Several BBC captions are visible and the audio track includes commentary from James Burke and Patrick Moore There is also a short clip of the splashdown at the end of the mission. Unlike the first film, which contains two sequences unique to the BBC broadcasts, all of the visual material in the second films derives from the NASA live feeds, with the exception of the captions.
Both films give the appearance of having been very hastily assembled from a master tape, as is indicated by the presence of several clumsily executed edits. I would not be surprised if the films were produced illegally. There is certainly no evidence of official BBC identification anywhere on the films or cans. The picture quality throughout is quite poor, with noticeable line structure particularly on the second film. However, staff at the NFTVA did manage to improve the picture quality somewhat compared to an initial video transfer performed by Andrew Emmerson. I should record my thanks to Andrew; his assistance was invaluable. That first video transfer enabled me to accurately research the films' content, which helped considerably in stimulating Steve Bryant's interest.
While the absence of the first film's soundtrack and the lack of any coverage of Armstrong's first steps on the moon in the second is disappointing, Steve Bryant was very pleased to receive the films at all and regarded them as a worthwhile find. It is the BBC's captions, commentary and the short studio sequence which are important, since they provide a local and subjective context which the unadorned NASA footage (all of which exists) obviously cannot.
Nevertheless it is these omissions which provide one of the principal reasons why I have written this piece. Some months before I obtained the two films from him, Brian Hemingway sold another Apollo 11 film to a collector, the details of whom he did not retain. Needless to say, I am very keen to learn of the contents of that film, and in particular to determine whether it fills any of the gaps noted above. If the person concerned, or indeed anyone else who has recordings derived from the BBC's Apollo 11 transmissions, could get in contact with me, I would be most grateful.
I appreciate that many people have genuine concerns about returning missing television recordings to official archives, but I can assure any interested readers that in this instance the BFI are very keen to obtain copies of what is, after all, possibly unique footage of one of this century's defining events.
From Vaughan Stanger, Wealdstone:
As readers of issue 23 may remember, during the last year or two I have been trying to obtain 16mm films containing elements of the BBC's broadcasts of the Apollo 11 moon-landing. Brian Hemingway's letter on the subject in issue 26 was actually printed some months after I obtained two such films from him, one of which is presumably the film he referred to his letter. I offered both films to Steve Bryant at the BFl; they have since been transferred to D3 videotape, in which format they are now held in the permanent collection of the NFTVA at Berkhamsted.
The contents of the films may be of interest to some readers. The first film is a B+W positive mute print of roughly 16 minutes duration. it contains four sequences: James Burke demonstrating NASA's moon-walking simulator (1m 24s); footage from inside the Lunar Module while en-route to the moon, including a BBC caption (11 m 34s); a clip of James Burke talking to camera in the Apollo 11 studio (22s), and shots apparently taken from the Lunar Module after landing but before Neil Armstrong's descent to the surface (2m 27s)
The second film is a negative with an optical soundtrack – the latter not noticed by me during my initial inspection of the film! This 12-minute film contains several sequences of Armstrong and AIdrin on the lunar surface, although regrettably it starts just after Armstrong has uttered his historic speech. Several BBC captions are visible and the audio track includes commentary from James Burke and Patrick Moore There is also a short clip of the splashdown at the end of the mission. Unlike the first film, which contains two sequences unique to the BBC broadcasts, all of the visual material in the second films derives from the NASA live feeds, with the exception of the captions.
Both films give the appearance of having been very hastily assembled from a master tape, as is indicated by the presence of several clumsily executed edits. I would not be surprised if the films were produced illegally. There is certainly no evidence of official BBC identification anywhere on the films or cans. The picture quality throughout is quite poor, with noticeable line structure particularly on the second film. However, staff at the NFTVA did manage to improve the picture quality somewhat compared to an initial video transfer performed by Andrew Emmerson. I should record my thanks to Andrew; his assistance was invaluable. That first video transfer enabled me to accurately research the films' content, which helped considerably in stimulating Steve Bryant's interest.
While the absence of the first film's soundtrack and the lack of any coverage of Armstrong's first steps on the moon in the second is disappointing, Steve Bryant was very pleased to receive the films at all and regarded them as a worthwhile find. It is the BBC's captions, commentary and the short studio sequence which are important, since they provide a local and subjective context which the unadorned NASA footage (all of which exists) obviously cannot.
Nevertheless it is these omissions which provide one of the principal reasons why I have written this piece. Some months before I obtained the two films from him, Brian Hemingway sold another Apollo 11 film to a collector, the details of whom he did not retain. Needless to say, I am very keen to learn of the contents of that film, and in particular to determine whether it fills any of the gaps noted above. If the person concerned, or indeed anyone else who has recordings derived from the BBC's Apollo 11 transmissions, could get in contact with me, I would be most grateful.
I appreciate that many people have genuine concerns about returning missing television recordings to official archives, but I can assure any interested readers that in this instance the BFI are very keen to obtain copies of what is, after all, possibly unique footage of one of this century's defining events.
