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video focus
BRAND LOYALTY
BRAND LOYALTY
Cockerel still crows for the British Pathé Archive
F or generations of cinemagoers the news- reel offered a vital part of the night’s
entertainment, keeping them in touch with world events at a time when televi- sions were still a luxury few could afford. Often it was billed just below the main feature at any one of the thousands of
cinemas then dotted around the country, and the sight of the crowing cockerel that greeted Pathé news was greeted with cheers of recognition by expectant audiences. But, having begun operating in 1896, British Pathé finally ceased production in 1970, worn down by its omnipotent rival - TV.
The cockerel was retired from public life, though not forgotten. Now the extensive archive of films kept by British Pathé - a subsidiary of The Daily Mail and General Trust group - is dusting those old films down, and putting them through a process of digitisation which should ensure
that the treasures they hold remain
for generations to come.
“At the moment we’re transfer- ring all the film to telecine, then to digi-beta and then digits, which are bits of computer code,” explains British Pathé MD Julian Aston. “But before we do any of that we need to take the film out, grade it, clean it, make sure it’s in good order, assemble it and make sure it’s chronological.
“In our archive we hold the mas- ter copy of the films shown in the cinemas, plus all the trims and edits and negatives. We also have films
that weren’t shown, films that were thought not to be good enough or interesting enough at the time. Of course it’s possible that what was not interesting then might well be interesting now, so we’re opening up every single can.”
Starting with the period in highest demand, the colour footage of the 1950s and 60s, this painstaking trip down memory lane is likely to throw up a few surprises, as well as recalling some momentous events in British history.
“One of the most famous pieces of film we have is of Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901,” Aston explains. “And going through the different years we’ve discovered a new film of Winston Churchill in the 1930s, we’ve seen shots of people like Audrey Hepburn before they were famous, when she was just another model. “We’ve got some film from 1932 on the invention of the first telephone answering
machine - which was about as big as a kitchen table. There’s a lot of emphasis on new developments in motor cars and planes in the films, constant coverage of new models.
“And a lot of sport. We recently came across pictures of Matt Busby who in his younger days played for Manchester City. We found pictures of him that we didn’t know we had. And there’s a lot of stuff on Royalty. People were very keen then on see- ing the British Royal Family - this was one of the few chances they got to see them in those days.”
During the Second World War the BBC may have kept radio listeners informed, but it was newsreels like Pathé that showed the vivid images of a nation’s fighting men. For audiences of a certain age the sight of the Pathé cockerel remains one of those enduring images that evokes a warm nostalgia.
“It’s a big brand in today’s language,” adds Aston, “and that’s quite exciting
for us. What we’re trying to do is capitalise on it by making the footage available to an audience wider than just professional broadcasters. So it will be avail- able to schools and universities, the corporate and advertising markets and, most importantly, to the general public. As long as it’s priced right, there should be enormous demand for it.”
Already a great success, Pathé’s Year to Remember video series covers each of the years from 1929 to 1999.
Photos: Hindenburg’s last gasp; Salvador Dali; Adolf Hitler and above: British Pathé MD Julian Aston.
EXPOSURE • 8 & 9