At a meeting of British national and regional film archivists in London in 1989, David Francis, then Curator of the National Film Archive, suggested that there should be a University-based film archiving course in Great Britain. The University of East Anglia in Norwich immediately seemed the ideal place, for it already had an established postgraduate film studies course. It also houses the East Anglian Film Archive, a regional archive established in 1976 to locate and preserve films and videotapes showing life past and present in the region of East Anglia, with an active programme of access and presentation.

To set up the course and run it for an initial two-year pilot period, funds were needed. Studio Film and Video Laboratories, now called Soho Images, gave £6,000, and grants were also made by the Friends of the National Film Archive and 'Nitrate 2000'. David Cleveland, Archivist of the East Anglian Film Archive, and Assistant Archivist Jane Alvey set about designing the archive elements of the course. The idea was to give the students practical experience of film handling, with training in how to recognise different types of film, soundtracks and colour systems. The course would cover how to locate films, acquisition procedure, research and cataloguing, as well as the repair, copying and storage of film.

The day-to-day work of the East Anglian Film Archive would provide the basis for the course, and there would be a series of visits to other film archives, including the National Film Archive, the Scottish Film Archive, the North West Film Archive and the Imperial War Museum, as well as television film libraries and film and video laboratories. Each visit would concentrate on a particular aspect of the work, with teaching by the archivists, and the students would see how archives function in different ways depending on their aims and resources. The latest researches into deterioration of nitrate and safety film would be presented by Dr Michelle Edge of Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), and visiting speakers would give specialist teaching on conservation work, copyright, TV production using archive material, and the latest information on the world of videotape.

The MA in Film Studies and Film Archiving is now in its third year. It is a one-year postgraduate course. The students arrive in October each year, and hand in their dissertations the following September. Over the first two terms, the students spend half the week with the Film Studies Department, where courses in Film History and Research and Early British Cinema to 1930 are taught by Charles Barr and his colleagues, and the students have access to a wide range of film screenings. For the rest of the week, the students have teaching in the Film Archive. Practical work includes handling and viewing film on all gauges, and the students each shoot a short 16mm black-and-white film. They see their own film processed at the film laboratory, and then edit it and cut the negative to produce the final print.

Instruction is also given in use of video cameras and editing equipment. The students each produce a compilation videotape of archive film together with a written paper about the project, and this is one of the pieces of work on which the students are assessed.

The East Anglian Film Archive is a small but busy working film archive, and the students see it functioning on a daily basis, at times taking part. They have the chance to see how inquiries are handled, how the archive deals with new film and video acquisitions, and how the collections are made available for research and enjoyment through an active programme of film shows all over East Anglia as well as through video compilations and educational projects. This is the only film archive in the UK copying Standard 8mm, Super 8mm and 9.5mm film on to 16mm film stock, and the students see the printing work and can compare the originals with the copies.

In the third term, the students go for a minimum of four weeks on a working placement to an archive of their own choice. In the spring of 1992 two students went to the National Film Archive in London, and one to the Imperial War Museum (one is now employed full-time by the NFA). The other three went overseas, one to the Swedish Film Institute Archive in Stockholm, one to the National Archives of Zimbabwe in Harare, and one to UCLA Film and TV Archive in California. Each produced a report on their placement. In the third term, the studends research and write a dissertation which can be based on the film studies or film archive element of the course, or combine the two.

The course has now been adopted by the University after the initial pilot period, and there are eight students for 1992/93. Although most students already have a degree, applications are also invited from people with working experience in film archives and a proven interest in film studies, who might not have formal qualifications. Three overseas students have joined the course, from Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, and International contacts are being developed through placements and exchange of information between archives.

For more information about the MA in Film Studies and Film Archiving at the University of East Anglia, write to David Cleveland, East Anglian Film Archive, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom, or telephone 0603 592664.

David Cleveland

Dans le cadre du postgraduat en études sur le cinéma, l'Université de East Anglia (Norwich) créa, en 1989, un programme d'études en archivage de films.
L'East Anglian Archive fournit l'infrastructure pour assurer la formation pratique courante des étudiants. Des séjours de formation sont organisés dans d'autres archives.
Après une période d'essai concluante, le "MA Programme" en est déjà à sa troisième année. Le cours se répartit sur une année et privilégie la formation pratique, créant des possibilités de formation aussi bien dans les archives de l'East Anglia qu'à Londres ou à l'étranger.

Cursos de post-grado en conservación de películas en la Universidad de East Anglia (Gran Bretaña)

En el marco de los cursos de postgrado en cinematografía, la Universidad de East Anglia (Norwich) creó en 1989 un programa de estudios de conservación de películas.
El East Anglian Archive facilita la infrastructura que permite una formación práctica de los estudiantes. Se han organizado estancias de formación en otros archivos.
Tras un periodo de prueba que resultó satisfactorio, el "MA Programme" está ya en su tercer año de funcionamiento. Su duración es de un año, insiste en la formación practica y ofrece posibilidad de formación tanto en filmotecas de East Anglia como en Londres o en el extranjero.