A glimpse behind the silver screen for York students
Posted on 14 February 2005
Glasgow-based Gabriel Films Ltd has donated copies of all the raw footage and production materials from its BAFTA-nominated movie Afterlife to the Media Engineering Group in the University's Department of Electronics.
The collection contains more than 20 hours of videotape, including all 'takes' of shots as well as nearly 400 pages of script notes, continuity reports, call sheets and other documentation from the film.
Lecturer in Media Technology, John Mateer, said: "It is a remarkably complete set of all the elements used in the creation of a feature film. To have a complete set available for both teaching and research is invaluable - I know of no other institution that has such comprehensive documentation from one film, let alone from a film still in release."
Afterlife is the story of a young journalist torn between his own professional ambitions and a sudden new responsibility to take care of his Down's Syndrome sister. The film won the Edinburgh Film Festival's People's Choice award and is nominated for this year's Bowmore Scottish Screen award and a 2005 BAFTA.
The Afterlife materials will give [our students] a clear glimpse into the feature film process
John Mateer
John Mateer said, "Our students must acquire a broad set of skills apart from electronics engineering including a rich understanding of the creative process, production methods and techniques, aesthetic judgment and critical analysis. The Afterlife materials will give them a clear glimpse into the feature film process."
The material will also be used to test SALSA, a next-generation editing tool originally developed as a research project at York by John Mateer and Professor John Robinson. SALSA uses computer-vision techniques to organise footage more quickly than traditional means, freeing time for the creative process.
John Mateer said: "Afterlife will let us test the system extensively using real footage, with the documentation serving as a ground truth. It will greatly help development."
He is hoping that more contributions will follow from the film industry - Gabriel has already agreed in principle to donate materials from its horror film Wild Country, which is scheduled for release later this year.
John Mateer joined the Department of Electronics in 2001, after working for 15 years as a TV producer and director winning a number of national and international awards including a Gold Medal at the New York Festivals and the Best Interactive Video Worldwide award presented at BAFTA.
Notes to editors:
- The Media Engineering Group in the Department of Electronics at the University of York was established to invent and exploit theory, technologies, algorithms and tools that enable audio, video and new media systems to interact more effectively with humans.
- SALSA has been awarded proof-of-principle funding from the University of York's Enterprise and Innovation office. John Mateer and Professor John Robinson plan to launch a commercial version of the system later this year.
- At this weekend's BAFTAs, writer Andrea Gibb was nominated for the Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British director/producer or writer in their first feature film for her screenplay for Afterlife.