British Kinematography (1950)

August, 1950 47 THE EVOLUTION OF THE NEWS-REEL Read to the British Kinematograph Society on April 5, 1 950 |._ INTRODUCTION Howard Thomas, M.B.K.S.* THIS is a significant year in which to review the past, the present and the future of the news-reel. A cycle has been completed. Fifty years ago a cameraman would film a national event, hurry to a West End theatre, develop the film, and then project the film himself to an audience that same evening. There are, in fact, in the audience tonight some of the " fathers " of the film business who did just that half a century ago. Then, last Saturday, a film was made of the Boat Race and that film was shown on the same evening — by television. Television has caught up with what pioneers accomplished fifty years ago. In the early days there was one negative, one cameraman, one print. Last Saturday, there were dozens of cameramen filming the Boat Race, along the tow paths, from the bridges and the tops of the riverside buildings, from the launches, from the air. There were thousands of feet of film to be developed and screened. Editors had to cut and shape the film ; commentaries had to be written and recorded ; music and sound effects had to be added ; duplicates had to be flown off to New York, Australia, Cape Town ; and the hundreds of prints had to be despatched to every corner of this island. And now science has produced a new and simple way of accomplishing all this — a method whereby a single print (or it need be only a negative) can reach a million people within a few hours of an event taking place. Television News What must the kinema news-reels do to survive this young but immensely powerful competitor ? Where will the kinema news-reel stand in five years time? These are questions vital not only to news-reel staffs, but to every member of :his industry. But before we unveil the crystal ball and try to peer into the ?uture I think it would be heartening to look back into the past — back to the jarly days of the news-reel. It is difficult to trace the very first news-reel of all. In our own library at Pathe we have an event filmed in 1897 — the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. We ilso have some Boer War pictures It was not until 1909 or 1910 that a regular news-reel service came into being ind Pathe Gazette was established. Charles Pathe and his brother started a eel in Paris, and a year later came to London and started the Gazette here. I have no first-hand knowledge of those early days, but I have invited here onight someone who knows a good deal about them and can speak from personal experience. II.— THE EARLY DAYS OF NEWS-REELS Kenneth Gordont (Copyright reserved by the author) THE filming by Robert W. Paul of the Derby in 1896 may be described as the first news-reel ; this was followed the next year by the record of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The story of the late Rene Bull, the great var artist, building a rostrum of bamboo poles in order to film the charge of * Associated British-Pathe Ltd. tAssociated British-Pathe, Ltd. Newsreel Vice-President, Association of Cinemato;raph & Allied Technicians.