eastmancolourblog

Pandamonium at Marylebone studio

By Richard Farmer Ming the panda on set at Marylebone studio. The Sphere, 3 June 1939, p. 384 Here at STUDIOTEC we’re very interested both in the spaces of film production and those that work in them. While this usually means humans, we have not ignored the role that animals have played filmmaking, and dedicated more timeContinue reading “Pandamonium at Marylebone studio”

Studios in Virtual Reality

By Sarah Street As part of our STUDIOTEC project we’ve created parts of the studios we’ve been researching in VR. This has been an exciting experience, giving participants access to studios in their heyday, introducing the main buildings and peeking inside to see how films were made, and hearing about the people who worked inContinue reading “Studios in Virtual Reality”

Getting plastered in British studios

By Richard Farmer Cigarette card showing the plasterers’ shop at Shepherd’s Bush studio. The model of the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster was made for Friday the Thirteenth (1933) When visitors were shown around film studios and the curtain was lifted on how films were actually made, they came to understand some of the processes thatContinue reading “Getting plastered in British studios”

The curious case of the Normaton patent

By Eleanor Halsall My working life began as a translator of patents, designs and trademarks with a London firm located near the original Patent Office in Southampton Buildings. Inside this venerable building, the vaulted, balconied library was crammed with books, antique and new, tracking the history of science, invention and discovery. Nevertheless, its dictionaries struggledContinue reading “The curious case of the Normaton patent”

Shepperton world of adventures: Sound City Zoo and Wonderland

By Richard Farmer Norman Loudon In late 1938, Norman Loudon, Managing Director of Sound City (Films) Ltd., issued an underwriting prospectus in the hope of drumming up £125,000 to invest in a new venture at his company’s studios at Shepperton (Williams 1938). Loudon had been the driving force behind the creation of the Sound CityContinue reading “Shepperton world of adventures: Sound City Zoo and Wonderland”

Studios in the Festive Season

This STUDIOTEC bumper blog (first published in Dec 2021), expanded with a couple of new images, looks at how the festive season was acknowledged by film studios in Germany, France, Italy and Britain. In Germany Seasons’ Greetings regularly appeared in film magazines listing a studio’s biggest films. Here are two examples from 1930, illustrating the significance ofContinue reading “Studios in the Festive Season”

German Film Studios of the Imagination

By Tim Bergfelder and Eleanor Halsall Although STUDIOTEC’s focus is on the physical spaces that existed during the period 1930-60, a compelling question emerges about studios that were planned, but never, or only partially, realised. Work in the archives continues to reveal such proposals, which range from relatively modest plans that were briefly considered before disappearingContinue reading “German Film Studios of the Imagination”

Hauntings on and off screen

A Studiospectre Production by Richard Farmer, Eleanor Halsall, Morgan Lefeuvre and Carla Mereu Keating Hallowe’en, literally the evening before All Hallows Day (1 November) and All Souls’ Day (2 November), is the time of year when thoughts turn towards the darkness, death and the belief that briefly, the door between heaven and earth is open, or atContinue reading “Hauntings on and off screen”

‘A red glow filled the sky’: Fire at Elstree Studios, 1936

By Sarah Street On Sunday 9th February 1936 film producer Herbert Wilcox lay awake in the early hours of the morning at his home located high up on Deacons Hill Road overlooking the British and Dominions’ Imperial Studios he’d founded at Elstree in 1930. He recalled with horror: ‘I could not sleep. I got up andContinue reading “‘A red glow filled the sky’: Fire at Elstree Studios, 1936”

Britain’s first ‘art directress’? Unforgetting the unforgettable Dorothy Braham

By Richard Farmer Dorothy Braham (The Sphere, 29 August 1931) Born in London in 1890 and killed in a car crash in 1934, Dorothy Braham was, among other things, a Slade-educated artist, children’s book author, postcard illustrator, portraitist, animator, theatrical set designer and cinematic art director. The breadth of her interests might go some wayContinue reading “Britain’s first ‘art directress’? Unforgetting the unforgettable Dorothy Braham”