Sponsored film
Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist
Types of sponsored film
The genre is composed of advertising films, educational films, industrial videos, training films, social guidance films, and government-produced films.[3][4]
While some may borrow themes from well-known film genres such as
Sponsored films in 16mm were loaned at no cost, except sometimes postage, to clubs, schools, and other groups.[5] America's largest companies - AT&T, DuPont, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, Republic Steel, Standard Oil, and Westinghouse Electric Company - were for decades active sponsored film producers and distributors; others included airlines who offered travelogues on their destinations. In the early years of commercial television, local television stations often used sponsored films as "filler" programming. Specialized distributing agents packaged films from various sponsors into TV programs with titles like Compass, Color Camera, Ladies' Day, and Adventures In Living.
Usage
The films are often used as
Prelinger and other film archivists
Prelinger estimates that the form includes perhaps 400,000 films and, as such, is the largest genre of films, but that one-third to one-half of the films have been lost to neglect. In the late 20th century, the archival moving-image community has taken greater notice of sponsored film, and key ephemeral films began to be preserved by specialized, regional, and national archives.[2]
A number of British films in this style were re-evaluated and released commercially by the British Film Institute in 2010 as part of its Boom Britain / Shadows of Progress project.
Examples of sponsored films include
See also
- Prelinger Archives
- Internet Archive § Moving image collection
- Industrial musical
- Infomercial
- Grey literature
- Mystery Science Theater 3000
- Kitsch
- Camp (style)
References
- ^ EPHEMERA: The Prelinger Archives (March 2013 Edition) on Vimeo
- ^ a b c Prelinger, Rick (2006), The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, San Francisco, California: National Film Preservation Foundation, retrieved 10 July 2023
- ^ Learning to Love Sponsored Films|Arts & Culture|Smithsonian
- ^ Godfried, Nathan (2014). "Labor-Sponsored Film and Working-Class History: The Inheritance (1964)". Film History. 26 (4). Indiana University Press – via JSTOR.
- ^ Navigating the well-curated, deeply weird Sponsored Films online archive-The Verge
- ^ Ephemeral Films by Rick Prelinger on Vimeo
- ^ EPHEMERA: POPULUXE on Vimeo