Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist

Rick Prelinger Rick Prelinger is an archivist, professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz; writer and filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by t ...

, is a film made by a particular sponsor for a specific purpose other than as a work of art: the films were designed to serve a specific pragmatic purpose for a limited time. Many of the films are also orphan works since they lack copyright owners or active custodians to guarantee their long-term preservation.

Types of sponsored film

The genre is composed of

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

films, educational films, industrial videos, training films, social guidance films, and government-produced films. While some may borrow themes from well-known film genres such as

western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referre ...

, musicals, and comedies, what defines them is a sponsored rhetoric to achieve the sponsor's goals, rather than those of the creative artist. Sponsored films in 16mm were loaned at no cost, except sometimes postage, to clubs, schools, and other groups. America's largest companies -

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, DuPont, Ford,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

, General Motors,

Republic Steel Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Cen ...

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

, 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 B-roll in

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

s, for instance, the social guidance film ''

The Terrible Truth ''The Terrible Truth'' is a 1951 American anti-drug documentary film created by Sid Davis Productions. Summary The film contained messages such as "marijuana has similar properties to amphetamines" and "the Soviet Union was pushing drugs in Ame ...

'' (1951,

Sid Davis Sidney Davis (April 1, 1916 – October 16, 2006) was an American director and producer who specialized in social guidance films. Early life Davis was born on April 1, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois.Nelson, Valerie J.Sid Davis – educational filmm ...

) appears, desaturated, in Ron Mann's ''

Grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in law ...

'' (1999) as an example of what he perceives as hysteria over

drug abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

, as well as an example of the

slippery slope A slippery slope argument (SSA), in logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and caselaw, is an argument in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usuall ...

fallacy. Prelinger and other film archivists generally consider the films interesting for their sociological, ethnographic, or evidentiary value: for instance, a

mental hygiene Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

film instructing children to be careful of strangers may seem laughable by today's standards, but the film may show important aspects of society which were documented unintentionally: hairstyles, popular fashions, technological advances, landscapes, etc. 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. A number of British films in this style were re-evaluated and released commercially by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

in 2010 as part of its ''Boom Britain'' / ''Shadows of Progress'' project. Examples of sponsored films include ''

Design for Dreaming ''Design for Dreaming'' is a 1956 industrial short or sponsored film produced to accompany the General Motors Motorama show that year. A ballet with voiceover dialogue, it features a woman (danced by Tad Tadlock and voiced by Marjorie Gordon) w ...

'', '' A Touch of Magic'',EPHEMERA: POPULUXE on Vimeo
/ref> and ''

A Word to the Wives ''A Word to the Wives'' is a 1955 sponsored comedy film directed by Norman Lloyd and starring Marsha Hunt and Darren McGavin. The film, now in the public domain, was sponsored by the American Gas Association, the National Association of Home B ...

''. ''

Technicolor for Industrial Films ''Technicolor for Industrial Films'' (1949) is a sponsored film about how Technicolor can be used in industrial films. The film features footage of various objects in Technicolor, showing how it can be used in filmmaking. One scene shows a bunc ...

'' is a sponsored film about sponsored films.

References

External links

The Industry Film Archive

Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films: National Film Preservation Foundation

Ephemeral Films on Archive.org

Curated Collection of Jamieson Film Company materials at the Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Ephemeral Films: National Socialism in Austria

PRELINGER.COM
{{Authority control Film genres Sponsored Audiovisual ephemera 1930s in film 1940s in film 1950s in film 1960s in film

Types of sponsored film

Usage

See also

References

External links