J.V. Durden (October 20, 1910 - February 13, 1998) was a British filmmaker and biologist. He is the person who created the term 'Ciné-biology', or 'the study of life through the medium of the cinema'. He described himself as a 'ciné-biologist', or 'scientist-filmmaker', and spent his life making highly detailed, technically intricate, lab-created films, where photography took place under a microscope. He brought the art of cinemicrography to Canada and became the co-founder of the Science Film Section at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

Early life

Joseph Valentine Durden was born in

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People *Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom * Barnes, London, England ** Barnes railway station **Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes High Stree ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

(now part of London), on October 20, 1910; he grew up in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. His parents were; mother, Ruby Valentina Ellis (from Cumberland), father was the noted English painter James Durden (from Manchester). He had one sister, the artist Betty Durden Green, who was the subject of a well-known portrait by her father. Joseph earned a degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

Entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

at the

Royal College of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from t ...

. He had a life-long interest in photography and, while still in school, became a photographer for the ''Illustrated London News''. Upon graduation, Durden traveled with his parents to Africa. In

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

(now

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

) in 1934, he acted as the photographer on a plant-collecting expedition then, in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, he happened to see films from ''

Secrets of Nature ''Secrets of Nature'' was a British short black-and-white documentary film series, consisting of 144 films produced between 1922 and 1933 by British Instructional Films, which filmmaker, historian and critic Paul Rotha described in 1930 as " ...

'', a 144-film series of natural history films produced from 1922 to 1933 by British Instructional Films and distributed throughout the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. Durden was so taken by these films that he resolved to become a scientific cinematographer.

Career

When he returned to England in 1935, Durden was hired by British Instructional Films which, after its sale, was now

Gaumont-British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont. Film production Gaumo ...

Instructional (GBI). ''Secrets of Nature'' was no longer in production, but the series had been enormously popular; it brought the life sciences into popular culture and was so influential, the filmmaker and historian Paul Rotha described it as "the sheet anchor of the British film industry’’. Gaumont-British wanted to continue with scientific films and, in Durden, they had a photographer who was also a biologist. Durden found himself working with his former Royal College tutor H.R. Hewer, with the filmmaker

Agnes Mary Field Agnes Mary Field (24 February 1896 – 23 December 1968) was a British film producer and director, particularly associated with documentary, educational, and children's films. Early life and education Agnes Mary Field was born in Wimbl ...

, and with the nature documentary pioneer Percy Smith. Field and Smith had both been the editors of ''Secrets of Nature''; now they were working on ''Secrets of Life''. Smith had developed innovative techniques in

time-lapse photography Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and th ...

microphotograph Microphotographs are photographs shrunk to microscopic scale.

y, microcinematography and animation. Learning from him, Durden became an expert in

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

photography and cinemicrography, building on Smith's techniques and incorporating new methods, including the use of

phase-contrast microscopy __NOTOC__ Phase-contrast microscopy (PCM) is an optical microscopy technique that converts phase shifts in light passing through a transparent specimen to brightness changes in the image. Phase shifts themselves are invisible, but become visibl ...

and colour cinematography. His work at GBI was mainly on educational films in zoology (supervised by

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and Internationalism (politics), internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentiet ...

), but he was instrumental in the development of the first series of ''Secrets of Life'' to be released in colour (1939), which were made using

Dufaycolor Dufaycolor is an early United Kingdom, British additive color, additive colour photographic film process, introduced for film, motion picture use in 1932 and for photography, still photography in 1935. It was derived from 's Dioptichrome Photogra ...

. Durden, Smith and Field wanted to publish the results of their work and co-wrote the book ''Ciné-biology'', which was published in 1942. The book was not the first attempt to theorize the relationship between cinema and science, but it was the clearest and most public. It describes Ciné-biology as "the study of life through the medium of the cinema". The "revealing eye" of the microscope and the "analytical brain" of the camera are active observers; by portraying the aliveness of the world, technology itself comes to life. Capturing and manipulating movement was Ciné-biology's most critical characteristic: "Movement, despite the advent and firm establishment of sound films, is the essence of the cinema ... And, in the cinema, we have the ideal medium for the study of life.” Ciné-biology treated film as a discipline of its own, complete with tools, practices and methods. Despite its focus on expertise, it also made science more appealing and interlaced the roles of filmmakers, experts, technologies and the wider public in making nature films. In 1942, Durden was drafted into the British Army. He was initially a gunner but was transferred to the Army Kinematograph Service, where he made training films and was discharged in 1945 with the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. By war's end, Smith had died and Field was making children's films for

The Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertical integration, ve ...

. Durden joined the Shell Film Unit; in 1948, he wrote the script for the film ''Atomic Physics'', which won the 1949

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Special Award. He and Field finished the sequel to ''Ciné-biology'', ''See How They Grow: Botany Through the Cinema'' (1952). Durden also established his own company, Photomicrography Ltd., to supply specialist science footage to producers. One of these producers was likely the

Crown Film Unit The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War; until 1940, it was the GPO Film Unit. Its remit was to make films for the general public in Britain and abroad. Its outp ...

and one of the filmmakers at that unit was

Stuart Legg Stuart Legg (31 August 1910 – 23 July 1988) was a pioneering English documentary filmmaker. At the 14th Academy Awards in 1941, Legg's National Film Board of Canada film '' Churchill's Island'' became the first-ever documentary to win an Oscar ...

, who had also worked for the Shell unit and GBI. Legg had just returned from a seven-year stint as a filmmaker with the

(NFB). It is reasonable to assume that the two men knew each other, and that Legg told Durden that the NFB was eager to make more scientific films. In 1952, Durden moved to

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and joined the NFB's Studio B. Studio B, under the leadership of Tom Daly was responsible for making films on science and the arts, animated films, experimental films, educational films and films sponsored by government departments. At the time, no one person was making science films; Durden, as a photographer and biologist, was a perfect fit, except that he did not want to be like the other NFB filmmakers, who might make a training film one week and an agricultural film the next; he was firm about staying with his specific discipline. Eventually, in 1956, Daly hired Hugh O'Connor to build Studio B's Science Film Section. In the interim, Durden made such films as the award-winning ''Embryonic Development: The Chick'' (1953), (which is still distributed worldwide), ''The Colour of Life'' (1955), a film about the growth of a maple tree, ''Man Against a Fungus'', which illustrates the life cycle of wheat rust fungus, and ''The Maple Leaf'', which looks at the physiology of leaves. Over the next six years, he made an additional 18 scientific films for the board. In 1962, Durden was recruited by Boston's Educational Services Inc. (ESI), which had been founded by

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

professor Jerrold R. Zacharias. At the time, the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

was heavily investing in science education, and one of its initiatives was the ''Developmental Biology Film Series'', produced by ESI. The series was 75 highly specialized films, and Durden would make them all, always working with expert biologists who wanted to replicate on film what they saw under the microscope. The films had a powerful impact on the American evolutionary biologist

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiogenesis, symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis tr ...

, who used them in her teaching. In 2010, she started a campaign to digitize the films and publish them online, calling the effort “the most important contribution I have made to science in my lifetime”. These films now have their own YouTube channel. In 1972, when the project was completed, Durden retired and returned to England. He died in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

in 1997, survived by his daughter, Janet and son, Christopher.

Filmography

Gaumont-British Instructional *''The Life Story of a Fern'' - documentary short 1935 - director *''The Life Story of a Tadpole'' - documentary short 1936 - director *''The Life of a One-Celled Animal (Amoeba)'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Sea Urchin'' - documentary short 1936 - co-director with H.R. Hewer *''The Sea Urchin'', Reel 2 - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Life Story of Echinus'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Pollination'' - documentary short 1937 - editor *''Paramecium'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Development of the Chick'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Development of the Tadpole'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Heredity in Animals'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Heredity in Man'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Animals of the Rocky Shore'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Coelenterata'' - documentary short, 1937 - documentary short 1937 - director *''From Generation to Generation'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Dandelion'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''The Fern'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Fasciola: The Life Story of a Trematode'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Development of the Trout'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Seed Dispersal by Exploding Fruits'' - documentary short 1938 - editor, director *''Seed Dispersal by Burial'' - documentary short 1938 - editor, director *''Climbing Plants'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Hydra'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''And Now They Rest'' - documentary short 1939 - director *''Welsh Plant-Breeding Station'' - documentary short 1939 - director *''Crustacea'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Onychophora and Myriapoda'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Emperor Moth'' - documentary short 1940 - editor, director *''Wisdom of the Wild'' - documentary short,

Mary Field Mary Field (born Olivia Rockefeller; June 10, 1909 – June 12, 1996) was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles. Early life She was born in New York City. As a child, she never knew her biological parents; ...

1940 - co-cinemicrographer with

F. Percy Smith Frank Percy Smith (12 January 1880–24 March 1945) was a British naturalist and early nature documentary pioneer, who explored time-lapse photography, microphotography, microcinematography, underwater cinematography and animation. Biography ...

*''Arachnida'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Astacus'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Asparagus Beetle'' - documentary short, 1941 - director *''Getting His Wings'' - documentary short,

1942 - co-cinemicrographer with

Shell Film Unit *''Atomic Physics'' - documentary short, 1948 - writer *''The Codling Moth'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Brown Rot'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Leather Jacket'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Greenhouse White Fly'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Red Spider'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Raspberry Beetle'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Flea Beetle'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director *''Cabbage Root Fly'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director *''Winter Moths'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director *''Apple Aphis'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director National Film Board of Canada *''Embryonic Development: The Chick'' - documentary short, 1953 - writer, producer, director, cinemicrographer *''The Colour of Life'' - documentary short, 1955 - writer, producer, director, cinemicrographer *''Man Against a Fungus'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1955 - editor, cinemicrographer *''The Maple Leaf'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1955 - writer, producer, director *''The Forest Tent Caterpillar'' - documentary short, 1956 - writer, editor, producer, director, cinemicrographer *''The Spruce Bog: An Essay in Ecology'' - documentary short, Dalton Muir 1957 - writer, editor, producer *''Honey Bees and Pollination'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1957 - editor, co-producer with Larry Gosnell and David Bairstow, co-director with Larry Gosnell, cinemicrographer *''The Changing Forest'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1958 - writer, producer *''Wheat Rust'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1958 – producer, cinemicrographer *''Birth of a Caterpillar'' - documentary short, 1959 - co-cinemicrographer with William H. Carrick *''The Spawning of a Fish'' - documentary short, 1959 - co-cinemicrographer with William H. Carrick *''Emergence of a Dragonfly'' - documentary short, 1960 - co-cinemicrographer with William H. Carrick *''Microscopic Fungi'' - documentary short, 1960 - writer, editor, director, cinemicrographer *''Introducing Insects'' - documentary short, 1960 - cinemicrographer, editor, director, co-writer with Barrie McLean *''Above the Timberline: The Alpine Tundra Zone'' - documentary short, 1960 - writer, editor, director, cinemicrographer *''Trout Stream'' - documentary short, Hugh O'Connor 1961 - co-cinematographer with William H. Carrick *''Butterflies, Beatles and Bugs'' - documentary short, 1961 - editor, director, cinemicrographer, co-writer with Barrie McLean *''The Flower and the Hive'' - documentary short, 1961 - with Larry Gosnell, co-writer, -producer and -director, cinemicrographer *''Snow'' - documentary short, 1961 - co-cinematographer with Bruno Engler and Barrie McLean *''The Embryonic Development of Fish'' - documentary short, 1961 - writer, editor, director, cinemicrographer *''The Development of a Fish Embryo'' - documentary short, 1962 - writer, director, cinemicrographer *''The Fish Embryo from Fertilization to Hatching'' - documentary short, 1963 - writer, director, cinemicrographer Education Development Center - Developmental Biology Film Series * 75 films produced between 1963 and 1972, digitized in 2017, and available for viewing here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDhR-8P-YpwGtFzNrzO50rI5hArXcWwJH

Awards

''Embryonic Development: The Chick'' (1953) * Golden Reel International Film Festival, Film Council of America, New York: Recognition of Merit, 1954 * 6th Canadian Film Awards,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

: Honourable Mention, Non-theatrical, 1954 * Kootenay Film Festival,

Nelson, British Columbia Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The city is known for its collection of restored heritage buildings that date ba ...

: Second Prize, Science, 1955 *

Salerno Film Festival Salerno Film Festival (in Italian language, Festival del cinema di Salerno) has operated since 1946 in the Italian city of Salerno. History "Cine Club Salerno", a non-profit association of cinematographic culture, was born in 1945 from a group ...

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

: First Prize – Cup of the National Association of Film Journalists, 1956 * Rapallo International Film Festival,

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in the Italy, Italian region of Liguria. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and ...

: First Prize, Scientific Films, 1957 ''The Changing Forest'' (1958) * International Review of Specialized Cinematography, Rome: Silver Medal, 1959 * ''Scholastic Teacher Magazine'' Annual Film Awards: Outstanding Scholastic Teacher's Award, 1960 ''Above the Timberline: The Alpine Tundra Zone'' (1960) * Film Survey,

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

: Silver Medal ''for remarkable photography'' ''Microscopic Fungi'' - documentary short, 1960 * International Exhibition of Scientific Film,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

: Diploma of Honour with Special Mention, 1964 ''The Embryonic Development of Fish'' (1961) * International Survey of Scientific and Didactic Films,

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

: First Prize, Didactic Films, 1961 *

Columbus International Film & Animation Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually ann ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

: Chris Certificate, Education, College Level, 1961 * International Agricultural Film Competition,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

: Third Prize, Instructional Films, 1961 * Congress of the International Cinematographic Associations Union (UNIATEC),

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

: Award of Merit, 1961 *

: Chris Plaque, 1962 ''The Development of a Fish Embryo'' (1962) * International Exhibition of Scientific Film,

: First Prize, Didactic, 1966 * La Plata International Children's Film Festival,

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

, Argentina: Best Film - Silver Oak Leaf 1966

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durden, J.V. 1910 births 1998 deaths Canadian documentary film directors National Film Board of Canada people Canadian documentary film producers British cinema pioneers British cinematographers Alternative photographic processes British documentary film directors British documentary film producers Canadian cinematographers