Sponsored Film

Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist Rick Prelinger, 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.
Prelinger estimates that 300,000 industrial and institutional films were made in the U.S. – far more than theatrical films. Many of the films are orphan works since they lack copyright owners or active custodians to guarantee their long-term preservation.

Types of sponsored film

Films that fall under the sponsorship genre include industrial video or business films, industrial musicals, training films, advertising films, educational films, religious films, travelogues, medical and scientific films, government films, and advocacy films by social service organizations and/or trade organizations.

While some may borrow themes from well-known film genres such as western film, musicals, and comedies, what defines them is a sponsored rhetoric to achieve the sponsor's goals, rather than those of the creative artist.

Theatrical actors and other notables frequently appeared in sponsored films.

Sponsored films were usually loaned at no cost, except sometimes postage, to clubs, schools, and other groups. 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.

History

Sponsored films have been produced since the early years of the motion picture industry.

''The Stenographer's Friend'' (1910) or, ''What Was Accomplished by an Edison Business Phonograph'', a silent film about how productivity and office politics improve with the introduction of the Edison company’s wax-cylinder dictating machine, is one of the earliest examples of a U.S. company specifically making a film to sell a product. Another early sponsored film is ''Back to the Old Farm'', a one-reel feature produced by the Essanay Film Company in Chicago in August 1911 for International Harvester. The farm equipment company had shown films of plants and equipment at state fairs and other gatherings before this film, but ''Back to the Old Farm'' is thought to be their first sponsored film.
General Electric produced one of the earliest in-house sponsored films, The Home Electrical (1915). In the 11-minute silent film, a man shows off his electrical household appliances, including a sewing machine, vacuum cleaner, electrically heated pan, toaster, stove, washing machine, and cigar lighter. Another early example of a sponsored film is the Rothacker Film Manufacturing Company's '' The Heart of Cleveland (1924)'' for the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.

Before the invention of 16 mm film, sponsored films were shot on 35 mm nitrate-based film. The cameras for shooting and the projectors showing 35 mm film were expensive, and the nitrate-based film was highly flammable, releasing hazardous gases as it deteriorated.

In 1923, Eastman Kodak introduced the first 16 mm film outfit, consisting of a camera, projector, tripod, screen, and splicer. The system was advertised as a cheap, safe, and easier-to-store alternative to 35 mm film. 16 mm film was the first successful format to use acetate safety film exclusively as a film base. Another plus, 16 mm film was particularly well-suited for non-theatrical distribution, meaning films could be shown outside of traditional movie theaters. Sponsored film producers quickly adopted the new film format.

The post-World War II period through the 1950s is considered the golden age of sponsored films. In that period, the sponsored film industry employed thousands and supported two long-running trade journals, ''Educational Screen'' (1922-1971) and ''Business Screen'' (1938-1982).

In the early years of commercial television, local television stations often used sponsored films as "filler" programming.

In the 1950s, almost every American city of any size had at least one sponsored film studio. Cleveland, Ohio, for example, was home to over a dozen sponsored film studios.

Theatrical film studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, produced sponsored films along with hundreds of studios that specialized in the genre.

Awards

The 1948 Cleveland Film Festival was the first American film festival dedicated to recognizing the importance of sponsored films. By 1956, dozens of cities and organizations were running sponsored film festivals, and the organizers of the Cleveland Film Festival stopped running the festival. Sponsored film festivals continued on but never regained their popularity or influence.

A number of sponsored films have been nominated for Academy Awards, and several have won Oscars, mainly in the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short categories.

Sponsored Films That Have Won an Academy Award

At least a dozen sponsored films have been selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry because they are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Sponsored Films Selected for the National Film Registry

Significant collections of sponsored films exist in the Anthology Film Archives, A/V Geeks, George Eastman Museum, Hagley Museum and Library, The Museum of Modern Art, National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Historic Film, the Orgone Archive, Prelinger Archives, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the USC School of Cinematic Arts Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive.

See also

* Prelinger Archives
*
* Industrial musical
* Industrial_video

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
* Before-Video-a-History-of-the-Non-Theatrical-Film-by-Anthony-Slid


{{Authority control

Film genres

Audiovisual ephemera
1930s in film
1940s in film
1950s in film
1960s in film