about
What is YFA Online Learning?
YFA Online Learning is a moving image resource for education practitioners.
It contains footage from the Yorkshire Film Archive collection, along with catalogue descriptions, contextual information and suggested activities.
YFA Online Learning is an interactive site and we hope education practitioners will use the information and activities provided, but also download and use the films creatively, adding your own uses and activities onto the site for others to share.
The films featured on the site have been selected with the National Curriculum in mind and cover a range of material to introduce educators and learners to the creative use of archive film. You will find a wide spectrum of historical, geographical, social and cultural content, and new films and activities will be added on a regular basis.
Films have been selected to reflect the broad variety of material in the YFA collection to introduce users to the wealth of footage held within archives. The films date from the 1890s to the present covering a range of gauges such as 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, 9.5mm and video formats. The resource includes a number of different styles and forms such as documentary, short fiction films, animation, ‘amateur’ films, actualities and travelogues, and a range of topics such as industry, leisure and holidays, family life, education, transport, urban and rural life and wartime in the region.
If you have a specific request for footage not currently available via YFA Online Learning then please contact the Archive and we’ll discuss the possibility of including this material on the site in future.
By registering and creating your own log in, you will also be able to download the films so that you can pre-plan activities and be creative in using the material by, for example, including in PowerPoint presentations, adding soundtracks or editing the footage to create new films.
back to topHow to … use YFA Online Learning
YFA Online Learning can be searched in a number of ways.
You can perform a simple Search by using the free text search option in the top right hand corner of the screen that will locate any films in which your search term appears in the title, synopsis, description or context.
You can also visit the Advanced Search page to perform a more specific search by, for example, title, year, Key Stage, black and white/colour.
If you want a more general search of the films, you can explore the site using the drop down Browse options. You can browse by Theme, such as 'wartime' or 'public life'; or by Decade to find films made at a specific time.
You can also search by National Curriculum Subject to find those which have suggested Activities for your subject – although remember that your creative use of the films may mean that you use them for different curriculum subjects.
All the films available include example Activities for how they can be used to support Curriculum education that are mapped against Key Stage and Subject. These Activities have been piloted in the classroom. Users of the site are encouraged to register and to contribute to the site’s development by adding your own suggested Activities and examples of work via the Extras facility
By registering and creating your own log in, you will also be able to download the films so that you can pre-plan activities and be creative in using the material by, for example, including in PowerPoint presentations, adding soundtracks or editing the footage to create new films.
In addition, once logged in you can save favourites to your own home page, and view Activities and Extras added by other users.
For more information on using the site, visit the Help page.
back to topHow to … use film in the classroom
- Set up a dedicated viewing space so everyone can see and hear clearly.
- Make sure activities are relevant to the learning objectives, using short, purposeful clips to focus the learning.
- Frame each clip with directed questions and reflection.
- How to … understand and interpret archive film
- Plan activities that are interactive and inclusive.
- Plan creatively and imaginatively.
Archive films can be used in the classroom to support learning in a number of different ways.
For example, they can be used to:
- Develop social, cultural and historical understanding of people and places.
- Develop personal and social skills through the discussion of issues and concepts raised by documentary footage.
- Develop skills of communication, literacy and creativity through an understanding of film language.
How to … understand and interpret archive film
Download ‘How to understand and interpret archive film’ (pdf)
In the same way that speech is made up of words, sentences, phrases, film contains elements that combine to form an audio-visual ‘language’. By looking at these elements closely we can analyse film texts to gain a better understanding and greater enjoyment.
In the education resource “Starting Stories”, the British Film Institute suggests breaking the main elements down into ‘Cs and Ss’ to create a simple and easy to remember way of looking at film.
The elements are:
- Story
- Setting
- Sound
- Character
- Colour
- Camera
- Cutting
The ‘Cs and Ss’ can be studied on their own, or looked at together to help understand how films are constructed and how we can interpret meaning from the text.
| Definition | Using archive film | |
| Story | Story The film’s narrative. By studying how the action unfolds we can understand what the film ‘tells’ us about a situation or issue. | Unlike fiction or feature films, not all archive films have an obvious ‘story’ to follow. However they all comprise a narrative, or sequence of events. By looking at how these events are ordered we can build the ‘story’ of the film and better understand what happens, how and why. |
| Setting | Where and when the film takes place. The setting can give us information about a particular time and place, or affect our understanding of the characters and their motivation. | Many, although not all, archive films are non-fiction. So the settings are often real places, not created by the filmmaker as in fiction films. Real settings allow us to understand historical, geographical, social and cultural differences and compare people and places. They also allow us to look at questions of ‘evidence’ and how people and places have been represented from different points of view. |
| Sound | There are 4 elements of sound: dialogue, music, effects and silence. Sound impacts on the atmosphere or mood of a film and can be used to encourage an emotional response in the audience. | Some archive films, particularly those made by ‘amateur’ filmmakers are silent. This allows us to be creative in interpreting the footage and ask questions such as: How does a soundtrack affect our understanding? What happens if we add or change a soundtrack? Or remove it from a film with sound? Do we understand the film more with or without sound? How do our assumptions about the action allow us to understand what we would hear? |
| Character | The people in the film. By studying how different characters look, behave and relate to each other, we can understand who they are and interpret the overall meaning of the film. | In a similar manner to setting, documentary archive films include real people, rather than fictional characters. By analysing and understanding these real characters we can learn about differences in how people look and behave in different places, times and situations. We can also learn more about why a film was made by looking at who has been filmed, how they are represented, why they have been filmed and by whom. |
| Colour | Relates to all the colours used in a film, including the effects of lighting. Colour contributes to how a film ‘looks’ and can affect the atmosphere and mood of a film and how we feel about what happens. | Many films held within archives have been made in black and white. This is due to a number of reasons such as the availability and cost of colour film stock. Colour archive films can challenge assumptions about ‘old’ film having been made in black and white and allow further understanding of how people, places and events looked in the past. By studying whether the film is in black and white or colour and paying attention to how this affects the atmosphere of the film can help in understanding how and why we respond to films in different ways. Actuality films use available light, rather than lighting scenes for a particular effect. In some cases this can impact on the exposure of the film and the clarity of the image. Looking at how the film has been lit gives us further information about how the film was made. |
| Camera | The camera acts as a ‘narrator’, leading us through the action of a film. Camera movement allows us to follow the action and directs our attention to specific points. The camera angle affects the perspective and how we look at what happens. The framing of each shot focuses our attention on details within the image. By studying how the camera is used, we can understand what has been included in the film, how and why. |
While the camera still ‘narrates’ the action to a certain extent, archive footage does not always comprise a deliberate use of the camera in order to present an opinion or point of view. (Compare for example, the use of the camera in a television advert with that in an actuality film from the 1900s.) However, the filmmaker has still chosen what to film and how to film it, so there is a deliberate purpose in what is selected and included within the film. By looking at what the filmmaker has chosen to include and how s/he has filmed it – including camera angle, movement and framing, we can learn more about what was relevant or important to them at that time and what they wanted the audience to focus on. Other factors that affect camera movement and framing within archive film include the technology used, the type of camera and the film stock. For example, during the early years of filmmaking cameras were large, heavy pieces of equipment with a single, static lens that took only short reels of film lasting just a few minutes. The cameras were also relatively static, mounted on tripods with the camera at eye level and with no capacity for tilt or panning shots. They were ‘hand-cranked’ which means the operator had to continually turn a handle throughout filming to move the film through the camera. The result is that the films produced consist of a single, unmoving frame within which all the action takes place, sometimes running at variable speeds due to inconsistencies in the operating speed of the camera. Conversely, the introduction of small gauge film technology, beginning with the development of 16mm film stock in 1923, enabled ‘amateur’ filmmakers to produce their own films that demonstrate a high level of frame movement since the relatively small cameras could be hand-held. |
| Cutting | How the film has been cut, or ‘edited’ organises the story. By looking at how the story is built through editing and the relationship between different shots and scenes, we can understand what the film is ‘telling’ us and interpret its meaning. | Amateur-made archive films and actuality footage are not always edited solely to further a story, build a narrative or construct a deliberate meaning. Instead, the shots and scenes are organised around other factors such as place or time. Some amateur and semi-professional filmmakers edited their films ‘in camera’ rather than after they had finished filming. The effect is that the action takes place in the order in which it was filmed. In looking at how an archive film has been cut, we need to question how each of the different scenes relate to each other and what the organising factor might be. By doing so we can understand what the film is about, how it has been constructed and why it was made. |
Find out … about the film clips
Through the evaluation of previous work with National Curriculum education and feedback from teachers, it is clear that ‘complete’ versions of archive films are not always required in order that learning objectives are met and learners engage fully with the material.
Therefore in some instances extracts from the films have been selected for inclusion on the site. These extracts have been identified by the Archive and teaching practitioners as particularly relevant to specific aspects of the National Curriculum, engaging for learners and readily accessible for interpretation. Where extracts have been selected, the following editorial decisions have been applied to ensure the original films are not misrepresented and the moral rights of the author/s are upheld:
- The filmmakers’ editorial decisions are respected and maintained at all times.
- The chronological order of the original, complete film is maintained.
- Where more than one extract has been used from a single film, the extracts are edited together with a fade to black between as an ellipsis to denote a gap in the narrative. This protocol is also upheld within the description of the footage.
- Within each selected extract, sections are not removed due to a perceived lack of ‘quality’ in terms of exposure, focus or camerawork. In the event that a single or series of frames are damaged or obscured through action such as rolling through the gate during telecine or a splice within the frame, these frames have been removed in order to maintain visual continuity.
- The films have in no way been enhanced through the editing or digitisation process, for example through action such as colour re-alignment.
- No soundtrack has been applied that was not already part of the film deposited at YFA.
All clips and complete films available on YFA Online Learning are of the highest possible quality to enable screening on a white board without obvious loss of resolution so that the integrity of the image is maintained. Inevitably a compromise must be reached between quality and file size so that the amount of disk space required is not prohibitive. However, the encoding process ensures that neither factor suffers as a consequence.
back to topGlossary … some useful terms for studying film
| Actuality film |
| A form of documentary film that shows actual places, people and events. Unlike documentary film, actualities do not deliberately present an opinion on the action but rather, record whatever is taking place in front of the camera. |
| Animation |
| Any process where artificial movement is created by photographing a series of drawings, objects or computer images one by one. When shown in succession, small changes in position give the illusion of movement. |
| Camera angle |
| The position of the camera in relation to the subject being filmed. For example filmed from above, below, on the same level or horizontally. |
| Close-up |
| A framing in which the scale of the object filmed is relatively large. For example when a person’s head fills the whole screen. |
| Crane shot |
| A shot filmed by suspending the camera above the ground and moving it in any direction. |
| Cut |
| In filmmaking a cut is when two strips of film are joined (or ‘spliced’) together. In the finished film, a cut is the change between shots. |
| Dissolve |
| A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the second image gradually appears. |
| Documentary |
| Any non-fiction film that represents a version of real life. |
| Editing |
| In filmmaking, editing is the process of selecting and joining sections of the film. In the finished film, editing is the technique used to organise the order of events and structure of the film. |
| Exposure |
| The adjustment of the camera in order to control how much light hits each frame of the film. Too much light and the film is overexposed and the image appears too bright; too little and it is underexposed and the image is dark. |
| Extreme close-up |
| A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very large. For example when just part of a person’s face fills the whole screen. |
| Extreme long shot |
| A framing in which the scale of an object is very small. For example when a large crowd of people fill the whole screen. |
| Fade |
| A fade-in occurs when a dark screen gradually brightens to reveal a shot. A fade-out occurs when a shot gradually darkens to become a black screen. (Sometimes a fade to white is used in this instance). |
| Film stock |
| The strip of film on which individual images are photographed so that, when projected, it gives the illusion of movement. The stock comprises a clear plastic base, covered with a light-sensitive emulsion that records the image. |
| Frame |
| A single image on the strip of film. |
| Framing |
| The use of the camera to select and compose what will be visible within the frame and therefore onscreen. |
| Gauge |
| The width of the film strip, measured in millimetres. Feature films are generally shot on 35mm and the most commonly used ‘amateur’ gauges are 16mm, Standard and Super 8mm and 9.5mm. |
| Genre |
| The type of film, recognisable to the audience by familiar narrative conventions. For example Science Fiction. |
| Iris |
| A round, moving mask that can close to end a scene or focus on a detail, or open to begin a scene or reveal surrounding detail. |
| Long shot |
| A framing in which the scale of the object filmed is small. For example, a person standing up would just fit within the height of the screen. |
| Medium close up |
| A framing in which the scale of the object shown is moderately small. For example a person filmed from shins to head would fill the screen. |
| Medium long shot |
| A framing in which the scale of the object filmed is of moderate size. For example a person filmed from the chest up would fill the screen. |
| Mise-en-scène |
| All the elements placed in front of the camera to be filmed. This includes settings, props, costumes and make-up, lighting and the behaviour of the characters (or subject if the film does not include people). |
| Narrative |
| A chain of events in cause and effect relationship that occur across space and through time. |
| Pan |
| A camera movement during which the camera body turns to the left or right. Onscreen it produces a mobile framing which scans the space horizontally. |
| Point-of-view shot (POV) |
| A shot filmed when the camera is placed approximately where a character’s eyes would be, showing us what they would see. |
| Scene |
| A segment in a film that shows continuous action in one place and time. Or, a segment that shows simultaneous action by cutting between two or more places. |
| Shot |
| An uninterrupted image with a single static or mobile framing. For example a close up of someone talking, or a pan of a landscape. |
| Storyboard |
| Drawings of individual shots or scenes, like a comic strip, with descriptions written below each drawing. The storyboard is used to plan a film production. |
| Tilt |
| The vertical movement of the camera from a stationary position – for example resting on a tripod. |
| Tracking shot |
| A shot produced by moving the camera along the ground forward, backwards or sideways. |
| Wipe |
| A cut between shots in which a line passes across the screen replacing the first shot with the next one. |
| Zoom |
| A technique that gives the impression of the camera moving towards (zoom in) or away from (zoom out) the action while keeping the film in focus, achieved using the lens of the camera. |
| Reference |
| Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin: Film Art. An Introduction. Fifth Edition [University of Wisconsin, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1997] |
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