Behind the scenes at the IFI Irish Film Archive

Over the summer months the IFI Irish Film Archive will be undertaking a major digital infrastructure upgrade project that will radically improve its ability to collect, preserve and make accessible the digital collections which it is acquiring in ever increasing quantities. Thanks to the assistance of the Department of Arts Heritage & the Gaeltacht the installation of high speed fibre optic cabling and new editing and ingestion equipment will see the archive expand its capacity to take in borne digital material and to create high resolution digital copies of the film and tape materials that it already holds.

On the cusp of this exciting development we felt it was an opportune time to go behind the scenes of the IFI Irish Film Archive and meet the people who care for our National Moving Image Collections.

Kasandra O'Connell

Kasandra O’Connell, Head of the IFI Irish Film Archive: “As Head of the Archive I have overall responsibility for strategy, policy and the technical development of the Archive. Over the last five years there has been a dramatic shift from an analogue environment to a digital one and the IFI Irish Film Archive, along with most other Archives around the world, is faced with the challenge of preserving and managing Digital collections to ensure their longevity. As most films and their accompanying materials are now being created and distributed in a digital format it is critical that we address this problem quickly to ensure no relevant material is lost.  This infrastructure project is the first phase of our Digital Preservation and Access Strategy and is a crucial development for us as it is the technical foundation upon which we will build our digital policies and procedures, thus ensuring we can continue to care for the remarkable collections we have responsibility for and make them more widely available in the future through new technology based access solutions.’’

Raelene Casey

Raelene Casey, Moving Image Access Officer: “My job is to find ways to make the content of the archive more accessible to all member of the public both commercially and non-commercially. We’re a not-for- profit private company, but we hold Ireland’s National Film Heritage in our care. As a result we need to strike a balance between providing commercial access to the collections and making sure our shared film heritage is available to everyone who wishes to explore it. As my colleagues and I are navigating the nascent waters of digital preservation and access we’re exploring ways to make this balance possible within the resources available to us. If you’ve any questions about accessing footage from the archive or fees involved, please email me.”

Columb Gilna

Columb Gilna, Collections Officer: “There are many different aspects to the job of a CO at the IFA. One minute I’m working with a roll of 16mm Black and White film from the 1930s (from our physical/analogue collection) and the next it’s a “.mov” file (from our digital asset collection). But it all boils down to collection care; through tracking, examination, documentation and correct storage. Our job is to follow best practice in preservation and collection management. Only then can the notion of sustained access become a reality.”

Vincent Kearney

Vincent Kearney, Archive Assistant: “As an archive assistant, I register and make technical assessments of film material being considered for inclusion in the Archive’s collections. Once a decision regarding acquisition has been made, I catalogue items joining the collections and prepare them for storage.”

Anja Mahler

Anja Mahler, Collections Assistant: “I am responsible for documentation and care of acquisitions from organisations with whom we have an archiving agreement, such as the Irish Film Board, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and The Arts Council.  In my work I oversee condition assessment, accessioning, cataloguing, preserving and annual assessments of materials on 35mm film and tape carrier.  A digital infrastructure would allow for deposits to be in high resolution file format instead of tape, employing a Digital Asset Management System that will be of benefit to all processes involved in archiving film heritage.”

Gavin Martin

Gavin Martin, Collections Officer: “I am responsible for digitising the Archive’s Film Collections. My remit is to preserve or in some cases restore the image quality of the films I am turning into digital assets; these are then held as large uncompressed preservation files and as smaller digital access files which can be accessed by a variety of users. This upgrade will enable me to deal with much larger file formats that our current workflow allows for and I will also be able to undertake more sophisticated and extensive restoration projects.”

Manus McManus

Manus McManus, Senior Collections Officer: “I oversee the technical and preservation management of the Archive collections, liaise with film depositors and post-production facilities, and support the Head of the Archive in developing and implementing Archive strategy, policy and procedures. I will be assisting in adapting and expanding our collections-management policy to embrace the Archive’s new digital assets.”

Anita Ní Nualláin

Anita Ní Nualláin, Archive Assistant: “I am currently registering and cataloguing one of the largest non-professional collections in the Archive. I also check the condition of film material going out to and returning from screenings, and performs audits of at-risk material in the collections.”

Eilís Ní Raghallaigh

Eilís Ní Raghallaigh, Library Assistant: “As a library assistant in the IFI Irish Film Archive’s Tiernan MacBride Library, as well as supporting the librarian in the delivery of the library service, I am updating the library’s clippings archive and write a monthly library blog.”

Eoin O'Donohoe

Eoin O’Donohoe, Acquisitions/Compliance Assistant: “I assist with the incoming Irish Film Board and Broadcasting Authority of Ireland collections, mostly dealing with digital video tape. A large part of the role is carrying out condition assessment of the material to ensure that only the best quality tapes enter into the archive. Following the accession and cataloguing process, the material finds a permanent home on the shelves in the vault.”

Kieran O'Leary

Kieran O’Leary, Collections & Access Assistant: “I help to facilitate access to the archive’s holdings. The digital refurb will allow greater access to the collections, both within the building and off-site, as well as adding an extra dimension of preservation.”

Fiona Rigney

Fiona Rigney, Librarian and Document Archivist: “As the Librarian and Document Archivist I am responsible for the care of our Special collections and library. I also provide access and research assistance to everyone who uses the library and paper archive.   The Library holds one of the largest collections of film related publications in Ireland and the document collections provide contextual information on the production and history of Irish film, the Irish film industry, and film exhibition in Ireland; they consist of press clippings, filmmakers’ correspondence, production notes, images and posters.  All our collections are available to the public, for more information on our collections and our opening hours please visit the Library page”.

Learn more about the IFI Irish Film Archive and visit our website.

Silent film no more!

“Not long to the tour now...” I hear my fellow musicians declare! Well, it's been an interesting journey that began over 12 years ago when I first researched ideas for a movie with a new score. Sunniva O’Flynn helped me select the film Willy Reilly and His Colleen Bawn, and it proved to be an exciting project for me as a composer so I began to create a voice for each character reflecting the theatrical performances you will see on the screen... 

The feature begins with a holdup… Squire Folliard is held up by the Highwayman Red Rapparee and his gang. Our hero Willy Reilly comes on the scene and rescues him, and the grateful Folliard brings Willy to his home where he meets and falls in love with the squire's daughter, Helen, the Colleen Bawn. Folliard opposes the liaison between Helen and Willy because of their different religious backgrounds, and seeks to encourage Helen to marry the bigoted, anti-Catholic Sir Robert Whitecraft… What will happen? Will the scheming Whitecraft get his way or will the Colleen Bawn find her true love?

Composer Bernard Reilly

After two performances in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, and our debut at the National Concert Hall last summer, we are sooo excited about our three city tour in June where we will perform the 'live to screen' film concerts in Paris (Cinema Le Balzac, 10th June 8.30pm), Berlin (Kino Babylon, 8th June 8pm) and Madrid (Ciné Dore, 12th June 7.30pm). Please come and join us for our final pre-tour Dress Rehearsal with the CinéTheatre Ensemble on June 5th at 6:30pm Irish Film Institute,Temple Bar.

See you there!

Bernard Reilly

Composer

Willy Reilly and His Colleen Bawn with a magnificent new score composed and conducted by Bernard Reilly and performed live by the Irish Cine Theatre Ensemble will screen on Wednesday, June 5th at 18.30. Tickets available at the Box Office (016793477) and online. 

This event is presented by the Irish Film Institute as part of the International Culture Programme to celebrate Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and is supported by Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Ireland.  

The Neil Jordan Collection at the Irish Film Archive

Coinciding with the IFI’s full retrospective of Neil Jordan’s cinematic work throughout the month of May, the IFI will be displaying rarely-seen documents donated by Neil Jordan to the IFI Irish Film Archive.

Kasandra O'Connell (Head of IFI Irish Film Archive) and Neil when Neil officially donated his research and document collection to the IFI Irish film Archive

In June 2009, coinciding with publicity for director Neil Jordan’s upcoming feature Ondine, it was announced that Jordan had donated the paper material relating to his films to the IFI Irish Film Archive of the Irish Film Institute. The material had been regularly transferred to the Archive since 2006, but the delay in publicising the acquisition means that this fascinating collection has been catalogued and is now fully accessible to researchers.

Jordan’s collection has been delivered film by film, and currently the Archive holds material from The Crying Game (1992), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), The Butcher Boy (1997), In Dreams (1999) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). Documents relating to other productions are being delivered and made accessible on an on-going basis.

Storyboard from 'Michael Collins'

The material for each film includes documents relating to background research, production and set design, location scouting and photography, visual effects, soundtrack and sound mixing, awards, press, storyboards, shot lists, production schedules, draft scripts and screenplays, and stills. Together the material gives an insight into the working methods of one of Ireland's foremost directors.

Jordan initially had success in the 1970s as an author, before beginning his film career as script consultant on John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and directing the documentary The Making of Excalibur: Myth into Movie. He also wrote the script for Joe Comerford’s Traveller which premiered at the Cork Film Festival in 1981. In 1982 he wrote and directed his first feature film, Angel, funded by the newly-established Irish Film Board. This was followed in 1984 by The Company of Wolves, and subsequently Mona Lisa (1986), High Spirits (1988), We’re No Angels (1989) and The Miracle (1991).

In 1992 Jordan directed The Crying Game which brought him international acclaim and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning Best Original Screenplay. Jaye Davidson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dil, but the Archive’s collection reveals the range of other actors who had originally competed for the role. Headshots of these actors made up as women are present, and seem strangely jarring dressed as the character made famous by Davidson’s outstanding performance.

The Crying Game head shot of Jaye Davidson

Following the international success of The Crying Game, Jordan went to America to direct an adaptation of an Anne Rice novel, resulting in the Oscar-nominated film Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. As in the The Crying Game collection, the possibility of other potential actors in key roles are presented in the Archive's collection. Various (uncast) A-list actors are beautifully sketched as the vampires Louis and Lestat, as well as the film’s stars Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Research material for the vampires' look includes a grotesque file of images of corpses in various stages of decomposition.

Jordan returned to Ireland in 1996 to make Michael Collins, a project which he had been working on since the 1980s. Around 100 versions, fragments and rewrites are held under various alternative titles, spanning years of script development. Once completed the film was nominated for two Academy Awards, validating the unusually long time the project spent in pre-production.

Casting polaroid shot of Eamon Owens for The Butcher Boy

Following the success of Michael Collins, Jordan worked on an adaptation of Pat McCabe’s novel The Butcher Boy (1997). Again the script exists in multiple rewrites and revisions. A key issue with the adaptation appears to have been the colloquial language used, with the collection including various lists of Irish slang terms and their “translations” for American audiences. Following The Butcher Boy Jordan returned to the US once again in 1999 to make In Dreams and the The End of the Affair. This was followed by The Good Thief (2002), filmed in the South of France.

Jordan then set up the production company Company of Wolves which produced Intermission (2003) and The Actors (2003). In 2005 he adapted another Pat McCabe novel for the screen, Breakfast on Pluto. One script used by Jordan during the making of the film includes handwritten amendments made on set, showing that even during the shooting changes could be made.

Neil Jordan and Ian Wilson on set of The Crying Game

Overall, the Neil Jordan Collection gives a fascinating insight into the practicalities of the production of major feature films. Seemingly mundane items build a picture of the work involved in bringing the production together, including documents like prop lists, logs tracking tides, sunrise and sunset times, arrangements for shooting “behind-the-scenes” footage, and files of photographs taken by location scouts around Ireland and the UK. Such documents may be of interest both to film fans wishing to contextualise Jordan’s body of work, and to budding filmmakers curious to see the approach taken by a veteran Irish film director.

The Collection is an incredibly rich resource for Irish film researchers, and in time should be completed with the addition of material relating to all of Jordan’s films mentioned in this article. The collection is available for researchers at the Irish Film Archive by appointment. Many of the films mentioned are also available to view at the Archive's viewing facilities.

Rebecca Grant

IFI Librarian (2006 - 2012)

See our exclusive collection of production files, stills, draft scripts, set design and storyboards, all of which give a fascinating insight into the creative process of one of Ireland’s most acclaimed directors is now available online.

Neil Jordan Retrospective runs throughout May at the IFI. His new film, Byzantium, opens on May 31st.

This article was first published in Film Ireland in 2009 and it has been made available online with their kind permission.