This footage was filmed in August 2015 at i-dailies, near Ealing in London, United Kingdom.
Laboratory staff demonstrate the various skills and methods used to process exposed negative films. They demonstrate the chemical processes, the practice of working in a dark room, and the work of the negative cutter.
This video is part of a series that shows how exposed film footage is processed so that it can be edited for use in television. The footage being processed was originally exposed during the project’s historical reenactment of a 16mm television film crew at work.
About the project
ADAPT (2013-8) is a European Research Council project at Royal Holloway University of London. The project studies the history of technologies in television, focussing on their everyday use in production activities.
ADAPT examines what technologies were adopted and why; how they worked; and how people worked with them. As well as publishing written accounts, the project carries out 'simulations' that reunite retired equipment with the people who used to use it.
Participants in these simulations explain how each machine worked and how different machines worked together as an 'array'; how they adapted the machines; and how they worked together as teams within the overall production process.