At the Digital Media Licensing Association conference we got to take the pulse of the licensing business and hear from footage research and licensing professionals about the specific challenges we face in our industry and some tips for effective licensing. Though professional archive researchers for the film and TV industry have connections with footage libraries they’ve built over the years, directors are relying more and more on YouTube links, and not all productions have access to professional researchers. A panel discussion led by FOCAL International‘s Mary Egan gave some industry pros a chance to share their thoughts. (more…)
technology
The Summer of Archives: An Update from Archive Valley
It’s been a busy few months at Archive Valley, and as we get ready to spend the next month hitting the road to meet producers, researchers and film archivists from around the world, here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to and a look at what’s ahead. (more…)
Featuring: Lily Yudinsky, Tel Aviv
How did you become an archive researcher?
I feel as though I was born to be an archive researcher. Ever since I was a child, other people’s photo albums have always fascinated me and I’ve always had the urge to search through them. While studying for my BA in Film Studies and Literature at Tel Aviv University, I started working for the Open University of Israel. They needed a visual researcher and a clearance coordinator for their books. At the time, in 2000, there were very few online catalogues and archives, and all of the work was done by fax, phone and airmail. I felt like a real pioneer. I did research for many different subjects that still amaze me today: dance, theater, opera, ancient archeology, genocide, earth studies… It was very rewarding to get transparency from the Vatican Library. In 2005, I left the OUI and started my first archival work in TV for A Duck’s Journey directed by Gabriel Bibliowicz. The film was about the late comics artist Dudu Geva. After that I continued my work in archival research at a frantic pace in Israel and abroad – where anything goes – I can take up to 7-8 projects simultaneously. (more…)