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This case study examines the impact of Catherine Wheatley's research into spectatorship, audiences, and critical contexts through engagement with the popular press and public-facing media institutions. It focuses on Wheatley's work with Sight & Sound, the monthly consumer magazine published by the British Film Institute, which reaches beyond academia to a cine-literate but non-specialist audience. Her research has influenced discussion and criticism of cinema for a large, interested cine-enthusiastic audience as well as contributing to broader public debate and cultural discussion of cinema through mass-media appearances. She has also judged a competition for budding female critics, encouraging more women to write thoughtfully on film, and nurturing a new generation of women critics through which her research has been able to influence the practice of film criticism more widely.
Deriving from Brady's research on modernist cinema, and Carter's on film reception, the impact focuses on the development of UK reception contexts for German-language film. Both researchers have long worked to enhance public understanding of German-language cinema through curatorship, film talks, and forms of intercultural mediation including translation and interpreting. Since 2011-12, work has focused on creating a sustainable national initiative that translates public engagement into audience impact. The key innovation here is the German Screen Studies Network, a forum for public debate on and promotion of German-language film. Chief beneficiaries are German cinema enthusiasts, cultural partners and collaborating institutions.
Dr Julie Brown's research on the sounds of `silent film' exhibition in Britain has had an impact well beyond academia. Her collaborations with film festivals and major film venues plus public lectures have brought about an enhanced public awareness of a lost media art. Through a practitioner/academic network and via practice-based activities involving professional musicians she has had a direct impact on musical practice, and also brought significant performances to the general public in well-attended public events and film festivals at major cinema venues in both Edinburgh and London. Her work has led to enhanced public understanding of the history of the sonic dimension of `silent cinema' in Britain.
Through a range of public engagement activities (film screenings, workshops, collaboration with animation studios including Bristol's Aardman Animations) research on early Russian animation has led to an increased awareness of innovative technological developments from pre- Revolutionary and Soviet Russia, including experiments with stop-frame motion, colour and stereo-scopic vision. `Russian' technologies differ from those of European and American cinema and Beumers has identified differences of approach in film technologies that have facilitated exchanges of methods aimed at promoting the adoption of more efficient technologies in contemporary filmmaking. Her research has promoted the restoration and digitisation of rare historical materials, permitting their distribution to a wide audience in the UK, Germany and Italy.
External partners involved with the digitisation process have developed a 3D system used in animation today in Russia and Estonia. The research has permitted the development of a prototype animation Touch Table with local company Aerian Studios Ltd. The Touch Table, which animates old optical devices, has been on public display at museums and film festivals. A resulting iPad application `Walking Pictures' is freely available on the App Store. The prototype has generated new commissions from other museums, which will provide significant new business revenue.
In a separate development, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, NIKFI Moscow, and the Russian State Film Archive Gosfilmofond have agreed, on the basis of Beumers' research and the proposed project, to accelerate the digitisation of films.
Carter's research into the life and work of the Hungarian film theorist Béla Balázs (1884-1949), and her collaboration with Rodney Livingstone (Professor Emeritus, Southampton) on the first English translation of his early works, provided the inspiration for a travelling exhibition, film screenings and website that showcased Balázs's early writing, and explored the connections between his film theory and contemporary film practice. Artist Zsuzsanna Ardó approached Carter to collaborate following the publication of an article on Balázs (Screen 2007), and worked with her to mount an exhibition at BAFTA and three Everyman Cinemas in London, accompanied by public talks and film screenings.
Roger Shannon's research on the legacy of the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop (BFVW) has fed directly into the curation and digitisation of previously neglected productions from this pioneering collective, which are now available for public exhibition at arts centres, cinemas, galleries and festivals. The specific examples of the public articulation of the impact include the Participation exhibition at the Vivid Gallery in Birmingham (2009), the digitisation of the original BFVW material, and the Hell Unltd/Traces Left event at the Glasgow Film Theatre (2013) which Shannon co-ordinated. He also worked closely with musician Kim Moore in her composition and performance to accompany the Hell Unltd event.
Three claims to impact stemming from Shannon's research are made here:
This case study refers to the impact of the work of one member of the submitting unit. The assertion is that the work of Zubillaga has had impact on civil society, cultural life and public discourse. It has: illuminated a repository of cultural capital (through archival research) and interrogated cultural values (specific to a Latin American context) enriched the imaginations of those who have viewed his films; enhanced sensibilities with regard to the cultural themes they explore; and extended the range and improved the quality of evidence, argument and expression to enhance public understanding of Venezuelan and more broadly Latin American cultural and political memory.
This case study focuses on the impact that Richard Dyer's research on music, film, and culture has had in the area of cultural life and the presentation of cultural heritage. At the centre of this is his work on the composer Nino Rota, which relates in one direction to his work on the use of song in film and on the other to his work on lesbian and gay culture. This research has been the basis for collaborations with the BFI (leading to major screening seasons) and has led to impact activities elsewhere, both in the UK and internationally. Beneficiaries include cine-enthusiasts, those interested in musical and queer culture, and more generally the broader public which has become better informed about the significance of the subjects of Dyer's research.
Through the agency of Screen Archive South East (SASE) and Cinecity, GRAY's research has transformed the history and wider understanding of screen cultures, particularly during the industry's formative years. Primarily his work has affected public life through the collection, preservation, cataloguing and conversion of diverse footage to publicly accessible formats, creating access to material from otherwise marginalised and forgotten film histories. Engaging with local communities, national and international museums and broadcasters, he has developed new public audiences for contemporary and historical screen culture that have generated over £1.8m in income, with total audiences exceeding 25 million. Secondly, his research has shaped public policy by contributing to the strategic direction of screen heritage across the UK.
A research project on the General Post Office Film Unit culminated in a series of film screenings, DVD releases, talks and events. It resulted in the work of the Film Unit being added to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World register and the BT Heritage telecommunications collections being awarded Designated status by the Arts Council.