BFIs National Archive curator tells TVBEurope about plans to save videos from the UKs lockdown
By Jenny Priestley
Published: May 4, 2020
BFI's National Archive curator tells TVBEurope about plans to save videos from the UK's lockdown
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> BFI's National Archive curator tells TVBEurope about plans to save videos from the UK's lockdown
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/how-the-bfi-is-preserving-digital-videos-from-lockdown-for-the-future title=Share via Email class=share-email>
The BFI has launched a new project asking the British public to recommend online videos that best represent how the country has experienced the impact of coronavirus.
Britain on Lockdown aims to create an online video archive of some of the best short clips created during lockdown, from Joe Wicks' PE lessons to Boris Johnson's video tweet announcing he had coronavirus symptoms.
If the BFI National Archive doesn't collect and preserve them, can we guarantee that they'll still be there in 5 years, 50 years, 200 years? Robin Baker, head curator at the BFI National Archive tells TVBEurope.
Video platforms come and go, but the BFI National Archive has been here for 85 years with a mission to preserve. These videos are an extraordinarily potent record of how the people of Britain experienced the time of lockdown and need to be part of the record we take into the future.
All of the suggested videos will be added to the database, where they'll then be viewed by the BFI National Archive's curators. We'll be using many criteria for selection - from the innovation of filmmaking to how impactful they've been to how they represent a wide range of narrative voices from across the UK, explains Baker.
Joe Wicks' daily PE sessions have been a must-watch for many families In terms of how the videos will be archived, the BFI National Archive has developed an integrated digital preservation solution using three major infrastructure components: a Collections Information Database from Axiell, a Media Asset Management system from Imagen, and a data tape storage infrastructure from Spectra Logic.
These systems are integrated with a set of microservices written in Python, to take descriptive metadata from CID and ingest media to Imagen using that metadata to inform the appropriate Imagen ingest workflow. Imagen integrates with Black Pearl from Spectra Logic, to store the original preservation-quality media to two geographically separated data tape libraries, on LTO and IBM data tapes, with robust digital preservation processes such as fixity confirmation.
A lower quality access copy is created by Imagen for web browser viewing, stored on a Dell EMC Isilon storage cluster, and this lower bitrate version can be made available to BFI staff at their desks in the Imagen Web application, to facilitate cataloguing, interpretation and research.
According to Baker, the videos will be kept for as we continue to preserve the films of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, and Powell and Pressburger. We're talking about the very long term here. In theory, for ever. So, as long as the UK has a national collection of film and TV, they will be safe. They'll survive many times longer than any of us will.
Asked which video he would pick to add to the archive, Baker cites a short video posted on Facebook and Instagram on 19th March by Dawn Bilbrough, a critical care nurse in York. It was posted in the middle of the stockpiling madness and she pleaded You just need to stop it because it's people like me that are going to be looking after you when you're at your lowest, so just stop it, please.'
Her pleas couldn't have been more desperate or heartfelt and impacted on both government and supermarkets and made many people in the UK take a long, hard look at their own behaviour.
Anyone who would like to suggest a video can do so via the BFI's website.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
01/09/2025
Monitoring audio and video content in today's increasingly complex media environment requires more flexibility than ever. Fortunately, broadcasters' ado...
01/09/2025
A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experienc...
01/09/2025
Moving live pictures from place to place was once a feat so spectacular that the European Broadcasting Union invented the Eurovision Song Contest, which has bec...
01/09/2025
24 players have entered Slane Castle ready to outwit, outplay and outlast in the ultimate game of trust and deception.
The Traitors Ireland has commenced.
Her...
01/09/2025
First time television presenter Cathal Dowd, aged 23, from Wexford is the newest addition to the news2day team. news2day is RT 's news service designed spec...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
BFIs National Archive curator tells TVBEurope about plans to save videos from the UKs lockdown
