Geoffrey Jones (27 November 1931 – 21 June 2005) was a British documentary film director and editor, noted for his contributions to the genre of the industrial film, and in particular

British Transport Films British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues (extolling the virtues of places that could be visited via th ...

.John Russell Taylor
Obituary: Geoffrey Jones
in '' The Guardian'', 17 August 2005

British Transport Films

Jones's first major work for

was the 1963 film '' Snow'', an eight-minute

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

demonstrating how the railway network coped with the 1963 "Big Freeze". Noted for its fast-paced editing and unusual photography, the film received 14 major awards upon its release and an Oscar nomination in 1965. The success of this film led to his longer 1967 short '' Rail'', which contrasted the final days of the steam engine with the emergence of diesel and electric power on the West and South Coast lines. This was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award in 1968. His third and final film for BTF was ''Locomotion'', completed in 1975, a history of the railways consisting of over 400 archive artworks, films and objects edited to music.

Other works

He was also involved in producing several films for the film departments of BP and Shell during the 1970s including ''Trinidad And Tobago'', ''Shell Spirit'' and ''This is Shell''. However, he did not complete any projects for the last 25 years of his life.Rick Poynor,
86 minutes of Greatness
, ''Eye Magazine'' 17 August 2005

Personal life

Jones married twice, having three children from his first marriage. He lived in various locations around the south of England for most of his career as a film-maker, and moved to live near Llandovery in Wales with his second wife during the 1970s.Stephen Moss,
The last picture show
, ''The Guardian'' 24 June 2005

References

External links

Eye Magazine obituary
*

* on the BFI's YouTube channel. British documentary filmmakers 1931 births 2005 deaths {{UK-filmmaker-stub