J.V. Durden (October 20, 1910 - February 13, 1998) was a British filmmaker and biologist. He is the person who created the term 'Ciné-biology', or 'the study of life through the medium of the cinema'. He described himself as a 'ciné-biologist', or 'scientist-filmmaker', and spent his life making highly detailed, technically intricate, lab-created films, where photography took place under a microscope. He brought the art of cinemicrography to Canada and became the co-founder of the Science Film Section at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

Early life

Joseph Valentine Durden was born in

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

(now part of London), on October 20, 1910; he grew up in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. His parents were; mother, Ruby Valentina Ellis (from Cumberland), father was the noted English painter James Durden (from Manchester). He had one sister, the artist Betty Durden Green, who was the subject of a well-known portrait by her father. Joseph earned a degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and

Entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

at the Royal College of Science. He had a life-long interest in photography and, while still in school, became a photographer for the ''Illustrated London News''. Upon graduation, Durden traveled with his parents to Africa. In

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho. Though the Basotho (then known as Basuto) and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868 (and ruled by Cape Colony from 1871), th ...

(now

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

) in 1934, he acted as the photographer on a plant-collecting expedition then, in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, he happened to see films from ''

Secrets of Nature ''Secrets of Nature'' was a 1922–1933 British short black-and-white documentary film series, consisting of 144 films produced by British Instructional Films, which filmmaker, historian and critic Paul Rotha described in 1930 as "the sheet anc ...

'', a 144-film series of natural history films produced from 1922 to 1933 by

British Instructional Films British Instructional Films was a British film production company which operated between 1919 and 1932. The company's name is often abbreviated to BIF. The company released a number of feature films during the late silent and early sound eras, d ...

and distributed throughout the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. Durden was so taken by these films that he resolved to become a scientific cinematographer.

Career

When he returned to England in 1935, Durden was hired by British Instructional Films which, after its sale, was now

Gaumont-British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of the Gaumont Film Company of France. Film production Gaumont-British was founded in 18 ...

Instructional (GBI). ''Secrets of Nature'' was no longer in production, but the series had been enormously popular; it brought the life sciences into popular culture and was so influential, the filmmaker and historian Paul Rotha described it as "the sheet anchor of the British film industry’’. Gaumont-British wanted to continue with scientific films and, in Durden, they had a photographer who was also a biologist. Durden found himself working with his former Royal College tutor H.R. Hewer, with the filmmaker Agnes Mary Field, and with the nature documentary pioneer Percy Smith. Field and Smith had both been the editors of ''Secrets of Nature''; now they were working on ''Secrets of Life''. Smith had developed innovative techniques in time-lapse photography, microphotography, microcinematography and animation. Learning from him, Durden became an expert in

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

photography and cinemicrography, building on Smith's techniques and incorporating new methods, including the use of phase-contrast microscopy and colour cinematography. His work at GBI was mainly on educational films in zoology (supervised by

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...

), but he was instrumental in the development of the first series of ''Secrets of Life'' to be released in colour (1939), which were made using Dufaycolor. Durden, Smith and Field wanted to publish the results of their work and co-wrote the book ''Ciné-biology'', which was published in 1942. The book was not the first attempt to theorize the relationship between cinema and science, but it was the clearest and most public. It describes Ciné-biology as "the study of life through the medium of the cinema". The "revealing eye" of the microscope and the "analytical brain" of the camera are active observers; by portraying the aliveness of the world, technology itself comes to life. Capturing and manipulating movement was Ciné-biology's most critical characteristic: "Movement, despite the advent and firm establishment of sound films, is the essence of the cinema ... And, in the cinema, we have the ideal medium for the study of life.” Ciné-biology treated film as a discipline of its own, complete with tools, practices and methods. Despite its focus on expertise, it also made science more appealing and interlaced the roles of filmmakers, experts, technologies and the wider public in making nature films. In 1942, Durden was drafted into the British Army. He was initially a gunner but was transferred to the Army Kinematograph Service, where he made training films and was discharged in 1945 with the rank of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. By war's end, Smith had died and Field was making children's films for The Rank Organisation. Durden joined the

Shell Film Unit Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ...

; in 1948, he wrote the script for the film ''Atomic Physics'', which won the 1949 BAFTA Special Award. He and Field finished the sequel to ''Ciné-biology'', ''See How They Grow: Botany Through the Cinema'' (1952). Durden also established his own company, Photomicrography Ltd., to supply specialist science footage to producers. One of these producers was likely the

Crown Film Unit The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. Its remit was to make films for the general public in ...

and one of the filmmakers at that unit was

Stuart Legg Stuart Legg (31 August 1910 in London, England – 23 July 1988 in Wiltshire, England) was a documentary filmmaker who was a leading figure in both the United Kingdom and Canada as a pioneering director, writer and producer. During his long filmma ...

, who had also worked for the Shell unit and GBI. Legg had just returned from a seven-year stint as a filmmaker with the

(NFB). It is reasonable to assume that the two men knew each other, and that Legg told Durden that the NFB was eager to make more scientific films. In 1952, Durden moved to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and joined the NFB's Studio B. Studio B, under the leadership of Tom Daly was responsible for making films on science and the arts, animated films, experimental films, educational films and films sponsored by government departments. At the time, no one person was making science films; Durden, as a photographer and biologist, was a perfect fit, except that he did not want to be like the other NFB filmmakers, who might make a training film one week and an agricultural film the next; he was firm about staying with his specific discipline. Eventually, in 1956, Daly hired Hugh O'Connor to build Studio B's Science Film Section. In the interim, Durden made such films as the award-winning ''Embryonic Development: The Chick'' (1953), (which is still distributed worldwide), ''The Colour of Life'' (1955), a film about the growth of a maple tree, ''Man Against a Fungus'', which illustrates the life cycle of wheat rust fungus, and ''The Maple Leaf'', which looks at the physiology of leaves. Over the next six years, he made an additional 18 scientific films for the board. In 1962, Durden was recruited by Boston's Educational Services Inc. (ESI), which had been founded by MIT professor

Jerrold R. Zacharias Jerrold Reinach Zacharias (January 23, 1905 – July 16, 1986) was an American physicist and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as an education reformer. His scientific work was in the area of nuclear physics ...

. At the time, the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

was heavily investing in science education, and one of its initiatives was the ''Developmental Biology Film Series'', produced by ESI. The series was 75 highly specialized films, and Durden would make them all, always working with expert biologists who wanted to replicate on film what they saw under the microscope. The films had a powerful impact on the American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, who used them in her teaching. In 2010, she started a campaign to digitize the films and publish them online, calling the effort “the most important contribution I have made to science in my lifetime”. These films now have their own YouTube channel. In 1972, when the project was completed, Durden retired and returned to England. He died in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in 1997, survived by his daughter, Janet and son, Christopher.

Filmography

Gaumont-British Instructional *''The Life Story of a Fern'' - documentary short 1935 - director *''The Life Story of a Tadpole'' - documentary short 1936 - director *''The Life of a One-Celled Animal (Amoeba)'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Sea Urchin'' - documentary short 1936 - co-director with H.R. Hewer *''The Sea Urchin'', Reel 2 - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Life Story of Echinus'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Pollination'' - documentary short 1937 - editor *''Paramecium'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Development of the Chick'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Development of the Tadpole'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Heredity in Animals'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Heredity in Man'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Animals of the Rocky Shore'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''Coelenterata'' - documentary short, 1937 - documentary short 1937 - director *''From Generation to Generation'' - documentary short 1937 - director *''The Dandelion'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''The Fern'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Fasciola: The Life Story of a Trematode'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Development of the Trout'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Seed Dispersal by Exploding Fruits'' - documentary short 1938 - editor, director *''Seed Dispersal by Burial'' - documentary short 1938 - editor, director *''Climbing Plants'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''Hydra'' - documentary short 1938 - director *''And Now They Rest'' - documentary short 1939 - director *''Welsh Plant-Breeding Station'' - documentary short 1939 - director *''Crustacea'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Onychophora and Myriapoda'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Emperor Moth'' - documentary short 1940 - editor, director *''Wisdom of the Wild'' - documentary short, Mary Field 1940 - co-cinemicrographer with F. Percy Smith *''Arachnida'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Astacus'' - documentary short, 1940 - director *''Asparagus Beetle'' - documentary short, 1941 - director *''Getting His Wings'' - documentary short, Mary Field 1942 - co-cinemicrographer with F. Percy Smith Shell Film Unit *''Atomic Physics'' - documentary short, 1948 - writer *''The Codling Moth'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Brown Rot'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Leather Jacket'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Greenhouse White Fly'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Red Spider'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Raspberry Beetle'' - documentary short, 1950 - cinemicrographer, director *''Plant Pests and Diseases: Flea Beetle'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director *''Cabbage Root Fly'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director *''Winter Moths'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director *''Apple Aphis'' - documentary short, 1951 - cinemicrographer, director National Film Board of Canada *''Embryonic Development: The Chick'' - documentary short, 1953 - writer, producer, director, cinemicrographer *''The Colour of Life'' - documentary short, 1955 - writer, producer, director, cinemicrographer *''Man Against a Fungus'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1955 - editor, cinemicrographer *''The Maple Leaf'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1955 - writer, producer, director *''The Forest Tent Caterpillar'' - documentary short, 1956 - writer, editor, producer, director, cinemicrographer *''The Spruce Bog: An Essay in Ecology'' - documentary short, Dalton Muir 1957 - writer, editor, producer *''Honey Bees and Pollination'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1957 - editor, co-producer with Larry Gosnell and David Bairstow, co-director with Larry Gosnell, cinemicrographer *''The Changing Forest'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1958 - writer, producer *''Wheat Rust'' - documentary short, Maurice Constant 1958 – producer, cinemicrographer *''Birth of a Caterpillar'' - documentary short, 1959 - co-cinemicrographer with William H. Carrick *''The Spawning of a Fish'' - documentary short, 1959 - co-cinemicrographer with William H. Carrick *''Emergence of a Dragonfly'' - documentary short, 1960 - co-cinemicrographer with William H. Carrick *''Microscopic Fungi'' - documentary short, 1960 - writer, editor, director, cinemicrographer *''Introducing Insects'' - documentary short, 1960 - cinemicrographer, editor, director, co-writer with Barrie McLean *''Above the Timberline: The Alpine Tundra Zone'' - documentary short, 1960 - writer, editor, director, cinemicrographer *''Trout Stream'' - documentary short, Hugh O'Connor 1961 - co-cinematographer with William H. Carrick *''Butterflies, Beatles and Bugs'' - documentary short, 1961 - editor, director, cinemicrographer, co-writer with Barrie McLean *''The Flower and the Hive'' - documentary short, 1961 - with Larry Gosnell, co-writer, -producer and -director, cinemicrographer *''Snow'' - documentary short, 1961 - co-cinematographer with Bruno Engler and Barrie McLean *''The Embryonic Development of Fish'' - documentary short, 1961 - writer, editor, director, cinemicrographer *''The Development of a Fish Embryo'' - documentary short, 1962 - writer, director, cinemicrographer *''The Fish Embryo from Fertilization to Hatching'' - documentary short, 1963 - writer, director, cinemicrographer Education Development Center - Developmental Biology Film Series * 75 films produced between 1963 and 1972, digitized in 2017, and available for viewing here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDhR-8P-YpwGtFzNrzO50rI5hArXcWwJH

Awards

''Embryonic Development: The Chick'' (1953) * Golden Reel International Film Festival, Film Council of America, New York: Recognition of Merit, 1954 *

6th Canadian Film Awards The 6th Canadian Film Awards were presented on May 10, 1954 to honour achievements in Canadian film.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. . pp. 25-27. The ceremo ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

: Honourable Mention, Non-theatrical, 1954 * Kootenay Film Festival,

Nelson, British Columbia Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of resto ...

: Second Prize, Science, 1955 *

Salerno Film Festival Salerno Film Festival or The Film Festival of Salerno (in the Italian language, Festival del cinema di Salerno) has operated since 1946 in the Italian city of Salerno. History "CINE CLUB SALERNO", a non-profit association of cinematographic cu ...

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

: First Prize – Cup of the National Association of Film Journalists, 1956 * Rapallo International Film Festival, Rapallo: First Prize, Scientific Films, 1957 ''The Changing Forest'' (1958) * International Review of Specialized Cinematography, Rome: Silver Medal, 1959 * ''Scholastic Teacher Magazine'' Annual Film Awards: Outstanding Scholastic Teacher's Award, 1960 ''Above the Timberline: The Alpine Tundra Zone'' (1960) * Film Survey,

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

: Silver Medal ''for remarkable photography'' ''Microscopic Fungi'' - documentary short, 1960 * International Exhibition of Scientific Film,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

: Diploma of Honour with Special Mention, 1964 ''The Embryonic Development of Fish'' (1961) * International Survey of Scientific and Didactic Films,

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

: First Prize, Didactic Films, 1961 *

Columbus International Film & Animation Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival which is designed to encourage and promote the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication. It is the first and ol ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

: Chris Certificate, Education, College Level, 1961 * International Agricultural Film Competition,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

: Third Prize, Instructional Films, 1961 * Congress of the International Cinematographic Associations Union (UNIATEC),

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

: Award of Merit, 1961 *

: Chris Plaque, 1962 ''The Development of a Fish Embryo'' (1962) * International Exhibition of Scientific Film,

: First Prize, Didactic, 1966 * La Plata International Children's Film Festival,

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

, Argentina: Best Film - Silver Oak Leaf 1966

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durden, J.V. 1910 births 1998 deaths Canadian documentary film directors National Film Board of Canada people Canadian documentary film producers British cinema pioneers British cinematographers Alternative photographic processes British documentary film directors British documentary film producers Canadian cinematographers