FOCAL International is the

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partic ...

representing

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...

companies,

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. Th ...

facilities and individuals involved in the use of

footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a ( often special) video camera, which typically must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or ...

, still images and

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

in all forms of media production. It represents more than 300 companies and individuals involved in media production, asset management, preservation of historical archives,

film restoration Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the w ...

and

History

FOCAL International was founded in 1985 by an international group of

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

archive leaders, specialising in film, television and news content who knew each other largely through licensing film and television archives. The high cost of Archive management, preservation and storage and the introduction of new formats was also endangering many film based collections. The founders included Jill Hawkins from BBC Enterprises (now

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

), Pam Turner of Visnews, David Warner of ITN, George Marshall of British Pathe, Sten Frykholm from the Swedish broadcaster SVT, Jacque Blanchard, from the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governmen ...

, and Patricia Gang of

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

. With the support of a close group of individuals from both BBC and Visnews including Alan Stoner, Jeremy Cantwell, David Wratten as well as researchers Kirsty MacCalman and Jane Mercer, FOCAL launched officially at MIPCOM in 1987. Its first patron was

David Puttnam David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (born 25 February 1941) is a British film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include ''Chariots of Fire'', which w ...

, who became Chair of Patrons in 2005.

Structure

FOCAL International is run by a small administration team in the UK, reporting to an international Executive Council, comprising a Chair, and a number of representatives of member bodies. FOCAL International seeks to implement its objectives through its

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

s, which are made up of industry experts and representatives. These committees include: the Editorial Committee, responsible for the quarterly magazine "Archive Zones"; the Events & Exhibitions Committee, responsible for organising the FOCAL International Awards, and FOCAL International’s presence at relevant trade and industry events; the Training Committee, responsible for providing and promoting training in the archive industry, and raising awareness of the need for preservation of archives; and the Funding & Lobbying Committee, which lobbies governmental and institutional bodies on behalf of its members.

FOCAL International Awards

The FOCAL International Awards were established in 2004 to support and honour the researchers, technicians and producers who uncover, preserve and utilise archive footage in their work. The award ceremony is held annually in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, UK. The Awards cover categories for the best use of footage in factual productions, history arts & entertainment, music, sports, natural history, short format and cinema. Further categories include best restoration or

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

project, Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year, plus two additional personnel Awards for FOCAL Member Company of the Year & Footage Person of the Year. The FOCAL Executive Board also bestow the Lifetime Achievement Award. Notable winners have included: * Rick Prelinger: Lifetime Achievement Award, 2012 *

Pathe News Pathe or Pathé may refer to: * Pathé, a French company established in 1896 * Pathé Exchange, U.S. division of the French film company that was spun off into an independent entity * Pathé News, a French and British distributor of cinema newsr ...

: Footage Library of the Year, 2012 * Britain At War:, by the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

Film Archives: Best Use of Footage in a Home Entertainment Release, in 2012 * Senna: Best Use of Sports Footage and Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release, 2012 *

Fire in Babylon ''Fire in Babylon'' is a 2010 British documentary film about the record-breaking West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and 1980s. Featuring stock footage and interviews with several former players and officials, including Colin Croft, Deryck Murra ...

: Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release, 2011 *

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

: Best Restoration or Preservation Project, 2010 (for the restoration of The Red Shoes) * JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America: Best Use of Footage in Factual Productions, 2010 * Focus on Film, run by

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

: Best Use of Footage on Non-television Platforms, 2008.FOCAL International Awards 2008 http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards/2008/the-focal-international-awards-2008 Retrieved 12 July 2008 *

Stewart Binns Stewart Binns is a British author and filmmaker who has produced many BAFTA, Grierson and Peabody award-winning documentaries. Early life Binns was born in Lancaster and brought up in Burnley, Lancashire by his single mother. After faili ...

: Archive Award, 2004 & 2005

Members

Companies and organisations that are members of FOCAL International include: *

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, ...

* AP Archive * BAFTA (Industry Partner) * BAPLA (Industry Partner) *

BBC Motion Gallery BBC Motion Gallery is the footage licensing division of BBC Studios. It offers creative professionals access to a collection of stock footage with licensing worldwide. History The organization originated in London as BBC Library Sales, a div ...

Bridgeman Art Library The Bridgeman Art Library, based in London, Paris, New York and Berlin, provides one of the largest archives for reproductions of works of art in the world. Founded in 1972 by Harriet Bridgeman, the Bridgeman Art Library cooperates with many a ...

* British Pathe *

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

* Corbis * Film Archive Forum (Industry Partner) * Fremantlemedia Archive *

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets—creativ ...

* Imperial War Museum Film and Video Archive * ITN Source * The

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

Visual & Audio Archives (Japan) * The

National Archives of Singapore The National Archives of Singapore (NAS) ( Malay: ''Arkib Negara Singapura'', Mandarin: 新加坡国家档案馆, Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய காப்பகம்) is the national archives of Singapore. It was f ...

* The

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

(Australia) * 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 fi ...

* The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales *

Natural History New Zealand NHNZ, formerly Natural History New Zealand, is a New Zealand-based television production house. It works and co-produces with multiple major global broadcasters: Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Science, A&E Television Networks, Na ...

Moving Images * The

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

The Pinewood Studios Group Pinewood Group Limited (formerly Pinewood Group plc and Pinewood Shepperton plc) is a British multinational film studio and television studio company with headquarters in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. The group runs Pinewood Studios ...

* The

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

(Wales) * Science Photo Library *

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

(Australia) * SVT (Sweden) * The Scottish Screen Archive at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...

* T3Media * Wellcome Library Moving Images & Sound Collection * Yle (Finland)

References

External links

FOCAL International
{{Authority control Film organisations in the United Kingdom Arts and media trade groups