Field Guide to Sponsored Films - National Film Preservation ...

Introduction
and split screens, these efforts did not keep sponsored films alive. Today lower-cost video
and digital media have, by and large, taken over the communications role of sponsored
films, and in-house media units have sprung up to customize productions for corporate,
government, and nonprofit employers. On the other end of the spectrum are companies that
produce and distribute generic presentations on widely applicable topics, such as human
resource management. A few multinational giants, like Federal Express and Wal-Mart,
produce corporate programming and run television networks to link their geographically
far-flung outposts. However, the Internet has become the prime communications venue.
Though sponsored works are still being made (even on film), they generally have a
narrow focus.
Huge numbers of sponsored films survive. Many slipped the notice of the distribution catalogs
and trade magazines of their day and lack active copyright holders. No national catalog
or database has been developed to record the scattered holdings. Furthermore, unlike theatrical
features that are safeguarded by a handful of corporate owners and public archives,
sponsored films are found in a variety of repositories, ranging from private collections and
corporations to regional nonprofits and commercial stock footage libraries. Such are the
factors that today confound attempts at describing and evaluating these materials.
For several decades sponsored films have been difficult to see and largely forgotten by
scholars. Thanks to the Internet and video, a number of long-unseen titles have once again
become viewable. The conventions and assumptions of such films as The Atom and Eve
(entry 32) or The Home Electrical (entry 186) can seem surprising, even humorous, to contemporary
audiences. Some titles, such as The House in the Middle (entry 190), have earned
a place in popular culture. When these works are seen as part of a larger historical framework,
they become much more revealing.
The Field Guide to Sponsored Films attempts to put these films into context. It names 452
of the most significant or influential examples produced during the first century of film.
Using a short entry format, it describes the works’ major characteristics, suggests the rationale
behind their production, and touches on the reception and impact. By providing information
on several hundred titles of special interest, The Field Guide explores the contours of
this film type and sketches its potential documentary and evidentiary value for cinema,
cultural, and historical studies.
As historically neglected film types gain attention, archivists and scholars face challenges
quite unlike those confronted in collecting the better-documented fiction feature. In a universe
of hundreds of thousands of poorly known and largely undocumented works, where
to begin? What criteria should inform acquisition and preservation policies? How can practitioners
compare similar titles and characterize their specificities, intentions, and reception?
As new works are discovered, what can be learned from examining related titles? The field
guide approach provides a point of departure.
The following entries are not limited to titles still known to exist. This book also covers
a number of works not reported in major American collections but mentioned in at least
two publications of the period. The descriptions, it is hoped, will stimulate a search for
lost titles and encourage preservationists to save what they have and seek better materials
for works known through damaged or incomplete copies. The book might also increase
the availability of films on video and the Internet. Filmmakers seeking footage may also
find The Field Guide helpful, especially since a number of the cited films are in the public
domain or unclaimed by rights holders.
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