The BUFVC Moving Image Gateway includes over 1,200 websites relating to video, multimedia and sound materials. These have been subdivided into over 40 subject areas. To suggest new entries or amendments, please contact us by email or telephone or visit the Gateway at http://bufvc.ac.uk/gateway/

Futurity
This website brings together news of the latest science research from universities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the USA. There are four main categories: Earth and the Environment; Health & Medicine; Science & Technology and Society & Culture. Most of the news consists of articles illustrated with still photographs but some moving imagery is used, as in this article which asks how quickly can glaciers grow (and melt)?, using a study of the prehistoric activity of Baffin Island’s glaciers with a view to developing accurate models to predict how climate change in the future will affect glaciers and ice sheets.

Human Rights Channel
Beta version of new website hosted by YouTube and launched by WITNESS, in partnership with video playlist creator Storyful. The site aims to enable citizen journalists, activists and other organisations to upload footage about human rights abuses and protest movements from all over the world. Amateur video footage is becoming increasingly important in reporting such stories, particularly in countries where media output is controlled by repressive regimes, and this site aims to curate and provide context and background information to the proliferating amount of material, both to facilitate greater understanding of the political situation and to encourage further engagement and activism. A series of video clips collected under the heading Anatomy of a Syrian Bombing gives a good idea of how the site organises and uses footage.

The clip above shows the bombing of Kansafrah, a village in rural Idlib. Other videos in the sequence show the rest of the traumatic and distressing narrative, including closer shots of the destruction caused, to the search for and discovery of victims, both alive and dead.

Microwave
Funded by Film London and the BBC, this site aims to be the key web destination for those interested in filmmaking on a micro-budget. A series of videos with industry experts aims to take would-be filmmakers through all the stages of the process and offers a comprehensive introduction to legal matters, finance and budgets, selling and distribution, post-production and exhibition, to name just some of the areas covered. There is information on sales and distribution, festivals, location shooting, cross-media strategies, and a comprehensive guide to the various sources of funding available. A series of recordings from events held at Film London’s Microschool is available in podcast form, featuring lectures and talks on location filming, music, screenwriting, casting and working with actors to name but a few. The site also provides news on the latest in the independent film-making sector, an excellent links page and has a Get Inspired section, covering films which have been funded by the Microwave scheme. An essential port of call for all low-budget filmmakers, or anyone considering a career in the industry.

Random Acts
The output of Channel 4’s short form, daily arts strand, broadcast late at night, is gathered here, and consists of pieces of television “as art rather than about art”. The content is diverse, with work by established names as well as new talent and features spoken word, comedy, dance, animation, video art and music. The site can be searched by genre, title and name, as well as “Random Acts” – films that are unclassifiable but function, according to the site’s curators as a kind of “creative grenade”.

Silent Era
At the core of this website devoted to films of the silent era is the Progressive Silent Film List, which is a growing collection of information on more than 22,500 silent and sound films produced from 1888 through to the end of 1929. The list can be accessed via a search of actors, actresses, producers and directors and also production and distribution companies. Some of the film entries are accompanied by clips, such as this excerpt from the 1913 Thanhouser production of Cymbeline.

The site also includes listings and reviews of silent films available on video and DVD, a news section, film reviews and articles, book reviews, details of lost films as well as information on silent era films previously thought lost, but now found.