Learning on ScreenViewfinder 100
To celebrate the publication of the 100th issue of Viewfinder, the BUFVC’s quarterly print publication, Olwen Terris, the BUFVC’s Information Officer, takes a look at the long history of the publication.
About the Author: Olwen Terris is the BUFVC Information and Special Resources Officer. From 2005 to 2008 she was the Senior Researcher on the BUFVC Shakespeare database project. She was formerly Chief Cataloguer at the National Film and Television Archive, London. Olwen is co-editor, with Luke McKernan, of Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive (1994) and, with Luke, programmed the complementary year-long season of Shakespeare on film and television at the National Film Theatre, London (1994-95). Before joining the NFTVA, Olwen worked for the BUFVC as Assistant Information Officer and then Database Manager. Olwen is co-editor, with Eve-Marie Oesterlen and Luke McKernan, of the BUFVC’s Shakespeare of Film, Television and Radio: The Researcher’s Guide (2009).
The British Universities Film Council (BUFC) was formed in 1948 and from the beginning the imperative to communicate with its members and share knowledge and experience was established. Viewfinder began its life as the BUFC Bulletin in March 1950. 1,000 copies were printed at a cost of £30; the cover price was sixpence. Interestingly the issues and concerns which are found in the pages of the Bulletin, edited by Professor J.W. Tibble from the Department of Education, Leicester University, have changed very little from the themes, debates and concerns of Viewfinder today. In the 1950s the need to tell members about developments in educational technology, document and evaluate new films to support teaching, review books, and report on conferences at home and abroad was keenly felt. Media initiatives (although it wasn’t referred to as media then) from member universities were promoted, copyright legislation was explained, new publications were reviewed, and lists of films suitable for higher education teaching which had been researched, appraised and catalogued were distributed.
In spring 1953, the Bulletin became The University Film Journal. Its coverage continued to be wide-ranging and stimulating – early issues contained articles on the effect of musical accompaniment in film, Professor Eric Lucey’s filmed experiments in animal genetics, and stereoscopic experiments in teaching mathematics. In Professor Tibble’s final editorial from the spring 1964 issue, BUFC is encouraged to look to the young for new ideas:
‘The film is a young medium and the impetus for its development has come largely from young minds … it would be wise for BUFC to scrutinise its own average age and to be continually on the lookout for younger recruits.’
In December 1967, The University Film Journal became the BUFC Newsletter. BUFC had by now established a permanent office with full time staff in Old Compton Street in London’s West End and was able to draw on the extensive research and library facilities of the British Film Institute to support its own information work. Its concerns remained constant, presenting member news, compiling subject film listings, all communicated in a brisk, factual manner; there were no illustrations.
November 1979 (issue 38), edited by the Council’s new Assistant Director, Murray Weston, saw a welcome and overdue boost to presentation and production values – illustrations appeared; an arresting front cover (a giant aphid) was designed with clear indication on the cover of the content to be found within. That issue, almost thirty years on from the first Bulletin, continued in promoting the Council’s unwavering aims. Never insular, it featured an article on audio-visual provision in Swedish universities, a world AV programme directory, and sponsored productions by undergraduate media students at Rusden State College in Melbourne; there was a review of slide sets in archaeology and lengthy appraisals of films including First Signs of Washoe (1974), Protoplasmic Streaming (1977) and Some of the Palestinians (1976). The BUFC Newsletter became the British Universities Film & Video Council Newsletter in May 1983 (issue 49) to reflect the Council’s change of name.
