Software Santa
FREE and/or Open Source Desktop Software! => Educational Sites and Programs => Topic started by: Software Santa on February 28, 2018, 07:54:57 PM
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Ephemeral Films are non-fiction films usually made for educational, industrial, or promotional purposes. Video From the 1920's and the Dawn of Video ... through the years and down to some really modern stuff!
DESCRIPTION: Ephemeral films are non-fiction films usually made for educational, industrial, or promotional purposes.
The two classic ephemeral film collections found on the Archive are the Prelinger Archives (https://archive.org/details/prelinger) and AV Geeks. In addition to these classic collections, you may view guidance films from the post-World War II British government, drive-in movie intermission ads, and videos documenting the history of San Francisco from 1906 to the early 21st Century. Many of these films are available for free download.
Software Santa found an example of an educational film from 1929! It was an early sound recording ... demonstrating the principals of the newly developed sound recording process, itself ... by a Certain "Max Fleischer"! (Fleischer Studios later introduced popular characters like "Betty Boop" and "Popeye the Sailor" to audiences of the 1930's.) Oh, Yeah: a Classic from before they were famous!
Finding His Voice (https://archive.org/details/FindingH1929) by Western Electric Company, Inc.
( https://archive.org/details/FindingH1929 (https://archive.org/details/FindingH1929) )
One reviewer (https://archive.org/details/%40christine_hennig) wrote:
Subject: Everything I Know I Learned from Anthropomorphic Inanimate Objects
OK, folks, I knew this would be a favorite the moment it started. It features not one, but two incredibly cute Mr. Product characters: Talkie, a cheery piece of sound film; and Mutie, a cranky piece of silent film. Mutie rudely breaks up Talkie's act (a cute rendition of the "Anvil Chorus" on a xylophone) and demands to know where Talkie got his voice. So Talkie takes him to Dr. Western, who explains the sound-on-film process to him, and to us, in detail. This delightful animated film was made in the early days of sound, to explain the process to theater owners, which gives it lots of historical value. But historical value is not what appeals to me here - it's the delightful characters of Talkie and Mutie, as well as Dr. Western, who veers dangerously close to being a mad scientist. The ending is a real hoot, but I won't give it away. Suffice to say that I enjoyed this film from beginning to end. You can't go wrong with Mr. Product characters as far as I'm concerned.
Warning!!! Some Material Inappropriate for Children! Educational Films ... for teenagers or adults ... are in this mix, also. And some REAL "Time Capsule" Pieces that Software Santa hasn't seen in many decades stink it up ... example:
(https://archive.org/services/img/DriveInMovieAds) Drive-In Movie Ads! (https://archive.org/details/DriveInMovieAds)
Software Santa bets that some of you don't know what a "Drive-In Movie" WAS ... it was a 60's thing: you had to have been there.
Stay Away from those stinky old things!!!! Software Santa put them there for Geezers and Codgers to Reminisce Over!
If you poke your noggin in there: you won't be bored. About 10000 Films to sort/pick/sift/and search through. Start your searching here:
https://archive.org/details/ephemera (https://archive.org/details/ephemera)
A Few of the Sub-Categories:
(https://archive.org/services/img/avgeeks) A/V Geeks collection 1,493 ITEMS
(https://archive.org/services/img/educationalfilms) Educational Films collection 4,273 ITEMS
(https://archive.org/services/img/DriveInMovieAds) Drive-In Movie Ads collection 158 ITEMS
(https://archive.org/services/img/british_gov_public_films) British Government Public Information Films collection 22 ITEMS
(https://archive.org/services/img/shaping_sf) Shaping San Francisco collection 248 ITEMS
(https://archive.org/services/img/PeriscopeFilm) PeriscopeFilm collection 2,006
(https://archive.org/services/img/ephemeralvhs) Ephemeral VHS
(https://archive.org/services/img/nationalfilmpreservationfoundation) National Film Preservation Foundation
(https://archive.org/services/img/living_new_deal_project) Living New Deal Project
(https://archive.org/services/img/aidstapes) The AIDS Tapes
(https://archive.org/services/img/llnlnucleartests) LLNL Atmospheric Nuclear Tests