Moving History - a guide to UK film and television archives in the public sector

Case Study - Samm Lanfear

Samm Lanfear studied on the MA History of Decorative Arts and Design, University of Brighton. Her dissertation of 2002 was entitled, 'Worlds of difference: A socio-cultural analysis of the role of dress in the construction of the Other, viewed through amateur holiday film: 1930-60.

Lanfear had first heard of the existence of the Screen Archive South East, based at the University of Brighton, through a presentation given by the archive as part of her MA course. Lanfear was fascinated by the collections of amateur films in the archive and chose to use them as the basis for her dissertation research. She discovered there was very little critical work related to the study of amateur film and began to recognise the potential for research in this field. Her project began by analysing the design elements as found in particular films such as architecture, costume, and interiors. However, as the project evolved, she began to look at the more fundamental questions related to the politics of representation in the films and became interested in cultural issues such as the process of ‘othering’ through the lens, the tourist gaze, and the role of the camera.

Because of the large quantity of amateur film material available at the archive, Lanfear narrowed her research field down to the domestic holiday film, and focussed on a 'case study' approach using the film collections of two particular families. Lanfear watched the films on VHS viewing copies, returning many times to make notes and analyse the visual elements in detail. Stills from the films were used in her dissertation to support the text and a compilation of film was made for a seminar presentation. This research was a time consuming and intensive process, but Lanfear felt this was necessary in order to understand and interpret this material.

Overall, Lanfear found studying the archive film material as part of her research project to be a fascinating and rewarding aspect of this work. Lanfear now teaches at the University of Brighton and is encouraging new students to undertake research work using the Screen Archive South East. Her PhD studies at the University of Brighton continues her work with amateur film and its uses within the design history discipline. For this much larger project Lanfear will be using a wide range of films from the 1930s held at Screen Archive South East.

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