Box of Broadcasts is here! Three things to try out with our new film, TV and radio resource

Ned Potter suggests a few ways to use an exciting new resource.

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We've added a new subscription to our library collections, and we're delighted by it: say hello to Box of Broadcasts. Known as BoB, this is a service which records free-to-air broadcasts from 65 TV and radio channels (see the full list here), and makes the programmes and films discoverable for educational purposes online. You can watch any of the 2 million+ programmes it contains, dating back to the 90s, on any device, anywhere in the UK.

We've put together a Frequently Asked Questions page, which goes into a bit more detail about how to use it and what it does. But for this blogpost we want to explore some amazing things you can do with BoB.

1. Make playlists 

BoB isn't just a giant vat of films and programmes - it allows you to curate the material to your own ends. So for example we've created a playlist to compare great movie trilogies:

You can check out the trilogies playlist here if you like. You can create your own too, perhaps adding in some more trilogies that BoB has on it (Bourne, Jurassic Park, er, Austin Powers, for example...) - just find any broadcast and click 'Add to playlist'. 

If you need to watch a bunch of films or shows for a particular module, just create a playlist to keep them in one easy to find place. Or if you're the academic running the module, create the playlist and just share the URL with your class, or put each programme on your Resource List for the students to find. 

2. Search programme transcripts 

By default, BoB's search will be looking for your keywords not just in programme titles but in their transcripts. (It's worth going into Search Settings and changing it to 'Title Only' for times when you don't want this to happen.) This opens up a whole new way of studying television and radio, allowing you to keyword-search in an amazing way.

So for example if you type in "Werner Herzog" then of course you get the legendary director's films (including Cave of Forgotten Dreams which some have nominated as the greatest documentary of all time) and his TV documentaries, but you also get TV interviews with him and radio interviews with him, you get films he's acted in like Jack Reacher, you get Alan Yentob's Imagine special on him, you get episodes of Mastermind where he's the specialist subject, you get the time on University Challenge where he was the answer to a question that no one got right, you get the episode of The Simpsons in which he guest starred...  

This ability to search programme transcripts is the equivalent of full-text searching but for multimedia, and surely opens up whole new avenues of scholarship. 

3. Create your own clips 

It is ridiculously easy to create a clip - you just press the button and drag sliders into place to cover the part of the programme you want. 

One of the interesting things about watching programmes on BoB is those on commercial channels have adverts on. Of course you can just skip through them, but if part of your dissertation involves studying advertising or brands, you can create clips of period adverts that are no longer shown. Then you can collect them together in one place, and share them with other BoB users if you wish, or embed them in the VLE or even embed then in a PowerPoint presentation. Head to the BUFVC's site for video tutorials on how to do all these things.  

So, what will you do with Box of Broadcasts? How will it change the way you study at York? 

Question: What links Kevin Costner, James Bond and the Fairhurst Building?

Tom Grady knows...

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Answer: John Barry the film score composer, of course. 

Photo: Classic Bond with Gadget Briefcase by Andrew Becraft.
Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence.

You may have noticed that the Library's collection of DVDs and CDs has a sign above the door, reading: "The John Barry Audiovisual Collection."

This is to recognise the achievement of a former York resident who went to school at St Peters and whose family home on Fulford Road is now the Pavilion Hotel (though in later years he lived in New York).

John Barry was an Oscar-winning composer perhaps best-known for his work on eleven James Bond films, from Dr No to The Living Daylights. He also wrote the music for Kevin Costner's horse-opera Dances With Wolves. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2001, made an Honorary Freeman of York a year later and given an Academy Fellowship at the BAFTAs in 2005 for his lifetime contribution to cinema.

Most people could instantly recognise the 007 theme tune but not everyone knows Barry's involvement in its turbulent history. The theme was performed by the John Barry Seven and the John Barry Orchestra but law courts have twice ruled that, despite some stories to the contrary, the tune itself was written by Monty Norman, the successful singer and composer.

Over the course of a starry career John Barry won five Oscars and four Grammys. He died in January 2011.

(Little-known fact: according to the York Press, the great composer "kept pigs at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, just as [his] family did in Fulford.")

All the world’s a stage: Northern theatre at York Minster Library

Maria Nagle and Andrew Brownlie delve into the theatrical world of 19th Century entertainment

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While millions of people have flocked to London’s West End to see the Lion King over the past fourteen years, very few have heard of an earlier ‘Lion King’ - the American Mr John Carter. Although reputed to be an imitator of Issac Van Amburgh (the original ‘Lion King’), Carter captivated audiences with his daring exploits. He and his troupe of animals performed twice in York Theatre Royal. The first time was in November 1840, in a new French melodrama 'The Lion of the Desert' (pictured), where he regaled the audience by a combat with a tiger and by driving a lion in harness. He later returned in August 1843, appearing in Boyle Bernard’s melodrama Mungo Park.

This is just one of around 1,400 loose and bound theatre playbills contained within York Minster Library’s collections. They might seem an odd addition to a Cathedral Library but most were bequeathed by Edward Hailstone in 1890 as part of a large Yorkshire history collection.  We are lucky to have them as they give a fascinating insight into the world of late eighteenth and nineteenth century theatre.

Many of the playbills are from the Theatre Royal in York; as a military town, a tourist destination and a centre for many of the Northern nobility, York has always been a good place for theatre. The playbills would have been pasted up outside the theatre and around town to advertise the evening’s entertainment, much like the posters for performances today. That so many of these ephemeral cultural objects survive in such good condition is wonderful news for theatre historians, or those interested in the cultural aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century society.

Library playbill cataloguing project

Today, the playbills are being organised and individually catalogued by library volunteer Andrew Brownlie. Here he provides some highlights of his experience of working with the collection:

As well as the York Theatre Royal the collection includes playbills from theatres in Leeds, Wakefield, Hull, Scarborough and Whitby. While cataloguing these items it slowly became clear what was expected in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries of an evening's entertainment. A bill might begin with an abridgement of a Shakespeare play followed by comic songs or an acrobat on a tight-rope. The evening would often conclude with either a short farce or a pantomime.

Famous performers that made appearances included Mrs Sarah Siddons who was greatly celebrated for her Shakespearean roles. A six year old Ellen Ternan acted in 'Young Nap', and much later became better known as Charles Dickens's mistress. One actress who had great success in adaptations of the novels of Sir Walter Scott took what must surely be a stage name and became Miss Waverley Scott. 


The catalogue records are providing as much information as possible, and include details such as the names of each performer and how much tickets cost.

The playbills are all available to view as part of York Minster Library’s special collections; anyone can book an appointment to see them by emailing library@yorkminster.org

References

Kotar, S.L. and Gessler, J.E. 2011. The Rise of the American Circus, 1716-1899. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland

Rosenfeld, S. 2001. The York Theatre. London: The Society for Theatre Research.