The film Drifters made in 1929 by John Grierson for the Empire Marketing Board (EMB) is credited with initiating the use of the documentary film in the public service, that is for departments of government or for public organisations, as distinct from films made for industrial and corporate purposes. The pioneering work of the EMB was followed by the formation of the highly successful GPO Film Unit that, in turn, became in 1939, at the start of World War 2, the Crown Film Unit. During the war years the Crown Film Unit was part of the Ministry of Information. It established a huge creative reputation through the work of directors such as Humphrey Jennings, Harry Watt and others.
Despite this record, by 1952 the Crown Film Unit, bearer of the mantle of public service film making, was closed down. Its work and reputation taken over by the Film Division of the newly created Central Office of Information (COI) that had been established to take over the functions of the wartime Ministry of Information (MOI) albeit with a different remit, in 1946.
Over the years the public perspective of COI has been that of a somewhat mysterious organisation. After the Crown Film Unit was closed in 1952 and in the years that followed, not a great deal was known about the nature and extent of the work of the Film Division of COI, of its role in public service film making between 1952 and the closure of COI in 2012.
The purpose of this account is to tell something of the story of what happened during those years. To show that the use of film in the service of government by the Crown Film Unit and its immediate predecessors was continued by the Film Division in many forms and in increasing volume. The use of humour pioneered by the short films of Richard Massingham , continued. Where subjects and budgets allowed, many interesting films were made by first class creative directors.
Hopefully this account will provide some insight to some of the people involved down the years, with a few tales of challenges met and dealt with. By presenting the account as a web site it is intended that more individual contributions, memories, can be made and more information about films and videos included. The web site is not set in stone. It is a vehicle for an account of COI Film Division and its people to be recorded and remembered.
Over the years Film Division kept up with technological advance embracing technical change from film to videotape and beyond. It utilised, in later times, a whole range social media opportunities. It made use, for a time, of audio-visual presentations to convey messages about government initiatives to key audiences including the production of video walls. It used new technology at major overseas exhibitions such as the UK Pavilion at the Brisbane Expo. In the 1980s it initiated the use of interactive videodiscs followed by DVDs.
It produced a considerable volume of television programs for the Overseas Information Services of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for transmission by television stations in many countries. These programs were designed to project an image of a modern, innovative and friendly United Kingdom and were successfully distributed to, and transmitted, in some 63 countries around the world.
It is a story of some 66 years of a volume of film and television production much of it of a high technical and creative standard which was closed down by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012. There was no replacement for the COI. Now the procurement and control of such public service film production as there may be, is scattered among the various departments of government providing no clear picture of the extent or quality of the use of moving pictures in the public service.
The canvas for this account is a long one large stretching, as it does, over 66 years encompassing a body of work that is creative and, at the same time, closely related to the work of government political and departmental information needs. It reflects the changes over the years in levels of production a consequence of fluctuations in government expenditures and the influence of technological developments. The account has also covered the work of the Film Division as a whole as well as the production of films. For important though they were, the films relied on a substantial distribution and marketing effort. The Central Film Library was for many years the largest source of 16 mm film distribution in the UK. Its output was matched by the substantial Overseas Distribution Service who distributed films and television programs to over 100 countries as part of the projection of Britain overseas.
Given the spread of years it has seemed sensible to broadly divide this account into three periods. The first period 1946 to 1959 includes an uncertain start up period that was the early years and the problems encountered during that period by the continuation of the Crown Film Unit under the control of COI Film Division. Followed by a time of financial famine due to government cuts across all the information services in the early 1950s, followed by a gradual recovery and the first shoots of the Overseas Television Services in the latter half of the 1950s.
The second period is from 1960 to 1990 when the production of documentary films, television fillers and television commercials for the Home Departments (that is all departments of government excluding the Foreign office, the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office) not only recovered from the famine of the 1950s, it increased in volume. The period also saw the expansion of the Overseas Television Services.
Taken together the Home and Overseas production areas with their separate distribution operations flourished during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s apart from a few hiccups along the way, it was a good time to be part of the COI Film Division.
The third period starting in 1990, began with change, a rather drastic change as a consequence of COI as a whole moving from being a Repayment Department to that of an Executive Agency with a Trading Fund. This change led to a period of upheaval in the 1990s when some departments ceased working with COI but to some extent were balanced by new work for new agencies within government.
The net result for COI was a considerable loss of work and staff through the decade.
The 1990s and into the 2000s were a roller coaster period of diminution, growth and change eventually leading to a period of substantial boom in the final eight years leading up to the closure of COI in 2012. That year saw the end of the COI contribution to the use of moving pictures in the public service.
A major constraint in the production of this account has been the relative paucity of documentary evidence. When the National Film Archive (NFA) of the British Film Institute acquired the COI film archive, that is prints, negatives, master tapes, on the closure of COI, the material was in a less than desirable state. This was a consequence of earlier, badly conceived, decisions by COI, to outsource the archive to a commercial film library.
The paper files, the written records of COI Film Division were passed by COI to the National Archives (NA) at Kew. These records covering the history of COI Film Division and its people are also thin. Again the responsibility rests with COI. For example production records of films had been very extensively “weeded” by COI Film Division before handover The considerable gaps in the records over the years have been difficult to fill.
Some parts of this account include a some personal accounts by former colleagues and myself to provide an additional personal dimension. The rest is the result of research in available resources. Inevitably here are gaps, quite large gaps. By offering this account as a web site it is possible to offer the opportunity for those who may have more information or memories and to have them included in this account. It would be good to see the web site as a work in progress. An email address is offered, thoughts, memories, corrections and additional information to help to fill in the gaps are most welcome.
John Hall Director Films and Television Division 1983 to 1988