[PLEASE NOTE: I am no longer updating this profile and will start dismantling it. Please refer to my profile on the Stirling University website for up-to-date information] Research Fellow, University of Stirling Co-ordinator - HoMER Network (History of Moviegoing, Exhibition and Reception) Phone: 01786 477521
Digitisation project funded by the Heritage Lottery, in collaboration with the Britannia Panoptic... more Digitisation project funded by the Heritage Lottery, in collaboration with the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall.
In the field of cinema history, an increased interest in social experience and context has challe... more In the field of cinema history, an increased interest in social experience and context has challenged the centrality of the film and the primacy of textual analysis. The ‘Early Cinema in Scotland, 1896–1927’ research project takes a contextual approach, using geo-database tools to facilitate collaboration. This article shows how spatially-enabled methods can also be mobilized to bring issues of representation back into a cinema history project. We argue that, when the films have not survived, their geographical descriptors as recorded by trade-press reviews and catalogues offer new avenues of analysis. The article argues that foregrounding location as a significant element in the film corpus creates a new point of interconnection between film text and context. The juxtapositions and divergences between the spatial patterns of film production and cinema exhibition are connected to pre-cinematic traditions of representation. The spatial distribution also sheds light on the differences between films made for local and international consumption, reflecting on Scotland's position in relation to discourses of modernity.
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2015
Selecting and booking films to make up a programme that suited a particular audience was a crucia... more Selecting and booking films to make up a programme that suited a particular audience was a crucial skill for exhibitors in the competitive conditions of the early cinema trade in Britain. This article argues that access to trade previews of the films was necessary for this choice to be meaningful, and it studies the emergence and regularisation of trade shows in Glasgow, Scotland, as an indicator of the forms of agency retained by independent cinema managers and renters. By documenting its different local manifestations up to 1920, the trade preview is shown to be a particular reception context, with its own spaces and codes of conduct. Furthermore, in a thriving non-metropolitan film trade, such as the Scottish one, it was an important social routine where informal networks could be nurtured and information shared. Thus, by looking at the micro-cosmos of the private projection room, it is possible to get a glimpse of how the trade functioned on the ground and how it understood its social position during a time of great upheaval, before it conformed to a more centralised, institutional model.
Growing interest in non-theatrical exhibition contexts is creating expanded, more diverse histori... more Growing interest in non-theatrical exhibition contexts is creating expanded, more diverse historical perspectives on the cinematic experience. Trade screenings, however, remain an under-researched form of film presentation. By documenting the early history of trade shows in Scotland, this paper argues that they constituted a particular reception context which was necessary for the material operation of a regional film trade as an economic sector, but also as a social sphere. The paper examines the changing conditions in which films were shown to the trade during the silent period, and considers the emergence of film reviewing as a localised practice in tension with industry trends. Access to film previews was a marker of the leverage held by different agents in the trade, and thus a study of this reception context sheds light on the changing power dynamic between local and international forces.
"While a film is reproducible and potentially ubiquitous, each show is a localised and unique eve... more "While a film is reproducible and potentially ubiquitous, each show is a localised and unique event. Distribution and programming practices thus enact the power shifts between the local and the international dimensions of the film trade. Studying how these practices changed in the process of emergence of institutional cinema, in the years around the First World War, sheds light on the forces that shaped the experience of cinema for audiences around the world.
This paper will ask where the films that Scottish audiences saw in the 1910s came from, tracing trends such as the rising dominance of American productions and looking at variations of programming practice geographically and across price categories. Presenting a quantitative analysis of a sample of Scottish programmes, I will argue that first-run city-centre cinemas did not necessarily have the most cosmopolitan programming policies. Because of its size and relative position, the Scottish market will be presented as an appropriate arena to study the effect of pressures from the production sector on exhibition and reception, through the transition to longer, more expensive films and exclusive distribution."
Connecting the individual products of the international film industry to the experience of local ... more Connecting the individual products of the international film industry to the experience of local audiences, distribution and programming are mediating practices that have only recently started to interest film historians. A focus on cinema programming, however, encourages the integration of the kinds of fragmentary evidence characteristic of a ‘history from below’ and opens up new questions and avenues for empirical research. This has been demonstrated by projects such as Cinema Context and the Siegen database. Drawing on work on early cinema in Scotland, I will discuss how a collection of cinema programmes can be handled and analysed comparatively using database tools, and what insights this might produce on the conditions of possibility for historical experiences of cinema.
The history of early cinema exhibition in Scotland is intertwined with that of pre-existent insti... more The history of early cinema exhibition in Scotland is intertwined with that of pre-existent institutions and cultural practices, often through their presence in the same spaces and venues. The interaction between those established practices and the new medium defined the field of forces that shaped the local cinema culture. This paper will use archival and press material to reveal the role of moving pictures in non-commercial forms of screen practice, focusing on the space of the public hall as a venue that supported a variety of events and spectacles. It will argue that the nature of public halls, schools, pavilions, etc., as non-specialized spaces provided a context for a form of experience that was different from that of the emergent institutional cinema, but also distinguishable from a purely attractions-based practice. The use of moving pictures by charitable organizations and individuals, by the Temperance and self-improvement movements, and by religious and civic groups, among others, will be considered in relation to the historical specificities of the Scottish case.
The idea for this paper arises from a comment by Luke McKernan during a coffee break at a confere... more The idea for this paper arises from a comment by Luke McKernan during a coffee break at a conference in Glasgow last year. At that stage in my research, I had the impression that the transition from travelling exhibition to variety programming, and then to feature programming, could be seen as a process of de-skilling of exhibitors. This, coupled with their loss of ownership of film prints due to the emergence of film renting, meant that the craft of cinema exhibition was an increasingly proletarian occupation. On the other hand, there were many skills particular to the new forms of exhibition, although these were mostly in the domain of management, rather than performance. My research on early cinema in Scotland suggested that, in both moments, those skills were not evenly distributed, and similarly performance practices showed considerable local and regional variation. At this point, my interlocutor asked if it would be possible to map what I had called showmanship skills, and to see how they had changed. This paper will report on my attempt to answer that question for the Scottish case. It uses geographically-referenced data sources on film exhibition, and considers the relationships between a number of variables, from the type of building and programme to the availability of tea and buns for afternoon shows. In doing so, it intends to interrogate not only the multiple and locally specific factors involved in the institutional transformation of cinema, but also the possibilities and problems of a data-heavy methodology.
Digitisation project funded by the Heritage Lottery, in collaboration with the Britannia Panoptic... more Digitisation project funded by the Heritage Lottery, in collaboration with the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall.
In the field of cinema history, an increased interest in social experience and context has challe... more In the field of cinema history, an increased interest in social experience and context has challenged the centrality of the film and the primacy of textual analysis. The ‘Early Cinema in Scotland, 1896–1927’ research project takes a contextual approach, using geo-database tools to facilitate collaboration. This article shows how spatially-enabled methods can also be mobilized to bring issues of representation back into a cinema history project. We argue that, when the films have not survived, their geographical descriptors as recorded by trade-press reviews and catalogues offer new avenues of analysis. The article argues that foregrounding location as a significant element in the film corpus creates a new point of interconnection between film text and context. The juxtapositions and divergences between the spatial patterns of film production and cinema exhibition are connected to pre-cinematic traditions of representation. The spatial distribution also sheds light on the differences between films made for local and international consumption, reflecting on Scotland's position in relation to discourses of modernity.
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2015
Selecting and booking films to make up a programme that suited a particular audience was a crucia... more Selecting and booking films to make up a programme that suited a particular audience was a crucial skill for exhibitors in the competitive conditions of the early cinema trade in Britain. This article argues that access to trade previews of the films was necessary for this choice to be meaningful, and it studies the emergence and regularisation of trade shows in Glasgow, Scotland, as an indicator of the forms of agency retained by independent cinema managers and renters. By documenting its different local manifestations up to 1920, the trade preview is shown to be a particular reception context, with its own spaces and codes of conduct. Furthermore, in a thriving non-metropolitan film trade, such as the Scottish one, it was an important social routine where informal networks could be nurtured and information shared. Thus, by looking at the micro-cosmos of the private projection room, it is possible to get a glimpse of how the trade functioned on the ground and how it understood its social position during a time of great upheaval, before it conformed to a more centralised, institutional model.
Growing interest in non-theatrical exhibition contexts is creating expanded, more diverse histori... more Growing interest in non-theatrical exhibition contexts is creating expanded, more diverse historical perspectives on the cinematic experience. Trade screenings, however, remain an under-researched form of film presentation. By documenting the early history of trade shows in Scotland, this paper argues that they constituted a particular reception context which was necessary for the material operation of a regional film trade as an economic sector, but also as a social sphere. The paper examines the changing conditions in which films were shown to the trade during the silent period, and considers the emergence of film reviewing as a localised practice in tension with industry trends. Access to film previews was a marker of the leverage held by different agents in the trade, and thus a study of this reception context sheds light on the changing power dynamic between local and international forces.
"While a film is reproducible and potentially ubiquitous, each show is a localised and unique eve... more "While a film is reproducible and potentially ubiquitous, each show is a localised and unique event. Distribution and programming practices thus enact the power shifts between the local and the international dimensions of the film trade. Studying how these practices changed in the process of emergence of institutional cinema, in the years around the First World War, sheds light on the forces that shaped the experience of cinema for audiences around the world.
This paper will ask where the films that Scottish audiences saw in the 1910s came from, tracing trends such as the rising dominance of American productions and looking at variations of programming practice geographically and across price categories. Presenting a quantitative analysis of a sample of Scottish programmes, I will argue that first-run city-centre cinemas did not necessarily have the most cosmopolitan programming policies. Because of its size and relative position, the Scottish market will be presented as an appropriate arena to study the effect of pressures from the production sector on exhibition and reception, through the transition to longer, more expensive films and exclusive distribution."
Connecting the individual products of the international film industry to the experience of local ... more Connecting the individual products of the international film industry to the experience of local audiences, distribution and programming are mediating practices that have only recently started to interest film historians. A focus on cinema programming, however, encourages the integration of the kinds of fragmentary evidence characteristic of a ‘history from below’ and opens up new questions and avenues for empirical research. This has been demonstrated by projects such as Cinema Context and the Siegen database. Drawing on work on early cinema in Scotland, I will discuss how a collection of cinema programmes can be handled and analysed comparatively using database tools, and what insights this might produce on the conditions of possibility for historical experiences of cinema.
The history of early cinema exhibition in Scotland is intertwined with that of pre-existent insti... more The history of early cinema exhibition in Scotland is intertwined with that of pre-existent institutions and cultural practices, often through their presence in the same spaces and venues. The interaction between those established practices and the new medium defined the field of forces that shaped the local cinema culture. This paper will use archival and press material to reveal the role of moving pictures in non-commercial forms of screen practice, focusing on the space of the public hall as a venue that supported a variety of events and spectacles. It will argue that the nature of public halls, schools, pavilions, etc., as non-specialized spaces provided a context for a form of experience that was different from that of the emergent institutional cinema, but also distinguishable from a purely attractions-based practice. The use of moving pictures by charitable organizations and individuals, by the Temperance and self-improvement movements, and by religious and civic groups, among others, will be considered in relation to the historical specificities of the Scottish case.
The idea for this paper arises from a comment by Luke McKernan during a coffee break at a confere... more The idea for this paper arises from a comment by Luke McKernan during a coffee break at a conference in Glasgow last year. At that stage in my research, I had the impression that the transition from travelling exhibition to variety programming, and then to feature programming, could be seen as a process of de-skilling of exhibitors. This, coupled with their loss of ownership of film prints due to the emergence of film renting, meant that the craft of cinema exhibition was an increasingly proletarian occupation. On the other hand, there were many skills particular to the new forms of exhibition, although these were mostly in the domain of management, rather than performance. My research on early cinema in Scotland suggested that, in both moments, those skills were not evenly distributed, and similarly performance practices showed considerable local and regional variation. At this point, my interlocutor asked if it would be possible to map what I had called showmanship skills, and to see how they had changed. This paper will report on my attempt to answer that question for the Scottish case. It uses geographically-referenced data sources on film exhibition, and considers the relationships between a number of variables, from the type of building and programme to the availability of tea and buns for afternoon shows. In doing so, it intends to interrogate not only the multiple and locally specific factors involved in the institutional transformation of cinema, but also the possibilities and problems of a data-heavy methodology.
What does a ‘historical constellation’ look like? Vitali and Willemen (2006), describing films as... more What does a ‘historical constellation’ look like? Vitali and Willemen (2006), describing films as ‘clusters of historically specific cultural forms’, have argued that the study of national cinemas should seek to understand ‘the dynamics that shape a cultural practice such as cinema in diverse historical constellations’. For this poster I tried different statistical techniques and here I explain how Multiple Correspondence Analysis can be used to produce a graphical mapping of a group of films. MCA offers a way to visualise structure and relationships, but can it help the researcher understand the historical forces that shape these ‘clusters’?
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This paper will ask where the films that Scottish audiences saw in the 1910s came from, tracing trends such as the rising dominance of American productions and looking at variations of programming practice geographically and across price categories. Presenting a quantitative analysis of a sample of Scottish programmes, I will argue that first-run city-centre cinemas did not necessarily have the most cosmopolitan programming policies. Because of its size and relative position, the Scottish market will be presented as an appropriate arena to study the effect of pressures from the production sector on exhibition and reception, through the transition to longer, more expensive films and exclusive distribution."
This paper will report on my attempt to answer that question for the Scottish case. It uses geographically-referenced data sources on film exhibition, and considers the relationships between a number of variables, from the type of building and programme to the availability of tea and buns for afternoon shows. In doing so, it intends to interrogate not only the multiple and locally specific factors involved in the institutional transformation of cinema, but also the possibilities and problems of a data-heavy methodology.
This paper will ask where the films that Scottish audiences saw in the 1910s came from, tracing trends such as the rising dominance of American productions and looking at variations of programming practice geographically and across price categories. Presenting a quantitative analysis of a sample of Scottish programmes, I will argue that first-run city-centre cinemas did not necessarily have the most cosmopolitan programming policies. Because of its size and relative position, the Scottish market will be presented as an appropriate arena to study the effect of pressures from the production sector on exhibition and reception, through the transition to longer, more expensive films and exclusive distribution."
This paper will report on my attempt to answer that question for the Scottish case. It uses geographically-referenced data sources on film exhibition, and considers the relationships between a number of variables, from the type of building and programme to the availability of tea and buns for afternoon shows. In doing so, it intends to interrogate not only the multiple and locally specific factors involved in the institutional transformation of cinema, but also the possibilities and problems of a data-heavy methodology.