Today, Liana, Torran and Nadia worked on the webpage. We had planned out the layout yesterday, so we started writing up the information online. We also uploaded all of the images and documents we decided to digitise. Formatting was a very fiddly process, but we managed to finish it to a good standard. We also then planned the presentation for tomorrow.

Adam, Janet and George worked on editing the interview with Don Boyd, adding in some clips from Aria and cutting the videos from the cameras together. We added credits and a title image, and managed to sync the audio from our main camera with the footage from the others so that we had a steady sound throughout.

This morning Don Boyd came in and we all looked through the documents we wanted to digitise to get his approval. We then proceeded to set up the interview space, which everyone contributed to. With Torrin and Liana as interviewers, Adam, Janet and Nadia filming and George doing lights and sound, we interviewed Don Boyd. The interview lasted about 45 minutes but hopefully we will be able to shorten the finished interview. Don Boyd is a lovely, friendly person and a great interviewee. There were some technical problems during the recording such as airplanes, knocking over glasses, and battery/memory card issues. Adam, George and Janet spent the afternoon tirelessly editing the film together, while Nadia, Liana and Torren scanned in the documents we wanted to digitise, wrote a transcript of a significant diary entry, and began considering the layout of the website.

On the second day of our challenge, the group managed to identify a number of key items from the ‘Aria’ collection that managed to capture some of the most significant developments in the film’s production history. Preparations also began in earnest for the interview with producer Don Boyd tomorrow, testing out the camera and film editing equipment, as well as preparing suitable questions. Here are some specific impressions from the day:

Day two went smoothly. We sorted through the things that we will put on the website. We also did some preparation for tomorrow’s interview with Don Boyd; we came up with questions to ask Don and tried our hands on the camera and the other equipment. – Janet Novelia

Carrying on from the day before we sorted out the items we had found and decided on which we wanted to upload. We also thought of questions to ask in the interview, and got used to using the cameras and the lighting equipment, as well as practicing editing some video. – George Samways

We chose the items we wanted to present to Don for approval for digitisation. We also looked through the documents we had that could inform our questioning. We devised the questioning together, and then wrote up our finalised questions. – Liana Green

Today we selected which items we intend to use for the website, and tested the equipment for tomorrow’s interview. We also gathered questions in preparation, and did a mock interview. – Nadia Teare

Tomorrow morning, and the early part of the afternoon, will be dedicated to the interview with Don, with the rest being spent on editing down the resulting footage whilst scanning and writing caption text for the primary materials identified today.

On this first day of the challenge, our group began the process of sorting through some of the wide array of materials that are housed in the Bill Douglas Museum archives relating to Don Boyd’s Aria, identifying any items of note and beginning the process of considering whether they might make a worthy addition to the website feature we are developing. Here are some of our specific thoughts thus far:

Looking at the archive information about Aria, it was interesting to see how the publicity information seemed eager to compare the film to Disney’s Fantasia – especially as the fusion between opera and visuals is very thematically different from the more child-friendly film. – Adam Smith

I found some documents relating to the trailer for Aria, and was interested to see the comments about how it should be portrayed, such as a request for the trailer to be given a U rating. There was also some interesting correspondence about the publicity for the film near its air date with the distributors of the film. – George Samways

Looking through the letters and agreements between Don and the music companies was interesting. Seeing how everything came together and how the production was taking shape is certainly something new. – Janet Novelia

The most interesting documentation I found was the casting information for Bruce Beresford’s segment. This included polaroid’s of the prospective cast, including Don’s initial impressions of Elizabeth Hurley. I also read a lot of correspondence between Don and various people, such as directors and bank correspondence. – Liana Green

I found some of the early correspondence from Don Boyd to prospective directors. It was interesting to see the initial vision for the film, and his ideas about the intended audience, such as that it should not be limited to music buffs. – Nadia Teare

Tomorrow, we shall be continuing the process of sifting through some of the available items, before commencing the actual process of digitising the material.

Welcome to the challenge blog!