Billy Newman with film reel
Dublin Core
Title
Billy Newman with film reel
Subject
Cork Film Festival, Billy Newman
Description
This undated black and white photo shows Billy Newman holding up a film reel while examining a strip of film against the light. He is dressed in a dapper glen-check tartan jacket accessorised with a flower on the left lapel and is shown in profile smiling as he examines the filmstrip.
Billy Newman worked as a films officer for the festival since its inception in 1956. He was responsible for the logistics of film distribution from other festivals to Cork and would personally deliver and retrieve the film reels from the various venues around Cork. The films would be viewed by the festival jury in a studio situated over Paddy Barry’s pub (now Gallagher’s) on the corner of Bridge Street and McCurtain Street. Once the festival was over it was Newman’s job to send the film reels onto their next film festival destination. In the early days most of the organisers of the festival were amateurs and Billy Newman would use a week of his yearly holiday to work for the festival on a voluntary basis.
This picture is of interest too because of the film reel itself. Thomas Edison is often credited with making the first camera in the 1890s and film reel was invented alongside the advent of motion-picture cameras. It is traditional to discuss the length of films in terms of ‘reels’ with each reel designed to hold 35-millimeter motion-picture film running approximately 1,000 feet which translates as approximately 11 minutes for sound film. The job of the projectionist was to ensure the smooth transition of a reel-to-reel changeover. The advent of a 'two-reeler' gave the projectionist 2,000 feet of film to play with before the transition. A standard Hollywood movie entailed five 'two-reelers' until of course the advent of digitisation meant the end of conventional movie projectors and the necessity of heavy rolls of film, much like the one that Billy Newman is holding up here.
Billy Newman worked as a films officer for the festival since its inception in 1956. He was responsible for the logistics of film distribution from other festivals to Cork and would personally deliver and retrieve the film reels from the various venues around Cork. The films would be viewed by the festival jury in a studio situated over Paddy Barry’s pub (now Gallagher’s) on the corner of Bridge Street and McCurtain Street. Once the festival was over it was Newman’s job to send the film reels onto their next film festival destination. In the early days most of the organisers of the festival were amateurs and Billy Newman would use a week of his yearly holiday to work for the festival on a voluntary basis.
This picture is of interest too because of the film reel itself. Thomas Edison is often credited with making the first camera in the 1890s and film reel was invented alongside the advent of motion-picture cameras. It is traditional to discuss the length of films in terms of ‘reels’ with each reel designed to hold 35-millimeter motion-picture film running approximately 1,000 feet which translates as approximately 11 minutes for sound film. The job of the projectionist was to ensure the smooth transition of a reel-to-reel changeover. The advent of a 'two-reeler' gave the projectionist 2,000 feet of film to play with before the transition. A standard Hollywood movie entailed five 'two-reelers' until of course the advent of digitisation meant the end of conventional movie projectors and the necessity of heavy rolls of film, much like the one that Billy Newman is holding up here.
Creator
University College Cork, Cork Film Festival, Bateman Photography
Source
Cork Film Festival Collection
Publisher
University College Cork
Contributor
Bateman Photography
Rights
©Bateman Photography. All rights reserved. Please credit Cork International Film Festival & provide a link back to this site.
Format
Photo
TIFF
JPEG
TIFF
JPEG
Language
English, eng
Coverage
Cork, Ireland
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Photo
Physical Dimensions
241 x 192mm
Collection
Citation
University College Cork, Cork Film Festival, Bateman Photography, “Billy Newman with film reel,” Cork International Film Festival Archive, accessed December 22, 2024, https://corkfilmfest.ucc.ie/items/show/215.