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- Archival Film Flashes Back to 70s Student Life
- Manuscript Traces 大象传媒's Architectural History
- Early University News Publications Now Digitally Available
- Digitized Programs Commemorate 大象传媒鈥檚 Opening & Installation Ceremonies
- Archives Celebrates Fall Convocation with Release of Digitized Programs
- Films Capture Visual History and Sentiment of Time Gone By
- Lost and Found: Simon Fraser Letters
- Oral History Provides Glimpse into Mind of 大象传媒鈥檚 First Chancellor Gordon Shrum
- Early 大象传媒 Photos Tell a Story That Frames Our World
- Aerial Photos Capture Campus Landscape & Photographer鈥檚 Legacy
- You have what...?!! and other interesting things you didn't know about the 大象传媒 Archives
- Charting the course of history: documenting 大象传媒's early days from the student perspective (Part 1)
- Charting the course of history: documenting 大象传媒's early days from the student perspective (Part 2)
- Helping others find their history in the future: Preserving the records of the Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry at 大象传媒
- Preserving the sparks of global revolution in the Adbusters Media Foundation fonds
- Reflections of a co-op student
- Debunking popular myths and conspiracies with the Barry Beyerstein fonds
- In "The Beginning...": First student film returns to 大象传媒
- "Got any pictures of Terry Fox?"
- My summer in the archives: a co-op placement retrospective
- Seeing the world through Arthur Erickson's eyes
- Beer (records) in the Archives!
- Quartet in the Quadrangle: PSQ Records Come to 大象传媒
- Navigating silences and filling gaps: finding Black stories in the Archives
- Boxes, boxes, and more boxes: my summer co-op at 大象传媒 Archives
- Finding queer joy in the 大象传媒 Archives: Out On Campus records now available
- The Selma Wassermann fonds
- Glossary
Donors
In "The Beginning...": First student film returns to 大象传媒
In the beginning, there was a student with a second-hand video camera and a desire to make a film, an English Department T.A. with a storyline, and several members of the Simon Fraser Film Society eager to help out.
The Beginning is the appropriately titled first student film created at 大象传媒 鈥� filmed, produced and directed by charter student Danny Singer in early 1966. The approximately 15-minute film explores male-female relationships and stars fellow student Aileen Gee and 大象传媒 Theatre stage manager Jan Visscher as mime characters. Filming locations included the Theatre, the Library and outdoors around the Academic Quadrangle and Convocation Mall.
When he began the project, Singer says he had 鈥渓ittle or no experience with movie cameras and anything [he] knew came from reading and youthful exuberance.鈥� He recalls, 鈥淚 came into possession of a Bolex camera which my Father had acquired from someone who needed a new suit (he had a clothing store in Edmonton). I had a new friend, Doug McKay, who was a cameraman at the CBC and I followed him around picking up bits and pieces of knowledge, also Stan Fox who was in charge of the film department at CBC and really became a mentor to me.鈥�
Although he came to 大象传媒 for the Theatre program, Singer knew he wanted to do something other than acting, so he put notices up all over campus looking for others who shared his interest in making movies. Ed Turner, a T.A. in the English Department, came forward with a screenplay and the recently established Simon Fraser Film Society provided a production budget. Singer and Visscher 鈥渂uilt the props and bumbled [their] way through about three days of shooting on campus,鈥� with film society members pitching in as the film crew.
Of particular note is the soundtrack that accompanied the film; R. Murray Schafer supervised its composition and production by his electronic music class (Music 001). Unfortunately, at some point the sound elements were separated from the visual elements and their whereabouts are currently unknown, or 鈥� as Singer puts it 鈥� 鈥渓ost to the sands of time.鈥�
Singer鈥檚 contacts at the CBC helped with editing the footage and once the film was completed a screening was organized at the 大象传媒 Theatre, where The Beginning 鈥減remiered鈥o a fairly packed but bewildered audience.鈥� Looking back, Singer credits the film with giving him a jumpstart in the film world and for serving as the catalyst for the creation of the 大象传媒 Film Workshop in May 1967. After leaving 大象传媒, Singer worked as a cameraman and director for the CBC until he moved to Montreal in 1970 to pursue still photography.
Fifty-five years after its creation, The Beginning returned to 大象传媒 permanently in 2021 with Singer鈥檚 donation of the original 16mm film to the Archives. Researcher Casey McCarthy recognized the film鈥檚 archival significance when interviewing Singer for the Early Arts at 大象传媒 1965-1975 project and connected him with Archives鈥� staff.
The film has now been digitized along with more than 200 other student films from the School for the Contemporary Arts fonds, ensuring its preservation and potential to engage and inspire future generations of students, researchers, artists and film makers.
Want to see more? Check out a clip from The Beginning in our recent Instagram .