Access to Film and Video Works: Surrogates for Moving Image Documents Page: 70

                                
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organization  a  searcher may well have access to production
materials, shot lists or sequence lists, provided   by  cata-
logers,   personal knowledge, and     the  results  of  other
researchers' studies as search aids.
The American Archive of   Factual  Film  at  Iowa  State
University  provides   researchers  access to over 7000 films
through the Spires data base.
Elements  within  the   data  base  which  can   be
accessed include, for example, such essential film
information   as:   film   technique    (animation,
line[sic]-action, etc.), date of release or copy-
right,  language, country    of  origin, color   or
black-and-white, sound    or  silent, as   well  as
title, producer,   director,   sponsor, and   other
credits.....Most  important, the    entire computer,
file of factual films can be searched by the scho-
lar  by subject. Such subject searching, itself a
complex but extremely valuable   means  of  access,
relies on an extensive basic list of subject head-
ings developed by the AAFF. These headings    cover
the  intent  of  the  film (whether for education,
advertising, training), genre (is   it  a documen-
tary, sponsored   film, or    a dramatization), and
subject descriptors... <19>
Such elements within a database structure do give a searcher
considerable   power and    flexibility.   "Film  technique",
"intent", and "genre" headings do give   some  indication  of
depiction, though only at a low level of specificity.
The summary contained within the AAFF entry   for  "Nuit
et Brouillard" by    Resnais   tells us that the film is "now
famous" and is about "the human degradation and   horrors  of
Nazi  concentration   camps".   Consideration of technique is
limited to "contrasts graphic film and   photos  of...   with
peaceful  views of the camps as they are now". Finally, the

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