I.A.Recordings
Industrial Archaeology
I.A.Recordings
Industrial
Archaeology
I.A.Recordings make video records of working industry as well as the remains of past industries.
We believe that with the accelerating pace of technological change it is most important to capture the methods and processes of a working environment whenever the opportunity arises.
We are constantly on the alert for threatened firms and industries, so if you
know of an old skill or trade that you feel should be recorded, please get in
touch with us.
We do our best to respond to all "endangered sites" calls.
We impose no restriction on the industrial subjects we record, but tend to favour those with a significant historical interest, for example, existing firms carrying on an ancient trade (Hand Made Bricks), or those about to close after a long career of manufacture (Hand Rolling of Steel).
We take great care when recording an industrial process, not to influence events in any way. This "Fly-on-the-wall" technique ensures that we produce a factual record of the process, rather than a documentary which is traditionally someone's personal interpretation of events. As a result of this, we have become adept at recording in difficult, cramped and dangerous environments such as working mines and steelworks.
We
shoot and edit with broadcast and professional equipment and techniques using
BetaCam SP for archive longevity or 1125-line HDV for high definition, but the organisation is
purely voluntary with no paid officers. Despite this, we have our own equipment, so we rarely have to rely on others for facilities. This ensures that we are ready for short-notice 'call-outs' and we can use odd moments of time for editing.
Our edit suite has the very latest high definition digital playback, editing and DVD production equipment side-by-side with some of the premium broadcast technology of the 1980's: an Ampex VPR-80 One inch C format machine, a Sony DVR-1000 D1 digital VTR (the world's first digital video recorder) and a Sony BVW70 Betacam SP ... Industrial Archaeology of broadcasting?
We have a large amount of material that we have not yet had time to make into Productions or Compilations. Subjects include a foundry, several waterworks, a drop forge, various abandoned mine and brick work sites, wool weaving, a cliff railway, working coal mines, rebuilding and launching a wooden narrowboat and three transporter bridges! See the A-Z index for a list.
I.A.Recordings was officially founded in 1982, but we have been shooting historic video material since 1978 when we hired portable VHS equipment to make our first recordings! One early project is still available as a compilation, 'Keays Boatyard' because it is a unique historical record, but of course it is very low quality compared with what we did from 1982 onwards!
For more information about us, have a look at the FAQ page.
Most of our work is funded solely by ourselves and we hope to recoup the costs from sales of tapes & DVD-Rs. Occasionally, we are commissioned by another organisation like British Waterways, the Upper Severn Navigation Trust or the National Waterways Museum to work on their own projects. Sight Seen Partnerships are another good example: we produced the titles "Towpath Encounter", Warehouse at Work", "Last Run from Anglesey", "A Tanner a Night" and "Topcloth and Tippet" for them, shooting and editing the material to their specification. They are all excellent productions benefiting from the scriptwriting and direction of leading waterways personalities Tony Lewery and Glyn Philips. They are available from Sight Seen Partnerships at Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.
If you need material on a given subject, first check the
Video
Subject Index. If you cannot find what you want, please enquire via e-mail, via 
(To stop 'spam', this address must be typed in manually!) or mail.
Unedited copies of material on individual subjects from the archive can be supplied on any video format
for viewing purposes only, for a nominal charge to cover cost of tape, postage
etc. (The subject index only covers main video subjects. Our
photographic archive covers a much larger number of sites.)
We
specialise in recording our own material rather than exploiting existing
historic films, but if you know of some film or video footage of any format that
deserves wider circulation, we would be happy to add it to our catalogue,
credited clearly to the original producer. We would have to have a written
statement that you have the copyright of all content, including any music,
before publicising such material.
An extra charge to cover copyright is made for any of our own material which individuals or institutions wish to incorporate into their own productions. Material from our video archive has been used in this way by the National Trust, British Waterways, Independent television and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
All VHS copies have both Hi-fi (FM) and Longitudinal (no Noise Reduction) sound tracks. DVD-R copies have Dolby AC-3 sound. All Productions and Compilations are supplied in attractive library cases with full-colour printed labels.
Independent reviews of many of our tapes and DVD-Rs are available.
We can supply Productions, Compilations and transfer material on any PAL video format, including:- LaserVision Video Disc, CRV disc, 1" C format, Betacam, Digital Betacam, U-matic low; high and SP, VHS (NTSC or PAL), SVHS, Betamax, Video 8, Hi8, D1, D3, D5, D9, DV, DVCPro, DVCam, DVD+R (PAL or NTSC), DVD-R (PAL or NTSC), etc. Audio material can be supplied on 1/4" tape, cassette, DAT, MiniDisc or CD.
We are gradually making all our titles available on DVD-R.
All video material listed in these pages is original, copyright
© I.A.Recordings, various dates 1978 to
present.
All the pictorial images used for illustrating tapes and DVD-Rs in these pages
are taken directly from video.
The First Industrial Archaeology Web Site? A Lycos search for "Industrial Archaeology" in 1995 listed only our pages and two U.S. university courses. We are proud to have been the first on the web with Industrial Archaeology as the main subject! Special Interest Video ? We might have invented the phrase - It's what we've been doing since '78!
I.A.Recordings also designs and builds electronic equipment to aid its industrial history recording work,
such as MineCam
and Borg.
See the FAQ page for more information.
Back to
I.A.Recordings
Home Page
Last modified 07/03/05
