Originally posted on 25 February 2013 by London Museums Group #LMGBlogArchive #LMGBlogArchiveProject
Why are we doing this?
The LSA Calendar ‘App’ is a new opportunity to show film from the LSA network to the public, reaching potentially new, large audiences online and promoting the individual collections. It also links us into the larger network of Regional Film Archives, with whom we will collaborate on a national version of the calendar.
What is it?
The app will be gifted to London-relevant websites and features a 45s – 1 min clip each week, with notes, logos, links and details of the holding archive provided on a click-through microsite. New films appear each Monday, and are linked to the week in which they appear eg snowball fights in winter, the barbican for the anniversary of the barbican’s opening, films about homes to coincide with the Ideal Home Show, kisses for Valentines Day. Numbers of visitors and where they have come from will be measured and reported.
How does it work?
The App is designed to integrate easily with all websites – all it requires is a space of 230 x 340 pixels, and someone to input a single line of web code – that’s it. The database and streaming are hosted elsewhere, and there are no costs involved.
Want to see an example?
The Calendar is up and running on a range of sites including http://filmlondon.org.uk/networks/lsa and http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ca-archives.htm
Where are the films coming from?
Film London has curated the first 8 weeks of content using films from recent digitisation projects. Following that, all LSA archives will be invited to submit suggestions to Film London, who will continue to manage the process. Clips need to work when very small (and potentially silent), ideally have some drama and be strongly visual. Logos for LSA, Film London and the holding archive will be placed at the end of each clip, and a still will serve as a placeholder before the viewer presses ‘play’.
When will it start?
The app will go live from the first week of February, after which the Calendar will run indefinitely.
What do I need to do?
Three things.
1. Host the app on your own website.
2. Invite other organisations to host the app – local history societies, WIs, heritage organisations, friends groups etc.
3. Find short, striking clips from your own collections and a reason (can be quite tenuous!) for them to link to a particular week of the year.