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Compare and contrast two films about shipbuilding from different decades. |
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| | | Author | Gemma Starkey | | | | Topic | Shipbuilding | | | | Key Words | Mitchell and Kenyon, shipbuilding, shipyard, employees, workers, propaganda, campaign film, jobs, unemployment, Clydeside, Cinema Action, dispute, work-in, political film, working class
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A lesson that explores the differences between 'actuality' film and propaganda.
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Both films in this lesson depict shipyard workers in Britain during the last century, but at very different moments in the fortunes of its industrial history. As the title suggests, Employees Leaving Vickers and Maxim's shows the workers of a Barrow-based shipbuilding firm leaving work at the end of the day. Shot in 1901 by filmmaking partners, James Kenyon and Sagar Mitchell, this film was commissioned to be shown at local fairgrounds, theatres and town halls across the country to as large an audience as possible: "See yourselves as others see you," was a typical phrase used on advertising placards. Given the large numbers of the population who were involved in heavy industry at this time, it was therefore unsurprising that Mitchell and Kenyon produced a series of 'factory gate' films having spotted their commercial potential.
UCS 1 is a campaign film created to highlight the plight of the Clydeside shipbuilders whose jobs were under threat due to the Conservative government's plan to close the shipyards in the early 1970s. Made by Cinema Action - a politically motivated collective whose intention was to make films by and for the working-class - UCS 1 records the occupation of the Upper Clyde Shipyard by its workers from the inside when all other press were excluded. This film typifies Cinema Action's approach to filmmaking by allowing those who were directly involved in the action to speak for themselves without any narrative commentary.
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Lesson Objective To understand the relationship between utility and reliability in source analysis and evaluate the utility of two films in answering question: How useful is this film to an historian studying the lives of shipyard workers in the early 1900s/1970s? To understand the relationship between utility and reliability in source analysis and evaluate the utility of two films in answering the question:
- How useful is this film to an historian studying the lives of shipyard workers in the early 1900s/1970s?
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Trailer Play through the whole of Mitchell and Kenyon: Employees Leaving Vickers and Maxim's (1901) followed by a couple of extracts from UCS 1 (1971) to the class. Some suggestions for suitable extracts from UCS 1:
- First 3 minutes provide a good visual comparison to the 1901 M&K film (of workers marching - campaigning for the right to work), while the opening speech illustrates what the rest of the film is about.
- 6 minutes in - a discussion about the difficulties of getting employment if you have no work experience in the shipyards.
- 8 minutes - about apprentices being trained for redundancy.
- Just over 13 minutes - reference to closing the shipyards means closing the gates of Scotland and turning it into a ghost town.
- 15 minutes in - outline of what the protest is about i.e. a demand for the right to work. Comparison to the 1926 General Strike.
- 20 minutes in - view of occupation of shipyards by workers from the inside. Final shots show a donation request which is good for highlighting the type of film this is.
In groups or pairs ask them to consider:
- Who is in the film?
- When was it shot?
- Where was it shot?
- What do they think the film is about?
- Who might have filmed it?
- Why do they think this film was made?
Can the groups see any parallels between the films? It might be useful for them to frame their answers to each question like this:
- "In this film I can see..."
- "Therefore this implies..."
So, for example:
- "I can see a black and white film (silent) which implies that this is very old film footage. I can see groups of men and boys dressed in working clothes which implies that this film might be about labourers and was shot outside a factory or place of work."
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Main Attraction Split the class into two and assign one half the Mitchell and Kenyon film and the other UCS 1. Ask them to do some research on their allocated films on Screenonline or, if you prefer, provide them with handouts. The following collections are useful to look at - Mitchell and Kenyon, Old Street Scenes, Cinema Action and Political Film (see links on the right).
Now get each half of the class to think about the following question in terms of their allocated film:
- How useful is this film to an historian studying the lives of shipyard workers in the early 1900s/1970s?
Taking into consideration their answers to the questions at the start of this activity and their research get each group to brainstorm:
- What can the source actually tell us?
- What are its limitations? And why?
Each group should present their findings back to the rest of the class. Finally ask them to mark on a scale of 1-10 how useful they think their source is. They should explain their reasoning for this.
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End Credits End the lesson with a screening of the short film The Making of Launch from our Shipbuilding Tour (under the Tours tab above). |
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External Links
Tales from the Shipyard DVD |
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Employees Leaving Vickers and Maxim's (1:21)
