Speed of Light Film - 2017 FOCAL International Award Winner

We are thrilled that Dog and Duck Films has won the prestigious FOCAL International Award for Best Use of Footage on other Platforms for their short film about Terence Donovan.

The FOCAL International Awards celebrate achievement in the use of footage in all variety of genres, across all media platforms plus its restoration. Producers, filmmakers and other creative professionals who have used library footage in all variety of genre including a documentary, feature film plus any other form of production or across all media platforms over the last year have submitted their work for consideration. These awards are the leading and most complete set of awards for the archive footage business in the world today.

Dog and Duck Films was asked by the Archive and The Photographers’ Gallery to create a short film to accompany the 2016 exhibition ‘Speed of Light’; the first major retrospective of Terence Donovan’s work. With the use of genuinely unseen and unheard archive footage and audio the short film shows Terence at work in his studio in the early 1950s through to one of the last interviews he gave in the 1990s. In his own words he describes his unique approach to the art and craft of photography.

One of the key elements is footage that James Hunt (an expert archive footage researcher) found from a very obscure archive not normally accessible (or even known) to researchers. It has genuinely never been seen before and was transferred to HD only after protracted negotiations. Because the film was shown in the same space as the major photographic retrospective the images had to be unique and distinctive enough to stand out from those on the walls around them, which they do magnificently. Dog and Duck were also determined to find the right audio of Terence, so he could tell his own story. The finished film was an invaluable addition to the exhibition.

Produced and Directed by Paul Bell & James Hunt, of Dog and Duck Films.