March 2008: BBC Post Production, part of BBC Resources Ltd, has transferred 420 hours of original film onto high quality digital videotape, bringing 2800 titles from the National Library of Scotland's master collection into public access for the first time.

The archive covers more than a hundred years of Scottish history in film and video. Among the clips are economic changes in Caithness from the Dounreay nuclear power plant, and sprinter Alan Wells preparing for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Archive specialists at BBC Post Production transferred over one million feet of film. They had to deal with a wide range of film formats (35mm, 16mm, 8mm, Super 8mm, 9.5mm) and speed changes to ensure they were compatible for the National Library of Scotland's online catalogue.

The project was funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, which awarded the Scottish Screen Archive funds to enhance physical access to the film. The archive was designated a national collection and in April 2007 it transferred from Scottish Screen to the stewardship of the National Library of Scotland.

Details of the content of the newly accessible material are available on the Scottish Screen archive's online catalogue www.nls.uk/ssa. 1000 clips complement and illustrate the catalogue text.

Tim Emblem-English, Archive Specialist, BBC Post Production says, "This has been an absorbing and rewarding project. Over the last eighteen months we have had to handle every film format from 8mm to 35mm and much of it has been speed corrected to keep faith with the original filming speed and audio when available. It is good to realise that our efforts have enabled much wider public access to this material."

Janet McBain, Curator, Scottish Screen Archive: "BBC Post Production's commitment to excellence was unsurpassed and they met all the quirks of technology that obsolete film formats and our specialist requirements threw at them. That our project came in on timetable and on budget is in no small part due to the efficient and high quality service we received from the team in the Telecine suite".

For further information, please contact:

Georgie Hollett, Head of Communications, BBC Studios and Post Production
Tel: +44 (0)20 8624 9495
Mobile : +44 (0) 783484 5612
Email : georgie.hollett@bbc.co.uk

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