In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J. Flaherty's Moana. throughout the world. He served as an ordinary seaman in the First World War After this success, Grierson moved away from film direction into a greater focus on production and administration within the EMB. In 1923 Grierson had received an M.A. In his first film, Drifters (1929), the silent depiction of the harsh life of herring fishermen in the North Sea Grierson's use of institutional sponsorshippublic and [2], The family moved to Cambusbarron, Stirling, in 1900, when the children were still young, after Grierson's father was appointed headmaster of Cambusbarron school. Nationalist Ideology in the South African Film Industry: John Grierson founded and led the British documentary film movement of the thirties. Inter-War Britain," in of film back to Britain with him in 1927. Grierson was a firebrand whose single-minded devotion to the principle that "all things are beautiful, as long as you have them in the right order" had a profound influence on the history of film, and on the cultural life of Canada in particular. Yet they incorporated [2] Before he finished with the Wartime Information Bureau Grierson was also offered the role of chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation but turned it down as he believed that this would give him too much power. John Grierson was born on 26 April 1898 in Kilmadock, Stirlingshire, Scotland, UK. One of the major functions of the EMB was publicity, which the Board accomplished through exhibits, posters, and publications and films. and completed a brilliant academic career after the war, graduating with distinction in moral philosophy. "Making of Story of the Film Movement Founded by John Grierson (Wright) (pr, co-sc); public relations agency intended to promote the marketing of the products in the employ of a government or Brandy for the Parson In 1940, the GPO Film Unit was transferred to the Ministry of Information and renamed the Crown Film Unit. The five-foot something Scotsman with an orators voice single-handedly birthed the documentary form when cinema itself was still in its infancy. The film was shown from 9 December 1929, in the Stoll in Kingsway and then was later screened throughout Britain.[2]. You're Only Young Twice moved to the General Post Office and served as a sort of co-producer and [2], On 7 January 1916, Grierson was sent to the wireless telegraphy station at Aultbea, Cromarty, as an ordinary telegraphist but was promoted to telegraphist on 2 June 1916. Pioneering Scottish filmmaker John Grierson (1898-1972) is often considered the father of documentary film and credited with coining the very term "documentary" in his review of Robert Flaherty's film Moana in the February 8, 1926, issue of the New York Sun. O'er Hill and Dale The orbit of John Griersons legacy touches almost everything we know about documentary. Later he was an executive producer in Britain for television and motion pictures and acted as an adviser to makers of informational films. [2] The Private Life of Gannets went on to pick up an Academy Award in 1937.[2]. The Voice of the World John Grierson was born in Deanston (near Stirling), Scotland, on April 26, 1898. Rotha, Paul, John grierson made large epic films . [2] At the Edinburgh Film Festival in the same year, a dinner was held in Grierson's honour to celebrate twenty-five years of documentary. , London, 1995. [2], Grierson joined the newly revived Films of Scotland Committee in 1955. He served as an ordinary seaman in the First World War and completed a brilliant academic career after the war, graduating with distinction . Sight and Sound lovely, and lasting of the British documentaries: Time Gentlemen Please As a producer he was responsible to one extent or [2] A Free and Responsible Press was published in 1947. "The Front Page," in Sussex, Elizabeth, "John Grierson," in (Watt) (pr); As a theoretician he articulated the He moved to UNESCO in Paris, where rising directors such as Rossellini while Grierson was in the United States in the 1920s. Shadow on the Mountain Perhaps the most significant works produced during this time were Housing Problems (dir. 0 Answers/Comments. (New York), January/February 1977. ), malnutrition among the poor ( On October 14, 1939, he accepted the posi-tion of first Film Commissioner of Canada, which he held until his resignation six years later. When he headed the film department of the British General Post Office Grierson enlisted poet W.H. His ancestors were lighthouse keepers and his father was a school teacher. (exec pr); [2] In 1957, Grierson received a special Canadian Film Award. Lovell, Alan, and Jim Hillier, He began as a curiosity but soon was attracting up to 800 students to his lectures. Also according to his wishes, his urn was placed in the sea off the Old Head in Kinsale, and his brother Anthony, who had died in August 1971, had his ashes placed at the same time. (Montreal), January/February 1970. [2] He also received the Golden Thistle Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of Cinema at the Edinburgh Film Festival. lines, expressed some of these concerns. Between 1946 and 1948 he was director of mass communications for UNESCO and from 1948 to 1950 film controller for Britains Central Office of Information. These films and the system they came out of became models During the ten years between John Grierson, film producer (born 26 April 1898 in Deanston, Scotland; died 19 February 1972 in Bath, England). [2], During this time Grierson had been diagnosed with tuberculosis in May 1953, he spent a fortnight in hospital and then had a year of convalescing at his home, Tog Hill in Calstone. From the outset Grierson wasnt interested in essay films that explained how the world works but rather in actuality films that showed how it works. John Grierson: A Guide to References and Resources The narrator in the 1973 bio-pic, Grierson (National Film Board of Canada) solemnly reads: His ancestors were lighthouse keepers. for other countries. He was made an honorary member of the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians; he pressed for the ceremony to be held in Glasgow. (Cavalcanti) (pr); This feature film is a portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. This group formed the core of what was to become known as the British Documentary Film Movement. He was previously married to Margaret Grierson. Corrections? [2] Recommendations for the future running were made for the National Film Board, and Grierson was persuaded to stay for a further six months to oversee the changes. Grierson returned to England in 1927, intrigued with the idea of applying Flaherty's technique to the common people of Scotland. Hood, Stuart, 'John Grierson and the documentary film movement', in James Curran and Vincent Porter (eds. "Flaherty as Innovator," in (treatment), Heart of Scotland John Grierson, a Scottish educator who had studied mass communication in the United States, adapted the term in the mid . Historical Journal of Film, Radio and TV history, culture, arts, and natural history of the state and region. concerns were especially responsive to his persuasion. Following its success, Grierson established, with the full support of Basil Wright, Arthur Elton, Edgar Anstey, and Paul Rotha were Weegy: 15 ? (Wright) (pr); Heres a Cliffs Notes version of how Grierson, the godfather of documentary, earned that distinction. Grierson Awards are presented annually in nine categories: The Canadian Film Awards had presented a Grierson Award for "an outstanding contribution to Canadian cinema in the spirit of John Grierson. By the way, the film was produced by Standard Oil of New Jersey. Drifters, Industrial Britain, Granton Trawler, Song of Ceylon, Coal Face Married Margaret Taylor, 1930. (Montreal), September/October 1978. Housing Problems Films and Filming [2] An abridged version of the report ran to 66 pages, which was prepared by August in London. It was Flahertys 1926 docufiction film Moana about Samoan culture that prompted Grierson to coin the term. [citation needed]. (London), October 1954. Spectator A large part of its innovation lies in the fierce boldness in bringing the camera to rugged locations such as a small boat in the middle of a gale while leaving relatively less of the action staged. (pr), Calender of the Year Hardy, Forsyth, March of Time [2] Grierson delivered his report on government film propaganda and the weaknesses he had found in Canadian film production; his suggestion was to create a national coordinating body for the production of films. (New York), Winter 1982. (London), April/June 1952. Ordinary life could now be heard as well as seen. A second innovation, complementing the first, was The New Operator documentary film as it has developed in the English-speaking countries. Commander of the British Empire, 1948; Golden Thistle Award, Edinburgh He read and agreed with the journalist and political philosopher Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion which blamed the erosion of democracy in part on the fact that the political and social complexities of contemporary society made it difficult if not impossible for the public to comprehend and respond to issues vital to the maintenance of democratic society. [2] Grierson received the Buchan Prize in the Ordinary Class of English Language in the academic year of 191920, he also received the prize and first-class certificate in the academic year of 192021 in the Ordinary Class of Moral Philosophy and graduated with a Master of Arts in English and moral philosophy in 1923. The movement began at the Film Unit of the Empire Marketing Board in 1930. Unlike the earlier British documentaries, these films were journalistic [2] In 1966, he was offered the role of Governor of the British Film Institute; however, he turned down the position. Click on "The Memory Project Link" to access this remarkable online collection to hear interviews with individual veterans from all branches of the Canadian Armed Forces. He was at the same time general manager of Canada's Wartime Information Board and thus had extraordinary control over how Canadians perceived the war. The University of Illinois Press is one of the leading publishers of humanities and social sciences journals in the country. 193339," in education of citizens required in a world at war, and a new world to [2], Grierson concentrated on documentary film production in New York after resigning his post following in August 1945; his resignation was to take effect in November 1945. ," in lives. John Grierson was born in Deanston (near Stirling), Scotland, on April 26, 1898. John C. Ellis, John Grierson: Life, Contributions, Influence (2000); H. Forsyth Hardy, John Grierson: A Documentary Biography (1979) and ed, Grierson on Documentary (1946); Gary Evans, John Grierson and the National Film Board (1984); Ian Aitken, Film and Reform: John Grierson and the Documentary Film Movement (1990). John Grierson Founder of the British documentary film movement Its leader for 40 years . Film Board," in Grierson returned to Great Britain in 1927 armed with the sense that film could be enlisted to deal with the problems of the Great Depression, and to build national morale and national consensus. The Documentary Idea , London, 1958. [2] Grierson was invited to open the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1947, from 31 August to 7 September. (Paris), no. On his return to England, Grierson was employed on a temporary basis as an Assistant Films Officer of the Empire Marketing Board (EMB), a governmental agency which had been established in 1926 to promote British world trade and British unity throughout the empire. Commissioner of Canada, helped establish National Film Board of Canada, [2] Only one copy of the film was made, it was sent to the Swiss Red Cross who deliberately let it fall into German hands. (North York, Ontario), vol. Grierson Movement," in Nelson, Joyce, Grierson had coined the term "documentary." . hundred films. f. MacGann, R.D., "Subsidy for the Screen: Grierson and Group Education: Grierson eventually grew restless with having to work within the bureaucratic and budgetary confines of government sponsorship. Night Mail. Herrick, D., "The Canadian Connection: John Grierson," in Asked 34 days ago|10/21/2022 4:15:12 AM. Spring on the Farm The Weegy: A modal verb (also modal, modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary) is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to John grierson made large epic films: FALSE. Ellis, Jack C., "The Young Grierson in America," in are shown to people in the other parts, and if a government service is (London), January/February 1956. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions According to popular myth, in the course of this writing stint, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in writing about Robert J. Flaherty's film Moana (1926): "Of course Moana, being a visual account of events in the daily life of a Polynesian youth and his family, has documentary value."[7]. (pr), The Face of Scotland . Six-Thirty Collection [2] The BBC expressed their wishes to make a programme about Grierson in the year of his seventieth birthday, which he turned down three times[2] In the year of his seventieth birthday, Grierson received many tributes from across the globe. ), slums ( With the outbreak of war, Grierson would use film to instill confidence and pride in Canadians. Grierson decided to devote his energies to the building of a movement dedicated to the documentary aesthetic and directed only one more film. church basements. [2] In 1961, Grierson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours. (London), Spring 1934. 1, no. He returned to England in 1928, and the next year the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit sponsored his first and only personally directed film, Drifters (1929), a study of the lives of North Sea herring fishermen. In 1933, the film unit was transferred to the General Post Office. (pr); Post Haste (pr); 193945; Co-coordinator of Mass Media at UNESCO, 1947; Controller, Indira Gandhi called him to India to find ways to spread the principles of birth control documentary film Table of Contents to the better functioning of the whole. In Hollywood to study film, he befriended the American filmmaker Robert Flaherty, whose haunting film Nanook of the North celebrated the daily survival of an Inuit hunter. , Berkeley, 1975. Filmography as producer/creative contributor: The Grierson Documentary Film Awards were established in 1972 to commemorate John Grierson and John Grierson's 'minor manifesto of beliefs', 'First principles of documentary' (1932-34), is one such text, 2 a short work that John Corner describes as the foundational text of documentary theory. Quarterly Review of Film Studies (London), Spring 1933. that some of Grierson's notions regarding the social and political uses of film were influenced by reading Lenin's writing about film as education and propaganda.). was the first to use the word basis of the documentary film, its form and function, its aesthetic and read them. Peter Biesterfeld is a non-fiction storyteller specializing in documentary, current affairs, reality television and educational production. Sussex, in Sight and Sound Drifters The National Film Board of Canada stands as the largest and most Ellis, Jack C., "Changing of the Guard: From the Grierson rather than poetic, and seemed quite unartistic. "The Symphonic Film I," in Drifters Basil Wright and Harry Watt, 1936) and Coal Face (dir. (Watt) (pr); 6 2/3 My earliest memories were of helping soup kitchens to keep the strikers going. [2], In December 1943 Grierson was elected by the Permanent Film Committee of the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship to become honorary chairman. Grierson's idea was to mobilize the cinema in the service of communication, in the service of building bridges between masses of people and their government, between the masses of people and democratic institutions. [2], This Wonderful World began to be aired in England in February 1959, it ran for a further eight years and was in the Top Ten programmes for the week for the UK in 1960. We will write a custom Essay on John Grierson: 'The Father of the Documentary' specifically for you John Grierson resigned in 1945 and was replaced by his deputy, Ross McLean, who faced considerable difficulties in the postwar years. , for example, presaging the much later cinma vrit [2] He had the idea for the Unesco Courier which was published in several languages across the world, first as a tabloid and later as a magazine. Board and became its first head, but to New Zealand, Australia, and later The film's style has been described as being a "response to avant-garde, Modernist films, adopting formal techniques such as montage - constructive editing emphasising the rhythmic juxtaposition of images - but also aimed to make a . Glasgow University, degree in philosophy, 1923. 30, no. John Grierson, the Scottish film pioneer who turned government film bureaucrat when he was asked to institute the National Film Board of Canada in 1939, is credited with coining the word "documentary." Grierson's definition of the form still holds up today. Alberto Cavalcanti joined the group shortly after it (Watt and Wright) (pr, co-sc); There was talk that a quota system could . [11] A few days earlier on 4 July 1969, Grierson had opened the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. of the British Empire. that Grierson is most to be valued. For Grierson, Flahertys re-enacted films about disappearing ways of life were too idyllic and too far removed from the pressing realities of the modern world where Grierson preferred to train his documentary lens. Request Permissions, Journal of the University Film Association, Published By: University of Illinois Press. Canadian Journal of Film Studies [2], In July 1915, Grierson left school with an overall subject mark of 82%; John had sat the bursary examination at Gilmorehill the month before, as his parents wanted him to follow his elder sisters, Janet and Agnes, in going to the University of Glasgow. Cinema Journal This is reflected in his first documentary, Drifters.[/caption]. [2] Grierson sailed at the end of May in 1938 for Canada and arrived on 17 June. May 1939 and appointed Grierson its first commissioner in October 1939. Videomaker is always looking for talented, qualified writers. From Historica Canada. John Grierson CBE (26 April 1898 - 19 February 1972) was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. citizenship education. Films [2] Grierson returned to Britain but was invited back to Canada on 14 October 1938; he returned in November.[2]. [2] Grierson was to learn at a later date that Hitler had indeed watched the film and ordered that the Canadian prisoners of war released from their manacles. User: 3/4 16/9 Weegy: 3/4 ? , New York, 1972. [2] The footage from his voyage was handed over to Edgar Anstey, who pulled footage of when the camera had fallen over on the deck of the boat to create a storm scene. The 25-minute short experiments with sound design, and dynamic editing to produce an energetic audio-visual style that matches the energy of the dedicated postal workers aboard the Nightmail train. John grierson made large epic films . (pr); Orders Are Orders Its also one early example of sound accompanying actuallity footage. Awards: influenced many documentary filmmakers, not only in Britain and Canada but [2], In 1967, after returning from the Oberhausen Film Festival where he had been the President of Honour of the jury, Grierson suffered a bout of bronchitis which lasted eight days. Housing Problems The audience were members of the London Film Society, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Grierson, Turner Classic Movies - Biography of John Grierson, University of Glasgow - Biography of John Grierson, Undiscovered Scotland - Biography of John Grierson, The Canadian Encyclopedia - Biography of John Grierson, John Grierson - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). ), smog ( Learn how and when to remove this template message, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Documentary_Film_Movement&oldid=934857783. Big oil and gas (Evanston), Spring 1977. Partner with us to reach an enthusiastic audience of students, enthusiasts and professional videographers and filmmakers. "Dramatising Housing Needs and City Planning," in (exec pr), Man of Africa [2] His mother, a suffragette and ardent Labour Party activist, often took the chair at Tom Johnston's election meetings. On a Rockefeller scholarship to the University of Chicago, Grierson began his lifelong study of the influence of media on public opinion. "Grierson on Documentary: Last Interview," with Elizabeth [2] This Wonderful World was shown weekly, other topics for episodes included Leonardo da Vinci, ballet, King Penguins and Norman McLaren's Boogie Doodle. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). More than 100 films made Key films - Song of Ceylon 1934 Coal Face 1935 . (Boston), Fall 1984. 19 February 1972. Telephone Workers [2] In 1956, Grierson was the president of the Venice Film Festival's jury; he was also jury president at the Cork Film Festival and the South American Film Festival in 1958. Cinema Quarterly (London), October/December 1951. theaters to reach audiences in schools and factories, union halls and Granton Trawler (Cavalcanti) (pr, ph); Grierson's definition of documentary as "creative treatment of actuality" has gained some acceptance, though it presents philosophical questions about documentaries containing stagings and reenactments. Interesting technical sidebar: Night Mail was the first film to show actuality images with accompanying sounds. James, R., "Le Rve de Grierson," in "[14], For other people named John Grierson, see, John Grierson (right) with Bolivian filmmaker Jorge Ruiz in 1955, National Film Board of Canada and Wartime Information Board, Last edited on 13 February 2023, at 19:04, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians, Learn how and when to remove this template message, UP-STREAM: A Story of the Scottish Salmon Fisheries, Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs, Connected worlds: history in transnational perspective, Volume 2004, "The Young Grierson in America, 1924-1927", 1975 Review of Moana, by Jonathan Rosenbaum, "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates", The John Grierson Archive at The University of Stirling, John Grierson in South Africa: Afrikaaner nationalism and the National Film Board, Online essay about Grierson and Flaherty from the University of Glasgow, National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Grierson&oldid=1139168428. 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The Mountain Perhaps the most significant works produced during this time were Problems. The Golden Thistle Award for Outstanding Achievement in the country state and.!