January 14, 2010
Bones and flames: Help identify this week’s Lost and Found Film
Editor’s Note: The UW Audio Visual Services Materials Library has more than 1,200 reels of film from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, documenting life at the University through telecourses, commercial films and original productions. Some of the short films are easily identifiable, but many more remain mysteries. Who shot these films and why? Can you help answer those questions? Faculty and staff can use the comments field at the end of the story to send ideas. Those outside the University can e-mail filmarc@u.washington.edu.
This week’s film features a man in a lab coat and a skeleton, but it’s not a horror film. A two-minute gem from about 1972, it opens with the man attaching a bone to a skeleton hanging on a stand. Then there’s a closeup of his hand, which holds a rectangular piece of metal, a screw and two white capsules. The man inserts drops of liquid into a mold and puts the small white capsules into a crucible. The crucible goes into a kiln and flames shoot out of the top. Finally a man in goggles looks through the lens into the kiln and the camera zooms into its center to show the internal yellow flame.
What Film Archive Specialist Hannah Palin would like to know is:
- What research is being conducted?
- Which UW Department is involved in this research?
- Who is the scientist in the film?
- Why was this film taken and how was it used?
Palin is still looking for information on last week’s film, Duwamish, which depicted research on salmon in the Duwamish River. If you think you might be able to help her on that one, log in and make a comment.
