Record: A film in three sections on the Hull fishing industry
The aim of the project was to
exploit the natural synergies between the University’s History and
Linguistics Departments, and the Yorkshire Film Archive
in an interdisciplinary research project, while at the same time
developing students’ technical archive and professional skills. The
project also facilitated the piloting of cross-departmental
research projects as a model for future collaboration.
The students created a series of short films which provide an
introduction to the history of commercial fishing in Hull, whilst
at the same time capturing the associated local dialects and
accents as well as slang and colloquialisms. The films are composed
of oral history interviews edited with archival footage from the
YFA collections. The project formed the coursework for the Level 2
History module: ‘History, Community and Culture’ and an equivalent
Linguistics module, from which a group of nine students were
recruited.
The students worked in three groups consisting of two history
students and one linguistics student each, in close coordination
with Anna Briggs, then Education Officer at the YFA, each under the
general supervision of Ms Briggs, Ian Horwood from History and
Nikki Swift from Linguistics.
Every stage of the work was undertaken by the students
themselves. While the students each contributed discipline specific
skills to the project, the films were truly collaborative efforts
with the students researching relevant footage in the Archive,
conducting the oral history interviews, shooting the film, and
editing the combined material.
Credits
Record 1: St Andrew’s Dock
A Film by Alexandros Ntigkaris, Darren Mountain, Andriy
Chomanicz
Record 2: The Hull Fishermen
A film by Kirsty Angus, Jeffrey Pettit, Ben Nicholson
Record 3: The Decline of the Hull Fishing Industry
A film by James Cairns, Dominic Ibson, Craig Davis
Many thanks to the interviewees: David Harrison, Jim Williams
and Robb Robinson, the Hull History Centre, the Ocks Ceilish, the
Amble Band, Northumberland: Lucy Harris, Mark Walmsley, Don
Bemrose, and the East Riding Dialect Society. Footage courtesy of
The Yorkshire Film Archive.