[The 90’s raw: Skip and Jane in England]

Videographer Skip Blumberg and his wife, animator Jane Aaron, travel to England for honors and screenings of Jane's work. Also, New Year's Eve party ringing in 1990.

00:00Copy video clip URL Various b-roll from a passenger plane of airline jets on a runway, taking off from New York in daylight. This video is shot over several days throughout November 1989.

00:28Copy video clip URL B-roll of a city at night, seen from the airplane in flight.

00:34Copy video clip URL Change of location. B-roll of a fire in a home fireplace. B-roll of a family at home in London, UK. A man reads a newspaper and talks about seasonal affective disorder, depression induced by the shorter days of winter.

01:20Copy video clip URL The family sings happy birthday to their son Beckett.

01:47Copy video clip URL B-roll of Parliament and various shots around London. People feed birds in a park. B-roll of geese.

02:59Copy video clip URL B-roll people sightseeing on a boat. The videographer, Skip Blumberg, records himself pointing to an ad for a video camera.

03:21Copy video clip URL Interview with a male traveler who records an ID for The 90s. A woman behind him is working on the engine of a small bus. He has a bleak view of the forthcoming 1990s. He says he and his girlfriend live in a bus, and adds that the 1980s weren’t as good as the 1970s. The 80s were too conservative for him. “Full of Thatcherism.” The one bright spot of the 90s for them is that there’s no more Margaret Thatcher.

04:47Copy video clip URL The woman says she hopes one day she’ll have some land and be her own boss. The man says living on the road makes it difficult to predict future plans. He doesn’t think much about the future. One traveler asks Blumberg what he thinks about the future. Blumberg says he doesn’t think too broadly about it. Another traveler says that we all have hopes for the future. They show Blumberg a baby in a stroller. Noting the line of buses all the wandering travelers live in, Blumberg asks if this is a community. One man says it’s not, but they’ve had to park here because they have a faulty head gasket. Blumberg examines the bus engine which has been pulled apart. The woman notes the engine is 27-years old. The woman says she’s 23-years old. “I’m younger than my engine.”

07:14Copy video clip URL The woman says, “That’s my future: keeping the engine going.” B-roll of the couple’s shaggy dog.

07:54Copy video clip URL B-roll of the line of buses parked on a back street.

08:15Copy video clip URL Static.

08:18Copy video clip URL B-roll pleasure kayakers on a river.

08:50Copy video clip URL Blumberg notes they are now in Bristol, UK. B-roll of a Bristol Television bus. B-roll of buildings, a grit box, a sun set over the river, street traffic, a weathervane, water, wandering through catacombs.

11:50Copy video clip URL Change of location. School girls outside throw flowers onto a statue of Edward Colston, a Bristol-born merchant and Member of Parliament, in the city center. They say today is Commemoration Day. On this day you put rings of poppies on Colston’s statue as a thank you to him. B-roll of the statue with flowers, the girls taking photos.

21:25Copy video clip URL Change of location. Inside an art gallery at the Watershed Media Centre. A sign promotes the exhibit: Tricks of the Trade. Out of the Inkwell to Roger Rabbit, 1-26 November [1989]. Various b-roll of the exhibit on animation history, motion control camera demonstration.

22:40Copy video clip URL Change of location. A girl feeds birds by a canal. B-roll of a wine reception for The Bristol Animation Festival.

23:17Copy video clip URL Footage of a screening in progress. The screening is of an animated movie. The end credits read: A Film by Jane Aaron, Music by Donald Fagen, Editing by Skip Blumberg.

23:58Copy video clip URL B-roll of a construction site at sunset or sunrise. Abstract shots of water.

24:58Copy video clip URL B-roll of birds on top a church steeple. Birds at a British Rail Station.

26:58Copy video clip URL B-roll of the Clifton Suspense Bridge over the River Avon. Cars pass by, tourist comments on how beautiful it is. One notes that there’s a lot of suicides from this bridge.  When asked what makes the bridge so famous, a visitor responds Isambard Brunel designed it.

28:30Copy video clip URL B-roll of the toll booth. Blumberg purchases a ticket to walk across the bridge.

29:00Copy video clip URL Interview with the toll man. He says the bridge is famous because it’s the first suspension bridge. Construction began in 1832 and finished in 1864.

30:40Copy video clip URL B-roll of the bridge, cars passing the toll area, pedestrians, various sigs, views of the River Avon and the Avon gorge, workers cliffside digging out ivy.

36:22Copy video clip URL B-roll of Bristol from a boat on a canal, various buildings, ships, boats.

39:33Copy video clip URL B-roll of The Magic Mirror. B-roll of a video crew shooting a meeting of people with filmmakers at The Bristol Animation Festival.

41:08Copy video clip URL Blumberg asks a man in a suit (possibly a festival manager) how it’s going. He says, “ok. Another 24 hours to go.” A woman (possibly in charge of the video taping) says it’s difficult to shoot interviews with so many different filmmakers who speak so many different languages. B-roll of the filmmakers being interviewed.

42:39Copy video clip URL B-roll of a swan and of landscapes.

43:00Copy video clip URL B-roll of Clifton Suspension Bridge at night.

45:18Copy video clip URL Blumberg records a note to the video editor: It’s Guy Fawkes Day and fireworks in the distance that disappear quickly.

46:10Copy video clip URL B-roll of landscape at Whiteworks, Dartmoor: ancient ruins, wild ponies, stone walls.

47:30Copy video clip URL Blumberg approaches men and women walking with their dogs. He asks them why they carry sticks. “To keep from falling over.” They explain to Blumberg that the fields are covered with letter boxes. You get clues and normally the box is hidden in a hole so you use your stick to poke the hole and make sure there’s no snakes. It’s like a treasure hunt. The man explains this area is called Fox Tor Mires and is the inspiration for The Hound of the Baskervilles. They explain the rocks are from the workings of an old tin mine. The workers lived in these buildings.

50:20Copy video clip URL A woman traveller says it’s easy to get lost. One of the men shows how they use the cards, clues, they find and the clue book used to track down the hidden letter box. They show him the list of clues published in  a book. The man shows a rubber stamp they have made of an owl resting on a beer bottle, a kind of personal logo. The stamp reads Brown Owl, Brown Ale. When they find a letter box that contains a book, they stamp their logo on one of the books’ pages as a way of letting others know they were successful in finding the letter box.

52:51Copy video clip URL B-roll of the moon in the night sky, goats, and landscape at Headland Warren Farm, Dartmoor Holiday Cottages.

54:22Copy video clip URL B-roll of a mine shaft, rock walls in the fields, a goat, a stone wall with moss and Blumberg’s wife Jane Aaron in the garden of the farmhouse. Blumberg notes the house is 600-years old. The owner of the farmhouse, an older woman called Diana, says an English video crew were once here shooting the area. They showed her the footage on a TV set. She adds her electricity comes from a generator. She says the farm next door has just been put on electricity, but the [Dartmoor] National Parks authority are particular and don’t want any overhead lines.

56:22Copy video clip URL B-roll of the power generator. It runs on diesel. Diana notes she looked into wind and water power, but it’s just not advanced enough yet. Diana points out an outcrop of natural rock on the skyline. She points out where Hamel Down is and notes you can view the sea from the top.

01:00:00Copy video clip URL Aaron, Diana, Blumberg and the dogs start walking through the moors stopping at various rock foundations related to the tin mines. Diana points out Tinners’ Gullies, giant swaths of land dug up for hundreds of years by miners. Diana adds that monks bring their bees here for the heather. She points out a letter box, a World War Two-era ammunition box. She opens it and shows its contents: a  note book with stamps of those who’ve found the box. Aaron stamps the book and writes “New York City” in it. Diana shows Blumberg the clue book and demonstrates how it is used to find the various letter boxes hidden in the moors. It gives instructions on which landmarks to search for, how many paces to walk, and compass baring. The entry she reads notes a stone marker.

01:05:43Copy video clip URL B-roll of the stone marker Blumberg walks 20 paces as instructed. The landscape is vast and endless, rolling and undulating. Diana notes the stone marker was initially set as a boundary marker. She points out stone ruins that were once a village with many homes that existed 2,000 years ago. She believes at one point the stone walls that once surrounded it were seven or eight feet tall.

01:10:50Copy video clip URL Diana points out a stone hut circle. Low audio. She describes the buildings and layout of the village that once stood here two millennia ago. Blumberg notes how quiet the area is.

01:11:30Copy video clip URL Diana show’s the remains of the chief’s hut. A ring of stone foundation. Diana says the moor is a large area of infertile land with heather and rock. It’s usually found on high ground.

01:12:25Copy video clip URL B-roll of two lorries in the distance taking wood cuts from the forest. Various views of the moors, endless tracts of land and rolling hills.

01:14:30Copy video clip URL Vide of the English Channel and old rock pile.

01:15:08Copy video clip URL Aaron and Blumberg are riding in a car through a village and through the countryside. They stop at the English Channel.

01:16:44Copy video clip URL Blumberg steps gingerly to the edge of land near the channel: the most southerly point of England.

01:18:07Copy video clip URL B-roll of the Most Southerly House bed & breakfast.

01:18:30Copy video clip URL B-roll of the Most Southerly Bar. B-roll of a lighthouse.

01:19:20Copy video clip URL B-roll at night of the lighthouse.

01:20Copy video clip URL:50 B-roll, Blumberg outside at night in pitch black. A horn sounds in the distance.

01:21:18Copy video clip URL Morning. B-roll of a man cutting stone. B-roll of the lighthouse, the sea, the landscape, and footpaths. B-roll of military helicopters flying past.

01:23:03Copy video clip URL B-roll of Aaron walking along a footpath. B-roll of the sea and of a freighter at sea.

01:27:40Copy video clip URL B-roll of Aaron sitting on the ground. B-roll of a wild pony, the landscape, the sea.

01:29:18Copy video clip URL B-roll of Blumberg running and pretending to almost fall off a cliff.

01:29:40Copy video clip URL B-roll of cows grazing near the sea. B-roll of the cliffs. Military helicopters fly by. B-roll of wild mushrooms. B-roll of the sea.

01:32:15Copy video clip URL B-roll of Blumberg running up to a cliff.

01:32:40Copy video clip URL B-roll of a cove where part of the 1963 movie Jason and the Argonauts was shot. B-roll of Aaron walking along a footpath, the sea, cliffs.

01:35:05Copy video clip URL B-roll of a fog signal warning sign. B-roll of a satellite earth station, sign and radar, various shots.

01:36:39Copy video clip URL B-roll, riding in a car through the countryside.

01:38:54Copy video clip URL B-roll of Aaron in a doorway in a hotel room.

01:39:07Copy video clip URL B-roll at Stonehenge. Various shots of the stones and the surrounding land.

01:40:01Copy video clip URL B-roll of a BBC’s Telecom tower in London at night.

01:40:16Copy video clip URL B-roll of a theater performance. A man steps into a pile of plush toys.

01:40:25Copy video clip URL B-roll at the Art Museum, Royal Collage of Art. Various shots of the exhibits.

01:40:38Copy video clip URL B-roll of Aaron and two others, a man and a woman. Blumberg says they are waiting for someone to take us somewhere. A sign in an elevator reads: “The New York Animator Jane Aaron Today, 10.30am, in Seminar 2 Room. All Departments Should Attend.”

01:41:03Copy video clip URL B-roll of a greenhouse and aviary and its birds, fish, and vegetation.

01:43:36Copy video clip URL Various random images: Blumberg in an elevator. Shot of a church steeple, and a stairwell in the museum. Blumberg explores the museum. He enters an door reading Animation and Spray Booth. He enters a room in which Jane is giving a presentation to a small group. Blumberg peeks into a room where a man is working a loom. As Blumberg wanders the corridors he ponders what this tape is about. “…things that I’ve seen on this trip.”

01:44:47Copy video clip URL Blumberg runs into a museum coordinator in the hall and tells her of the things he’s seen in the museum.

01:45:17Copy video clip URL B-roll of the Royal College of Art sign.

01:45:32Copy video clip URL Various establishing shots: London street scenes.

01:46:03Copy video clip URL Footage of Blumberg photographing his mirror image.

01:46:30Copy video clip URL Blumberg on the phone in a hotel room.

01:46:44Copy video clip URL Change of location. A New Year’s Eve party, 1989. There’s a large spread of food on several tables. B-roll of the party. People mingle, wear party hats. A man standing with Aaron says, “We’re the first to arrive at the gala, opening event.” Continued b-roll of the party in full swing. A band plays. People dance. Ladies are in gowns, men are in tuxedos and suits.

01:48:23Copy video clip URL A man in party hat, mask and holding balloons and a blowout party horn says, “It’s four minutes to midnight … and the nineties will be here. Happy 1990!”

01:49:00Copy video clip URL The three-second countdown to midnight. Happy New Year! Party-goers wander around.

01:50:00Copy video clip URL As the party winds down people wish Blumberg a happy new year.

01:50:15Copy video clip URL B-roll of a construction wall and sign: Beware! Anti Climb Paint Razor Wire. Blumberg, Aaron and Beckett are in a London taxi cab traveling through the city. They exit the cab and pay and enter the Museum of Moving Image. Blumberg notes it is eleven minutes past eleven on the eleven day or the eleventh month, and that Beckett is eleven years old. To Jane he adds, “and we’re going on Flight 11.” Jane responds that the flight is on the UK’s Memorial [Remembrance] Day, November 11.

01:52:00Copy video clip URL Blumberg tapes a shot of someone called Chip who is videotaping Blumberg.

01:52:37Copy video clip URL Various shots of various exhibits: Shadow Plays, Anamorphoses, Zogroscope, The Human Eye, Optical Aids, The Fantasmagorie, The Zoetrope, early motion picture cameras, early animation, a model of George Albert Smith’s studio in St. Ann’s WEll Gardens, Hove; Cinema at War, a TV control center, Blumberg participates in a green screen interview exhibit. He notes he does not have time to read all the exhibits so he’s recording the placards to read at leisure when he’s home.

01:57:48Copy video clip URL A man asks if this is good bye. Blumberg says, “Yes, we’re going to go.”

01:57:56Copy video clip URL An Asian Indian woman records an ID for The 90s.

01:58:12Copy video clip URL At Heathrow Airport, Blumberg records a display showing Pan Am Flight 11 bound for New York. Some footage inside the plane. A movie plays. He asks Aaron if she had a nice trip. “Very nice.” B-roll looking outside the window at night, planes on the runway. Blumberg records his plane as it lifts off.

02:02:00Copy video clip URL Landing in New York City.

02:03:05Copy video clip URL Black. Audio is of US television news: News 4 Weekend Edition.

02:03:35Copy video clip URL END.

 

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