| Description | Promotional film, with sound, for the Guardian focusing on a day in the life of the Guardian. The documentary captures life at the paper at the time it was poised to move from Manchester to London.
a) Contains footage of: the exterior of the Cross Street office in Manchester; a cleaner tidying the office at the start of the day; a journalist interviewing striking dock workers; the various stories being covered that day; blank newsprint arriving at the office; printing machinery being prepared; the arrival of early copy from news agencies to the wire room; various editorial staff at work; copy being transmitted from the London office to Cross Street; the day's leader being discussed at the editorial conference; sub editors at work; compositors receiving copy and setting metal type using a linotype machine; preparation of the features and sports pages; type being arranged at the composing table; the arrival and inclusion of late news; final corrections being made in the composing room; finalising the layout of a page; flongs being prepared and fed into the rotary printing presses; the printing presses at work; finished newspapers being bundled up for distribution to different locations; newspapers being transported by van and train; paperboys delivering the paper; customers purchasing the paper at a news stand and people reading the newspaper at a bus stop.
The video features a commentary and numerous staff explaining their roles including Alistair Hetherington; Victor Zorza and Brian Redhead. News editor Harry Whewell is featured, as well as Michael Frayn (at the London office).
Topics covered include: the role of a newspaper; the various roles involved (including wire room operators, news editor, local reporters, foreign correspondents, specialist diplomatic, financial, political and defence writers, cartoonists, copy takers, leader writers, the editor, sub editors, compositors, feature writers and sports writers); transmitting copy from London to Manchester; the linotype printing process; how the content and layout of the paper is finalised; printing and distributing the paper and the introduction of simultaneous printing in Manchester and London.
The film is produced by Frank A Howard and directed by Gerard Bryant.
Duration: 21 minutes and 25 seconds. The film starts at 00.09 on the mp4 file.
b) Duplicate of a). Duration: 21 minutes and 25 seconds. The film starts at 00.22 on the mp4 file. |