Glossary of Collection Forms

 

Term
Definition / Scope
Advertising or promotional Works which promote a product, service, philosophy, candidate or company. Includes company promotions, commercials, infomercials, political spots, televangelism, television promos, theatrical promos, trailers (previews), public servce announcements, and public relations materials which are designed to cause the public and/or customers/clients to take a particular view towards an institution or business. Home shopping shows on television are included in the Collection Form, Television entertainment.
Amateur Works created for private, not commercial use, such as home movies, designed to be shown primarily to family and friends, placed on personal websites, and usually made by people not professionally connected with the film/video industry.
Animation Works created by recording a series of still images, such as drawings, objects, or posed people. When played back, the static images combine to simulate motion, creating the impression of movement. Includes cartoons, clay animation (Claymation), computer animation, puppet animation (including Puppetoons), cameraless animation (images drawn directly onto fimstock), and time-lapse animation.
Corporate or organizational record Moving image documentation of, or information about, a company or formally structured group of people, usually retained for internal use. Materials intended to advertise or promote the organization to viewers outside the organization are included in the Collection Form, Advertising or promotional. Nonfiction works designed to be used in an industrial setting to illustrate and explain industrial and manufacturing processes or issues are included under both the Collection Form, Industrial and the Collection Form, Educational or instructional.
Documentary or factual work Works depicting actual persons or events, not primarily intended for viewing in the classroon, in industry or for television entertainment. Includes documentaries (factual works usually in narrative form and usually produced without actors); early silent-era actualities; anthropological films; nature films and programs; biographies; travelogues; scenics; and cinéma verité. Nonfiction moving images will be included in this general Collection Form but will also be included in a more specific Collection Form--Amateur, Interview, Live event coverage, News or public affairs, Theatrical newsreel, or Unedited footage
Educational or instructional Non-theatrical works intended as coursework or for classroom or distance learning use. Includes classroom films and videos; historical recreations and dramatizations primarily intended to educate rather than entertain; digital video included in e-learning modules; and video or television broadcasting courses. Educational or instructional programming intended in part for entertainment and airing on television are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Television entertainment. Training films designed to be used in an industrial setting are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Industrial.
Experimental Works that seek to expand traditional moving image form, structure and content. Usually subjective in approach, largely non-commercial, and often made by a single filmmaker or a small group. Includes video art and so-called "underground" films. Also known as avant-garde works. Real-time networked media are found in the Collection Form, Videoconference or webcast.
Feature or short Works intended for release in theaters or "direct to video," which are primarily fictional and designed to entertain. Includes genres such as action-adventure, adaptations, comedies, dramas, disaster films, erotica and pornography, exploitation films, film noir, horror films, martial arts films, music shorts, musicals, theatrical serials such as cliffhangers, thrillers, early trick films, westerns, and films produced primarily for viewing by a particular ethnic group.
Industrial Nonfiction works designed to be used in an industrial setting to illustrate and explain industrial and manufacturing processes or issues. Industrial training films used by industry, the military, or trades to teach the skills necessary in the performance of particular duties or jobs are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Educational or instructional
Interview Nonfiction works which record a meeting between a reporter, a panel of reporters, or other interviewer, and another person or persons--the interviewee. Often the interviewee is a public figure, whose views, activities, etc. are elicited by means of questions asked and answered. Oral histories that document the personal history or historical recollections of the interviewee are included in this Collection Form. Panel discussions, debates and legal history are also included in this Collection Form. Televised interviews specific to news public affairs are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Television news or public affairs. Eyewitness or on-the-scene interviews for live events are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Live event coverage.
Live event coverage Nonfiction works recording live, on-the-scene coverage of special events outside the confines of a regular news film or program. Examples include extensive coverage of political conventions, elections, moonshots, assassinations, etc. Eyewitness or on-the-scene interviews are included in thisCollection Form and also in the Collection Form, Interview. Recordings of live performances such as dance, drama, recitation, etc. are found in the Collection Form, Performance.
Performance Nonfiction work documenting a performance, event or concert of dance, music, opera, operetta, theatrical stage production, recitation, magic act, circus, stand-up comedy, burlesque or other vaudeville or variety stage act. Although the work being performed may be fictional, such as a stage play, the purpose of the work is to document the performance rather than to serve as a fictional narrative. Recording of live performances intended to be aired on television are included in this Collection Form, and not in the Collection Form, Television entertainment, which is intended for fictional narrative and for entertainment events, such as awards shows and beauty contests.
Research documentation Factual recordings created to document research, i.e. investigations or experiments intended for the discovery and interpretation of facts.
Silent era film Films, or video/digital reproductions of films, released prior to the advent of synchronous motion picture sound technology (usually 1929 and earlier).
Television entertainment Programming intended for airing on television, exclusive of commercials, documentaries and docudramas, interviews, live event coverage, performances and news. Includes television series, mini-series, specials, pilots, made-for-TV movies, televised awards shows and beauty contests, comedies, dramas, erotica and pornography, game shows, gossip shows, home shopping programs, music videos, reality programs, variety and talent shows, soap operas, and talk shows. This Collection Form does not include airing on television of live performances. Recordings of live performances are included instead in the Collection Form, Performance.
Television news or public affairs Nonfiction programming, aired on television, reporting and commenting on recent events, usually orgainzed into reports from various correspondents. Includes special reports on breaking stories, as well as public affairs programming (discussions, debates, speeches and editorials, and press conferences on politics, government and public policy). News or public affairs programming in the form of interviews are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Interview. Documentaries aired on television are not included in this Collection Form but appear instead in the Collection Form, Documentary. On-the-scene coverage of special events outside the confines of a regular news film or program, often involving extensive coverage beyond the confines of standard weekly television schedules are not included in this Collection Form but appear instead in the Collection Form, Live event coverage.
Theatrical newsreel Nonfiction films (and their digital or video reproductions) released in theaters in periodic issues--each issue consisting of a number of stories reporting and commenting on recent events. Also included are newsreel special editions and symposium newsreels (year-end highlight reels).
Unedited footage Raw footage, usually untitled, which has not been edited or assembled into a finished work. Includes dailies, rushes, clips, excerpts, outtakes, trims, unedited screen tests, unedited ethnographic field footage, video surveillance, and combat footage. Unedited footage recording live events such as Congressional hearings or funerals are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Live event coverage. Unedited footage recording scientific experiments or observations are not included in this Collection Form but appear instead in the Collection Form, Research documentation. However, ethnographic field studies that represent systematic documentation for the purposes of discovering and interpreting facts are included in this Collection Form and also in the Collection Form, Research documentation.
Videoconference or webcast Conversation or meeting of multiple participants at remote locations, transmitted over networks and conducted in real time, as well as other real time transmissions of sound and images over the Web--whether webcast or point-to-point transmissions--are included in this Collection Form. This Collection Form includes both real-time and archived copies of real-time videoconferences, Webcasts, and point-to-point real-time video and audio transmissions over the web. Videoconference interviews are included in this Collection Form and also appear in the Collection Form, Interview.