Abstract
Tinbergen’s and Thompson’s film work paved the way for the development of a new film unit specialising in biological filming: Oxford Scientific Films (OSF). A key player in the creation of OSF was Peter Parks, an Oxford zoology graduate who first started working for the BBC as a caption artist. He developed an ingenious device, an optical bench, which enabled him to film minuscule life forms using the technique of dark field illumination. Over the course of a decade, Oxford film-makers became central to wildlife television, turning camerawork into a key aspect of the narrative in wildlife films. OSF established a new standard for wildlife television, as described in the 1972 documentary The Making of a Natural History Film by Mick Rhodes.
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- 1.
Senior Producer, Natural History Unit, Bristol, ‘P.D. Parks’, memo to Miss F. R. Elwell, 13 February 1962, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 2.
Peter Parks, personal letter to Bruce Campbell, 29 January 1962, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 3.
Niko Tinbergen, personal letter to Nicholas Crocker, 2 May 1968, p. 2. BBCWAC WE8/600/1. Crowson (1981: 21).
- 4.
Bruce Campbell, ‘P.D. Parks’, memo to Miss F. R. Elwell, 13 February 1962, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 5.
Peter Parks to Richard Brock, personal letter, 15 April 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 6.
Christopher Parsons, personal letter to Peter Parks, 14 January 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 7.
Christopher Parsons, personal letter to Peter Parks, 14 January 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 8.
Pater Parks, personal letter to Christopher Parsons, 27 January 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 9.
Peter Parks, personal letters to Christopher Parsons, 18, 21, and 27 January respectively, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 10.
Peter Parks, personal letter to Ronald Webster, 16 April 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 11.
Peter Parks, personal letter to Richard Brock, 15 April 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1 (original emphasis).
- 12.
Barry Paine, Oral history interview, 31 January 2001, Wildscreen.
- 13.
H. C. Bennet-Clark and E. C. A. Lucey, 1967, ‘The jump of the flea: A study of the energetics and a model of the mechanism’, Journal of Experimental Biology, 47, 59–76.
- 14.
Ronald Webster, personal letter to Peter Parks, 13 December 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 15.
Jeffery Boswall, personal letter to Peter Parks, 8 December 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 16.
Jeffery Boswall, personal letter to Peter Parks, 8 December 1966, BBCWAC WE13/958/1.
- 17.
Gerald Thompson, personal letter to Christopher Parsons, 8 August 1966, BBCWAC WE21/68/1.
- 18.
Christopher Parsons, personal letter to Gerald Thompson, 15 August 1967, BBCWAC WE13/1,071/1.
- 19.
Christopher Parsons, personal letter to Gerald Thompson, 6 September 1967, BBCWAC WE13/1,071/1.
- 20.
Christopher Parsons, ‘Thompson Jamaica Expedition’, memo to Editor, Natural History Unit, 25 October 1967, BBCWAC WE13/1,071/1.
- 21.
Christopher Parsons, ‘Oxford Scientific Films Ltd.’, memo to Editor, Natural History Unit, 12 March 1969, BBCWAC WE21/50/1.
- 22.
Editor, NHU, ‘Oxford Scientific Films Ltd.’, memo to Chris Parsons, 13 March 1969, BBCWAC WE21/50/1.
- 23.
Peter Goodchild, 2018, ‘Mick Rhodes obituary’, The Guardian, 5 November 2018. Available online at https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/nov/05/mick-rhodes-obituary. Last accessed 15 January 2019.
- 24.
Mick Rhodes, 1971, ‘The Wood’, The Listener, 85(2200), 665–668, 668.
- 25.
The Making of a Natural History Film went on to win the Italia Prize in 1973, the same award Tinbergen’s Signals for Survival had won in 1969, and got repeated many times on the BBC.
- 26.
Mick Rhodes, 1971, ‘The Wood’, The Listener, 85(2200), 665–668, 668.
- 27.
The Making of Natural History Film, BBC, Transmission date: 23 November 1972.
- 28.
British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
- 29.
Record of annual interview, 1 March 1972, BBCWAC L1/2,264/1.
- 30.
Christopher Parsons, 2001, Oral history interview, Wildscreen.
- 31.
Interview with author, 25 January 2016.
- 32.
Mick Rhodes, letter to Eric Ashby, 11 August 1976, p. 1. BBCWAC WE13/541/1.
- 33.
Mick Rhodes, personal letter to Eric Ashby, 15 July 1976, BBCWAC WE13/541/1.
- 34.
Eric Ashby, personal letter to Mick Rhodes, 25 July 1976, BBCWAC WE13/541/1.
- 35.
Mick Rhodes, letter to Eric Ashby, 11 August 1976, p. 2. BBC WAC WE13/541/1.
- 36.
Chris Dunkley, ‘BBC TV programmes head quits’, The Times, 24 November 1972, p. 3.
- 37.
Mick Rhodes, ‘Payment to OSF’, memo, 27 November 1972, BBCWAC WE13/268/1.
- 38.
Mick Rhodes, ‘Payment to OSF’, memo, 27 November 1972, BBCWAC WE13/268/1.
- 39.
Mick Rhodes, ‘Payment to OSF’, memo to All NHU production staff, 28 November 1972, BBCWAC WE21/50/1.
- 40.
Mick Rhodes, personal letter to David Attenborough, 27 October 1972, BBCWAC WE8/83/1.
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Gouyon, JB. (2019). Oxford Scientific Films: From Field Craft to Film Craft. In: BBC Wildlife Documentaries in the Age of Attenborough. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19982-1_8
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