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Welcome to Media Burn

The Media Burn Independent Video Archive collects more than 6,000 documentary videotapes produced by independent videographers outside of corporate contexts. The tapes chronicle four decades of 20th and 21st century life, including politics, arts and culture, community life, urban issues, ethnic identities, and more. Media Burn recognizes the power of documentary to change the way we understand the world around us. That's why it is our mission to preserve our shared cultural history on analog videotape and make it available for generations to come.

 

Conventions 72

This tape features a portion of the Group W national broadcast version of TVTV’s 1972 convention coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. (Separately produced as two 60 minute programs: “The World’s Largest TV Studio” on the DNC and “Four More Years” on the RNC.) It includes 45 minutes of FMY and 10 minutes of WLTVS, in addition to providing context for the way the television audience viewed the highly influential programs, including the introduction and commercials. This footage was the first independent video ever shown on national television.

 

Five Day Bicycle Race

A documentary made at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City, which was produced as a live 3-hour cablecast for five days during the convention. It was subsequently broadcast on WTTW and other PBS stations. It chronicles the events in and around the convention, and includes interviews with various delegates, politicians, members of the media, and people connected to Jimmy Carter, including Rosalynn Carter and Jeff Carter (Jimmy’s son). It also includes footage from the convention floor and demonstrators outside the convention, led by Ron Kovic.

 

Four More Years

A documentary taped in 1972 at the 30th Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida. It was the first independent videotape ever broadcast on national TV. The tape focuses on several aspects of the convention including the support Nixon received from young Republicans, the media coverage of the event, and the protests inside and outside of the convention. The end result of the spectacle was the nomination of Richard Nixon for President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.

 

None Of The Above

Produced in 1996, “None of the Above” is a documentary focused on non-voters. Many individual voters, politicians, and campaign staff are interviewed during the run-up to the 1996 presidential elections.

 

The 90′s Next Election Special

The second of three election specials from the award winning series, The 90′s. This episode is called “THE CONVENTION” and features moments from the Democratic National Convention in New York and the Republican National Convention in Houston in 1992. The producers tend to stay away from the regular news type footage and find the human interactions and the moments when the politicians are off their guard.

 

Spin

This tape documents an interesting period of time in the early ’90s when people with a satellite dish could receive pre-air non-broadcast feeds. The author captured hundreds of hours of this footage and it is an invaluable look at the way politicians craft media appearances. An extremely valuable tape, both for the general knowledge of media and a specific look at the 1992 presidential race.

 
 

Recent Media Burn Archive blogs

  • Chicago Marathon, 1982

    Blog, Chicago Collection

    In honor of the 35th Chicago Marathon on Sunday, enjoy “Jessica’s Run” by Lilly Ollinger, a short documentary about an 11-year-old marathoner.

  • Essential election viewing: Brian Springer’s Spin (1995)

    Blog

    In the early ’90s, media artist Brian Springer learned that, with a home satellite dish, it was possible to pick up and record the raw satellite feeds created by the TV networks. These parallel feeds included the behind-the-scenes signals sent to the TV shows’ control rooms but not intended for broadcast, such as talk show sets during commercial breaks or people waiting to be patched in to an interview with a news anchor. Springer recorded these feeds throughout the 1992 [...]

 

Media Burn picks

 
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