The DVD which accompanies this website is there to showcase many of the moving and exciting audio-visual sequences the project has generated. If the whole world were on broadband, these could be streamed directly off the site. However, the reality is that many people around the world still have dial-up connections, and downloading very large files is a slow and expensive business. While the website can carry clips of digitised cine and video, the DVD can play them at greater length, as well as showing other audio-visual features such as interviews and computer animations. The DVD was officially premiered on April 20th 2007, at a special Society event at Burton Latimer Community Centre. There were two showings - at 4.30pm and 7.30pm.
The DVD is now on sale. The cost is £3.50 plus £1.50 per DVD for post and packaging where applicable. Multiple orders can be accepted, but note that the carriage charge is per DVD. DVDs can be also purchased at the Heritage Room on Thursdays and Saturdays between 10.00 am and 1.00 pm click here to download an Order Form
Proceeds from the sales will fund the preservation and publication of further heritage material, as well as any required further copies of the DVD.
Contents of the DVD
| 1. Title Sequence - as part of the project, new aerial footage of the town has been commissioned and figures prominently in this sequence, alongside a series of visual impressions of the town, all set to music. |
| 2. The Growth of the Town - images and a map-based animation of the growth of the town: sections, streets, areas, etc, with narrative commentary. |
| 3. The Wind Farm - Like it or loathe it, this is currently the largest inland wind farm in Britain, and is now a feature of Burton's heritage for the foreseeable future. This short sequence, set to music, shows dramatic views of the turbines. Chris Page has also captured a sequence showing the building of one of the towers and the connection of the turbine and blades. |
| 4. Working in Burton - a reminiscence of the time (not that long ago) when the town was based almost exclusively on manufacturing industries like shoes, leather, clothing, etc, to say nothing of Weetabix and Alumasc. The first section has commentary and covers the rise and fall of the clothing and shoe industries and includes brief footage of the inside of Whitney & Westley's in the 1960s. As an extra, there is a sequence to music of work going on in the 1930s in an unidentified shoe factory in Kettering. The second section tells the Story of Weetabix and Alumasc, and the way they sustained employment in Burton at the time the shoe and clothing industries were disappearing. The third section is set to music and covers the arrival of new industry and employment, like Alpro, Versalift and Morrison's, alongside firms like Sharnold's, Langham Industrial Controls and I.M. Kelly's, who have made new use of old factories. |
| 5. The War Memorial - an audio-visual feature with music and commentary on the building and dedication of the War Memorial, its removal and reinstatement, together with a tribute to the men from Burton Latimer who died in two World Wars. |
| 6. Parades and Fairs - new and archive photos and footage of parades, the Duck Race, the Christmas Lights, Kettering Fair, etc. |
| 7. The High Street - over 50% of the buildings which lined the High Street in 1950 have gone. Newcomers to the town have no idea of what the High Street looked like for much of its history. The introduction to this section features commentary and a look back at the townscape which has now gone forever. The second section is the centrepiece of the DVD: a re-creation and an animated journey through Burton High Street as it was in about 1918, all set to music. Walk in the footsteps of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The virtual journey will enter two of the former shops: Meads' Dairy and Sturman's (later Yeoman's) Florists and Greengrocers. There is also a re-creation of Wallis' Yard, which occupied the area behind the High Street where the Library now stands. |
| 8. Faces of Burton - a short sequence of photos set to music and short commentary, featuring older views of the town and some of the people who have lived here over the last 100 years: some prominent, some now largely forgotten, but whose faces will be familiar to many. |
| 9. Round-up - Another look at modern Burton via a series of film clips set to music. |
| 10. Credits - The list with a twist! As well as the scrolling tribute to all who have so generously contributed in time, effort and money, there are additional mini-views of scenes, events and people not covered elsewhere on the DVD. |
While the DVD will play on a computer, it is like a commercial film not a data disc. The only menu items are the choice of straight play-through or selection of individual scenes. There is no other text data, and no other mouse control. For older inhabitants without DVD players, it should be possible - on request - to make VHS tape copies, though the overall quality will not be as good as the DVD versions.
Screen Size: The DVD has been created primarily as a version for domestic DVD players, to be seen on a widescreen television. Those with older 4:3 screens can expect to have a "letter-boxing" effect, with sections of black screen top and bottom. Please Note: the full view of the DVD will only be achieved on LCD or plasma TVs. On older sets with widescreen cathode ray tubes, part of the screen is hidden by the casing, and about one inch (2.5cm) of screen area is lost all the way round the edge of the image, so some faces and other edge detail may be obscured.
Compatibility: The DVD has been authoured as multi-region, which means that there should be no problem playing it on systems in Australia, New Zealand, etc, which use the PAL system we have in Britain. For residents in the USA and Canada, where they use the NTSC system, the DVD should play on their DVD players: the issue will be whether their individual televisions can accept a PAL signal. If they can't, then the DVD can be viewed on computer, assuming the computer has suitable player software. Update: The DVD has now been tested on American computers and performed without trouble.
|
