Focus On Film is a jointly funded project by The National Archives and the South East Grid for Learning. This site presents film as a historical source and considers its advantages and disadvantages as evidence for the past.
Introduction: This article outlines with film clips, some of the issues relating to film as evidence.
Activities: These investigate different aspects of film evidence with clips. The activities can be accessed either for individual use on a pc or for whole-class teaching using an interactive whiteboard.
Film Archive: The archive contains a range of original footage from the twentieth century as well as some reconstructions of earlier periods of history. All clips have full background information and can either be viewed online or downloaded for free.
Editor′s Room: You can understand the power of the film editor by working with our film archive and online editing tool.
Sources used: film, typed document, photo, hand written document
This gallery looks at what factors caused the end of the empire. There are four case studies on the end of the British rule in these regions: the Dominions; Ghana (West Africa); India; Ireland.
Learn about World War Two by using our animated maps and investigations containing original documents, film, photographs and audio.
Within each of the theatres of war listed below, you will find a number of investigations based on a different key question to be examined using primary sources. Worksheets and a glossary are available to support these activities. There are twenty investigations in total that can be seen at a glance in the World War Two exhibition's Index of Resources.
This snapshot on a WWII bombing raid is based on an interview with WWII airman Gordon Ford and looks at the experiences and effects of British bombers on German cities.
This exhibition is an investigation into life on the home front during the Second World War. There are seven galleries:
preparations for war
evacuation
bombing of Britain
Empire home front
everyday life
women at war
spies
Each gallery is broken into various topics with sources and questions.
The visual material is accessible to all pupils with or without teacher input. There are worksheets, timelines and a glossary. There is also a diary facility so pupils can save, edit and access their work directly from the net. The gallery contains a video archive using clips from the Imperial War Museum on many of the topics. Some galleries have additional activities to play: Lights Out; Escape the Blitz; Shelter from the Blitz; Empire Home Front; Shopping in the War; Spy Catcher.
What effect did the black-out have on people's lives? Why did the government prepare for gas attacks? Why were people interned at the beginning of the war? Was the Home Guard an effective fighting force? Activity to play: Lights Out.
What effect did the bombing raids have? How did the war affect people's lives? What was evacuation from the colonies like? Activity to play: Empire Home Front.
Why was rationing introduced? What was the point of salvage? Why did people have to make do and mend? Did everyone help to fight the war on the home front? Activity to play: Shopping in the War.
This exhibition contains galleries that examine a significant event in the life of these historical figures:
Winston Churchill and the bombing of Dresden
John Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis
Benito Mussolini and the invasion of Abyssinia
Joseph Stalin and the Industrialisation of USSR
Harry Truman and the atomic bomb
Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement
Each gallery raises a series of questions that pupils can examine in the light of the sources provided. There are also report writing activities and worksheets within the galleries. The exhibition contains a glossary.
What happened at Little Rock Central High School? What were the results of the civil rights campaign in Birmingham? What was the March on Washington? How did people view Martin Luther King after his death? There are two activities on the following: the March on Washington and Martin Luther King's contribution to civil rights.
Why did Stalin want to industrialise the USSR? How did Stalin industrialise the USSR? Was industrialisation a success? There is a worksheet on the industrialisation of the USSR.
What were the long-term events leading up to Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb? Why did the firebombing of Tokyo not end in Japanese surrender? Why did Truman decide to use the atomic bomb on Japan? What were the effects on Hioshima and Nagasaki? There is an activity on Truman's use of the atomic bomb.
What triggered the Cuban Missile crisis? Why didn't it lead to nuclear war? Did international relations improve? How might Kennedy's death affect our view of him? There is an activity on the issues which concerned the key players during the crisis.
This provides information about cartoons. It shows how political cartoons can be used as evidence. There are simple quizzes on captions and the use of symbols. There is also an investigation of two cartoons and pupils can submit their answers. Finally, pupils can participate in a 'Build your own' game based on three different cartoons.
What did the British find when they entered Belsen concentration camp? This snapshot is based on a report on camp conditions and photographs of the camp guards.
This exhibition contains six galleries that investigate the causes and effects of the Cold War. Using a wide of range of sources, including film, pupils can explore these galleries:
Did the Cold War really start in 1919-39?
How strong was the wartime alliance, 1941-45?
Who caused the Cold War?
How did the Cold War work?
The nuclear game
How close was it?
Was Vietnam a turning point in the Cold War?
Within each gallery there are case studies using original sources with questions.
Pupils will also find timelines, notes on the sources, document transcripts and a worksheet for each case study to help them organise their work. Pupils have an opportunity to create their own exhibition on how the Cold War worked (gallery 4). There are text links to a glossary and an Archive Section that has extended versions of the sources used in the case studies. The exhibition features the Nuclear Bunker in Essex with a tour using stills.
Did the Cold War really start in 1919-39? There are three case studies on: the Russian Civil War; the Zinoviev letter; the Munich Agreement and after 1938-9.
How strong was the wartime alliance, 1941-1945? There are four case studies: what the public saw; what the public did not see; the Yalta Conference; the Potsdam Conference.
Who caused the Cold War? There are three case studies: Soviet Policy, 1945-1948; Churchill and the Iron Curtain speech; Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid
How did the Cold War work? There are four case studies: Berlin Blockade, 1948-9; Soviet control of Eastern Europe; Korean War, 1950-53; Berlin Wall, 1961. Pupils can create their own online exhibition in this gallery.
The nuclear game - how close was it? There are three case studies: nuclear politics in the 1950s and 1960s; Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; banning the bomb.
Two Sides, Two Stories: this workshop aims to help students investigate and understand the events of Bloody Sunday and the different interpretations regarding what happened and who was responsible, through the study of original documents.
Moving Here explores, records and illustrates why people came to England over the last 200 years and what their experiences were and continue to be. It includes an online archive of original material related to migration history from local, regional and national archives, libraries and museums and gives visitors to the site the opportunity to publish stories of their own experience of migration. The site features numerous resources designed specifically for schools.
