Inside the Archive #43: Filmmaking in Hertfordshire and Super Kevin Unwrapped

Being based in Berkhamsted and interested in forging stronger local connections, the Screencraft team at the BFI National Archive has begun a new outreach initiative. With the focus on ‘being a good neighbour’, we hosted an online drop-in session and subsequent pop-up exhibition that highlighted filmmaking across Hertfordshire.

Our drop-in session (hosted on 4 August) explored the local community’s understanding of local filming and their thoughts on the topic. We wanted to create a space for open conversation to help inform decisions on the following pop-up exhibition. We found that many participants had vast existing knowledge on local filming sites and studios – with many sharing personal experiences of witnessing or working on film shoots in the local area.  We also presented some of our own research and showed a number of posters from the BFI’s collections, asking the group for feedback. The session was a great moment of sharing and felt like a great step in our efforts to widen public access to our materials. 

Using learning from the community drop-in session, we created an exhibition of film posters related to productions made in the local area. The exhibition was titled ‘From Taste Wars to Star Wars: Advertising Food and Film in Hertfordshire’ and the posters, cared for by the BFI National Archive, included Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Goldeneye (1995). These selected poster reproductions were showcased at the Civic Centre in Berkhamsted and were presented in collaboration with Dacorum Heritage, who displayed a selection of materials from their Ovaltine collection (highlighting Hertfordshire’s role as a leading producer of Ovaltine food and beverage products until 2002). Visitors could walk through the display of posters and read about the studios, the local filming locations and some of the memories that were shared during the drop-in session. They were also invited to leave their own reflections on our ‘memory table’, take part in a quiz and even draw their own film poster.  

These events were a fantastic way for us to reach the community, open-up access to our archive materials and help us understand how people would like to interact with us in the future. Visitors were engaged at both events, interested to learn and share their thoughts, as well as view some great material. We can’t wait to do more events like these and continue to bring our collections out to the public.

If you would be interested in joining future drop-in sessions with the Screencraft department or want to receive updates on outreach events, please contact us via email. 

With huge thanks to Dacorum Heritage, Bovington Airfield, Elstree and Borehamwood Museum, Hertfordshire Association for Local History, Hertfordshire County Council, Dacorum Council and everyone who joined us for both events. 

– Paola Martucci, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator (Screencraft)

When you’re working through a donated collection with items running into the thousands it is going to take a while. I have been steadily working through the moving image materials acquired from the Halas & Batchelor Collection for over a decade now. All highlight works are now safely accessioned, catalogued and sitting comfortably in our master film store. This includes original negatives for Britain’s first animated feature film Animal Farm (1954); the Oscar-nominated science-fiction satire Automania 2000 (1963); and for the Kraftwerk collaboration Autobahn (1979). There are also countless examples of children’s television series, educational films, commercials and documentaries which have been sorted, examined, catalogued and stored. As we reach the beginning of the end, what remains are some of the more obscure corners of the company’s six decades of production.

‘Halas + Batchelor Various I/Pos’ is not the most helpful label, but it does give some clues. ‘I/Pos’ is short for interpositive, a duplicate made from the edited camera negative and used to make additional copies while protecting the original. Opening the can to find lots of small reels covered in tissue paper it became quickly apparent they were copies of short television commercials made for broadcast in Germany c1980. But, in amongst the recognisable brand names one reel was simply labelled ‘Super Kevin’. Who on earth is Super Kevin?

With the film on the winding bench for examination, the title was repeated on the leader and opening frames. There could only be one Super Kevin in Germany in 1980, the English footballer, Kevin Keegan. After a stellar spell at Liverpool FC, Keegan transferred to Hamburger SV in 1977 for what was then a British and German record fee. In Hamburg he helped the team win the Bundesliga and get to the final of the European Cup, and as an individual he won the Ballon d’Or as European footballer of the year in both 1978 and 1979. Winding further into the film, there he is, flying through the sky, superhero style, in a green and yellow outfit emblazoned with the logo BP.

This advert was part of BP’s marketing response to the drop in oil production which followed the Iranian revolution of 1979 and led to a global energy crisis. Super Kevin appears to be equipped with a mind beam that instantly teaches a sporty driver to control his revs and drive in a more energy conscious fashion. The end slogan ‘Stopp’ Den Energie Galopp’ also appeared in print advertising and on stickers with Super Kevin’s likeness. It’s an ephemeral work that soon disappeared with little trace and had never previously been logged in any of our databases. Just the kind of unexpected oddity that adds flavour and interest to a collection like this. Each little wrapped parcel of film can offer a surprise, in this case trace evidence of the growth of star power in sports, of British animation production for overseas, of energy marketing trends at a point of upheaval, and a wealth of other diversions. Like a little time capsule, it’s a forgotten message from a moment that soon lost its purpose as oil production adjusted and the companies that profited from its consumption rather than conservation changed their tune. 

Sadly, because interpositives are intended to pair with a separate sound element this copy is currently mute. Will a sound negative, or perhaps a combined print appear in the dwindling number of cans left to assess? Does it given Super Kevin a voice and is it Keegan’s own, in fledgling German? Fingers crossed we find out.

–Jez Stewart, Curator (Animation)

The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.