Using the Filmography

This filmography database consists of over 2500 listings of film or video productions that are known to have been made in Nova Scotia from the first known film in 1899 to the project's cutoff date of 1973. A variety of primary and secondary sources, including newspapers, government and corporate annual reports, and film catalogues, were searched for information on moving pictures made in the province. Some titles have been included for which there is little known documentary evidence other than a magazine or newspaper reference. In other cases, such as that of Evangeline – the first feature film made in Canada – there is abundant information about the film but no known surviving copies. The physical location of roughly 8% of the films listed in the filmography could not be determined. In many cases, the "Note" area of the description will refer to the source from which the description was taken.

How to Conduct a Search

The database can be searched by title, subject, name and/or genre. An integrated Title, Subject and Name Index and a Genre Index are available. Researchers can use the indexes to browse the list of terms that have been used and select the ones they wish to search on.

Boolean
Within each search field you can enter a single term or use boolean operators to connect several terms. Boolean searching allows you to combine words into a more refined search string. For example, if you were interested in the International Schooner Races involving the Bluenose (Canada) and the Gertrude L. Thebaud (United States) you could search on Bluenose as a subject (which will produce 61 hits), or you could instead search for Bluenose and Gertrude by providing a space between the two words: Bluenose Gertrude. The system automatically inserts the word "AND" between each term and will therefore search for records that contain both terms, and in this case return a more manageable 7 hits.

Capitalization
Search terms can be entered in either UPPER or lower case.

Punctuation
Punctuation between words is disregarded during the search process and therefore should not be included when entering the search term(s).

The following is an example of a typical film description, listing the 16 possible data elements and followed by definitions for each of them.

1. Eye witness No. 79
2. Producing Agency : National Film Board of Canada
3. Production Date : 1955
4. Release Date : n.a.
5. 16 mm/35 mm, 6. b&w, 7. sound, 8. 00:11:00

9. Series : Eye Witness
10. Synopsis : the RCAF tests and approves the Neptune, a new aircraft for the Maritime Air Command.
11. Director : Sutton, Walter A.; Crabtree, Grant; Lemieux, Hector J.
12. Producer : Jones, Peter
13. Camera : Sutton, Walter A.; Crabtree, Grant; Lemieux, Hector J.
14. Sound : Daprato, Clarke
15. Notes : French version is Coup d'oeil no. 79.
16. Repository : National Film Board of Canada

Definitions

1. Title of film.
2. Company/group responsible for production.
3. Date production was completed.
4. Date film was released for viewing.
5. Gauge of film (e.g., 8 mm, 35 mm, 16 mm).
6. Whether film is b&w, colour or both.
7. Whether film has sound or is silent.
8. Running time of film
9. Name of program series that item may be part of. If this is an entry for a series as a whole then the series title becomes the entry title.
10. Brief description of content of film.
11-14. Production crew.
15. Extraneous information about production which may be of interest to the researcher.
16. Location where film is currently held.

In all cases, when information about a film does not appear, it means the information was not available for that production. For instance, information not available for the above example includes the release date, members of the cast (e.g., narrator) and additional crew (e.g., writer). The films listed in the filmography are in English unless otherwise stated.

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