Audiovisual materials relating to the documentary Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada, 1990-1993

Series contains sound recordings of interviews with Beatrice Wood, interviews with others about Wood, and public appearances by Wood recorded for the documentary . Transcripts of the recordings are also found and filed with the original tapes. Many of the transcripts appear to be incomplete, perhaps containing only passages under consideration for inclusion in the final film. A transcript of a phone conversation with Wood, without a corresponding sound recording, is arranged at the end of the series.

Individuals besides Wood who are interviewed include Francis Nauman, John Perrault, Garth Clark, Mark Del Vecchio, Anne D'Harnoncourt, Steve Watson, Rupert Pole, R.P. Singh, Henry Huglin, and Lee Waisler. Recorded public appearances by Wood include a December 8, 1990 appearance at the Santa Monica Library auditorium, and a November 6, 1991 appearance at an Ojai, California bookstore.

Some of the recordings appear to have been made as sound-only recordings, and some were recorded while filming. Sound roll logs documenting corresponding camera roll numbers and brief notes on content are found with many of the sound reels. Their presence is noted in the folder listing.

Arrangement is chronological, with transcripts for each item followed by tapes. Sound roll logs are filed with sound reels. Where corresponding film footage exists, it is found in Series 3, Moving Images.

Researchers should note that the link between picture and soundtrack is not always explicit in the original labeling and documentation. Sound roll logs usually note the "CR" or camera roll number and brief notes on footage content. Series 2 contains additional documentation linking corresponding sound and picture reels. These CR numbers are different from the existing negative roll numbers found on the film reels themselves and in this finding aid. This reflects the filmmaker's process of assigning one set of numbers during shooting, and assigning a different set of numbers during editing to the same material.

Camera roll numbers are the numbers assigned during shooting and are found on sound roll logs, transcripts, and other production notes. Negative roll numbers assigned during editing are the numbers found on the physical film leaders and cans, and are the numbers referred to in Series 3 of this finding aid.

Although camera roll numbers are sometimes found in transcripts in Series 1, these transcripts also seem to contain several numbering errors. "Slate" numbers spoken at the beginning of recordings seem to be more reliable than transcripts, although not all slate numbers were verified during processing. CR numbers found on sound roll logs also appear to be reliable, and often contain in addition general notes about content.

Series includes script notes, shot lists, editing notes, detailed editing logs, camera reports, and lab records including work orders for dailies, effects such as titles and superimpositions, and documentation of the final print.

Partial scripts contain an overview of the main sections of the documentary in narrative form with an indication of footage to be used for each section, and a partial transcript for an unidentified fragment of the documentary.

Records in this series that are especially helpful in linking the content of film footage with their identifying numbers include camera reports, negative logs, and shot lists. Negative logs provide the most comprehensive link between the camera roll numbers and the negative roll numbers, which match the numbers used on film cans and in this finding aid. Negative roll numbers are listed in the first column under the heading "N.R.#," and camera roll numbers are found in the far right column under the heading "comments."

Camera reports, although they do not exist for every roll of film, contain dates, camera roll numbers, and often contain brief notes on the content of the film roll. Shot lists provide detailed content description for silent location footage and footage of photographs and artwork.

Lab work orders for dailies (the term for unedited camera rolls processed by the lab each day of shooting) also contain brief notes by lab technicians on the general content of the film rolls, although these notes are generic and are not made by people familiar with the subject of the film. For instance, close up footage of Beatrice Wood is simply identified as "C.U. Lady." Nevertheless these notes are helpful in distinguishing between interview footage, silent location footage, and footage of photographs and artwork.

Series contains three video copies of the finished documentary and 153 rolls of 16mm motion picture film negative, which are outtakes from 166 original camera negative rolls. Footage consists of three general types of content: film shot during several of the interviews and one of Wood's public appearances found in Series 1; silent footage of locations, Wood working in her studio; and footage of historical photographs and artworks.

As noted elsewhere in the finding aid, the camera roll numbers assigned during shooting, and appearing throughout the production documentation, do not match the negative roll numbers assigned during editing, which are the numbers on the existing film rolls. Although the documentation is not always precise in its transcription of the footage content and numbering, a rough inventory of footage content was made during processing to facilitate research. Verification by visual inspection is recommended prior to requesting any duplication of the footage in this series.

Footage from interviews of December 1990 appears to be on negative rolls 1-11. Footage from Wood's appearance at the Santa Monica auditorium should be on negative rolls 13-15. Interviews conducted in New York City appear to be on negative rolls 21-36. The December 1991 interviews with Wood and others appear to be on negative rolls 90-94, 105-106, and 116-119. The Luncheon shot on December 11, 1991 is likely to be on negative rolls 102-103. A lengthy shoot in Ojai in December of 1991 includes a significant amount of silent footage of Wood's studio and home, interiors and exteriors, and footage of Wood working in her studio. This footage is likely found on negative rolls 75-79, 80-88, 95-101, 108-114, 126-133, and 135. The remainder of the rolls appear to contain stills of artwork and historical photographs shot in Francis Nauman's apartment and the Philadelphia Museum, New York City exteriors, and stills of artwork shot in Ojai.

Also found in this series are three rolls of assembled shorter trims and outtakes labeled "select neg," and 7 small rolls of work print containing mainly titles and superimpositions. The "select neg" reels seem to have been roughly assembled in early stages of editing, and the footage that was ultimately used in the documentary was cut from these rough edits. Although the footage that was used in the documentary is not found in the film footage in this series, the sound recordings in Series 1 are the complete, unedited original recordings.

Film footage is arranged in rough numerical order by negative roll number, the sequence of numbers assigned during editing. Some of the film rolls were combined, with one roll containing footage from two or more original negative rolls. See Series 2, production notes and lab reports, for more documentation of footage content and links between negative roll numbers and camera roll numbers.

Camera film was originally stored in 33 cardboard boxes provided by the film lab; it has been transferred to archival film cans, sometimes with multiple rolls in single cans. Digital photographs of original cardboard boxes, which have been replaced with archival cans, are available in printed form in Series 2.