16.07.26
Archive hunt continues
Yesterday was another fruitful day in tying up these hanging archive threads, I managed to crack the library and extract what they had. I’ve got more requests in and logged with various agencies. I managed to do a sprint through newspaper articles and headlines that are relevant to the subject of the film. And so I’m building a decent repository of the archive I need, rather than it being a disparate process of waiting for material to trickle in while time burns.
Being more active and intensive on archive over the last few days has helped push it through, and will grease the wheels of editing. I probably should have performed this exercise sooner, but you live and learn.
This is also where an AI assistant comes in handy. I use AI constantly when doing this kind of work, it’s very good for setting up a prioritised action list, identifying the correct URLs, where I need to go, who I need to email, step-by-step walkthroughs on the databases so that it’s easier to navigate them, sign-ups and so on. I don’t have to constantly read FAQs and orientate myself around the various systems that I’m switching between hour by hour. It’s also very useful in tracking: logging what has been done, tracking what remains outstanding, and systematising everything. It can even do some downloads and file extractions on automation, if necessary. AI deployed in this manner can be a significant time-saver.
Still, it’s slow going, and it can feel like progress isn’t being made on the film itself, but this is all erecting scaffolding - I’ve previously written in this journal about how there’s a false economy in trying to work the edit and being busy in post without having sufficient materials. The reset continues.