English Oilfield, An (1942)

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  • Release Date: 1st January 1942
  • Asset ID: 802295
  • Synopsis: The history of oil production in Britain. A b&w film explaining how oil was first discovered in the UK and how the first successful commercial oil well was found and established at Eakring.
  • Shotlist: 12:55:00 START Caption 'An English Oilfield' and credits over CU of pump (nodding donkey). WS pan over English countryside, ending on pump. WS men walking along road. Cottages in a country lane. Men in a country pub, dramatic reconstruction of three men - an American oil worker with two Englishmen, one is the boss. CAs to the one Englishman's story of going to the labour exchange to find work and being shown how to do the job by a foreman. 12:58:01 English boss explains how oil was first discovered in the UK. Lit torch lighting gas escaping from a spring. Man digging drainage ditch and finding crude oil in the peat. Tarry oil saturating rocks. Miners scraping oil from a mine. Waterfall, camera pans L to man (meant to be James Young, founder of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry) next to a stream. Young in a laboratory. Oil in a borehole. 12:59:19 Captions '1918', '1919'. Stills of newspaper stand headlines. WS derrick. Captions '1934', 'June 1934'. More stills. CU of government measure allowing oil exploration. Graphic of UK with oil wells indicated. 13:00:37 WS pan across Eakring site. Int. shot of three oil men in discussion. Graphic of observation stations. Oil man and farmer walk to field with map. Drilling a deep hole in the field. The shooter and observer (who carry out the geophysical exploration) synchronise watches and leave in separate vehicles for their respective positions. Shooter and crew arrive in field where explosion is to take place. They unload the dynamite and carry it to the shot hole. The observer and crew are bringing in and connecting up the wires from different recording stations. Graphic of relationship of the observer's truck to the recording points. Men loading dynamite down the hole at the shot point. The shooter car drive away from the explosion area. Radio apparatus an aerial are set up. Observer contacts colleagues at shot point. CU of hand preparing to set off explosion. WS of explosion. Model showing what happens below ground at the moment of explosion. CU of photographic records which geologist and physicist study. Two men in discussion, man makes phonecall. Trucks setting off for new location. WS Mast lying on the ground waiting to be erected. Men raise the mast. 13:07:08 Men attaching the drilling bit. The bit is lowered into the conductor box and drilling starts. Camera pans up the drilling bit. 30 feet drill pipe is hoisted up and screwed on. Men lower the string down the hole. CU drilling bit spinning round. Man walks over to roller and digs a sample of strata and puts it into a container. CU man filling up sample box. Man takes it to mobile geological laboratory. MS of scientist studying specimens under microscope. 13:09:43 CU of drilling bit spinning. Man writing depths on blackboard. Drill pipe is pulled out and old worn drill bit removed ready to be replaced. MLS geologist studies sample and gives instructions for final operations to man. CUs of drill pipes. CUs of drill pipe entering the hole. 13:11:21 CU of nodding donkey. Two men attaching pipe to bottom of nodding donkey. CU of men pressing button and pumping starts. CU of top of nodding donkey. CU of man opening tap on pipe and pours oil into bottle. 13:12:05 James Young digging at side of river. WS of cylinders. GVs of oil plant. WS of Eakring well in countryside. Caption 'THE END' over moving nodding donkey. 13:12:41 END.
  • Production Company: None
  • Licensing Restrictions: None
  • Viewing Restrictions: Public
  • Format: BetaSP_Small
  • Alternative Language Notes: None