SEARCH TIPS

We have organised the databases so that you can select four different ways to find the footage you are looking for.

Search Footage Option – Entire Database
Firstly you can search through the entire database, simply leave the search drop down selected as ‘Entire Database’, enter your search and click ‘search’.

Search Footage Option – For Archive Footage
Additionally you can search for historical or archival material. Select ‘Historical’ in the search drop down menu, enter your search and click ‘search’.

Search Footage Option – For Contemporary Footage
You can also search for contemporary material. Select ‘Contemporary’ in the search drop down menu, enter your search and click ‘search’.

Advanced Search Option
You can click and choose the collections you are interested in searching, any unselected collections will be omitted from the search. This is useful if you are already familiar with the Film Images library, otherwise we recommend that you use our brief descriptions on each collection to guide you through.

Searching Made Easy.
All of the films in our database are shot-listed in detail by what is happening in vision. The best advice we can give you is to enter the most obvious search word first.

Remember to take account of American spellings (theater or theatre) and terms (sidewalk or pavement) if you are looking for US footage.

Logical Operators (aka Boolean Logic)

and is useful for locating a film with specific words in the shot-list
eg. doctor and hospital.

When multiple search terms are inputted into the database, it is best to use speech marks to search with
eg. “New York” and “Empire State Building”.

not useful to exclude films
eg. doctor not hospital.

or useful to extend your search
eg. hospital or clinic.

Proximity

near useful to find a film which you expect will have words which appear in the same sentence, phrase or paragraph.
eg. doctor near5 hospital.

When multiple search terms are inputted into the database, it is best to use speech marks to search with
eg. “John Lennon” near20 “Paul McCartney”.

Wildcard

* useful to widen your search and to take account of different spellings and plurals.
eg. electr* for all terms such as electrical, electricity, electrician/s, electronic.

eg. Niger* for all terms such as Niger, Nigeria, Nigerian, Nigerians, Nigeria's

If you have any problems searching for material, contact the research team by calling 020 7624 3388 or by sending an email to: research@film-images.com