My most recent recording in association with the National Film and Sound Archive was of long-time AMOHG member, DOMINIC CASE. The facility was an audio studio at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, arranged by the Oral History Curator at NFSA, Sean O’Brien, who also supplied the equipment. The facilities are ideal for recording.
I was fascinated to learn about the inner workings of the film laboratories that defined the earlier part of Dominic’s career – firstly, Rank in the UK, then Colorfilm and Atlab in Sydney starting with the 70s revival of the film industry in Australia. When Dominic was interviewed at Australia House about what he might aim to do if he was accepted into Australia, he said he’d like to join the film industry. The consul officer replied, ‘No, sorry, we haven’t got one of those in Australia.’ At the time it was almost, but not quite true!
Dominic had stints in various capacities at the NFSA, along with freelance work with producers and a range of industry organisations, including being a commissioner at the Australian Film Commission. It struck me at the end of the interview, just how fast technology has moved in our lifetimes. Dominic’s expertise in the labs was of the highest order and yet, when the labs closed, all that knowledge was suddenly and irrevocably obsolete. Fortunately, he was able to reinvent himself and continued to contribute significantly to the broader film industry, as you can see from the following summary of his career.
Dominic Case was Technical Manager of film laboratories Colorfilm and then Atlab for a total of thirty years, and a board member of the Australian Film Commission. Since then he has worked in communications and public policy in the film industry. He is the author of two books on film technology, and a regular contributor to local screen journals. After graduating in Physics he joined an English film laboratory, moving to Australia in 1974. At Colorfilm he supervised the integration of original newsreel material in the groundbreaking film Newsfront, and recreated tinting and toning effects for the restoration of the 1927 classic For the Term of His Natural Life. During this time he gained an MA in Communications & Mass Media. Later, at Atlab he was Group Technology Manager and then Director of Communications. He was Chair of industry broadband development group FIBRE, and a Board Member (Commissioner) of the Australian Film Commission from 2003 to 2008. More recently at the National Film and Sound Archive he was (briefly) Acting Senior Film Curator, and then Development Manager. He is a Life Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society.
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See Dominic’s reflections on the same interview here.
Australian Media Oral History Group 