6.4 Boundaries between Manifestations and Works or Variants

The boundaries between a moving image Work and its Variant(s) (i.e. where a Variant rather than a new Work may be created) may be drawn on the basis of one or more of the following alterations to the content given below.¹

6.4.1 Change in footage and/or change in continuity (secondary editing)

Different footage used from the original realisation of the Work, even where footage used was shot at the same time and edited together by the same people, or following the pattern set by original creators.

Examples²:

Example

The rules of the game (1939): exists only as a Variant of the original Work, made partially from alternate takes to those used in the original release.

Example

Various re-edited releases of Blade Runner (1982, 1986, 1992, 2007)

Example

Mr. Arkadin (France-Spain-Switzerland, 1955, Orson Welles): eight different Variants between 1955 and 1956, each one with differences in footage and editing. Among them, three have the title Confidential Report.

Editing of a Work to create realisations that are shorter in extent/duration.

Example

Große Freiheit Nr. 7 (Germany, 1944) (112 minutes)

Shortened Variant Große Freiheit Nr. 7 (109 minutes)

Example

Works censored or edited for television broadcast, for showing on airplanes, for showing in different parts of the country/world, etc.

Example

Annie Leibovitz, Life through a Lens (United States of America, 2007-01-03), broadcast in TV series American Masters

Shortened Variant (for British television): Annie Leibovitz, Life through a Lens (UK, 2008-06-10), broadcast in TV series Imagine

Example

Last Tango in Paris (United States of America, 1972, Bernardo Bertolucci)

Censored Variant: Ultimo tango a Parigi (Italy, 1988, Broadcast)

Addition of new footage to a Work to update informational/educational content; for preservation/restoration; to offer different endings or alternate takes.

Example

Blackmail (UK, 1929, Alfred Hitchcock)

Augmented Variant: United Kingdom– 1929 (longer, with some scenes shot on purpose)

Example

Little Shop of Horrors (United States of America, 1986, Frank Oz)

Augmented Variant: alternate ending of 23 minutes, included in the 2012 Warner Home Video – Blu-ray, DVD edition

Example

Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Germany, 1922, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau)

Preservation/Restoration Variant: restoration by Friedrich-Wilhelm Murnau-Stiftung; Luciano Berriatùa (restorer) – Germany – 2005/6 (reconstruction based on different sources)

6.4.2 Change in textual aspect

Partial alteration of dialogue and/or narration of an existing Work, including the removal and/or addition of dialogue (audio and/or intertitles).

Examples³:

Example

The addition or removal of explanatory text, dubbing, subtitles, etc.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) was dubbed into 19 foreign language versions, which were released on the same date as the English language version.

Example

Cabiria (Italy, 1914, Giovanni Pastrone)

Sonorized Variant: Italy, 1931

Example

A dog’s life (United States of America, 1918, Charles Chaplin)

Sonorized Variant: Vita da cani – sonorized with Italian intertitles – 193?

Example

The yellow mask (United States of America, 1930, Harry Lachman)

Augmented Variant: Il principe corsaro – 1931: only with music, songs and sound effects, plus new Italian intertitles, but without dialogue, according to a 1930 law, which involved the first spoken foreign films distributed in Italy.

Example

Hallelujah! (United States of America, 1929, King Vidor)

Augmented Variant: Alleluia! – addition of music, songs, sound effects, and new Italian intertitles, but without dialogue; Italy, 1930

Example

La presa di Roma (Italy, 1905)

Preservation/restoration Variant: addition of stills and explanation texts; Italy, 2007. Restoration by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale

6.4.3 Change in performance/performers

Removal and/or replacement and/or addition of any one or more of the contributors (e.g., cast and/or crew), but not substantially most, associated with a Work.

Examples of restored versions of works which include credits for the responsible individuals and institutions.

Example

Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Germany, 1922, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau)

Preservation/augmented Variant – 2005/6: restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm Murnau-Stiftung; Luciano Berriatùa (restorer)

Example

Die freudlose Gasse (Germany, 1925, Georg Wilhelm Pabst);

Preservation/augmented Variant – Germany – 2008. Digitale Restaurierung: Filmarchiv Austria, Wien, Stephanie Gratzer in Zusammenarbeit mit der Galerie Krems; Wissenschaftliche Beratung: Stephan Droessler, Nikolaus Wostry; Projectleitung: Ernst Kleininger, Nikolaus Wostry (from the credits on the DVD)

Example

Kita-kitsune Monogatari (Japan, 1978, Koreyoshi Kurahara); original narrator voice: Eiji Okada; Augmented variant with added prologue and English narration: The Glacier Fox in Search of the Northern Sun – United States of America – 1979: narrator voice: Arthur Hill.

Examples of language versions which credit the individuals responsible for dubbing or subtitles.

Example

Senso (Italy, 1954, Luchino Visconti)

Subtitled Variant: French subtitles – 1955: subtitles by Georges Sadoul

Example

Cinderella (United States of America, 1950, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske)

Dubbed variant: Cendrillon, French (spoken language) – France – 1991: Dominique Poulain, voice of Cinderella)

Example

Sons of the Desert (United States of America, 1933, William A. Seiter):

Dubbed Variant 1:I figli del deserto – Italian (spoken language) -1935: Carlo Cassola, voice of Oliver Hardy;

Dubbed Variant 2:, I figli del deserto – Italian (spoken language) 1946: Alberto Sordi, voice of Oliver Hardy.

When an institution has set a policy not to use Variants, the boundaries will usually be between a Work and Manifestations, i.e., a new Manifestation linked to the Work would be created rather than a Variant, or else a separate new Work, depending on assessment of the level of change or variation.

Boundaries for this decision are akin to the concepts of “versions with major changes” and “variations with minor changes” in the FIAF Cataloguing Rules for Film Archives (1991) http://www.fiafnet.org/pages/E-Resources/FIAF-Cataloguing-Rules.html

Example

Our herring industry (GB, 1932) is the shortened version of Drifters (GB, 1929).

Where a Work/Variant structure exists then Our herring industry would constitute a Variant of the Work Drifters.

Where no Variant structure exists then the cataloguer would decide whether it constituted a Manifestation or new Work (i.e. whether it constituted a "variation with minor changes", or a "version with major changes").

It is up to every archive or institution to choose and make its own policy on whether to use Variants or Manifestations.

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1. The types of alterations given here are adapted from Yee, “The Concept of Work for Moving Image Materials.” ↩

2. Il cinema ritrovato 2006. 20. edizione: sabato 1 luglio-sabato 8 luglio / Cineteca del Comune di Bologna. – Bologna : Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, 2006, p. 154 (Dossier Mr. Arkadin) ↩

3. Some institutions may have the 19 foreign language versions as 19 separate Manifestations, rather than create 19 Variant records, particularly if the data relating to specific different dubbing credits is unavailable or deemed of minor importance. ↩