7.2 Attributes of a Variant
7.2.1 Variant Type1¶
Identify and describe the kind of change from a Work that gives rise to any instance(s) of a Variant. Selection should be made from a controlled list of values, for example:
- Censored
- Dubbed
- Subtitled
- Abridged/Condensed/Shortened (e.g. for television or providing a shorter version of a documentary film)
- Augmented (where additional content is added, such as director’s cuts with restored scenes, commentaries)
- Alternate endings
- Preservation/Restoration
- Different sound track
- Sonorised
- Colourised
- Monochromised (i.e. Black and white version of work originally issued in colour)
- Tinted/Toned
A change in colour, which is a physical property, expresses a different Manifestation according to the data model this manual follows. However, it is recognised that in practice, institutions who employ the Variant entity may consider changes to colour to provoke the creation of a Variant because the colourisation of a black and white Work represents a fundamental change to the visual aspects of the original Work.
Examples of some of the above (and other) Variant Types
Censored Variant
Example
It's a wonderful life (USA, 1946. Frank Capra)
Qué bello es vivir! (Censored Variant: Spain, 1948. 7 minutes shorter due to censorship cuts removing scenes relating to positive mention or depiction of housing co-operatives, deemed subversive by the Franco government)
Example
Saturday Night Fever (USA, 1976) (119 minutes, R (Restricted) certification)
Saturday Night Fever (USA, 1979 (c.109 minutes, PG (Parental Guidance) certification. Muted/dubbed out certain swearing and edited out drug references, violence, and a rape scene).
Dubbed Variant
Example
Work Title: Jour de fête (Tati, Jacques, 1947, FR)
Variant Title: Het is feest vandaag (Dubbed version 1964, dubbed in Dutch)
Variant Title: Tatis Schützenfest (Dubbed version 1964, dubbed in German )
Subtitled Variant
Example
Work Title: Im Westen nichts Neues (Germany, 2022. Edward Berger)
Variant Title: All quiet on the Western Front (Subtitled version, 2022, subtitles in English)
Abridged Variant (or Shortened Variant)
Example
Work Title: Newfoundland - Atlantic province (Canada, 1949. Sydney Newman. Running time: 18 minutes)
Variant Title: Inside Newfoundland (Canada, 1949, Sydney Newman. Running time: 11 minutes)
Augmented Variant
Example
Work Title: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (USA, 1991. James Cameron. Running time: 137 minutes)
Variant Title: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Special Edition) (USA, 1993. Running time: 154 minutes). Re-inserting previously deleted scenes.
Variant Title: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Extended Special Edition) (aka Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Skynet Edition)) (USA, 2009. Running time: 156 minutes). Includes all the insertions from the Special Edition Variant plus an altered ending.
Alternative ending Variant
An alternate ending that changes the whole story line of film may also be deemed a major change warranting a new Work. This still remains as an option even where a full 4-level data hierarchy structure is used by an institution. It is for the cataloguer to assess and decide. For those who do not use the Variant in cataloguing then instances of alternate endings that substantially change the story would mean creating a new Work and linking the two versons of the film in an associative relationship. Thus, the alternate less ambiguous ending with a more positive outlook of a central character at the end of the Extended Special Edition Terminator 2 example above could be assessed as being a subtle change (and so a Variant) rather than a more stark sad vs. happy ending which changes the entire storyline and feel of a moving image (and so different enough to constitute a different Work).
If used, institutions should set rules on how to select which ending is the work and which one is the alternative.
Example
Work title: Rukoj materi (Russia, 1913. Yakov Protazanov) (Original sad ending - the daughter lying in her coffin having been accidentally killed by her mother)
Alternative ending Variant (Foreign export version, 1913) (Happy ending - where the daughter lives)
Example
Work Title : La Belle équipe (France, 1936. Julien Duvivier) (Happy ending - there is reconciliation after a jealous confrontation between two friends)
Alternative Ending Variant Title : La Belle équipe (France, 1936. Julien Duvivier) (Sad ending - the confrontation leads to a tragedy). The sad ending version is what was released and circulated outside France.
It was common, especially in the silent film industry, to make different endings of the same film at the same time during production for different national audiences.
Restoration Variant For a more detailled discussion of the term restoration see also the Appendix.
Example
Work Title: Jaws (USA, 1975. Steven Spielberg)
Variant Title: Jaws (USA, 2012)
Digitally restored 4K Ultra-HD version released on Blu-ray internationally on 14th August 2012. Restored by Universal Pictures as part of their Centennial Project.
Example
Work Title: Saïd Effendi (Iraq, 1957. Kameran Hosni)
Variant Title: Saïd Effendi (Iraq, 2025)
4K digital restoration of the black and white film, restored by the Iraqi Cinematheque Project and The Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Haytham Committee for Iraqi Visual Memory, and the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA).
Example
Work Title: Touki Bouki (Senegal, 1973. Djibril Diop Mambéty)
Variant Title: Touki Bouki (Senegal, 2008)
2K digital restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the family of director Djibril Diop Mambéty.
Different Soundtrack Variant
Example
Work Title: Derry Girls (TV series, Season 1 first broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 2018-01-04 to 2018-02-08)
Variant Title: Derry Girls (TV series, Season 1 broadcast on Netflix in USA from 2018-12-21)
There were sometimes different pieces of music and songs used on the soundtrack of USA and international broadcasts of episodes of the series. This was due to music licensing and rights whereby the original songs used were licensed to Channel 4's broadcasts in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Example
Work Title: My Sister's Husband (Nigeria, 2021. Emeka Madu. Original language - English)
Variant Title: Omusajja Wa Mwanniya (voice-over translation into Luganda by VJ (Video Jockey) Stevo, in a translation track laid on top of the original audio, with the latter still audible).[^2]
Example
Work Title: Princess Tyra (Ghana/Nigeria, 2007. Frank Rajah Arase. Original language - English)
Variant Title: Princess Tyra (voice-over translation into Swahili by VJ Loba)
Variant Title: Princess Tyra (voice-over translation into Luganda by VJ Stevo, released online via YouTube and Daily Motion streaming channels)
Sonorised Variant
Example
Work Title: La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (France, 1928. Carl Th. Dreyer)
Variant Title: La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (France, 1952) (Added music track using music by composers such as Bach, Vivaldi, and Albinoni)
Colourised Variant
Example
Work Title: Scrooge (United Kingdom, 1951. Brian Desmond Hurst) (Black and white original film)
Variant Title: Scrooge (United Kingdom, 2012) (Colourised version of the film)
Monochromised
Example
Work Title: Nightmare Alley (USA/Mexico/Canada, 2021. Guillermo del Toro) (Filmed and released in Colour)
Variant Title: Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light (USA/Mexico/Canada, 2022) (Black and white version of the film)
A Variant may have more than one type. For example, a Variant for a restoration of a film with new, or previously missing, intertitles with restored tinting or toning and an added music track featuring the original music composed for playing with the film. Or for a shortened, different format, black and white, dubbed version:
Example
Work Title: Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Germany, 1922. F.W. Murnau)
Restoration + Tinted/Toned + Different sound track Variant Title: Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens (2006 German version)
Variant characteristics: i) Digitally restored original German intertitles (including some previously missing); ii) new added music track; iii) tinted
Example
Work Title: Wet Paint (USA, 1946. Jack King)
Variant Title : Donald s'attendrit (France, c.1950)
Variant characteristics: i) French language Version, ii) format specific 9.5mm Pathé Edition, iii) short version – 3 minutes –, iv) black and white.
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YCR, 2.1.1 Nature of modification (change in content) of expression [^2] Use of popular Video Jockeys to create translated versions into Luganda or Swahili of Nigerian or other foreign films is common in East African countries such as Uganda and Tanzania. Instead of just doing a direct, literal translation as found in subtitled or dubbed language versions of a film, the VJs act as live oral storytellers using a mixture of translated dialogue, narration, and commentary which is laid on top of the soundtrack, with the original language still audible. Besides performing these voice-over translations live at screenings, they are also often recorded and made available as a pre-mixed voiceover soundtrack on physical media and digital platforms showing the films. ↩