Television Commercials

in the

Fritz Spiess Archive

preserved at

William F. White Limited, Toronto

Introduction

This document provides a listing of television commercials found in the Fritz Spiess Archive. The television commercials are one of the most important components of the archive, representing the work of Fritz Spiess as either cameraman or director.

• Many of the commercials are undated, but those that are inscribed with a date range from approximately 1966 to 1980. This is the period in which Fritz Spiess consistently archived his work on film. Although he continued to make commercials after 1980, this date indicates the transition to video production. This listing covers only the work originally archived on film stock, and represents approximately 50% of his total production.

• These are recorded on 16mm film (black + white or colour), and found on 3 inch reels, individually boxed.
  
• In addition to these individual items, there are a number of compilation reels, plus the possibility of minimal scattered materials in other boxes in the collection. These will be listed at a later stage during more detailed collection processing and organization.
  
• The presence of a box does not necessarily mean that the film is contained in it. Empty reel boxes are noted on the list, and in many cases correspond to items found on compilation reels. Only a random sampling of boxes was opened and checked for film contents at this stage.
  
• The list has not been comprehensively proof-read, nor verified, at this stage. There has been no attempt to include an authority check on the proper names of companies and products.
  
• The listing has been prepared based on the original information found on the film reel boxes. There has been no viewing of the film itself at this stage, and no verification that the film content matches the box inscription.
  

prepared by: Theresa Rowat, consulting archivist

VARIA inc.

and R. Andrew Barnsley, student

Ryerson Polytechnic University, Radio and Television Arts

for Gunild Spiess, Fritz Spiess Archives Committee

Explanation of Abbreviations and Terms

Client / Product This column contains the client and/or product identifier that was found inscribed on the original reel box. In order to facilitate alphabetical sorting and grouping, some minor standardization has been imposed on the text as found. Where the wording is attributed by the archivist, square brackets are used.

Date The date column provides the year in which the commercial was made, as indicated on the original reel box. Where month and day were also indicated, these two elements are noted in the inscriptions column.

Title In addition to the client/product information, the reel boxes usually contained a short form title to distinguish among various commercials that may have been made for the same client. These may describe the theme or a technical feature, or may indicate the dominant slogan or geographic area in which the commercial was to be used.

T = time This column presents the duration in seconds, as indicated on the original reel box. Most are either 30 seconds or 60 seconds in length.

L = language Most reel boxes were inscribed with a language version notation: either English or French.

E = English, and F = French.

Imprint Information in this column indicates that the original reel box was imprinted with the name, and/or logo and address of the production company responsible for the commercial. Schulz (indicating Bob Schulz) and TDF are the most frequent imprints found.

Inscription This column presents other additional information that may have been inscribed on the original reel box. This is usually technical information. Additional date details, and any additional identifiers are also indicated in this column.

Notes The notes column contains archival processing, curatorial or collections management references. Empty reel boxes are noted here, and any known links to the location of those items in compilation reels. These notes may eventually contribute to the reconstruction of a complete catalogue of Fritz Spiess' work.