"George Harrison: Living In The Material World" - a film by me and Martin Scorsese

This week sees the premiere of George Harrison: Living In The Material World, a feature-length documentary directed by Martin Scorsese, that I worked on a few years ago.

I was first interviewed by the film's producers while I was working in Belfast in the summer of 2005. I flew over to London for a meeting about a project concerning a then-unnamed musician. I had no idea it was George Harrison - in fact, I thought that it was something to do with The Who. I recall being asked who my favourite Beatle was, and by some good fortune I replied, "George." Another day I might have said something different, but I was in luck. I had been listening to All Things Must Pass around that time.

The meeting went well, and the following day I was introduced to Olivia Harrison, George's widow, and I learned what it was all about. I was sworn to absolute secrecy, though, and I'm probably still bound by the non-disclosure agreements that I signed, so I won't go into too much detail.

It wasn't until October 2006 that I began work on George's archive, which kept me busy until December 2007. I was tasked with archiving his photographic collection: securing their long-term preservation, creating high-res scans of the pictures, and cataloguing them in a database that could be accessed by Scorsese's New York office. It was difficult - I had no experience with stills archiving, so I was learning as I worked. Of course the big names were intimidating, as was the setting - an orchidarium in the grounds of Friar Park, the Harrison family home in Henley-on-Thames. 

The critics have been favourable - some, like Philip French in the Guardian, have even mentioned the family photos. It's very gratifying, and it was nice to be invited to the premiere, even if it's a bit far to go for a night out. It will be screened in Australia towards the end of October; I can't wait to see it, and I'm told that my name is in the credits. Along with Martin Scorsese's. I don't think that will happen again.

The News Library

I took part in a film at work for Information Awareness Month:

I work for ABC, Australia's national public service broadcaster. As I say in the film, I am a Cataloguer, but for the past five weeks I've been working as a TV news researcher. It's been good. I'm reluctant to return to cataloguing. As a cataloguer, I shotlist ABC's news/current affairs broadcasts. The catalogue records feed into production, with researchers using shotlists to locate material.

But cataloguing is, for the most part, an isolated activity. It is necessary to wear headphones to listen to the material on which you're working, so there is very little conversation in the room. The workload is also pretty high (an ABC cataloguer will tackle at least one 30 minute broadcast every day, researching provenance of material, locations etc. as they go), and the levels of concentration that are sustained make it inappropriate to distract colleagues with chatter.

Some years ago I might have welcomed such a monastic profession, and in fact I may have sought the ideal of a solitary archivist toiling in a basement when I started out on this occupation, but I no longer find this desirable. I've enjoyed working in the news library. The phone can ring at any time. It's more collaborative and more exciting - I had the experience of quickly pulling a tape for overlay on a breaking story and watching an editor run down the corridor with it, to see it broadcast moments later on our flagship news programme. In this way it can be instantly gratifying.

The people in the news library are brilliant, and it's interesting to work with the journalists and other ABC branches around Australia. I went out for post-work drinkies, which hasn't happened in 2 years of cataloguing. And you are also working with new production technologies adopted by the newsroom. But most of all, I think I am good at it.