Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film

A short film about letterpress and one of the few remaining movable-type printing workshops in the UK, situated at Plymouth University, featuring Paul Collier. www.plymouth.ac.uk

A film by Danny Cooke www.dannycooke.co.uk
Soundtrack by Tony Higgins www.tonyhiggins.org
(Available to download here: http://goo.gl/exGL1)

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Pull out the one below half way.

Then pull out your case

far enough
to reach the back row of boxes.

[music box plays]

My name is Paul Collier.

I'm the Letterpress
and Typography technician

at the University of Plymouth.

Letterpress is an old form
of mass production,

an old form of printing,

invented around about 1450s
by Johannes Gutenberg.

This workshop tends
to work in the same way

as it did back in that time.

So by using these pre-molded,
reusable letters

made of metal and wood,
moveable type,

we can produce words and sentences

and paragraphs and pages of text.

This is a 500 year old process
and it moves

like a 500 year old process.

It requires
a greater degree of consideration

when you're using this,

mainly because there are no quick
highlight and change sizes

or typefaces like we can do on the computer.

That's where technology
has really pushed forward,

is that we can change things
in an instant.

Here if you setup a paragraph
or a sentence,

if you get it wrong
or if this--

if you haven't planned your way forward
through that,

then you just have to take it all apart

and start all over again.

[chaotic music plays]

Once you're there amongst it really,

because I know the layout of the case;

I'm familiar with all the letters
are in the boxes.

My mind tends to wander.

I'm listening to what students
are saying in the room.

I'm making sure their body language
is alright;

they're not struggling with things

and bit by bit I'm putting my letters together

and I know
whats it's going to look like.

I have a vision
of what it's going to come out like.

I'm looking forward
to seeing it basically

and getting it finished.

But the process is quite therapeutic.

You can calmly put this thing together
piece by piece,

It's a very enjoyable process.

[music continues]

I think Letterpress is going through--

we're going through a revival right now.

We almost, particularly this country,
nearly lost the lot

and jumped on the Lithography bandwagon

and just threw everything else away.

The equipment now
is becoming a highly sort-after now.

We're in the process of people wanting
to have this machinery

and get hold of it

and that's not easy now
because its difficult to find.

Sometimes even harder are spare parts

and bits and pieces like that and

It's old school.

It's all nuts and bolts
and highly mechanical

and that makes life a little bit easier
for us really,

but there are one or two pieces
on each bit of kit

that are difficult to find.

That's just the way it is.

[electronic music plays]

The quality of image produced
by Letterpress is quite sort after.

The inked in depression
that is the characteristic mark

left in the sheet by the letters

is something that people
don't see very often

because the laser print and inkjet

don't produce that anymore
and that's the familiarity.

So when they see this,
it has the wow factor

and I always like to see the look

when a group of students come in
for the first time

and I'm showing them
how the room operates and how it functions

and how they function in the room.

It's very clear
that they've not seen that before

or they really get it.

They really get
what the quality of that is.

It's something that you can't really
reproduce in any other way.

It's that first look
at the quality of the way

that the type impresses into the paper,

It's very special.

The digital age does remove us
from the tactile work,

the more hands on

and I think there is a longing in our soul
to get back to that.

Even if we can't
there is something about these places

that people want to occupy and try out.

Certainly as an art form,
it is very appealing,

It's very current now,
whether that will fade...

I think it's interesting to note

that there are other universities around Europe,

who are opening their own Letterpress
studios as we speak.

That really tells a story there I think,

that this is here to stay.

[upbeat music plays]