Fonds 2021.007 - Kensington Communications & Creative Anarchy Fonds

Identity area

Reference code

CA ON00349 2021.007

Title

Kensington Communications & Creative Anarchy Fonds

Date(s)

  • 1997 - 2008 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

Video
• 296 video cassettes: Digital Betacam (ca. 143 hrs)
• 290 video cassettes: Betacam SP (ca. 117 hrs)
• 1 video cassette: Betacam SX (ca. 30 mins)
• 2 video cassettes: Betacam (ca. 1 hr)
• 1 video cassette: U-matic (ca. 30 mins)
• 308 video cassettes: DVCPRO50 (ca. 392 hrs)
• 9 video cassettes: VHS (ca. 9 hrs)
• 37 video cassettes: HDCAM SR (ca. 14 hrs)
• 2 video cassettes: HDCAM (ca. 1 hr)
• 199 Professional Discs: XDCAM, 23GB (ca. 150 hrs)
• 286 DVDs (ca. 184 hrs)
Audio
• 72 audio cassettes: DA8 (ca. 41 hrs)
• 1 audio cassette (ca. 1.5 hrs)
• 38 CDs (ca. 52 hrs)
• 31 DVDs (ca. 66 hrs)
Photographic
• 3 DVDs (digital photographs)
• 5 CDs (digital photographs)
Textual
• 1 CD
• 63 Floppy disks ; 3.5 in.
Graphic
• 9 Floppy Disks ; 3.5 in

Context area

Name of creator

(1997-2008)

Administrative history

Creative Anarchy is a Toronto-based film production company. Creative Anarchy co-produced the crime documentary series Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science with Kensington Communications, and co-produced a similar series, 72 Hours: True Crime with Kensington Communications and Meech-Grant Productions.

Name of creator

(1980-)

Administrative history

Kensington Communications is a production company founded in 1980 in Toronto’s Kensington Market that has produced documentary and factual films, television shows, and multimedia projects for more than 40 years. Kensington has produced documentaries and series for the CBC and NFB, and its productions have been broadcast internationally on Discovery Channel, TLC, BBC, ZDF Arte, and other networks.
Early productions in the 1980s focused on social issues such as blended families (Stepdancing, 1986), youth suicide (Childhood’s End, 1981), and addiction (Out of the Past, 1989).
Many of Kensington’s productions have featured Earth’s natural environment and human activities that threaten it: Fragile Harvest (1986, the Nature of Things), Sacred Rhythm (1990), Sacred Balance with David Suzuki (2002), and Port Hope: A Question of Power (2005, The Nature of Things).
Kensington also has a history of producing iconic music documentaries. One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers (1990), Mariposa: Under a Stormy Sky (1990), My Beat: The Life & Times of Bruce Cockburn (2001), and the City Sonic App (2009) all highlight Canadian music and musicians.
Kensington Communications worked with Bruce Cockburn over decades from the 1980s to the 2010s to produce short documentaries and advertisements for USC (formerly known as the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada) about their work in Nepal.
Kensington produced two successful crime series that focused on the role of forensics in solving real crimes – Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science, and 72 Hours: True Crime.
Recent TV productions include The Shadow Of Gold (2019), Risk Factor (2017), The Equalizer (2016), and three seasons of the popular international TV series Museum Secrets, which goes behind the scenes at great museums of the world.
Kensington Communications has also been a leader in using multimedia websites to enhance documentary and television content. River of Sand, Sacred Balance, Diamond Road, Raw Opium, and Museum Secrets all included website content. Museum Secrets included a tie-in app called Scopify to help visitors navigate the Royal Ontario Museum, and the documentary Risk Factor was accompanied by the Risk Navigator app.

Name of creator

(Floruit 1972-)

Biographical history

ROBERT LANG is an internationally recognized, award-winning filmmaker and television producer whose work has covered many documentary topics, from music programs and interactive media to science and social documentaries.

Lang founded the production company Kensington Communications in 1980, and in that role he has been responsible for hundreds of television programs, including: 3 seasons of 72 Hours: True Crime; the acclaimed four-part television series The Sacred Balance with David Suzuki; 5 seasons of the true crime series Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science; the Gemini Award-winning 3-part series Diamond Road; the 5-part series Shameless Idealists; and 3 seasons of the hit documentary program Museum Secrets.

He has worked as a director on many music productions with artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Jackie Richardson, Toumani Diabate and Ali Farka Toure.

Among his many award-winning documentaries and TV specials are the Gemini-winning Separate Lives, One Warm Line: the Legacy of Stan Rogers, Diamond Road, and The Equalizer (Canadian Screen Award).

Lang has produced many interactive digital projects over the years, from River of Sand interactive website (1998), to The Sacred Balance online (2003), Diamond Road interactive documentary (2007), Museum Secrets Interactive (2011), ScopifyROM, a mobile app to enhance the museum experience at the Royal Ontario Museum (2013) and Risk Navigator mobile app (2017).

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This fonds consists of two series corresponding to two television programs co-produced by Creative Anarchy:

  1. Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science (Seasons 1-5), and its French language counterpart Pieces a Conviction (Season 1-3)
  2. 72 Hours: True Crime (Seasons 1-3), and its French language counterpart Indices pour l’Eternite (Season 1-2).

Included are raw footage (here called source tapes - interviews, b-roll, re-enactments, establishing shots, graphics such as newspaper headlines, credits, stock footage), audio elements (stems, dialogue, narration, music, master mixes), and video masters.
There are numerous versions represented in the video masters including closed captioned distribution master, anamorphic version, layback master, PAL master (U.K.), “Teaser” version, APTN version, Astraltech version, Canal D version, CBC broadcast version, ContentFilm PLC version, and Discovery Canada version.

Textual and photographic records related to Exhibit A and 72 Hours can be found in the Kensington Communications Fonds, accession number 2018.017.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

None

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Preservation concerns may limit access, consult archivist.

Conditions governing reproduction

Media Commons does not own copyright of collection materials. Consult rights holder for reproduction(s).

Language of material

  • English
  • French

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

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Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

University of Toronto Media Commons Archives

Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

Created Aug. 15, 2022 by Al Stanton-Hagan

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Exhibit A on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182575/?ref_=adv_li_tt
Exhibit A on Kensington Communications website - https://kensingtontv.com/index.php/1997/11/23/exhibit-a/
72 Hours on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370099/?ref_=adv_li_tt
72 Hours on Kensington Communications website - https://kensingtontv.com/index.php/2003/09/20/72-hours/
Information from donor

Accession area

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