Series - Series 16: Pacific Rim: A Park and its People (1995)

Identity area

Reference code

Title

Series 16: Pacific Rim: A Park and its People (1995)

Date(s)

  • 1995-1998 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

Video
• 53 video cassettes : Betacam SP (26.5 hrs)
• 1 video cassette : Digital Betacam (50 mins)
Audio
• 1 audio cassette : DA8 (1 hr)
• 1 audio cassette : DAT (1 hr)
Photographic
• 255 transparencies : col. ; 35mm, mounted
Textual
• 2cm textual materials

Context area

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.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This documentary about Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in British Columbia was a pilot commissioned for Discovery Channel for a series about Canadian Parks. Kensington Communications was not selected to produce the series.

Series contains shoot tapes and video masters on Betacam SP, production stills on mounted 35mm slides, and textual records including tax credit certification and correspondence with distributors.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

No further accruals expected.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Preservation concerns may limit access. Please consult an archivist.

Conditions governing reproduction

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

Language of material

  • English

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

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    Name access points

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    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

      Accession area