Series - Series 19: Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science (1997-2002)

Identity area

Reference code

Title

Series 19: Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science (1997-2002)

Date(s)

  • 1998-2008 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

Textual Materials
• 46cm textual materials
Photographic
• 31 prints : col. Polaroid ; 3.5x4.25 in.
• 218 prints : col. ; 4x6 in.
• 27 prints : col. ; 5x7 in.
• 7 prints : col. ; 8x10 in.,
• 1 prints : b&w ; 8x10 in.
• 5 prints : col. ; 8x12 in.
• 6 prints : b&w ; 11x14 in.
• 8 contact sheets : b&w ; 8x10 in.
• 4 contact sheets : b&w ; 8.5x11 in.
• 350 transparencies : col. ; 2.25x3.25 in.
• 4 transparencies : b&w ; 4x6 in.
• 113 negatives : b&w ; 35mm
• 831 transparencies : col. ; 35mm, mounted

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.

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

(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

Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science is a true crime series focused on the role of forensic science in solving real crimes. The show blended police accounts and documentary interviews with dramatic reenactments, narrated by Graham Greene.
Exhibit A aired 65 episodes across 5 seasons from 1997-2003 on Discovery Channel in Canada and TLC in the US. It was also syndicated worldwide, and different broadcast versions of Exhibit A episodes are included in this series.
“Pièces à Conviction” is the French version of “Exhibit A”
Exhibit A won a Gemini Award in 2001 for Best Photography in an Informational Program, and won a CSC Award of Excellence in 2000 for Documentary Cinematography. The program also received 8 Gemini nominations.

Series includes textual and photographic records related to Exhibit A. For video records, see Kensington Communications & Creative Anarchy Fonds, 2021.007.

Textual records include funding applications, tax credit applications, agreements with distributors, cast & crew contracts, budgets, publicity news clippings, and correspondence. Series also includes promotional photographs, production stills, and crew party photos.

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

    Notes area

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Access points

    Subject access points

    Place access points

    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