Cinema in Context



How To Do

How many French films were shown in Utrecht and in Groningen in each year between 1922 and 1925?


By saving data and opening it in MS Access we can create convenient listings of the development of the numbers of French films that were shown in Rotterdam between 1922 and 1925. For this question, we will work with the ‘My Data’ saved data set in ‘My Data’. The entire procedure consists of five steps: searching the website and transferring the data to an existing query in MS Access. The results then need to be evaluated. This is a follow-up to the question: How many French films were shown in Rotterdam in each year between 1922 and 1925?

Method

Step 1

We will first look up the data needed by the query in order to function. This will be done in two steps. First we will search for programmes that included French films.

  • Open Cinema Context in a new window.
  • Click on Programmes at the top of the page.
  • Enter ‘Utrecht’ in the first search field and select City from the pull-down menu behind it.
  • Enter ‘Groningen’ in the second search field and select City from the pull-down menu behind it. Select Or in the pull-down menu to the left of the search field.
  • Select Country of film origin from the pull-down menu to the right of the third search field. An Index button will appear to the right of the pull-down menu.
  • Click on Index and select France. An F will appear in the search field.
  • Enter ’01-01-1922’ and ’31-12-1925’ in the search fields marked active between.
  • Click on You will now see the number of programmes in Utrecht and Groningen that included French films.
  • Click on add all to my data.

Step 2

We will also add the films to our saved data set. This is necessary because films that were not from France were also shown in these programmes. We can distinguish the French films from the other films by using the data on the country of origin.

  • Click on Films at the top of the page.
  • Enter ‘Utrecht’ in the first search field and select City of screening from the pull-down menu behind the search field.
  • Enter ‘Groningen’ in the second search field and select City of screening from the pull-down menu to the right of the search field. Select Or from the pull-down menu to the left of the search field.
  • Click on the pull-down menu behind the third search field and select Country. An Index button will appear to the right of the search field.
  • Click on the Index button and select France. An F will appear in the search field.
  • Enter ’01-01-1922’ and ’31-12-1925’ in the search fields marked active between.
  • Click on . You will now see the number of French films shown in Utrecht and Groningen between 1922 and 1925.
  • Click on add all to my data.

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Step 3

We will now add the cinemas and their addresses, as the number of films per city must be specified.

  • Click on Cinemas at the top of the page.
  • Enter ‘Utrecht’ in the first search field and select City from the pull-down menu behind the search field.
  • Enter ‘Groningen’ in the second search field and select City again from the pull-down menu behind it. Select Or from the pull-down menu to the left of the search field.
  • Click on add all to my data and then on download contents. You will notice that the data about cinemas has been added to those on the programmes and film. Save the file in a folder that is easily accessible.

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Step 4

As this question requires a rather complicated query, we will supply it for you. It is inside a database that you can find under Downloads. Save this nearly empty database in a folder that is easily accessible. You will need it at a later point in this process. You can also use this query to answer other questions of the type: How many films from country X were shown in city Y in every year between xxxx and xxxx?

If you do not have the file HowToDoInAccess.xslt on your computer, you will have to download it first. You will find it under Downloads. Save the file in a folder on your computer that is easily accessible.

  • Double-click on the file FilmsInCity.mdb, which you have just downloaded, to launch Access. Ignore any warnings you might encounter.
  • Click on Query under Objects on the left-hand side. You will notice that three queries are already present. Only the data is missing. That is what we will now start adding.
  • Click on File > Get External data > Import.
  • Select XML from the pull-down menu Files of type.
  • Select the previously saved contents of the saved data set.
  • Click Options > Transform.
  • Select HowToDoInAccess (or click Add to add the file HowToDoInAccess.xslt from the folder in which you have just saved this file) and click OK. Then click OK once more. The query is now complete.

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Step 5

We now need to separate the results per city. This will be done by expanding the query from Step 4.

  • Open the query in design view by clicking on View > Design in the toolbar.




We will now add three tables to the query.

  • Click on in the toolbar or click on Query > Show Table from the menu.
  • Select tblJoinProgrammeCinema and click Add.
  • Select tblJoinCinemaAddress and click Add.
  • Select tblAddress and click Add.
  • Close the help window by clicking Close.
  • Drag programme_id in the table tblProgramme to the eponymous field in the table tlbJoinProgrammeCinema. A line will appear between the two fields.
  • Drag cinema_id in the table tblJoinProgrammeCinema to the eponymous field in the table tblJoinCinemaAddress. A line will appear between the two fields.
  • Drag address_id in the table tblJoinCinemaAddress to the eponymous field in the table tblAddress. A line will appear between the two fields.
  • Drag address_city in the table tblAddress to a position before the first column in the lower part of the query module. The field will be added as a new column.



  • ClickView > Datasheet view The cities will be listed in front of the years.




We can also display this data in a more practical cross pivot table.

  • Click on View > Pivot Table View.
  • Drag address_city to the vertical column, and Year to the horizontal column. Drag title to the middle field, right-click on the new field CountOfTitle, and select Autocon > Count. You will now see the following result. You can make the columns narrower by dragging the dividing line to the left.




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Discussion

  • Not all film programmes of every movie theater are known to Cinema Context. Screening programmes for some cinemas are not available in Cinema Context at all. There are also cinemas about which we know nothing at all, for instance because they never advertised. How would this influence the result? Do we for instance know more about Utrecht than we do about Groningen? Or vice versa? Discuss the extent to which your data is a representative sample.
  • What cinemas are missing in your analysis? Compare the cinemas you have found in this query with the question: How many cinemas were active in Rotterdam in each year between 1921 and 1940?
  • If the absolute numbers in your research data cannot possibly be complete (which is often the case), it might be preferable to use a relative number such as a percentage. For instance, tThe film s on release supply consists of xx percent of French films and xx percent of German films.
  • Not all screenings took place in a ‘regular’ cinema. Films were sometimes screened at fairgrounds by travelling cinemas. Clubs and societies would sometimes screen films for their members in private venues. Find out whether this has occurred in Rotterdam during this period.