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Shell decided, 50 years ago, to make films not
just about itself but about the world it works in.
It helped create a new genre that showed what life
was like in what were then colonies and evoked a
better appreciation of their problems. its first
film on malaria appeared in 1941.
Later, The Fate of the Forests and The
River Must Live raised issues of today’s
environment long before their importance was
generally recognised. Max Michie, head of the Shell
Film Unit and Video Unit, remarks: “It was quite
revolutionary that an industrial organisation was
willing to look at such problems as dumping
effluent in rivers.”
The rationale behind the unit’s long history of
making environmental films, he says, is probably as
near to altruism as a commercial entity can
reasonably be expected to get.
Shell films about the world were widely shown in
the news theatres of the 1940s. These closed with
the coming of television, which is unable to show
films made by commercial bodies. The unit
distributes free to schools, colleges and
non-government organisations and through Shell
subsidiaries all over the world. Films are
translated into several languages from French to
Swahili and River pidgin.
The Rival World (1955) looked at the
threat from insects and tropical disease, a subject
to which Unseen Enemies (1959), made with
the help of the World Health Organisation,
returned. Escape from Hunger (1985) looked
at Africa, Nepal and China after the green
revolution. Nutrition: The Global Challenge
(1992) was made in Chile and Bangladesh for the UN
Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The latest film, Thirsty World, which is
being premiered at the Worldaware awards ceremony,
looks at approaches to water shortage in Boston
(USA) and Cyprus. Bostonians have voted to save
water rather than build a new reservoir. Cypriots
are bringing water from the mountains direct to the
trees and crops on lowland farms.
“We’re making a film at the moment about
renewable energy. Perhaps you may think that a
rather odd thing for an oil company to do. But we
need to look far ahead at what society will require
in 50 years time – photovoltaic energy, biogas and
so on,” says Max Michie. He used to work for Shell
in the Far East and East Germany but was always
interested in films. He joined the unit in
1984.
“I am the executive producer. Making a film is a
team effort, comprising dozens of skills. The
producer’s job is to keep the thing on the rails
and get it completed at the right price and fit for
purpose. It’s a mixture of creativity and
management.”
Michie chooses the subjects and goes with a
director (who is also often the scriptwriter) on
reconnaissance. Scenes and participants have to be
chosen, permissions obtained. He has two assistants
and four technicians to help him, and this small
staff also covers other Shell film-making, training
for people appearing on TV, and even maintenance of
security cameras in the Shell Centre. Outside firms
are contracted to provide directors and film
crews.
The switch to video is important. “A film used
to cost £200 a copy. Now a video cassette
costs £2 to £3 and video has helped to
widen distribution enormously, making cassettes
widely available.”
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