Search Results

(1 - 6 of 6)

Title: Maria Keckan and Neil McCormick
Date(s): 2020-08-10
Contributor(s): McCormick, Neil (interviewee), Keckan, Maria (interviewee), Spohn, Benjamin (interviewer)
Description: In this interview Keckan and McCormick talk about their careers pre-Cinecraft, their early time at Cinecraft and the changes that have happened in the film production industry since they purchased the company in 1984. Before coming to Cinecraft, Keckan worked as a producer making medical education films. McCormick joined Cinecraft in 1977 after attending graduate school at CUNY. He has always been interested in filmmaking. McCormick talks about evolving film production technology from joining...
Show moreIn this interview Keckan and McCormick talk about their careers pre-Cinecraft, their early time at Cinecraft and the changes that have happened in the film production industry since they purchased the company in 1984. Before coming to Cinecraft, Keckan worked as a producer making medical education films. McCormick joined Cinecraft in 1977 after attending graduate school at CUNY. He has always been interested in filmmaking. McCormick talks about evolving film production technology from joining the company in 1977. Both Keckan and McCormick talk about the challenges of buying the company and upgrading the existing equipment. Their troubles were financial and personal as existing employees were wary of the new management. McCormick provides a start to finish descriptions of some of the productions he worked on including Where the River Enters the Sea and Sohio Today and Tomorrow. They talk about some of Cinecraft's more recent developments, and how production has changed since the 1980s. McCormick explains that Cinecraft had always specialized in sound and producing high quality sound recordings to accompany their films. McCormick explains how the work Cinecraft does has become less segmented as one person can do multiple jobs, and that company employs more people now than it did in 1984. Both Keckan and McCormick talk about the importance of e-learning to Cinecraft's current work. Keckan explains the her son, Dan, is responsible for driving the growth of e-learning to the point of where it has become Cinecraft's largest source of business. McCormick offers his thoughts on digital media and the importance of non-destructive editing allowing for multiple lossless cuts. Keckan talks about some of Cinecraft's work with non-profit organizations. Keckan and McCormick talk about their philosophy of running a business and working with clients as the company hits 80 years in operation. They talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted work at Cinecraft. They talk about their future hopes for the company, and how Keckan's son and his business partner have expanded the company from local, to national, and then international.
Show less
Collection ID: Cinecraft oral histories (Accession 2021.206)
Hagley ID: MariaKeckanandNeilMcCormick08102020
Collection: Cinecraft Oral Histories

Title: John Culley
Date(s): 2020-07-16
Contributor(s): Culley, John (interviewee), Spohn, Benjamin (interviewer)
Description: In this interview John provides a biographical sketch of his parents, the founders of Cinecraft and elaborates on the company's Ohio roots. He explains how his father was a self-taught multi-talented man, who worked as a jeweler before moving to Hollywood, California and starting working in the film industry both as an actor and in production. After his experience in Hollywood, Culley's father moved back to Ohio in order to start his own industrial film production company. Culley describes...
Show moreIn this interview John provides a biographical sketch of his parents, the founders of Cinecraft and elaborates on the company's Ohio roots. He explains how his father was a self-taught multi-talented man, who worked as a jeweler before moving to Hollywood, California and starting working in the film industry both as an actor and in production. After his experience in Hollywood, Culley's father moved back to Ohio in order to start his own industrial film production company. Culley describes the early days of the company and how his parents met. Both were working in the film business at the time. Culley tells stories about growing up with a growing family run business, including work he did there as a child and young man. Culley explains how technology changed over his time with company and provides an in-depth description of sound editing, and technology from the 1940s and during the time he worked there in 1960s and 1970s. He also talks about a job he held at CBS in Cleveland Ohio, a position held by his twin brother and his younger brother. He explains the working relationship between Cinecraft and a scriptwriting company called Storycraft. He also talks about the importance of 16mm film and teleprompters in Cinecraft's productions. Culley talks about how Cinecraft built and maintained relationships with advertising agencies.
Show less
Collection ID: Cinecraft oral histories (Accession 2021.206)
Hagley ID: JohnCulley07162020
Collection: Cinecraft Oral Histories

Title: James "Jim" R. Haviland
Date(s): 2020-09-14
Contributor(s): Haviland, Jim (James R.) (interviewee), Spohn, Benjamin (interviewer)
Description: In this interview James Haviland tells stories about his grandfather, Robert "Bob" Haviland, an early producer at Cinecraft Productions in Cleveland, Ohio. Topics discussed include the elder Haviland's brief career as a professional tuba player and other life stories. Haviland talks about his grandfather's background in audiovisual work and the jobs he held before joining Cinecraft. Haviland also describes his grandfather's approach to his work at Cinecraft and how he got the job. Haviland...
Show moreIn this interview James Haviland tells stories about his grandfather, Robert "Bob" Haviland, an early producer at Cinecraft Productions in Cleveland, Ohio. Topics discussed include the elder Haviland's brief career as a professional tuba player and other life stories. Haviland talks about his grandfather's background in audiovisual work and the jobs he held before joining Cinecraft. Haviland also describes his grandfather's approach to his work at Cinecraft and how he got the job. Haviland explained that his grandfather preferred the stability of having a regular job over the instability of working on movies in Hollywood. Haviland also shares how his grandfather traveled to Los Angeles, California in order to secure Hollywood actors for Cinecraft productions. He also talks about his grandfather's role in syncing audio and film together, especially 16mm. Haviland retired from Cinecraft in the 1970s. He had a film studio in his house and made films in his retirement.
Show less
Collection ID: Cinecraft oral histories (Accession 2021.206)
Hagley ID: JimHaviland09142020
Collection: Cinecraft Oral Histories

Title: Bob Schneider
Date(s): 2020-09-17
Contributor(s): Schneider, Robert A. (interviewee), Spohn, Benjamin (interviewer)
Description: In this interview, Robert Schneider answers follow-up questions from his first interview on August 5, 2020. He goes into the creative process on some of Cinecraft's productions, including a directorial job for the U.S. Navy after the original producer, Bob Haviland suffered a heart attack. Schneider continues to talk about working with Haviland, including his unique method of organizing projects with a system of colored pencils. Schneider contrasts this to his organization method, which...
Show moreIn this interview, Robert Schneider answers follow-up questions from his first interview on August 5, 2020. He goes into the creative process on some of Cinecraft's productions, including a directorial job for the U.S. Navy after the original producer, Bob Haviland suffered a heart attack. Schneider continues to talk about working with Haviland, including his unique method of organizing projects with a system of colored pencils. Schneider contrasts this to his organization method, which imitated Gene Rodenberry's index card system that he used on Star Trek. He also talks about how he learned to do the job watching Ray Culley on the job. He talks about doing live action sound work when sharing works in progress with clients. He compares this experience to working as a disc-jockey. Schneider talks about how recording and television technologies changed over time.
Show less
Collection ID: Cinecraft oral histories (Accession 2021.206)
Hagley ID: BobSchneider09172020
Collection: Cinecraft Oral Histories

Title: Bob and Nancy Schneider
Date(s): 2020-08-05
Contributor(s): Schneider, Robert A. (interviewee), Schneider, Nancy (interviewee), Spohn, Benjamin (interviewer)
Description: Bob Schneider discusses his background in photography and video. He explains that his interest in these fields came from his grandfather. He joined Cinecraft in 1964 and began work after serving in the U.S. Army. In addition to working at Cinecraft, Schneider also worked as an independent DJ. Schneider provides a detailed overview on recording technology dating to the 1950s and 1960s. Nancy Schneider talks about her work at Storycraft, a sister company to Cinecraft. She worked on a radio...
Show moreBob Schneider discusses his background in photography and video. He explains that his interest in these fields came from his grandfather. He joined Cinecraft in 1964 and began work after serving in the U.S. Army. In addition to working at Cinecraft, Schneider also worked as an independent DJ. Schneider provides a detailed overview on recording technology dating to the 1950s and 1960s. Nancy Schneider talks about her work at Storycraft, a sister company to Cinecraft. She worked on a radio program called Salespoint, a program Westinghouse used to keep their traveling salesmen up to date on the company's products. Both of the Schneiders explain that Cinecraft was the top production company in Cleveland and they talk about how Cinecraft compared to other local production companies. They explain the relationship between Cinecraft and Storycraft.
Show less
Collection ID: Cinecraft oral histories (Accession 2021.206)
Hagley ID: BobandNancySchneider08052020
Collection: Cinecraft Oral Histories

Title: An Afternoon with Cinecraft: Past and Present, Remembering How It All Began
Date(s): 1999-12-17
Contributor(s): Culley, Paul (interviewee), Haviland, Robert E., 1914-2003 (interviewee), McCormick, Neil (interviewee), Haviland, Jim (James R.) (interviewer), Cinecraft, Inc. (originator)
Description: In this two-part interview, Paul Culley and Bob Haviland discuss their experiences at Cinecraft Production in Cleveland Ohio. Culley, the company's former owner, and Haviland, the former executive producer, discuss the company's start and its founder Ray Culley. (Ray Culley sold the company to his brother Paul in 1970). They discuss Ray Culley's time working in Hollywood and how he returned to Cleveland to found Cinecraft. Included in this part of the interview are recollections of Tri-State...
Show moreIn this two-part interview, Paul Culley and Bob Haviland discuss their experiences at Cinecraft Production in Cleveland Ohio. Culley, the company's former owner, and Haviland, the former executive producer, discuss the company's start and its founder Ray Culley. (Ray Culley sold the company to his brother Paul in 1970). They discuss Ray Culley's time working in Hollywood and how he returned to Cleveland to found Cinecraft. Included in this part of the interview are recollections of Tri-State Pictures, an industrial film company in Cleveland.

Bob Haviland recounts how he started as an industrial photographer and how he became involved in motion picture film making. His early career included work producing slide films for industrial training and education. The company he worked for bought Tri-State, and that is how he met Ray Culley and eventually starting work at Cinecraft sometime around 1950.

Paul Culley describes his start at Cinecraft working for his brother after returning from serving in the Second World War. Paul worked in the sound department, and he talks about the technical challenges of producing sound for motion picture films with a limited budget on 16mm film stock.

The interview then steers towards specific film projects, including The Spoilers (Supermarket Institute), Milestones of Motoring (Standard Oil of Ohio), The Ohio Story (Ohio Bell Telephone), Long Ships Passing (The Lake Carriers Association), Magnificat (Sisters of the Humility of Mary), and Where's Joe (steel industry). They also talk in detail about working with and producing TV commercials for Papa Barnard, the founder of Vita-Mix.

During discussions about specific jobs, Bob and Paul talk about the technical and logistical challenges of shooting and producing films. They also touch on some business aspects of industrial film productions, including hiring professional actors to appear on film. Among the Hollywood actors mentioned are Merv Griffin, Joe E. Brown, Reed Hadley, and Otto Kruger.

About three-quarters through the interview, Neil McCormick, the then-current Cinecraft co-owner joins the interview. This part of the discussion focuses primarily on the equipment and technical aspects of filmmaking and its evolution during the company's history. Bob Haviland details a job for U.S. Steel that involved using high-speed film to capture a steel cable's breaking. U.S. Steel used the footage to defend a lawsuit against the company.

Throughout the interview, the participants discuss the positive working conditions at Cinecraft and the professionalism among those who worked there. They also emphasize the creativity needed to produce compelling products for their clients.

The interview was conducted at the Cinecraft Studios on Franklin Blvd in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 17, 1999. Jim Haviland - Bob Haviland's grandson - conducted the interview.
Show less
Collection ID: Culley family collection of Cinecraft Productions audiovisual materials (Accession 2018.201)
Hagley ID: AVD_2018201_History_of_Cinecraft_combined
Collection: Culley Family Cinecraft Productions Collection, Cinecraft Oral Histories

Hagley Digital Archives

Search Results