Specialist/Expert Volunteer (Video Archive Specialist)

The RSPB has a long and proud history of natural history filmmaking. Seeing first hand the importance of moving image to bring to life the story of the species and places we work to protect and restore. Building that emotional connection to nature needed to inspire support for the RSPB now and in the future.

At our UKHQ in Sandy, Bedfordshire we maintain a physical archive of moving image dating back as far as 1953 across 16mm film and almost every type of analogue and digital video tape, from UMATIC and BETA SP to HDCAM.

Our current storage solution is no longer fit for purpose so we are looking for a specialist volunteer to work with our Brand team on a project to understand what assets we have and to explore options for the future of our film archive.

Key responsibilities:

• Produce an options appraisal paper to enable the organisation to make an informed decision about the future of its physical film archive; taking into account both the strategic value of the assets to the RSPB and the immediate and long-term costs and resource required to safely and effectively manage these assets.

• Audit the assets and materials contained within the physical archive; cross-referencing against our written records.

• Work with the Brand team to make recommendations on decisions for retention and disposal of physical assets.

• Research and assess suitability of alternative storage solutions; including both easy access and deep storage solutions.

• Research and assess suitability of approaches and potential service providers for the digitisation of selected assets.

• Assess and make recommendations on what to do with the hardware / equipment stored as part of the film archive (e.g a Steenbeck flatbed editor).

Working relationships:

• Reports day-to-day into the Head of Brand & Marketing

• Working closely with members of the Brand team with responsibility for our video archive and media asset management as well as our facilities management team.

What you'll gain:

• Opportunity to explore, assess and help to preserve one of the oldest archives of natural history film in the UK

• Opportunity to use your skills and passion for film to help protect and maintain valuable film assets for future generations

Skills & Experience:

• Would ideally suit someone with prior professional experience as a tape operator, video editor, vision engineer, or similar technical role, with a working understanding of ingest, playback, and video workflows across legacy media formats.

• Strong familiarity with analogue and digital video formats, such as 16mm film, U-matic, Betacam (SP/SX), DigiBeta, HDCAM and related tape-based systems, with the ability to assess physical condition of tapes.

• Confidence operating legacy playback equipment, including safely handling and “spooling up” decks (e.g. HDCAM, DigiBeta, Beta SP) to inspect and validate tape condition and content where required.

• Experience working with physical media archives, including cataloguing, auditing, or managing collections of film or tape-based assets, and understanding the challenges of long-term storage and degradation.

• An ability to assess technical risk and preservation priority, identifying fragile, obsolete, or high-value materials and advising on appropriate handling, digitisation, or storage approaches.

Time commitment:

• This will require a minimum of 2-3 days on site at our UKHQ in Bedfordshire at the start of the project.

• The remainder of the project could be completed remotely but there is the option for additional time spent working with the team on site.

• Allocation of time is flexible but with an aim to complete the options appraisal by October 2026.