Quote from the UCI Archives: Here, the skills and practices of the informants were documented through photography and motion pictures. The collection consists of 9 motion picture films, with only 3 being made digital in May 2012, for an exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center called “Learning by Doing at the Farm” by Robbie Kett and Anna Kryczka

The Department of Anthropology documented the construction and use of a canoe by a craftsman named Uliulileava from Satalo, Samoa. Footage was created of the process of construction (va’a) as well as fishing from and racing the finished canoe in and around Balboa Island and the Newport Back Bay area, which compromises 8 of the 9 reels and includes negatives.

"Construction and Launch of Samoan canoe"

In the first film, Uliulileava is shown working on the canoe at different stages of construction. The footage does not appear to be in chronological order, and jumps forward and backward throughout the construction process. At the beginning of the film, Uliulileava is shown coating the wood with some kind of liquid. Though there is no audio nor descriptions for the film, this could have been some kind of sealant used to prepare the wood for exposure to water or perhaps paint.

Note** want Uliulileava centered shots for this, maybe a set of three

He is also filmed sanding the wooden planks down with what appears to be a piece of Samoan Sandpaper. In this film, we can see that the canoe was primarily held together using rope. To accomplish this, Uliulileava drilled holes by hand into the wooden planks. Then, he threaded thin strands of rope through the holes and bound the planks tightly together.

While we lack documentation of all the materials Uliulileava used during this process, I Dig UCI agents have recovered a few artifacts that might have been used to build the canoe. Primarily, we have recovered a pair of ropes which resemble what we see in this film as well as the ropes visible on the canoe, which is currently hung in the SST stairwell. Additionally, an artifact that resembles the Samoan Sandpaper sponge seen in the film was recovered in a previous field season.

Additionally, this footage is intriguing because it shows a glimpse of Bonita Camp at this time. In a few short shots, we can see what appears to be Building C in the background, as well as some other buildings that are no longer standing. In this way, the film provides historical evidence of the development of the site that compliment other records we have.

The second half of the film focuses on the transportation of the canoe to Newport Bay, where it was launched. While this half of the film is less insightful in regards to the actual canoe, it does provide a glimpse of the UCI area in the late 1960s. At this time, there was significantly less development in the area, though the film shows signs of the city that we know today.

"Samoan canoe in Newport Bay"

The second video titled Samoan Canoe in Newport Bay

It shows canoes being transported on a truck to the bay. They are shown untying the canoe from the truck and carefully moving it down the sand to the water as a whole group.
The camera pans between the tip of the canoe in the water, the rowing, and back to them transporting the canoe
There is then a long shot of them transporting the canoe down the street, while a group of people hangs off the back of a truck. It shows a different time then.
It shows two people of Samoan origin- one is our boat builder Uliulileavve.
Quite a few shots comparing the canoe to a normal sailing boat.
It shows them paddling, racing, and fishing in their canoe.
They raced their canoe against a normal canoe, they had 2 people rowing versus the normal one which only had one.
Cut back to the farm site and transporting the canoe onto the truck (Shows a good shot of one of the buildings)
They celebrate the fish they caught.
Shot of them waving to a motorized boat- part of the ethnic experiment they talked so highly about?
Shot of a motorboat taking off, and other people out and about on boats
NOTE: Need more info and screenshots from the movie for this section**