Showing posts with label Super 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Super 8. Show all posts
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Super 8 Disney
Before the days of live streaming video, DVDs or even VHS, your only option to view your favorite Hollywood movies in the comfort of your own home, short of waiting several years for them to appear on one of the 3 major networks, was to buy them on home movie film, in 8mm, Super 8 or 16mm formats. Unless they were cartoon shorts, these films were usually extremely condensed versions of the movie or even just a few favorite clips compiled into 200 foot segments. While we had a home movie projector growing up, it was limited to those films my father had shot documenting various vacations and holidays. My parents never bought commercially released films and in fact I don't believe I even knew they were available. Thanks to this 1980 Walt Disney Super 8 Home Movie catalog I found at the great film estate sale last year, I now have a glimpse into the world I missed.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
A Tale of Four Projectors
I'm an admitted AV Geek Wannabe. Is there anything lower than that? I never belonged to the AV club in high school and never got to wheel around or operate the 16mm projectors that would grant brief respite from the daily school lesson in favor of a film. Any film was better than a lecture. While I had a fascination with the films in school, it wasn't until many years later that I developed an interest in the equipment. Over the years I've acquired a number of 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8 projectors and a variety of film. This is the story of four garage sale finds.
First up is the Kodak MovieDeck 455. This is kind of an odd duck. As opposed to the traditional projectors where the film reels are upright, this one has the film reel laying flat with the film winding an obstacle course of glides into the belly of the beast and winding on a pickup reel laying flat in the bottom. I bought this at a garage sale Summer of 2010 thinking it was a slide projector. The projector and screen were $7. This projector is a dual 8 projector, handling both Standard 8mm and Super 8mm film with the flip of a switch. For those not in the know, the difference between 8mm and Super 8mm film, from a projection standpoint, is the size of spacing of the sprocket holes on the film.
First up is the Kodak MovieDeck 455. This is kind of an odd duck. As opposed to the traditional projectors where the film reels are upright, this one has the film reel laying flat with the film winding an obstacle course of glides into the belly of the beast and winding on a pickup reel laying flat in the bottom. I bought this at a garage sale Summer of 2010 thinking it was a slide projector. The projector and screen were $7. This projector is a dual 8 projector, handling both Standard 8mm and Super 8mm film with the flip of a switch. For those not in the know, the difference between 8mm and Super 8mm film, from a projection standpoint, is the size of spacing of the sprocket holes on the film.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!
We just wrapped up our big Halloween bash and I thought I'd share a few Halloween-related items I picked up over the summer.
First up, some vintage Beistle Halloween cutouts:
First up, some vintage Beistle Halloween cutouts:
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Super 8 -- The Sequel!
Weird. I posted last night about seeing the movie "Super 8" and told about the Sankyo Sound XL-40S super 8 camera I found 6 years ago. This morning I went garage saling and came across yet another super 8 camera. This one is a Penney's (as in J. C. ) model P-1 which is actually a rebranded Zenomatic Z-20. It was released between 1966 and 1967. It came with a case and original instructions. It appears to work fine. Price was $6, but I talked the lady down to $4.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Super 8
I took my son to the movies today to see "Super 8". If you're unfamiliar with the movie, it's set in 1979 and is in the genre of such 80's movies as The Goonies and Stand By Me. In case you're not quite sure of when the movie is set, writer-director J. J. Abrams not so subtly reminds, and in some cases, hits you over the head with this fact. Less than 5 minutes into the movie, you've been treated to E.L.O.'s "Don't Bring Me Down" and Wings' "Silly Love Songs" along with a potpourri of 70's product placement.
The movie revolves around a boy obsessed with winning a film contest by filming his own monster movie on super 8 film starring his friends. While filming a pivotal scene at a train station, the boys, and camera, witness a train derailment that unleashes....well, I won't spoil it for you.
I have to admit, one of the reasons I wanted to see this film was my own devotion to the super 8 format.
When I was child, about once a year, my parents would borrow a super 8 projector from friends or relatives and we would drag out our own collection of films chronicling past vacations. Years later, I decided I wanted to shoot some of my own super 8 film and document some of my own family's adventures.
Back in 2005, I found a Sankyo Sound XL-40S super 8 camera at a garage sale for $10. It was originally produced in 1975.
I promptly joined 8mm forum and learned where to buy and develop super 8 film. Unfortunately, I also learned you could no longer buy sound film. But buying silent film is fairly easy, your choices spanning eBay, private sellers, or directly from Kodak. Getting it developed was a little trickier. As it turns out, there is only one place left in the United States that develops super 8 film, Dwayne's Photo in Kansas.
I ordered 1 roll of film. After all, I had no idea if the camera worked and at $15 for a 3-minute cartridge, I wasn't going gamble any more. As it turned out, the camera worked perfectly and I shot my kids in many summer activities -- playing in the sprinkler, the pool, and camping. But I didn't know whether I had captured anything until I sent the cartridge to Dwayne's for development. When it came back, I immediately got out my Elmo ST-600M super 8 projector I picked up on eBay years before and threaded it up. I was very pleased with the results and ordered more film with the intent of filming those scenes that I felt played best on super 8 film -- Halloween, Christmas, vacations, all those events typically filmed when this camera was state of the art. It costs another $15 to develop, so the costs average out to $10 per minute. Not a cheap investement, but a fun one.
J. J. Abrams clearly wanted to accomplish 2 things -- he wanted desperately to create a movie in the 80's style of Steven Spielberg and he wanted to create a movie that kids today would remember years from now. I can't say I was blown away by the movie, and to me, it missed it's mark matching E.T. or Raiders of the Lost Ark. But while on the surface it might seem it was aimed at my generation, I think it was aimed at the kids of today and for what it's worth, my son said he loved it and wanted to see it again.
I'd love to see a revival of super 8 film as a result of this movie and I suspect there might be a little bump in the sales of cameras. It remains to be seen whether the interest, and the movie, will be lasting.
The movie revolves around a boy obsessed with winning a film contest by filming his own monster movie on super 8 film starring his friends. While filming a pivotal scene at a train station, the boys, and camera, witness a train derailment that unleashes....well, I won't spoil it for you.
I have to admit, one of the reasons I wanted to see this film was my own devotion to the super 8 format.
When I was child, about once a year, my parents would borrow a super 8 projector from friends or relatives and we would drag out our own collection of films chronicling past vacations. Years later, I decided I wanted to shoot some of my own super 8 film and document some of my own family's adventures.
Back in 2005, I found a Sankyo Sound XL-40S super 8 camera at a garage sale for $10. It was originally produced in 1975.
I promptly joined 8mm forum and learned where to buy and develop super 8 film. Unfortunately, I also learned you could no longer buy sound film. But buying silent film is fairly easy, your choices spanning eBay, private sellers, or directly from Kodak. Getting it developed was a little trickier. As it turns out, there is only one place left in the United States that develops super 8 film, Dwayne's Photo in Kansas.
I ordered 1 roll of film. After all, I had no idea if the camera worked and at $15 for a 3-minute cartridge, I wasn't going gamble any more. As it turned out, the camera worked perfectly and I shot my kids in many summer activities -- playing in the sprinkler, the pool, and camping. But I didn't know whether I had captured anything until I sent the cartridge to Dwayne's for development. When it came back, I immediately got out my Elmo ST-600M super 8 projector I picked up on eBay years before and threaded it up. I was very pleased with the results and ordered more film with the intent of filming those scenes that I felt played best on super 8 film -- Halloween, Christmas, vacations, all those events typically filmed when this camera was state of the art. It costs another $15 to develop, so the costs average out to $10 per minute. Not a cheap investement, but a fun one.
J. J. Abrams clearly wanted to accomplish 2 things -- he wanted desperately to create a movie in the 80's style of Steven Spielberg and he wanted to create a movie that kids today would remember years from now. I can't say I was blown away by the movie, and to me, it missed it's mark matching E.T. or Raiders of the Lost Ark. But while on the surface it might seem it was aimed at my generation, I think it was aimed at the kids of today and for what it's worth, my son said he loved it and wanted to see it again.
I'd love to see a revival of super 8 film as a result of this movie and I suspect there might be a little bump in the sales of cameras. It remains to be seen whether the interest, and the movie, will be lasting.
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