8mm Forum: Nitrate Film Burning.

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Topic: Nitrate Film Burning.

Desmond Godwin
Film Handler

Posts: 75
From: Ireland
Registered: Apr 2011

posted May 17, 2012 02:38 PM

Here is a small clip showing a single frame of nitrate film burning..

[Eek!]

Desmond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HzPoU_0inIk

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Bryan Chernick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 654
From: Bothell, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2010

posted May 17, 2012 02:54 PM

Other uses for Nitrocellulose: propellant, low-order explosive.

I understand that stuff will burn under water as well.

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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God

Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012

posted May 17, 2012 03:06 PM

Yes I believe it can burn underwater and was the reason why so many cinemas were destroyed during WW2.

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John Davis
Master Film Handler

Posts: 286
From: Dunfermline, Fife, UK
Registered: Jun 2008

posted May 17, 2012 06:42 PM

Yes after WWII the trend was to build cinemas above water [Wink]

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Lars-Goran Ahlm
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 205
From: Åmål, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2010

posted May 17, 2012 08:35 PM

Why settle for one frame when you can see a complete 2000 ft reel?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEz_a-Akufk&feature=related

Around 1986/88 I was a participant at just such an event. We burnt about 4-5 reels in different sizes. It's something I still remember as if it was yesterday.

One thing that we did'nt know was that the fumes was dangerous, but we are all still around, so we must have had luck with the wind that day.

--------------------
"The trouble with these international affairs is that they attract foreigners"

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Harrison Bradley
Junior
Posts: 28
From: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Registered: May 2012

posted May 17, 2012 10:24 PM

Besides the recent "Inglorious Bastards", does anyone know of any other movies that have nitrate film burning?

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David M. Ballew
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 113
From: Burbank, CA USA
Registered: Nov 2009

posted May 17, 2012 11:42 PM

Cinema Paradiso immediately springs to mind.

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Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler

Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010

posted May 18, 2012 03:12 AM

Used to play with that stuff as a child in the fifties. Have since worked with it professionaly. OK if procedures followed, eg; should be stored away in suitable vault overnight. Unfortunately people still don't allways take this seriously.

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Bryan Chernick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 654
From: Bothell, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2010

posted May 18, 2012 10:47 AM

Lars, the flame coming off that reel was amazing!

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007

posted May 19, 2012 12:27 AM

The roar resembled an engine firing up. Or something ominous.

Harrison, have you seen last year's "The Artist"?

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David M. Ballew
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 113
From: Burbank, CA USA
Registered: Nov 2009

posted May 19, 2012 05:23 AM

The film historian Kevin Brownlow (famous for his long association with Abel Gance's film "Napoleon") tells this story about nitrate film:

"Knowing I was keen on films, someone had given me a 200ft roll of nitrate. It showed a scene from Rupert of Hentzau, made in 1913. I had heard that old films were printed on cellulose nitrate stock, which was highly inflammable. What’s more, the industry was still using it. It was 1950; I was 12 years old, and enjoyed staging battles with my friends on the acres of bombed sites that surrounded my home in North London. I placed this roll in a paper bag, climbed to the roof of a bombed building and when my pals passed beneath, I lit the fuse and dropped it. It exploded most satisfactorilly. But I could have kicked myself when I needed the sequence for a documentary in 1996. That roll was all that was left of an important film – and the images on the reel had looked most impressive."

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