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Topic: Dissapointment in film

Gary Constantine
Junior
Posts: 17
From: Nottingham
Registered: Nov 2006

posted March 21, 2007 06:21 AM

I wont mention any names, but I bought a film recently and paid £20 for a 400 foot reel...and there was A LOT missing from the film, namely Star Wars. For £20, I was expecting the whole damn thing.

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Jean-Marc Toussaint
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: France
Registered: Oct 2004

posted March 21, 2007 06:25 AM

What do you mean? How much is left out of the original 17 minutes?

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The Grindcave Cinema Website

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Gary Constantine
Junior
Posts: 17
From: Nottingham
Registered: Nov 2006

posted March 21, 2007 06:26 AM

Well, the original Star Wars from the 1950s was 3 hours? My film is TWENTY minutes long...LOTS missing!

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Trevor Adams
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 763
From: Auckland,New Zealand
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 06:35 AM

My golly Gary,what GREAT EXPECTATIONS [Smile]

Trev

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Trevor

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Dave Cragg
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 166
From: Merseyside, Great Britain
Registered: Jun 2005

posted March 21, 2007 06:38 AM

Gary, the most you are going to get on a 400ft reel is twenty minutes and £20 is about right. The full film would probably be on about 8 400ft reels and would cost, perhaps, £200?
You are certainly not going to get £150 for a 17 minute 'selected scenes' reel.

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Wide eyed novice.

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Mark Todd
Film God

Posts: 3846
From: UK
Registered: Aug 2003

posted March 21, 2007 07:07 AM

You can often pick up the feature in scope for £150 upwards but there are 2 400 feet versions that can be intercut.
The seller should have mentioned it was selected scenes though as it does say so on the box.
I sold the 2x400 intercut for aahve been a cuple of bob more, nice one though.
Looking for a nice LPP trailer of it myself as only watching cine alone now so don`t need long films.
Best Mark.
PS sorry for dissapointment you can maybe get the other 400.

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Mike Peckham
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1461
From: West Sussex, UK.
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 07:14 AM

Mark

I agree, the two 400ft versions availabe work really well when properly intercut - there's a certain nostalgic element to watching them this way too. [Wink]

Gary

You should check out the reviews section on the forum prior to making any more film purchases; the Star Wars digests have both been covered there, the reviews will give you a good idea of what to expect and whether or not the film, especially if it is a digest, is for you.

Mike [Cool]

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Auntie Em must have stopped wondering where I am by now...

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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator

Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 09:10 AM

Gary,

I apologize in advance if I'm stating the obvious, but I just want to make sure you are familiar with the package movie world of Super 8mm. Before our good friend video came along, the only way to watch theatrically released films at home was in the smaller film gauges. Condensed versions (digests/selected scenes) with running times varying from 8 minutes (200') to 30 minutes (600'- 800') were put out by companies with different degrees of proficiency in editing. Some captured the plot & feel of an entire feature in 8 minutes, some just concentrated on a key scene or two, and some just failed miserably at it. Certain films also lend themselves to this process better than others. Who would have thought that a 10 minute digest of "Jaws" would work so amazingly well?
Full length features were released also, but at quite a high price. The digests were much more affordable. Just be careful in the future as to whether you're purchasing a cutdown or not. Also make sure to ask about the condition of the color, since many of these films have now faded to a lovely magenta.

Doug

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 09:31 AM

quote:
Well, the original Star Wars from the 1950s was 3 hours?

Heey!!! Star Wars is not from 1950s!!!! and 3 Hours!!! what are you talking about!!!.

Doug and others please be noted to his post!

Alan, yes I think we are being wound-up !

and THAT'S IT!

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Winbert

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Chris Quinn
Master Film Handler

Posts: 372
From: England, Bedfordshire.
Registered: Nov 2003

posted March 21, 2007 10:07 AM

Gary,

Funny, Same thing has happenend to me on more than one occasion. [Frown]

Chris.

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The other half thinks i'm up to something. Shes right of course.

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Mike Peckham
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1461
From: West Sussex, UK.
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 10:20 AM

Chris

Me too; I must have bought literally dozens of 400ft digests and not one of them has lasted more than about 18 minutes! [Frown]

Mike

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Auntie Em must have stopped wondering where I am by now...

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Kevin Faulkner
Film God

Posts: 4071
From: Essex UK
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 11:03 AM

Haven't you sussed it out yet guys.....your supposed to run them at 2.4 FPS not 24 [Wink]

Didn't you notice the sound was a tad too fast [Big Grin]

Kev.

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GS1200 Xenon with Elmo 1.0...great combo along with a 16-CL Xenon for that super bright white light.

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Kevin Faulkner
Film God

Posts: 4071
From: Essex UK
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 12:02 PM

Gary, You said in the earlier thread "Dealers at Cine Fairs"

quote:
In the past I have attended certain fairs,

Well I'm surprised you didn't know what to expect from a 400ft package movie as you would have seen many at the conventions [Confused]

Kev.

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GS1200 Xenon with Elmo 1.0...great combo along with a 16-CL Xenon for that super bright white light.

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Graham Sinden
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1131
From: Kent, UK
Registered: Aug 2005

posted March 21, 2007 12:26 PM

A 400ft reel can easily last 3 hours at 24fps

But the film has to be like cling film [Big Grin]

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Colin Robert Hunt
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 226
From: Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire
Registered: Aug 2005

posted March 21, 2007 02:34 PM

Hi All
From memory the 200ft Star Wars was available long before the release in the UK. Along came the 400footer and much later the the last part. It was possible to extend the 2 400ft versions with the 200ft version because it contains extra length of scene much shorterin the 1st 400ft version. I think the Germain release contained different footage but needed to be dubbed back into english.

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Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted March 21, 2007 04:17 PM

is the guy some kinda nut? [Big Grin]

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted March 21, 2007 04:26 PM

Alright guys, lay off the newbie! Folks in this modern videotape/DVD era think that everything in a small format must have the whole film in thier hands, and are suprised when they aren't.

True story. I had never seen VCR tapes, and someone said that they watched Empire Strikes back at home and they described the cassette, which was about the size of your average VCR tape of today, but since all I knew, (and bear in mind, at 13) was 200ft and 400ft reels, I knew that he couldn't have seen that movie on film at that time and I told him, "Phooey!".

Little did I know that I had just been introduced to what would become the big craze of video, (boo hiss!)

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Pablo Alvarez Roth
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 129
From: Chile
Registered: Aug 2006

posted March 21, 2007 08:04 PM

Boy I feel old,

and I´m only 30,

but you know when you´re old when you start talking about how you had at home, cassette tapes, records, monocrome computers that used software on tapes, no internet and no mobile home, no intenet and watched videos beta or vhs and have home films on super 8 films. gee time flies fast

I think I´m the last generation who live though so many changes.

cheers
Pablo.

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 21, 2007 08:34 PM

I'm not so sure!

In modern times technology evolves so fast that format and system changes are probably going to happen more and more often.

I think soon while the stuff is rolling down the assembly line it will become obsolete and they'll automatically charge it to the customers' credit cards and then scrap it before it's even been delivered!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted March 22, 2007 12:33 AM

Whats this!!, "Star Wars" in the 1950s [Roll Eyes]

did I miss something, must be all that film cleaner, I new I should have worn gloves [Wink]

Graham

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Dan Lail
Film God

Posts: 2110
From: Loganville, Georgia, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 22, 2007 01:42 AM

Gary, mention names. I don't see anything wrong with purchasing a digest for 20 pounds.

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Jean-Marc Toussaint
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: France
Registered: Oct 2004

posted March 22, 2007 02:02 AM

quote:
Hi All
From memory the 200ft Star Wars was available long before the release in the UK. Along came the 400footer and much later the the last part. It was possible to extend the 2 400ft versions with the 200ft version because it contains extra length of scene much shorterin the 1st 400ft version. I think the Germain release contained different footage but needed to be dubbed back into english

Colin, check the review section, there's an article on how to splice the 3 US reels and the 2 german reels together.

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The Grindcave Cinema Website

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Colin Robert Hunt
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 226
From: Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire
Registered: Aug 2005

posted March 23, 2007 12:05 PM

Thanks Jean-mark. Will have a nose at this and maybe expand the version I have already. Must say it's a few years since I edited this version, but always went down well on showings regards Colin

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