8mm Forum: Ideal reel sizes

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Topic: Ideal reel sizes

Dave Cragg
Expert Film Handler

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

posted March 25, 2007 04:55 PM

I've always been surprised when members have talked about extending the arms on their projectors to fit 2400 ft reels; ie to get an entire film onto one reel.
To me, part of the home cine experience was the change of reels and the natural break in the film show whilst the previous reel was rewound, This allowed my guests to top up their drinks, visit the little boys room or have a smoke in the garden. (Although if putting on a show in a hall to strangers I could see why a projectionist would want to keep this to a minimum).
However after recently showing 'Saturday Night Fever' (on 7 x 400 ft reels) plus a trailer and a reel of Pearl & Dean adverts I realise that too many breaks can disrupt the night,. especially if I am only getting 17 minutes worth of film inbetween.
Consequently I have bought a number of 800ft reels to respool my existing films onto (my main projector is an Eumig S940 - max capacity 800ft); thus keeping reel changes to a minimum and ensuring 35 - 40 minutes worth of film between breaks.

Just wondered what other members thoughts and preferences are as to the ideal reel size and breaks in the show and why? Do other members try and replicate the cinema experience as closely as possible, or, like me, do they try to combine the cinema experience with that of the childhood home cine experience?

Dave

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Wide eyed novice.

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted March 25, 2007 11:38 PM

Hi Dave
One of the reasons I like Elmo projectors is its 1200ft capacity, years ago I was often asked regarding film shows and the Elmo ST1200 which I used then was ideal, personally I dont like to many stops when watching features, it does brake the concentration, years ago I went the step further and made a clamp on long play unit for the GS1200 which can take about 3000ft. I once used it for a film show, Great Expectations plus supporting programme about two and half long, we had a lot of film to get through that night so it was worth it, when running films for yourself small reels doesent really matter, but when putting a programme on for others I find its best to keep things rolling along.

Graham.

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 26, 2007 10:14 AM

I think 1200ft reels are great for features. Most people welcome a break half way through a 2 hour film anyway. But for my personal enjoyment I really like 600ft reels. It's nice to be able to screen 30 minutes of favourite parts of films, particularly musical features, and the 600 footer enables you to do just that.

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 27, 2007 03:14 PM

I don't mind doing reel changes every 400 feet, but I do weary of it sometimes..and so I mount my features on larger reels....expensive, but worth it. I just hate doing it to brand new prints.....it goes against the grain to take off the original leader and end up with splices that weren't there before and which can never be splice free again. But I grit my teeth , shrug my shoulders and do it anyway. The reel change issue just this week won for me on Ebay the Marketing Films feature, Death on the Nile at a bargain price of 32.00 dollars. The man was selling it because his wife complained about the 7 reel changes ( only one projector) and preferred the DVD. I'm sure I'll remount that one since it runs well over two hours. Previous owner said the color had held up remarkably well.

I do NOT prefer watching a feature straight through without an intermission. My audience craves a break for refreshments, etc. I use that time to rewind the first big reel and put on the second... I put up movie related slides on the screen during the break....along with music from the film being shown, if available.

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Osi Osgood
Film God

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

posted March 27, 2007 04:08 PM

I agree with Gary. I don't like watching a feature film all the way thru on one big reel. I prefer the 30 minute reels.

But I also agree with with me other compadre, in that I don't like constantly changing 400 ft. reels. In the case of optical sound films, however, you can fit a good 23 or slightly more minutes on one 400ft reel, and I find many a good optical sound feature comes to 4X400ft, (about 95 to 100 minutes), so I do enjoy 4X400ft, but not over 4X400ft.

Besides, my projectors only go up to 600ft. reels, and that's fine with me.

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

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