8mm Forum: 53rd BFCC

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Posted by Craig Hamilton (Member # 258) on May 20, 2007, 02:31 AM:

Just a quick note to thank Keith Wilton, John Clancy and all the other team members for another great day out at Ealing.

Saturdays BFCC was a great day out with the opportunity to catch up with people we normally only have contact with via the forum. It was nice to catch up with Jean-Marc & Paul Adsett. Yet again we were treated to some great film shows & talks. I found the whole day very relaxing with lots to talk about & buy. As usual the dealers were in good humor, especially good old Uncle Ian from Perrys.

It is fast becoming a BFCC tradition that forum members meet in the projection area at lunch time to put faces to names. I saw a lot of new faces to go with member names. Lee Mannering, you escaped me, I know you were about but unfortunately we did not meet face to face, I will see you at Harpended for the group 9-5 meeting.

Thanks again to all who organize the BFCC & long may it continue. Roll on October.

Craig

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on May 20, 2007, 04:21 AM:

It's been a really fun day and a great pleasure to see you all. Paul, you've really become the Master of Surprises in showing up like this. Well done.
Craig, thank you for the Pathe 9.5 demo, featuring your state of the art projector stand (the hall's trash can).
Keith and John, thank you for the great shows. Great to see the 35mm projector running again.
All dealers have been very friendly and I've seen tables being cleared in no time. Some really good grabs (particularly my two 6000ft 35mm spools). Too bad CHC's print of "One Man Band" wasn't ready yet - I'll buy it next time.
Not sure I'll be able to make it for the October convention but you never know...

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on May 20, 2007, 07:00 AM:

What a great day!

For some reason this meeting seemed even more friendly and sociable than previous events, possibly due to the large gathering of people from the forums in the projection area at lunch time (thanks Susie for the Cider)! It was great to put faces to names and chat about all things cine.

The lunchtime highlight though had to be Craig’s demonstration of his Pathe Baby with its factory supplied accessories. It projected a surprisingly clear image, firstly on to Tonys T-Shirt (in inverted Cinerama) and then onto a white card film box generously loaned by that nice Mr Clancy.

More than one of us has now been bitten by the 9.5mm bug and will be looking for our own little piece of Pathe history.

The shows were as ever excellent, Johns HTI converted GS 1200 really does put on a good show on that huge screen, it even gave Keith’s 35mm machine a run for its money.

It was great to meet Mal at last and of course Colin Hunt, both of whom were representing both the 8mm Forum and the Jubilee Forum, it’s good to know that the latter is doing well and providing a friendly arena for discussing all things digital.

Paul, what a surprise to bump into you! And then of course there were the two Kevs, Chris, Mark, Jean Marc (with his two 6000ft tractor wheels),Yannis, Keith, Rob, the list goes on…

The dealers’ stands seemed to do well, there was a rush in the morning, and after lunch many of the tables were looking decidedly bare so I assume trade was brisk? I picked up another armload of films in very nice packaging [Wink]

, and yet more Movie Maker magazines, I bought a whole batch in order to fill one or two gaps in my collection so will have duplicates to sell on if any one is interested…

A great event once again, so many thanks to Keith and John and all those who helped to make it come together, I look forward to doing it all again in October!

Mike

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on May 20, 2007, 07:07 AM:

Sounds like a great day.Mike,if you have any MOVIE MAKER Mags.;going spare let me know.Andy.

Posted by Graham Sinden (Member # 431) on May 20, 2007, 12:18 PM:

I also had a fantastic day. I cant wait to see the photos on the BFCC website. It was also great seeing Jean Marc and Kev.
Sorry Paul I missed you. Hope you make it next time. [Smile]

Graham

Posted by Keith Ashfield (Member # 741) on May 20, 2007, 12:42 PM:

I would like to echo the sentiments of all the guys above. My wife and I have just returned home(Sunday Evening),after a great weekend. Wonderful to meet other members "face to face". I'm just sorry there was not enough time to meet all. Hope John Clancy puts the group photo on the forum. My thanks for the chats with "Mr.Elmo (always indebted to), Kev Clark, Craig Hamilton, Mike Peckham,Jean-Marc, Colin Hunt and his wife Rose, Mr.Wilton (Master of Ceremonies) and John and Susie Clancy. Once again my apologies to the people I missed but hope to meet with you in the future. A memorable weekend, with great company and some great film bargains also. What more could one ask? - (well I haven't checked my lottery tickets yet, but that's another story) P.S. perhaps next time we should meet a la "Sons of the Desert" - minus the fez's of course [Big Grin]

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on May 20, 2007, 02:07 PM:

Well what can I say after reading the above comments???
Many thanx to Keith,John and co for a superb day out!!
Special thanx to Mike for giving me an early morning lift to the fair and back home again all the way to BOGNOR!.
You are a superstar!!!
I couldn't believe how busy the dealers tables were in the first half hour after opening!!
I managed to pick up a few bargains too.
The shows were great I especially enjoyed the 35mm showing of the last reel of SHANE.the presentation by Keith,John & co was impecable.
Well done guys!!!

Posted by Mark Norton (Member # 165) on May 20, 2007, 03:31 PM:

Many thanks for yet another great day. Film of the day for me had to be " incident at owl creek" very unusual, would love a copy on 8mm. Didn't buy many films this time but came away with a few unusual items.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on May 20, 2007, 04:00 PM:

It still amazes that, for fifty three years there is a film con there, and twice in a year, whereas here...well, such a thing hasn't seen the light of day in quite awhile, and it can happen here if we all discuss the logistics and possibilities, Shorty

Posted by Graham Sinden (Member # 431) on May 20, 2007, 04:48 PM:

Theres no reason why similar events cant happen in the states, there are enough film collectors there to make it worthwhile.

What it would need is time to build and patience. For example in the first year you may only get 20 people turn up and the following year that would double. But if you kept it going you may have around 100 or more within 5 years. But is there anyone willing to do the organising and put up with low attendance figures to start with. Also big dealers from the UK like Derann and Classic will not attend unless it is worthwhile.

I fear you may have left it too late. It takes a long time to build up events like theese. The BFCC started when Super 8 was still big and before cheap video projectors and DVD. Give it a try by all means but be prepared for dissapointments.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on May 20, 2007, 06:51 PM:

Thanks to all involved. Must say I had a good time and it was great to meet some more Forum members at lunchtime. Picked up some good bargains too (surprising how good some items in the Perry's £5 and £2 bins are!)

For me a highlight was also " An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge " and the other Ambrose Beirce film. Nice idea to have a special guest introducing these. I have the 2 x 400' Ref Fox release of the Twilight Zone version of 'Incident', but the film is even more impressive without the edits made to the TZ version.

I must raise one concern, though, as I think it has become too easy for more casual visitors to attend without paying. I'm sure that no Forum member would do this as they wouldn't want to damage the viability of the event, but a collector (who should know better) later told me that he came for an hour or so and didn't bother to pay in view of the 'open door' policy! At another BFCC, I saw some people that I'd encouraged to attend for the first time, and they seemed genuinely uncertain about whether they were due to pay in order to enter dealer rooms. I know the fact that others are using the building complicates things, but there must be a solution. Perhaps a few of us here could volunteer to (eg) check that only paying attendees enter the cinema before shows.

On a more positive note, I think this has become more relevant because the BFCC has scope to attract more people who are beyond the usual film collecting crowd. E.g. I know a film memorabilia collector who always now goes because she finds a few such items on the stalls, and might enjoy one or two of the film shows. If the BFCC could attract increasing numbers of such people, it might even cause the occasional one to become a film collector!

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on May 21, 2007, 04:25 AM:

Adrian I am with you 100%. I saw a number of oldish men enter without paying and then overheard them bragging how they got in without paying. Bl**dy sad and I feel for the organisers who start work early on the day to get everything ready for us all for a mere £6.00. I would suggest entry tickets should be checked at the top room also upon entry to catch up with these dishonest folk. It took the shine off the day for me seeing this and I nearly went up to them and pointed them in the direction of the till. Events cannot survive on charity and if we want to enjoy them we need to pay, crumbs its only £6 for a full day out including films.

I would like to pay tribute to Keith and all the hard workers at Ealing. It was a super day although I never got tome to enter the cinema due to chatting and buying. But if I see the non payers again I will be bashing them with the nearest film to knock some sense into them.

Posted by Graham Sinden (Member # 431) on May 21, 2007, 07:18 AM:

Adrian,
Im afraid this has been going on for years. They used to give out coloured stickers but havent used them this year. I must admit Ive done it myself once or twice. Shame on me. But not anymore. The reason people do it is because its £6 and if you can get away with it you could buy a extra 400 ft film or too.

If the organisers were serious they could easily put in barriers so that people couldnt walk through unnoticed. At the end of the day Im sure keith makes more than enough money from stallholders and selling his DVD's to offset the few dishonest collectors.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on May 21, 2007, 08:17 AM:

Yes a great day. It was a real surprise to Paul Adsett in attendance but great to meet up with him and many other forum members.
For me the highlight was the 16mm Film "An Occurance at Owl Creek" based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce. I was glued to the screen for the 20 min duration and I have to say that a shiver went down my spine at the surprise ending. When are we going to see a print of this on Super 8 as I'm sure it would sell well [Wink]

My thanks, like everyone else's go to Keith and John for all their hard work. If it wasn't for these two guys we wouldn't have this great twice yearly event to look forward to.....thanks guys [Smile]

and lets not forget Johns wife Susie who tries to keep them both in line as well as fed and watered.

JM I take it you got through customs without too many strange looks at those huge 35mm empty reels?

Kev

Posted by Gary Constantine (Member # 711) on May 21, 2007, 08:34 AM:

All was great and well organised. All except the toilet's which really do need dealing with...the smell of wee isn't too good!

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on May 21, 2007, 10:28 AM:

Kev: Occurence at Owl Creek is available in super 8, as a Twilight Zone episode (See Adrian's post above) in a slightly different edit, but with an intro by Rod Serling and commercials...
It's quite a nice piece. "One of the missing" is OK but not as interesting as Owl. Anybody thought the ending was shocking? I didn't. You kinda see it coming from a long way away (As a Python fan, I'd say you'd recognize it as easily as a larch).

Anyways, the cool thing about large metal spools, when seen through xrays is that they look like... large metal spools. They just took the spools, put them through the machines, didn't raise any eyebrow and wished me a good journey back.

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on May 21, 2007, 12:22 PM:

Must have been your good looks Jean. Nice to have a chat at Ealing for a few minutes.
Best wishes.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on May 21, 2007, 04:09 PM:

JM, Is the Twilight Zone version the same film as we saw at the BFCC (if you watched it) or did they re film it.
I will try and get some more info from John and Keith.

Kev.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on May 21, 2007, 05:32 PM:

It's the actual Robert Enrico film, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, later bought by Rod Serling to be included in the tv series as an "arty" episode.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on May 21, 2007, 05:34 PM:

(Not JM but I can answer that)
The Twilight Zone version is the same film but edited by a few minutes to fit the time available. It's a while since I ran mine, but I got the impression that much of the extra material is in the first half, providing more suspense. The print is OK but lacks the detail seen on Saturday.

I'll never forgive myself that when a UK seller offered a 16mm print on eBay about a year ago, I forgot to bid and it only sold for about £10!

Posted by Louis Li (Member # 776) on May 22, 2007, 01:37 AM:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160117602260&rd=1&rd=1

well. maybe you can get this one.
another 5 years more and ill find my way to my 1st BFCC .

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on May 22, 2007, 10:24 AM:

Sorry for the delay in posting chaps - only just got home having dossed at the in-laws for a few days.

Mark, Murray and Mike rather saved the day on Saturday as these three volunteers erected the screen with myself and John Bird's son-in-law, Maurice. If we can do this again next time then it won't be quite the panic station it has been in the past because if anything happens to me (and it's a particularly long journey now) then the film shows are in trouble. Hopefully these chaps would be able to get the screen up without me if anything goes wrong in the future. Well done fellas.

And thanks again to everyone for coming along. It was a better turn out on Saturday which certainly helps morale. It's a shame a few people decide not to pay but there's not a lot that can be done about it. We're not allowed to put anything else up in the reception area so the desk we have is all there is. We did try to stop people hiding in the toilets for a while but it just creates trouble when you catch someone or ask to see their programme.

Joe, don't bother trying to start a convention in America. There are a couple of surviving events over here but most have now gone. The BFCC was the first in 1976 and Bill Davidson then followed that with the NFCC in Blackpool. Those two survive along with Geoff Wheeler's Big Screen Time at Tadley. Each convention is completely different. For the BFCC's we aim to offer shows that will attract people besides collectors so it's interesting that this was mentioned in a previous post.

I haven't updated the web site yet but Independent 8's latest lists have just gone up. I prepared those before I left for the convention!

UPDATE!!! A few piccies posted in the 'past events' pages of www.bfcc.biz. If anyone has any others we could slap up please let me have them!

(Moderator note: the link wasn't working properly. Now it is.)

[ May 22, 2007, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: Douglas Meltzer ]

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on May 22, 2007, 01:09 PM:

Hi-John,
Many thanx for your kind comments,it was a real pleasure to help out on Saturday and I will gladly help you out again at the next fair,hopefully along with Murray & Mike.
Cheers for now!

Posted by Colin Robert Hunt (Member # 433) on May 22, 2007, 02:16 PM:

Again Many Thanks to Keith Wilton, son Mark, John Bird, Suzie & John for another great day to remember. Mike, Murray & the 2 John's for erecting the screen at short notice. It was nice to meet forum members Kevin, Jean-Mark, Mike Peckham, Adrian W, Mel & friend, Keith and his wife. Mywifenjoyed the day so much that she did not go shopping sothat saved more money. I managedto pick up some goods from the Bring & Buy and the day went too quickly. Shame about the non payers who get in. I have had films films nicked off the bring and buy stall and just wondered sometimes what kind of people we have labeled has collectors. Anyway on a positive note look forward to the next one and again many Thanks to all the helpers who made this happen last Satuday it's appreciated.

Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on May 22, 2007, 02:39 PM:

Difficult to add to the praise and thanks heaped on the team behind the BFCC as so many have already covered it so well. But thanks any way. I was only sorry to have hed to leave so early due to a trip I have had to make "up North". Infact it turned out I was only 40 miles from Blackpool at one point...now why could that not have been November ? grrrrrrr

Just back and itching to try out the bargains from Mr Perry and others. It was good to see Brian Murphhy and side by side with Mr O'Reilly I swear they might have been twins..... [Big Grin]

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on May 30, 2007, 07:41 PM:

Just got back to Florida after my second BFCC. As before it was great, and well worth the effort to get there. Well done everyone who organized it. As usual Keith and John put on a great film program- I particularly liked the tribute to Victor Young. The super 8 films looked really excellent on that huge screen, (even with sun glasses on [Big Grin]

), thank's to Johns HTI GS1200. Gary cut me a nice deal on a few films, including Derann's new release of the 3D 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'. Craig's Pathe Baby demo generated a lot of interest and undoubtedly some new 9.5 converts in the process. Thank's so much Craig for that 9.5mm film - very kind of you and much appreciated.
Best part was having a chance to say hello to some of the Forum members. Mal, Craig, Colin, Kev, Tony, Jean-Marc, Adrian, the sinister looking Mike Peckham, et al. Graham and Lee, sorry I missed you.
The day went by much too fast, hard to see all the films , meet everybody, and visit all the dealers in the space of 7 hours.
Hope to do it again real soon.

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