8mm Forum: Standard 8mm Star Wars?

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 06, 2007, 11:22 AM:

Just curious, was the original Ken films Star wars release, (whether 200ft. or 400ft.) ever released as a standard 8mm release?

It would be an interesting curiosity.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on September 06, 2007, 12:26 PM:

Osi, I may be wrong I think that by the time Star Wars was released most labs had stopped the production of Std 8 prints on a comercial basis.

Kev.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 06, 2007, 10:35 PM:

Your probably right Kevin.

I did run across a feature print of "FutureWorld" (optical sound ... DAMN!! I wish I'd bought that a year ago when it was offered!!) that was in standard 8mm, and that was a year before STAR WARS. I'd love to find that there was actually a standard 8mm.

But then, have any of you ran across a Ken Films print in standard 8mm?

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on September 07, 2007, 03:49 PM:

Well I have no old Ken films catalogs, Osi, but 5 years of Ebaying and lots of lurking, and I've seen a lot of Star Wars go by (you know, lots of 'em that scream RARE and have a reserve...). Nary a Regular 8 in my recollection, and there are none presently or recently completed.

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on September 07, 2007, 07:59 PM:

quote:
did run across a feature print of "FutureWorld" (optical sound ... DAMN!! I wish I'd bought that a year ago when it was offered!!) that was in standard 8mm

Are you sure it was standard 8? Where was the track. The only Standard 8 optical sound projector I know of was made by Toei in Japan in 1963 and few if any made it to the US--probably only a few trade show samples and maybe a special order unit or two. I never found a lab that made optical sound regular 8mm prints--if one did, they would have had to make their own printer and reduction printed the track from a 16mm negative.

Just curious if someone knows of anything regular 8mm commerical optical sound prints.

John

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 07, 2007, 08:39 PM:

I wrote the seller if he could verify that "Futureworld" was a standard 8mm print, and he verified it to be standard 8mm. He was as suprised as i was.

I take it back, there was at least one print of STAR WARS, actually it was Return of the Jedi. I know this for a fact as I recorded it off of our 25 inch TV when I was a teenager with my Standard 8mm camera.

It didn't look all that good, with terrible color, but hey, it worked, slightly.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 07, 2007, 08:45 PM:

John,
There's a collector I know who has a Std 8 optical projector and some films. I'm afraid I can't recall the titles but I don't think they are 'commercial' films produced in substantial quantities - probably educational films.

The most recent Ken 200' Std 8 title I have is 'Moon Zero Two' (1969) but I expect there are probably more recent ones. In my experience of silent titles, the Std 8 versions are always a bit longer than S8 versions, and better prints. I've never owned a 200' sound title in both Std and S8, so I'm not certain if the Std 8 sound films were also longer.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on September 07, 2007, 09:06 PM:

Star Wars was never released in Standard 8mm.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on September 08, 2007, 08:47 AM:

Osi,

In 1974 Ken Films released a wave of Paramount titles (Ten Commandments, War of the Worlds, Love Story, etc.) in 200' & 50' silent versions. They didn't bother to put these out in Standard 8mm. I believe their 1976 catalog is the last one to list availability of older titles in regular 8mm.

Doug

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on September 08, 2007, 02:45 PM:

quote:
There's a collector I know who has a Std 8 optical projector and some films. I'm afraid I can't recall the titles but I don't think they are 'commercial' films produced in substantial quantities - probably educational films.

Adrian,

If would be great if you could get him to get you a picture of his projector and a list of titles. I'm extremely curious since I don't know of any US lab that made optical sound 8mm prints. I really doubt that the Futureworld print is standard 8 optical and wonder if the seller really could "check" since it was an MGM title as I recall.

Since there was a projector (Toei) there was probably some lab in Japan that made prints for a specific purpose and maybe did work for some industrial company that might have used them in training, etc. (The leading labs producing 8mm sound prints in the 1960s were The Calvin Company and Geo. W. Colburn Labs in Chicago. They did work for lots and lots of companies but didn't do optical sound on regular 8mm. I also don't think there was ever an SMPTE standard for regular 8mm optical sound.

John

Posted by Kenneth Horan (Member # 3) on September 08, 2007, 05:00 PM:

Here are pictures of a Fumeo and a Microtecnica Regular 8mm Optical and Magnetic sound projector.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 08, 2007, 05:24 PM:

Hey John ...

I remember when I asked him to verify, he was a little ticked that I doubted his knowledge of super 8 and 8mm , as he had dealt in both types of film for years. The sad thing is that he only wanted 50.00 dollars for it, (Futureworld).

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 08, 2007, 09:32 PM:

John,
I'll see what I can do but it will take a while as he's someone I see at UK events but I don't currently have contact details for him. I'll probably see him in late October.

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on September 12, 2007, 08:59 AM:

Adrian,
Thanks for posting the pictures of the projectors. Can you tell me where they were manufactured? While there was no US SMPTE standard for 8mm optical sound, it looks like these machines copied the 16mm concept and thus would have had a 52 frame advance. It would also be great to see a scan of a film clip with an optical track printed on it.

I wonder if the format wasn't developed for use in countries where widespread 16mm distribution to small communities had been the norm (such as India) as a cost savings.

If a print of Futureworld in 8mm optical sound exists, then I wonder what language the sound track might contain.

John

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