This is topic What does your family / friends think of your hobby? in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.
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Posted by Douglas W. Warren (Member # 2159) on September 08, 2010, 11:01 AM:
With there being so many ways now to watch movies (DVD,Streaming Video,etc.),what does your family/friends think of your hobby? For the outsiders,it must seem strange why we like our digests of 8 & Super 8mm movies when the complete movies are available. Any thoughts on this?
Cheers all,
Douglas ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 08, 2010, 11:26 AM:
Typically they think somehow I am misguided and if they just point out the enlightened path of the Silver Disk they will send me in the way of the truth.
-as if somehow I've been living under a rock all these years and never heard of a DVD!
(So strange: if they saw someone with an Edison Phonograph, they'd never say "Why don't you get an Ipod?")
When they experience a film based show and find out that it really is different from video, they start to understand.
I have a regular crowd of about twenty friends I do a show for every February. They stopped asking me the "V" question years ago.
-They get it now!
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 08, 2010, 01:04 PM:
My kids love the shows when they're home from Uni and they do understand the superiority of film.
My Missus loves the hobby and enjoys coming along to the BFCC.
Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on September 08, 2010, 01:06 PM:
That's a long (Shorty) story
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 08, 2010, 01:32 PM:
I understand the thing about the digests, I've never been into them myself, although I have a few. My film collection is mostly short subjects and the majority of the rest are features.
When it comes down to films edited from features I like extracts much better than digests. I like a complete chunk of the story that doesn't feel like there is something missing. For example "Fantasia" is made of many independent segments, and any one of them stands alone as an extract very nicely.
I guess a digest would work better for me if I never saw the feature and didn't know what was missing.
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 08, 2010, 01:41 PM:
Douglas, even as an "insider", I could never understand the deal with digests. Why would anybody want to watch a movie in this form??? If the movie had been intended for viewing as a 20min hotch-potch, it would have been released as such. That's just my opinion.
My collection which is mainly 16mm but some S8 is features and shorts.
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 08, 2010, 02:09 PM:
The problem with digest films these days is they highlight film's big weak point: cost per minute.
-Not where you want to be headed if you are trying to impress an audience.
Sometimes when people find out that I have a couple of full length features they (rudely) ask "How much did that cost?
-I say: "More than a pizza, less than a car..."
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 08, 2010, 02:12 PM:
Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on September 08, 2010, 05:11 PM:
For the most part most of my friends and family think its pretty cool. Although they don't really care about the medium itself they just like watching movies...no matter what the delivery system is. I love movies too but I also love the medium of FILM. I make my own films and I enjoy cleaning and fixing my films.
As far as the digests I suppose you have to look back at the time when they were popular. At that time if you wanted to have a copy of your favorite movie you could wait for it to show up on your TV, take out a loan and buy the feature on 8mm/16mm, or you could buy your favorite scenes in a cut down that was more affordable than a feature for most people. Looking at them now for me is enjoyable. I like shorts and sometimes they give me a fix when I don't have time for a feature.
Bill
Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on September 08, 2010, 05:33 PM:
I bought a projector because my wife wanted to watch some of her old family movies. I then borrowed my fathers old Bell & Howell 8mm camera to shoot some of our own family movies. I now have 4 projectors and 6 cameras.
Since I started reading threads on this forum I told my wife about the movies available in 8mm. At her request I purchased a Super 8 sound version of The Sound of Music. She enjoys watching movies in the evening on the patio when the weather is warm or indoors when its not. Now I find myself looking for films on ebay. If this gets out of hand I'll hold this forum responsible ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Most of my friends think it's pretty neat that I shoot 8mm and super 8 film. We'll see what they think when I make them sit through some of the movies.
Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on September 08, 2010, 05:39 PM:
As a collector as well as a film maker, my family and friends have always supported me. They always thought it was pretty cool; and gladly participated in my super 8 films from all the way back in the 1960s through the late 1980s. Two of my films are on YouTube under jtaffis.
Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 08, 2010, 05:53 PM:
In addition to agreeing with Bill, I'd say that digests have a certain charm and represent one aspect of film memorabilia history. And also remember that not all of us only collect great, classic films - if your collection (e.g.) includes low budget 1950s Sci-Fi, there are films where a short digest is the ideal way to view it! They are also good for support programmes. E.g. I recently put on a show with PSYCHO II on 16mm as the main feature, and the PSYCHO digest (also on 16mm) and the Hitchcock PSYCHO promo (on Super 8) was the perfect way to set the scene.
Most friends and family that attend my shows are enthusiastic and see them as something different. In my experience, it's mostly former collectors who have become DVD fanatics that are negative!
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 08, 2010, 08:18 PM:
That's something I never really appreciated until I went to John Black's Film Show: how we can be so different as film collectors.
There was a pretty solid contingent of Horror Film guys there, many very deep into box art, meanwhile here I am somebody who started out as a railroad film collector and not at all bothered when the box is plain and white.
There was a fellow there very excited because he'd found a Disneyworld tour film still sealed on the card. I asked "You're not going to watch that, are you?". After that question the poor guy looked like he was going to have a stroke!
Different things to different people...
My family is pretty supportive of my filming and projecting. One of the great benefits it has been to them is something to give me for birthdays and Christmas. (My material needs are usually pretty simple, and otherwise extremely technical...) Back a few years ago Gary Brocklehurst was sending films to my wife and mom twice a year too.
Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on September 08, 2010, 09:27 PM:
My wife thought I was crazy,so I got a dog for her. Turned out to be a pretty good trade.
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 09, 2010, 01:34 AM:
I have to disagree Adrian - I don't think there are any films for which a digest is "the ideal way to view it". BTW, to me classic films include 1950's low-budget sci-fi
However, I do understand that there was a time when digests were all that was available.
We all have different tastes I guess.
"In my experience, it's mostly former collectors who have become DVD fanatics that are negative!" - Yes indeed!!
Posted by Douglas W. Warren (Member # 2159) on September 09, 2010, 11:36 AM:
Lots of interesting and varied opinions on the topic.Back in the late 1980's when I was most active with my collecting,it was my father that was most accepting,as he shot lots of standard 8mm footage back in the 50's & 60's. Mostly it was a solitary hobby with only the occasional guest that would sit down and watch films with me.
Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 09, 2010, 09:45 PM:
My friends think its so "cool" and "retro". But my family keeps saying,"I dont get it. For the price of a feature I could get so many DVD's!"
I have the full length Feature of Grease and I love it and have it on big reels. But sometimes I just feel like watching the end or maybe 20 minutes so then I put on certain reels of the 3x400 Digest Marketing print. Nice and I get my fix without the full commitment to the feature.
I will put on a show from time to time for friends but I find that most of the time I will lace up a reel and watch some Super 8 myself.
Now that 46 inch Plasmas/lcds are so common Super 8 blown up is not as big a deal as it was say 20 years ago. Back then Super 8/16mm was the closest you could get to going to the theatre. Friends use to come by and watch the 400ft Digest of "Enter the Dragon" till it was finally eaten by my ..ahem...Chinon 4100.
Ah...the memories!
Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on September 11, 2010, 03:10 AM:
.......my parents were always sceptical,to say the least,of my film collecting;father said it's a waste of money,mother said takes too much space....
....but friends find it fantastic-very few comments like 'what you doing with that stuff when there's DVD' etc have I heard
....plus,most of the ladies I've been dating were fascinated by my dark room enterprises... ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 11, 2010, 05:06 AM:
People act a little foolishly when they make judgements about other people's hobbies. It's a little like asking "Why did you marry her?", when the answer is "Obviously because I see something in her that you don't."
I have a friend that will get up on the coldest, nastiest day, pretty much anything but a driving rainstorm and be out before dawn to go golfing. I don't get it, but you see it's his passion therefore I don't need to get it. As long as I remember that, we're OK.
I used to have this elaborate speech about the reasons that I make and watch films on Super-8. Lately it's pretty much boiled down to "Because I like to." (-enough said.)
Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 11, 2010, 03:25 PM:
Michael - I'd better clarify my reference to low budget 1950s sci-fi by saying that I agree absolutely that such films can be classics, and need to seen in their entirety to be fully appreciated. However, I'd still say that some of the less distinguished films of this type strike me as considerably more repeatable in digest form. E.g. I (and I expect most people who come to my shows) would happily watch the 200' versions of 'The Giant Claw', 'It Conquered the World' or 'The Screaming Skull' once a year, but I suspect it would be difficult to find people who would willingly sit through the whole features that often!
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 11, 2010, 04:44 PM:
That's fair enough, Adrian.
Some people like digests. I cannot see their point.
To each his own and all that.
Posted by Darryl Cheek (Member # 2170) on September 13, 2010, 02:49 PM:
Having recently discovered ebay and the wealth of information on the net, I have hauled out my 8mm collection, added a 16mm division to it and started learning. Life was really starting to look good. Then my wife came through, looked at all my treasure scattered around and said:- " You're going to come home one day to find that I have had a big bonfire out in the back garden! so what do you think of that? ".
Everyone else just ignores me.
Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on September 13, 2010, 11:10 PM:
My wife doesn't get it at all. She ponders why I would choose to watch something so noisy (the projector) and laborious when you can just put on a DVD and watch it without reel changes. However, she has hobbies of her own and is empathetic to my sentimental attachment to film and my 7-year old daughter likes to watch cartoons and comedies on the big white wall in our living room from time to time.
Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on September 14, 2010, 04:07 PM:
My wife has been incredibly supportive, and, at the same time, a voice of sanity. The whole thing started in 2001 while trying to run childhood films on an almost-dead projector. Then a discovery in a camera shop. Then eBay. Then the discovery of Derann. Follow that with a generous equipment loan from a kind friend. Shows projected on a wall gave way to a carefully folded white bedsheet, and not long after scored a free DaLite pulldown screen. All along the way my kids were amused and often a few friends or relatives would join us. So at this point my wife would rather not stumble across projectors or stashes of films in a corner of every closet, but I'm really not trying to collect much more either.
I really think what makes this work is that what we watch on films - a lot of Disney cartoons, Laurel & Hardy, 'B' westerns newsreel/educational shorts, etc - is not what we watch on DVD. I would be imprudent to collect expen$ive and amazing print$, and while many of you have wonderful examples of better-than-DVD film experiences, that has never been my goal or conviction. The look of film, whether pristine or beat up, has a look and feel and charm all its own. So the programming expectations really sell the concept, because it's not stuff we typically would see anywhere else, but it's interesting or funny.
The other thing that makes this work, no matter how modest it is in proportion, is that a show is an event. I suppose that would be possible with DVD, but isn't how it's usually done! (I'm taking donations for a video projector, however. ) So between the film show itself, the enjoyment of a community viewing experience, and my wife's endearing hospitality (including yummy snacks or desserts), our modest viewings 2 or 3 times per year have garnered us some repeat customers, which is very gratifying. So I count myself blessed to enjoy so much filmish folly on a shoestring budget with my family's support.
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 17, 2010, 08:39 AM:
The sad part is somewhere, somebody is becoming a VHS collector. It's easy for now because you can get 'em by the truckload at any rummage sale, but I'd guess as a hobby it would find even less understanding because it lacks the charm of a 30 year old projector and a reel of film.
If you ever feel funny threading up a projector in front of a crowd, slip a VHS tape into a deck!
Posted by Daniel Beijar (Member # 1577) on September 17, 2010, 11:30 AM:
I remember 10 years ago when I started shooting my own Super 8 movies and I was 12 years old I mostly got good feedback from relatives, family and friends. But nowadays nobody seem to care as much for my movies. Everybody just want to watch what they like, when they like, on a small computer screen. Sitting together in a dark crowded room watching a usually silent picture don't seem to be that interesting any more. But I like to see it as a way for my friends to get a way from the hi-tech digital world. And if that's isn't enough I can always crank up the gramophone to.
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 17, 2010, 11:52 AM:
Yes, Something's happened along the way: when television started you had a screen not even a foot across, and if a family was wealthy enough to have a TV they all huddled around it because they were so expensive almost nobody had more than one in a household. They were together for a shared experience, and probably talked about it afterwards too.
Time passed, the screens got bigger, the sets got cheaper. Soon everybody had one and then several, and people started having a set to themselves.
Now the screens have gotten tiny again but cheaper still, and we have them with us all the time.
We can live in our own isolated little worlds, just us and our screens.
Alone even in a crowd: Don't seem healthy to me!
We three like to go out to breakfast every Saturday, to a nice little place up by the harbor with really good home-style food. We've noticed that unless Nintendo DS stays home, our son can go the entire meal without saying anything or eating either.
I've expressed a desire to drive a nail through the damn thing and leave it dangling from a tree, but so far my wife isn't on board.
Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on September 17, 2010, 12:19 PM:
Steve, I don't see the the VHS collecting craze going very far. Neither the tapes or players were designed to last very long. I see boxes of the tapes going unsold at garage sales all the time. If you're looking for a real cheap hobby that may be the way to go.
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 17, 2010, 01:14 PM:
Nah! I'll stick to collecting empty beer bottles. (I keep 'em in a bin under the steps)
-at least when I get tired of 'em I can get the deposit back!
Something I've noticed with video technology in general is how disposable it's becoming. Back in the late 1970s my parents bought a VCR. It was one of those that the tape sprung up from the inside, probably a Panasonic. That machine easily lasted them ten years of day to day usage and we were almost sad the day it croaked. The ones you buy these days: two to four years. By the time you figure them out fully, they are history, and don't even think about repairing them either.
I have a drawerfull of orphaned remotes as proof! (I'm not sure why I keep them either...)
Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on September 17, 2010, 05:24 PM:
Steve, I also have a drawer full of orphaned remotes! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I haven't figured out why I keep mine either....I guess I'm not alone!
Bill
Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on September 20, 2010, 03:46 AM:
I would say everyone has enjoyed it over the years, I have put on a number of away from home film shows as well and its been a lot of fun. Its an event setting up a film projector which has the "wow" factor unlike video my wife controls the money when she says "NO" you cant have it then thats that ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
however to be fair I would probably be broke otherwise. Steven my son puts on Super8 film shows for his kids and I think he got the bug from me my daughter said on a visit once last year looking at all the projectors and films etc. I asked what are you up to...she replied... Dad.. when you die would I get all this. I could hear her thinking $$$$$$$$$$.. I wouldn't bank on it, oh no I didn't mean that "backtracking" she said. So folks thats the difference between the female and male way of thinking, Steven wants to keep everything "good lad" April $$$$$$$ anyway its not up to them, my better half the wife Yvonne has the final say although she has been watching "CSI" a lot lately...I hope she is not getting any ideas ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Talking about digests they are good in the sense in that very few people I know are interested in sitting through a full feature more than once but joining a bunch of shorts or digests onto 1200ft reels works really well, it can give something for everyone.
One digest "Where Eagles Dare" 3/400ft about 50 minutes long is better than the full feature as it takes out the slow bits and you are left with plenty of action...and that suits me.
I must add though long long ago before VHS, was the big one with the release of "Star Wars" it was always said that it was better to have a slice of the cake than none at all and that pretty summed up film collecting back then.
Graham.
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 20, 2010, 08:43 AM:
I just got a request from a friend from Church that is responsible for activities for young children.
She asked me to put on a show for them sometime next winter.
...so at the very least, some of my friends find my hobby useful!
Posted by Chris Batt (Member # 1880) on September 23, 2010, 04:24 PM:
Long live Super 8............
Come on guys, we have the coolest hobby in the world, real movies, whether they be digest or full run, not some digital pansy locked in a frame. "The cinema is open tonight darling, can you grab me a tea!"
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