Author
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Topic: Renting 8mm film digests in the early 80s
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James Raynor
Junior
Posts: 4
From: Leeds, UK
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted January 14, 2014 05:47 PM
Hi folks,
I'm an independent filmmaker in Leeds, England, and I'm currently in early pre-production on a short film about the Video Nasties scandal that befell our country in the early eighties. If you are unfamiliar with the subject, here's the wikipedia article about it and the trailer for a FANTASTIC documentary that I heartily recommend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_nasty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wotbbUE5SpM
I'd like to start my film before VHS takes off, with the only means of home viewing being these 8mm/16mm digests. I can find a decent amount of info about the films themselves, but relatively little (beyond a cursory "this is how it was") about the process, how it was done, what the stores were like, etc.
I was hoping some of you could help me shed some light on this and talk about your experiences renting these films. This is quite a personal project for me and any insights you can provide would be most appreciated!
Cheers,
James Raynor Untamed Aggression Productions
-------------------- UNTAMED AGGRESSION PRODUCTIONS www.untamedaggression.co.uk
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David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted January 16, 2014 11:48 AM
I used to rent from Derann, D.J. Hurst Films, Avon Films, Looney Looney Movies, plus a few others.
The first two I had block bookings with them. Every two weeks the next show would arrive. This was usually a mix of a feature, cartoon, Look At Life/Pathe Pics, and one of the digest versions.
I did all my film hire via post.
From about 1976/77 I also went 'big' league and started hiring still in super 8mm from Rank Film Library, Columbia/Warner Film Library and FDA (Film Distributors Associated)
Over the years I have built up a collection on both super 8 and 16mm.
Derann's library closed and they did reopen later.
The digest films are a quick way to watch a film though, some of 400ft films were very well edited, but sadly many were not.
-------------------- I love the smell of film in the morning.
http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/
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