8mm Forum: Did Derann ever disapoint you?

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Topic: Did Derann ever disapoint you?

Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted February 03, 2016 03:13 PM

I'm sure they all worked to the idea that it is cheaper (and better) to keep a current customer who would come back and recommend you to others than find a new one.

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted February 03, 2016 04:37 PM

Brian

My thoughts were, that sure, you can be nice to your customers for them to come back, but I feel it was more than that. People like Gary were genuine caring people, who were a reel delight to deal it. Its like when I worked in the cinema, you can tell staff to be nice to the customers and that works fine, but also you find certain staff, who don't need to be told that, and have a "genuine" and friendly approach.

Its more in there nature to be like that, and are the ones that really stand out. Those front counter staff that are like that are worth there weight in gold... for any employer [Smile]

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Panayotis A. Carayannis
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 969
From: Athens,Greece
Registered: Jul 2008

posted February 04, 2016 05:36 AM

Like everyone else,Derann had their hits and misses,qualitywise, in the earlier days (remember,they were issuing films since 1965).They did issue complete features,especially in the earlier std 8 days and later did issue abridged ones,(i.e. 4x400) and generally, quality was good although DEAD OF NIGHT was unanimously rated from "C" to "Z"! AN AMERICAN IN PARIS was a Ken release and for some unknown reason was released minus 17, or so,minutes. When Derann bought the negatives from Ken and Red Fox when they closed down in the mid eighties,plus struck the deals with Fox,Disney and the others and started using low fade film,quality rose to an all time high! Of course,again, an occasionally bad print is inevitable. My print of AMERICAN from Derann,from the same abridged negative, is exellent.I also have a rare complete optical sound version which is not so good,but this is another story!

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David Hardy
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 955
From: Johnshaven Village , Montrose, Scotland
Registered: Jan 2015

posted February 04, 2016 02:43 PM

I can remember a time when I must have been a right old pain in the butt to Derann.
I bought the 4x400' version of THE DEVIL RIDES OUT complaining about the side weave on one of the parts. I returned it 3 times.
They sent me a letter stating they had watched the said reel on their Elmo GS 1200 projector and it was found to be okay. They were of course correct as the problem was printed through from the master used.
It was just me expecting to much as an "over fussy" Cinema Projectionist. They even sent me a free trailer reel for this hassle of my own making. Oh happy days and what a great bunch of guys.

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" My equipment's more important than your rats. "

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 04, 2016 04:37 PM

They were all like that David [Smile]

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Mark Silvester
Master Film Handler

Posts: 282
From: England
Registered: Oct 2007

posted February 06, 2016 07:26 AM

Hi all

Deat of Night 4 x 400 WAS atrocious - I returned that very quickly.

Paul, I too bought American in Paris from them in 84 - I am sure mine was not an original "Derann" release,(possibly Ken) as it came on 5 x 400 in a very nice grey PVC case. It was slightly soft focus but not too bad - it was edited though the whole of the Oscar Levant orchestra piece was missing. Sound was good though.

[Smile]

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Mark Silvester

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 06, 2016 12:31 PM

Hi Mark,
Just like my print, which also had the whole Oscar Levant sequence missing. Plus some other bits cut out as well. Whatever editing they did seemed to destroy the film for me. Like having a hamburger without the pickle! [Smile]

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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

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Patrick Walsh
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 723
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
Registered: Jul 2006

posted February 07, 2016 01:57 AM

Only hick-up I had was when I brought from their 2nd hand list a copy of the 3x400ft QUO VADIS, when it arrived they sent me 3 copies of the 1x400ft version!, they gave me a credit for the amount I paid and told me to just keep the film/s, I used the credit on my next order [Wink]

Pat

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"Raise The Titanic!", It would of been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!

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Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted February 07, 2016 11:53 PM

Sadly yes with Halloween - I now have a worthless print because most of the mag is gone. I desperately want another, because mine is essentially a scope , beautifully colored silent film....

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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted February 08, 2016 07:44 AM

That's where EVT Mag used to come in handy as they would over stripe film. I had a good old Perrys go thin and they laid another paste over the top. To this day its still holding. [Smile]

I liked them and helpful as well.
What was the name of that other optical printers over here Colour Technique was it? They were great blowing up some of my Std 8 to S8, we so miss these small businesses for one off jobs.

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007

posted February 09, 2016 05:48 PM

Dino, with a GS1200 you can lock to a DVD soundtrack. Imperfectly in the wild, frame-accurate with some prep work and a sync box.

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Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted February 09, 2016 06:21 PM

But didn't Pedro and his sync boxes disappear

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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 09, 2016 10:23 PM

quote:
But didn't Pedro and his sync boxes disappear

Dino, you can use a today's computer to replace Pedro box. Alan Rik mentioned it in this thread: GS1200...sync box....

So it saves a lot of money.

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Winbert

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 10, 2016 01:43 AM

Easier still, use modern day VJ or Editing software on your pc to match the speed of your video file to your PJ rather than trying to match your PJ to DVD / video file.

Far easier this way around and continents and varying video format frame rates on Pal, NTSC etc, make no difference using this method!

Better still with a hardware tactile controller added on for adjusting the tempo right down to fractions of a percentage.

[ February 10, 2016, 03:08 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Woodcock ]

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Joseph Randall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 437
From: Wyckoff, NJ, USA
Registered: Jun 2015

posted February 10, 2016 06:34 PM

I'm a bit disappointed in THE MALTESE FALCON. Overall, below average picture quality for a B&W film. Some scenes are better than others. This is a 2-parter, and the framing is different on the 2 parts, so when you edit them together, you have to ride shotgun with the projector, with one hand on the framing knob. You also have to re-arrange scenes from each of the 2 parts to get them in the right order. The result is so-so -- the digest doesn't make as much sense as it should unless you are familiar with the full-length movie.

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted February 11, 2016 05:28 AM

Talk on another thread about spares machines reminds me of this. I bought a Sankyo 301 from them at a BFCC as not working thinking it would be good for any future repairs to the one I use. All that was wrong was the rear hub for the take -up spool was missing. Now if I have a fault on the main machine I don't know which one to use for spares. So much worry for the £5 Ged sold to to me for [Big Grin]

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Joseph Randall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 437
From: Wyckoff, NJ, USA
Registered: Jun 2015

posted February 11, 2016 08:27 PM

Pulled out and watched my copy of THE SEA HAWK, another 2-parter. Picture quality is a little better than THE MALTESE FALCON, but not as good as it should be -- so Derann disappointed me a little with this one, too. One good thing, though, is that all the scenes are in the right order. Bad thing -- the narrative doesn't flow that well. You really need to be familiar with the full-length movie to know what is really going on.

I've also noticed that these Derann B&W digests don't run that smoothly through the projector -- the image jitters up-and-down a bit, even after a cleaning with Film Renew. Was there something unusual about their film stock?

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 11, 2016 09:17 PM

That will be your projector running Polyester not a film stock fault 9 times out 10.

Make appropriate adjustments to fix.

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Joseph Randall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 437
From: Wyckoff, NJ, USA
Registered: Jun 2015

posted February 11, 2016 09:21 PM

Andrew,

How do I know if it's polyester, and what do I need to do to adjust?

Thanks

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 11, 2016 09:25 PM

If it's later Derann, almost certainly it's polyester.

Acetate is far more "forgiving" through the gate of most mal aligned projectors because it's simply twice as thick.

Bear this in mind when you next service your machine.
It is always about depth of penetration for any of these traits regarding S8.

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted February 12, 2016 03:30 AM

The only 2 ways I know to tell if it is polyester are 1. Film cement won't join it 2. It won't easily tear it just stretches (try on off-cut of leader/run out only).

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Joseph Randall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 437
From: Wyckoff, NJ, USA
Registered: Jun 2015

posted February 12, 2016 03:52 PM

Thanks -- are those Warner Brothers B&W classics later or early Derann?

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Update: it tears, so it's acetate.

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted February 12, 2016 05:57 PM

I think they started about 1977/8 but were still being printed in 1990 (they were in that catalogue but not all in the 1987 one), so they probably printed on both stocks over the years. The early ones were in the big "clamshell" cases, I'm not sure how long they lasted.

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Joseph Randall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 437
From: Wyckoff, NJ, USA
Registered: Jun 2015

posted February 13, 2016 03:29 PM

Yes, 2 of the 3 I have are in clamshells. The other came on an 800 foot reel w/o original boxes.

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Marc Marti
Film Handler

Posts: 66
From: La Vall d'Uixo (Spain)
Registered: Jun 2005

posted February 14, 2016 10:28 AM

Point your reel to a light source. If it's opaque is acetate. It it's translucid it's almost surely Polyester.

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Marc

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