8mm Forum: Optical sound Supers 8, where they came from. The facts

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Topic: Optical sound Supers 8, where they came from. The facts

Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted November 11, 2017 02:08 PM

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Now this is the article that sprang to life 19 years ago, (i cannot believe where the time has gone). I wrote to Derek Simmons to ask a few questions and one of them was, Where did super 8 optical prints actually come from, how did they originate,
Here, from an early FFTC magazine in 1998 is the answer, and it is a very good & interesting read.
I Hope you can read them as obviously i had to reduce them to put it up.
The optical item starts on page 1, (obviously) Row 3
If you cant read it and would like it emailed full size let me know but hopefully there will be a way you can see it.

SEE BELOW (Read down the thread to get the article, thank you Doug)

[ November 12, 2017, 12:17 PM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]

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Douglas Meltzer
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From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted November 12, 2017 11:51 AM

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I resized Tom's article to make it more legible.

The next part continues from "At any one time there were twenty projectors running, checking...."

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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Tom Photiou
Film God

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From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted November 12, 2017 12:16 PM

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Thanks Doug, thats better. [Wink]

[Wink]

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Graham Ritchie
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posted November 12, 2017 12:21 PM

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Excellent article...very interesting.

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Tom Photiou
Film God

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From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted November 13, 2017 01:55 PM

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Thank you Graham, i think so to, to think of all those titles that had to be destroyed. Just about every film must have had an 8mm print back then as the airlines would have had all the up to date movies for their passengers. (just like they do now on the cheapy format, and the headphones are still hopeless today as they were then) [Big Grin]

[Big Grin]

[Wink]

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Dominique De Bast
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From: Brussels, Belgium
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posted November 13, 2017 02:33 PM

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Interesting article, indeed. To complete the informations provided, not all optical films were printed for airlines companies. Les Grands Films Classiques (in France of course) released several classical features (in black and white) for individuals.

[ November 14, 2017, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Dominique De Bast ]

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Dominique

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Tom Photiou
Film God

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From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted November 14, 2017 06:33 AM

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I never knew that,

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Kenneth DePriest Jr
Film Handler

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From: severn MD
Registered: Aug 2012

posted November 14, 2017 08:30 AM

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anybody know where you can find a Pic of the projectors the airline used?

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Osi Osgood
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From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted November 14, 2017 11:35 AM

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... and, there were quite a few super 8 optical sound feature prints made exclusively for "libraries" where you could check them out for home use. This occured specifically (from my research), in South Africa, which is where I secured my "Charlie Brown" features as well as other optical sound prints. One of the very wonderful things about these prints from South Africa is that they were printed and distributed along with extras. For instance, there were original 1940's and 50's B/W MGM short subjects that were released and on the front of current (at that time) 70's MGM releases). They;re are/were many feature releases in optical sound that were there in South Africa which, to my knowledge, were not anywhere else.

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Brian Fretwell
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From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted November 15, 2017 02:20 AM

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Another article states where the shorts for Derann and PM Films were printed Derann's were by Technicolor but at their Italian labs, PM (I think) were done by Buck Labs.
I'll look up the article in Film for the Collector after Blackpool.

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Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler

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From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010

posted November 15, 2017 03:37 AM

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Re. Uncoated super8 optical tracks;
Before the introduction of cyan optical tracks on 35mm, that could be read with red readers on projectors, the track would be coated with a bead of 'applicator' which would redevelop the sound to give a hard black image that would respond well when using the old photo electric cell reader. The reason for the change to cyan was that the applicator fluid was deemed unsafe to be drained into the sewers, though this had been the practice for many years.
Kodak apparently had no plans for this with 16mm, and at Soho lab we had to devise a printing technique to make up for the loss of the applicated image.
That's a long winded way of going back to the british super8 optical tracks not being coated, therefore lacking in volume etc.
If that was the case with british super8 I'm surprised that the quality was as good as sometimes reported.

[ November 15, 2017, 05:56 AM: Message edited by: Allan Broadfield ]

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Melvin England
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From: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Feb 2016

posted December 10, 2017 04:04 AM

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Would it be right to assume that, as the vast majority of optical prints were for airline use, they would prefer "flat" versions of films to fill a larger screen and that no anamorphic optical prints were ever made?

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Maurice Leakey
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From: Bristol. United Kingdom
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posted December 10, 2017 04:17 AM

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Other than airlines, I believe that Japan was a great advocate of Super 8 optical prints.

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Maurice

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Melvin England
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posted December 10, 2017 04:29 AM

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I am sure Jason could add a few comments, Maurice, but were any of them made in cinemascope ?

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Jason Smith
Master Film Handler

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From: Tohoku, Japan
Registered: Oct 2015

posted December 10, 2017 06:25 AM

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Most Super 8 digests and features released in Japan were optical films. I know at least one company in Japan who released digests in magnetic and optical.

There are optical films here in Japan that were released in Scope.

The movie studio Toei released quite a few of their features in optical scope on Super 8 in Japan on Fujifilm.

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Melvin England
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From: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
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posted December 10, 2017 06:32 AM

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Thank you for that info. Jason.

My super 8 knowledge has just increased. Am very grateful.

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"My name is for my friends!"

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