8mm Forum: Our Movie Evening

This is topic Our Movie Evening in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 17, 2015, 05:12 AM:

Note I did not say "film" evening [Wink]

...what a night.. I was asked if I could put on a movie for a group of early teens dance studio kids, along with the lady that runs the studio for a movie evening.

They had hired the $2 DVD of :Oz The Great and Powerful" so with a running time of just over two hours, I thought this might be a bit long so I am afraid, nothing was added on the front "film" wise [Frown]

. Although I have never watched "Oz the Great", I thought it was really good...very surprised.

This is the second time these kids have come, the last time was around two years ago...then they showed Yvonne and myself a short demo of what this dance thing is all about...not what I expected. These kids were really amazing.

Anyway the movie was good and the kids were a neat bunch... very talented, one youngster is the present No1 in NZ and has done really well [Smile]

Yvonne made some scones with jam and cream "yum"...so sorry "no film" included, but the $2 rental, sure looked and sounded good [Smile]

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on July 17, 2015, 10:12 AM:

Was that a video projector used?

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on July 17, 2015, 11:45 AM:

Agree, Graham -- it's great to be able to screen recent movies with awesome picture and sound. I did so with "O Brother, Where Art Thou" and "Skyfall," and a great time was had by all. I'm increasingly finding the majority of my movie screenings are digital, not only because of the superior picture and sound, but because of the finite number of different Super 8 titles out there over the last 40 years or so. Also, I'm not keen to show films to audiences that have print fade, less-than-satisfactory sound, etc.

I'll always keep my films, but they're becoming less and less a component of my movie screenings.

[ July 17, 2015, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: John Hourigan ]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on July 17, 2015, 03:00 PM:

Through nostalgia, through my fascination of running tactile film through a tactile machine, through the enormous effort of raising the standard of a newly acquired print by redubbing the sound or cleaning or improving the packaging etc etc.
Through the shear pleasure of seeing just how good and how vibrant the colour and clarity of the very best prints can be.
Maybe just simply because film is such a collectable medium in the way vinyl is versus DVD/ Blu Ray, who knows whatever the ultimate reason is?

But ultimately I much prefer screening real film now more than I ever do the digital counterpart.
I really enjoy watching digitally projected media, but I simply adore projecting film using a decent cine projector!

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on July 17, 2015, 03:56 PM:

I should not write that here as it is insane but I was shown The Great Escape (I had never seen before) a few days ago on dvd (it was on a tv set, not a projection) and I didn't feel watching a classic from the sixties as the picture was too chirurgical for me. Should I dare to say it didn't even lokk like a film ? I definitly prefer some imperfections (like lines) that shows it is real. I want to see a masterpiece that has the age it has and not a recent laboratory work.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 17, 2015, 06:04 PM:

Took a couple of photos this morning with the masking still adjusted for that 2.35:1 ratio from last night. Although I use the Panasonic PT-AX200E video projector mostly with Blu-ray, I still at times use the Sanyo PLV-Z1. I bought the Sony in January 2003...so its pretty old by today standards, but to my surprise its still going, and going well.

I thought it would have given up long ago hence buying the Panasonic. This little Sanyo does give a very good picture and last night proved that [Cool]

The thing is, regarding last night, this was the movie they brought along and wanted to watch. If the reaction from the kids is anything to go by, it went well. The one thing I wont do with video projection, is to allow the menu or anything else hit that screen...."only the movie itself".... I cue it to a small TV in the projection room.

With a late release like this one the 5:1 Dolby Digital sound track is very effective indeed through the Yamaha amp. There was one point in the OZ where things come at you...that made everyone jump [Big Grin]

...so good sound is very important...plus an effective sub woofer.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on July 17, 2015, 06:10 PM:

Great projection room Graham for film or video!

I have used the AX200 myself and for a first generation 720p HD projector, I found the the images it produces,especially from a Blu Ray feed, exceptional and very bright indeed.

For Sound Quality, of course S8 film cannot come even close to modern day lossless digital multi channel audio,but it can still be of a high standard when the recording maximizes the best pre striped and pasted stripes on 8mm and much better than most of the original recordings they were released with.

I love your professional presentation techniques BTW, keeping all the start up blurb away from the screen...very professional and very polished Graham! [Wink]

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 17, 2015, 07:16 PM:

This is a screen shot taken from a DVD using the old Sanyo PLV-Z1 a few weeks ago....still looks good, however blue-ray would be even better.

These screen shots taken using Blu-ray on the Panasonic VP.

Anyway its back to "film" tonight [Wink]

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 17, 2015, 07:35 PM:

Your home theater looks great Grahame, very cozy and inviting and those chairs look very warm and comfortable. Just the thing for a great evening of films, reel or digital!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 17, 2015, 07:52 PM:

Graham...Your cine room is a movie watcher's dream....so beautiful!

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 18, 2015, 01:06 AM:

Thanks everyone...its been fun putting on the odd film/video evening. I had a group from a retirement home pay us a visit last year. It was interesting that in this case, the 1920s Ernemann 2 projector had come from there small home town, and am sure many would have most likely watched films when they were young on the very same projector they were now watching.

I was very lucky at the time to get a loan of a certain film [Cool]

that suited that screening [Smile]

...sadly this film print had to go back, hopefully not to get destroyed....here are some screen shots of that film.

Anyway the lady from the dance studio asked for another screening, this time for the younger kids...think I have just the film for them...Wall-E....will see

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on July 19, 2015, 01:57 AM:

A nice story Graham. Talking about the $2 dvd. A DVD/Blu-Ray used shop over here no longer buys in DVD's as he cant sell them, he now only stocks Blu-Rays and sells for £2.50. Oh the march of time and technology.

Posted by Dave Groves (Member # 4685) on July 19, 2015, 07:36 AM:

We recently ran a 16mm print of 'Inside I'm dancing', a film I'd never heard of. It's a most engaging story of how two physically disadvantaged young men are thrown together and how their friendship helps them overcome. I was so taken with it that next day I visited the CEX (a sale/exchange centre for digital sotwear) and discovered they had two copies at (wait for it) 25p each. It cost £2.50 to post. DVD's are now cheap as chips. How long before streaming sees them discontinued and only blu-ray available. I love 16mm but far too many prints now are suitable for home viewing only. Public performance (of which I do many shows) demands digital quality rather than subject an audience to faded, scratched and damaged prints, especially when they are used to HD quality on all platforms. Having said that, audiences will accept archive, and even damaged prints if they are rare and a word of explanation is given. By the way Graham, Your cinema looks great. Would gladly swop our little bungalow for it!!!

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 20, 2015, 02:15 AM:

Thanks Dave and Lee [Smile]

Posted by Mark Silvester (Member # 929) on July 22, 2015, 04:34 AM:

Fantastic set- up Graham.

Stunning quality - and I do the same.

My kids...audience! all want it this way now!

Mark

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