8mm Forum: Really confused now

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Topic: Really confused now

Vidar Olavesen
Film God

Posts: 2232
From: Sarpsborg, Norway
Registered: Nov 2012

posted November 14, 2012 01:49 PM

How long is a 400' film? I thought that was about 20 minutes

http://www.cameratim.com/business/film-length-tables

It says 26-30 ... Is Alien a 200' or 400'? It clearly says 17 minutes on the cover ... What am I missing?

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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God

Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012

posted November 14, 2012 01:59 PM

Hi Vidar, don't let the size of the spool confuse you.A reel of film
is generally between 7-10 minutes in length and would be
supplied on a 200' spool, a 2 reel film can be anything between
15-20 minutes in length and is supplied on a 400' spool, and a
3 reeler on a 600'.Features were advertised as 8 & 9 reels in
length and put out on 4x400' spools and ran anything from 60
to 80 minutes in length.Hope this helps a bit.

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Vidar Olavesen
Film God

Posts: 2232
From: Sarpsborg, Norway
Registered: Nov 2012

posted November 14, 2012 02:03 PM

That was what I thought, but in the link, scroll down to Super 8 and it says 200' 5" is 17 minutes

I saw this on two different pages too ... So, therefore the confusion. I always thought like you said

Thanks, I will wonder why for a while, then forget it (cause I am getting old ;-) )

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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God

Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012

posted November 14, 2012 02:13 PM

Nonsense Vidar,you obviously were being led astray by a misleading ad.A lot of these folk that sell films on Ebay, probably
have no idea what they are selling, and no fault to them because
it is a specialist hobby now.

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Fabrizio Mosca
Master Film Handler

Posts: 346
From: Milano, Italy
Registered: Jan 2004

posted November 14, 2012 02:13 PM

Vidar, lenght of the film depends also on the frame rate used to project.
The lenghts you see in that page refer mainly to silent running (16 frames per second for double 8 and 18 fps for super8), while sound films run at 24 fps.
So, the same lenght (in meter) of film may result in different lenghts (in time) according to the projection rate.
Despite that, the duration indicated in that website seems strange for the standard 8.

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

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

posted November 14, 2012 02:14 PM

Vidar, you are reading film shooting pages, so that's why 400 feet is 26 minutes because we normally shoot with 18 fps instead of 24 fps as pre-packed movies.

You can use this film calculator to see the duration for 400 films length at 18 fps:

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/flash/en/motion/filmCalculator.swf

As Hugh has said, pre-packed film uses 7 inch reel (also normally called 400 feet reel) but the length of film is not necessarily 400 feet. While in film shooting, a cartridge that is said as 50 feet should have 50 feet length of film, or sometime even more.

--------------------
Winbert

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Vidar Olavesen
Film God

Posts: 2232
From: Sarpsborg, Norway
Registered: Nov 2012

posted November 14, 2012 02:21 PM

Ah, of course, thanks, now unconfused (about this anyway) :-) Thank you all

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Martin Jones
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1269
From: Thetford , Norfolk,England
Registered: May 2008

posted November 14, 2012 02:28 PM

Vidar,
you asked...."How long is a 400' film"?

I'll give you the definitive answer... four hundred feet.
With my tongue firmly in my cheek , of course!
Martin

--------------------
Retired TV Service Engineer
Ongoing interest in Telecine....

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Vidar Olavesen
Film God

Posts: 2232
From: Sarpsborg, Norway
Registered: Nov 2012

posted November 14, 2012 02:44 PM

Ha, ha. In my head it sounded right :-)

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