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Author
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Topic: Ordering new releases at CHC
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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God
Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted May 21, 2013 01:48 PM
That's a good point Brad made,just suppose you've been waiting
like an expectant parent for this Godsend,and it has a printing
fault like a frameline centre screen.Once upon a time, it was a
quick 'phone call to Derann or whoever, and a replacement was
forthcoming by return post, alas these folk are long gone, so I
would hope that there is at least some sort of quality control
in place to alleviate the possibility of suicides. It is a good thing
that new releases are being done for people who enjoy recent
films, but it does give you pause for thought.
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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God
Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted May 22, 2013 03:41 AM
It's quite simple Doug, in my time, I have had to return prints for all manner of faults,these being new films.They would be duly
rectified or replaced,the turn over time being a matter of days.
At no time have I ever been reimbursed for postage for these
oversights,it was always my loss. Now we have a situation where
people are waiting six months or more for prints, hoping there
will be no faults on them, and if there are, we are cheerily told to
return them for replacement,as I already asked,if it has been a
small print run like two copies,then that involves another lottery
and another six months wait.All I asked, is there a quality control check as surely the labs are not that busy now that film in cinemas has been elbowed out.The best form of control I think
should be financial, half the money up front,the rest when the
customer is satisfied.It strikes me that the 8mm customer is getting the service he got in the past from the labs,second best.I can't imagine a professional company being asked to wait six months for his film to be sorted.
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David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted May 22, 2013 05:04 AM
No matter what you buy, DVD, CAR, FOOD, you stand a chance of getting something faulty now a days, sadly this applies to films too.
Bought new Ford C-Max it had five recalls for faults, I've had to return more DVD's than I ever had films. And don't ask about beef burgers ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Most problems with films they were out of sync, or had excessive side ways weave. Because the dealers carried stock, the replacement was usually sent by return of post.
Sorry to say although I still buy used films, the few new releases don't excite me. Too much CGI/CGS. The last new releases I bought were some advert reels and trailers.
Picking up on what Hugh says about returns, I was never offered a refund on sending films back either.
Looking at my old film magazines, Bill Davison was the champion who helped get print quality improved. Buck Film Labs were one of the best and Studio Film, are a couple that spring to mind from the 70's. Although if the master is not good, the print wont be.
I had to wait for "King Kong" on pre-order.
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I love the smell of film in the morning.
http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/
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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God
Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted May 22, 2013 06:59 AM
I remember Bill Davison getting a roasting from some managing
director of a film company,it could have been Capitol Film,when
this guy had been sounding the trumpet at getting a film deal
for a handful of B/W silent film "Taste the Blood of Dracula" etc,
the little 200's that had poor quality.When Bill took him to task,
the chap tried to fend off the questions by citing Bill as just an
enthusiast that knew nothing of film deals, this was in the mid
'70s.Bill was right, what was the point of silent clips when there
was a plethora of sound projectors being launched.
Getting back to the topic,I firmly believe the labs are taking
collectors for a ride in the time for striking a silent print,but
that's just my opinion.They might take a different view if they
were paid on completion.
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted May 22, 2013 09:56 AM
I don't know why printing has to take so long. I'm extremely grateful that the German lab still print Super 8 but it's very unfortunate that there apparently isn't a single other lab in the world offering the service, as that obviously means no competition. The lab may be receiving increasing demand for a range of specialised and labour-intensive services (e.g. printing Super 8 prints from Super 8 negative stock), because they are not offered elsewhere. If they have too much work, that's a 'problem' that many labs would welcome, but a S8 distributor is unable to say that they are considering taking their custom elsewhere. The same applied to Derann; they were by no means completely happy with the service they got from Film Labs North - where careless handling even caused certain negatives to be destroyed - but a member of staff told me they couldn't complain too much about faulty printing, etc, or the lab would consider it more trouble than it's worth to carry on. In retrospect, what a tragedy it is that no one bought the Super 8 printer from Film Labs North, or (earlier) the one owned by Perry's Movies. Preumably both ended up as scrap metal. Buck Labs still exist so I wonder if the printer they used to produce outstanding prints is still there?
I sympathise with the concerns about faulty prints and how long it might take to get issues resolved. Even when Derann were producing new releases, such problems used to drive me nuts and if I obtained a feature and found every reel was fine, that was cause for celebration. I may be fussier than some but I'd estimate that roughly around 30% of all the individual reels I obtained were for one reason or another significantly worse than the best copies produced of the same item, although some could of course be improved by re-recording or access to an equaliser, if the slitting was rough along the sprocket edge.
However, on the whole, I've found the quality control to be good at the German lab and I've had cause to complain about far fewer prints that applied to Derann, Walton and some other distributors. I think the only print I've had with poor sound from CHC goes back to the days when Derann did the recording. A couple of prints I've received from Steve Osborne have had scratches - which may have happened during recording - but Steve kindly replaced a trailer that I told him about, and didn't even ask me to send back the scratched one, so I commend the great service he offers. I agree that ideally the postage cost of returning anything faulty should be reimbursed, but personally I'd be philsophical about this nowadays, knowing that the remaining distributors are doing it mainly for their love of film collecting rather than for profit.
Everyone has to weigh up whether supporting new releases makes sense from their own perspective, taking into account what the releases are. Yes they are expensive, but as someone pointed out on another thread, they have 'only' risen to the equivalent of what collectors used to pay in the mass market days around the late 1970s. Surely the era when many of us had the most trouble affording films was the great days of the 80s and 90s when although prices were much cheaper, we were being deluged with so many great releases that it was tempting to spend hundreds of £s/$s every month! In my case, there have been hardly any new releases in the last couple of years that I have wanted, so I'll buy a print of 'Captain America' as it sounds like a fun and repeatable release that I'd enjoy, as well as it being a way of showing support for the initiative that Steve O and CHC have shown in producing the first proper digest since the 1980s. And in these days of used prints selling for far higher sums than they used to, I'm sure that some of us can pull out a few films that we rarely, if ever, feel inclined to run, in order to help finance something new. And if the biggest 8mm Forum can't wholeheartedly get behind new releases, who will?
Although the number of releases is a tiny fraction of what used to appear, I feel they are still important in attracting the sort of interest in the hobby that Lee has described. I'm sure that some younger people are attracted by film collecting being a hobby that's still alive; I think there would be a psychological shift if it becomes something completely from the past. At my shows, I find you can't beat screening a recent trailer for surprising the audience and creating a 'buzz'.
[ May 22, 2013, 05:51 PM: Message edited by: Adrian Winchester ]
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Adrian Winchester
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted May 22, 2013 01:04 PM
Lee ...
Lets face it. If a person buys "Titannic" for a cool thousand, I highly doubt that, as a general rule, that original buyer will get a thousand for a re-sale. Possible, but unlikely.
Of course, I don't all things film wise, but it doesn't seem likely.
... but then, a someone paying a thousand dollars for a print of Titannic, I doubt that they are buying for resale, so the thousand is well spent, as far as they are concerned. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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