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Author
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Topic: DERANN CLOSING DOWN
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Steve Klare
Film Guy
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted August 19, 2011 04:57 PM
Derann changed film collecting for me.
Years ago I only collected silents. One day I found out on a filmmaking forum that there was this company in England making brand new prints: i was absolutely amazed at it, but it was a dissapointment because they made no silents.
I stewed over it a few weeks and announced to my wife I was buying a sound projector.
She said:
"You're buying a ....?
-but you already have a movie projector!" (Imagine just one!)
-but I did it anyway and it opened up this entire world of new films: cartoons,'scope, features, Laurel and Hardy, stereo, home theater. It was wonderful!
I have very little doubt that without taking that extra step, I would have become bored years ago and maybe today I'd be doing something else. Because of Derann I've had a great decade enjoying a satisfying hobby.
As a business, they've always been more than fair dealing with me. I've got a lot to thank them for.
My biggest regret at this point is a didn’t find out about them in 1981 instead of 2001.
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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted August 20, 2011 06:22 AM
I think that partly depends on how you define 'survive'. 9.5 collecting still survives but due to the age and scarcity of the material available, I suspect that very few new 9.5 collectors have joined the hobby in the last 30 years. In relation to Super 8, surely relatively young new collectors were being drawn into the hobby in the 1980s and 1990s, because they were attracted by what was being released. That's far less likely to be happening now. Of course that doesn't mean that all existing collectors will sell up, and films will continue to be bought and sold, but our diminishing numbers mean that conventions are in a struggle to survive, as are publications. Derann's closure sadly almost certainly means the end of 'Film for the Collector', which for about 27 years has been a good resource for collectors.
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Adrian Winchester
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted August 20, 2011 08:52 AM
I'm not sure if I'd entirely agree with the comparison with vinyl, as quite a lot of new vinyl is currently being produced, some of it aimed at young consumers.
It would be interesting if any young (e.g. aged up to about 30) collectors here could tell us if they are entirely happy to look out for old releases - or do new ones make it a more attractive hobby. If when I'd started collecting around the start of 1980s, eveyone had been saying "you won't see anything new, but don't worry, there's plenty of old stuff around", I would have found that very offputting. Subsequently, films released in the 1980s and 90s became some of the gems in my collection.
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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 August 20, 2011 10:28 AM
From thier official news brief on this, it appears that it is not due to interest in the film hobby. They still have sold the used collections they brought in. It's just come down to the massive (and probably downright criminal) upping of thier overhead costs ...
I mean, thier taxes going up almost 50 percent? Thier insurance rates goin up a staggering amount? (Derann credits this, potentially, to the riots, as it says in thier news brief).
I get the feeling that, while the U.K. is raising these taxes to attempt to bolster thier survival as a nation and identity. Understandable ... however, get the feeling that there will be many an empty shop front all along those areas as the larger businesses (like our own US Wal-mart) can absorb those costs and pass them onto the consumer, the smaller business's (like Derann) have to close shop.
So, in the end, to save the U'K. they must gut the U.K. and this will be the story worldwide.
I still don't really have adequete words to state my sadness at Derann's passing!
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Keith Ashfield
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 997
From: U.K.
Registered: Dec 2006
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posted August 20, 2011 11:01 AM
Insurance companies do not need much of an excuse to hyke up premiums, as we all know.
Earthquakes, Ash Clouds, floods, drought, rioters etc......
Very soon there will be nothing left to insure!
Then you will find that it will be -
"Nothing to insure?
Why not take out our new 'Nothing To Insure' policy, whereby if you ever get to the point where you have 'nothing' to insure, we will pay you nothing.
Send your application today and receive a free gift - a paper bag containing - 'Nothing'. This free gift will ensure that your application is accepted, without any medical.
With our free gift - you WILL have 'NOTHING' to insure!
Don't hesitate - apply today - the stocks of 'nothing' are in short supply.
First come, first served!"
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"We'll find 'em in the end, I promise you. We'll find 'em. Just as sure as a turnin' of the earth".
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Graham Sinden
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1131
From: Kent, UK
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted August 20, 2011 01:42 PM
quote:
But, it's hardly the end of the hobby now, is it?
Michael, I totally understand what you are saying that it wont stop me collecting or enjoying the hobby. I am quite happy if there are no new releases anymore and will still watch and collect older releases. We still have CHC releasing new prints, Paul Foster, Perry's, Buckingham film services, Independent 8 etc. Also we still have Ebay and I will probably use it more now Derann are closing.
But I dont think you fully understand the situation as without Derann is like a black hole that will never be filled in again. Without Derann there is no Film for the collector, NFCC, monthly film lists and no BFCC!!
Film collecting will still go on but wont be the same again particularly as the 'meeting places' are getting fewer. Thank goodness for the forums that we can still talk about it here. Lets not forget there are still smaller cine fairs like Group 9.5, Rickmansworth etc. but these are nothing like the NFCC or BFCC.
I dont think anybody should 'dumb down' how losing derann will be as they were massive on the film collecting scene and this news is a devastating blow to collectors everywhere.
Graham S
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted August 20, 2011 02:51 PM
quote:
I think some people are overreacting to the closure of a film dealer.
Michael - I'd have to say that's a somewhat cynical view because surely members here are sincerely expressing how they feel about Derann closing down. There's no reason why everyone should feel the same way, but that doesn't make it any less of a blow for those that are saddened by it.
To call Dereann a dealer makes them sound the equivalent of many other dealers who never released new product, which clearly isn't the case. Thanks to Derek's vision at a time when many others were shutting down or making doomed attempts to switch to video, Derann genuinely became world leaders in Super 8, from around 1984 until the early 2000s. For a small company in the West Midlands to achieve this - pulling off deals with 20th Century Fox, Disney, Rank and others - was a remarkable achievement.
Perhaps you're primarily a collector of 16mm and most of Derann's releases had limited appeal for you, but I think many of us who were regularly saving up for their releases and enjoying the cameraderie that was evident at their Open Days and at other events, feel that thanks to the revival that Derann spearheaded, that period will always be the 'golden age' of Super 8 collecting. If I had a choice of parting with all my Derann features or all the 8mm features I've obtained from every other distributor put together, I'd opt to keep the Derann ones. If a lot of collectors would say the same thing (and I suspect they would), that says a lot about Derann's legacy to the 8mm world.
[ August 20, 2011, 06:39 PM: Message edited by: Adrian Winchester ]
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Adrian Winchester
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but I understand given the current climate we are in.
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