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Topic: How many of you have ever made your own digest?

Winbert Hutahaean
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From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 15, 2018 03:39 PM

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Triggered by a post in "exorbitant price" thread, I prefere to continue here, how many of you have ever made a digest/mini feature taken from a F/L by editing those boring parts.

What title?

and what did you do with the edited part?

Can we make two digests (or more) from a F/L

cheers,

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

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Tom Photiou
Film God

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From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted March 15, 2018 04:21 PM

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As far as cut downs are concerned, i think theirs a few titles i could have done better than those that were released, One film i would have like to have seen as a 400 or 600 edit was a British film set in a Borstal with Ray Winston called Scum.It was released by GTO and i was hoping Derann may have got hold of it when they did two GTO titles, i t would have been an easy film to edit.

[ March 15, 2018, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: Douglas Meltzer ]

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Mike Newell
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From: United Kingdom
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 15, 2018 04:54 PM

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Calm down boys!!

My dribblings from last year:-

Reading Ossi's article about the various versions of Ben Hur reminded me that my own unique "hybrid" version of Ben Hur still out there in circulation. Like Ossi, I started out owning a 400 extract before graduating to a 3x400 when it became available via secondhand. I was reasonably content with my mini feature in terms of colour and sound and whilst it contained the key scenes I did in a way hunger for a longer version. An avenue for expanding my film came when Derann published on their second hand lists odd reels of Ben Hur "white box specials" as they called which were either surpluses left over from their reel by reel scheme they operated or might have slight imperfections. Priced at around either £14.99 or £19.99 at the time for each 400 reel it was a reasonable price to experiment around with a title.

Surprisingly, both sources were good matches for each other in terms of print colour and sound quality. The Derann being slightly sharper than the 3x400 and unless you knew you would never really see the join. This boosted the length to around the 75-80 minute mark. When another couple reels turned up in a later list I bought them and added them so my total footage equated to around the 2 hour mark.

This lent itself to a nice repeatable more satisfying feature film which if I am honest would have been ideal at around 1 hour 30 minute mark. I did yield to the temptation to add additional more waffly scenes which affected the flow. I think it was for this reason plus the opportunity to buy the full feature that I parted with my creation. I think Barry was the happy recipient in a trade for one of his titles. Once I had my feature I realised my mistake. Great move about a hour too long!! I think I watched the feature may 2-3 times before I sold it.

Other little creations out there from me are the following

Son of Frankenstein 200 and 400 spliced together a nice 21 minute digest. Getting prints that match for this one is very difficult.

Psycho Trailer and 400 digest and Midway Promo and Digest.

Patton Speech scene 200 plus 400 digest gave it less jumpy start to a good digest.

French Connection 400 became a very satisfying 3x400 by picking up the last two reels of the feature. Don't ask me where the reels came from but it must have been a Ken print as it matched the colour of digest. Again when I bought the feature I sold it to a collector who thought it was a brilliant cutdown.

A popular hybrid feature out there is That's Entertainment which seemed to have more white box specials on Derann's list that any other title. Again sold on 400 reels it was very economic to compile. My version was about the 1 hour 20 minute mark and believe me it flowed without the boring bits.

Fantasia I compiled just by adding the bits I liked without the boring twaddle that brings down the flow of the feature. To complete, I actually bought some segments new as odd reels or white boxes where frustratingly few and other collectors had the same idea as me on this title when it appeared on a list. My version ran at about 72 minutes.

American in Paris was another experiment at 70- 80 minutes that flowed very well but on the Kelly musicals front it wasn't one of my favourites so I traded in on for another title once I had compiled.

If I hadn't had the full feature of Singin in The Rain I would have been tempted to compile a white box feature. You definitely couldn't have matched the 2x400 digest with the Derann feature as the print quality
was so strikingly different.

I would suspect in the collecting world there are more hybrid versions out there in circulation. I remember Gone with the Wind being offered to me at a bargain price and I was tempted to buy and let's say create a new 2 and half hour version.

I can hear the villagers lighting their torches already lol

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Joe Vannicola
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From: Lincoln, DE, USA
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posted March 15, 2018 05:08 PM

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I bought the first two reels from Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla for cheap, but it was missing the third reel. Plus, both reels were as red as a rare steak(I'm making myself hungry right now). Anyhoo,I cut out all the non Godzilla scenes and put my 30 second spot at the end the film.Then I spliced my other Toho monster TV spots and created a Japanese monster movie reel.

--------------------
Joe

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David Baker
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From: Hamilton , Ohio
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posted March 15, 2018 05:32 PM

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Joe ,
YES what a GREAT cut - down that was !
I'd love to see it again next month at Cinesea .
Hope you can attend !
Dave

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Dave

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Mike Newell
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From: United Kingdom
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posted March 15, 2018 05:41 PM

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Mark

Any features you want recut just send them over for the old master re edit trim 😜😜😜

I once had one of those Derann edit yourself 2x400 titles and out of frustration added coloured psychedelic wipes at every cut . I had bought them from Secombe titling services and could never find a use for them. They were a little jarring with a Warner Bros black and white sound film . Swopped it to Pindene as I knew Wally Smith would never check but he made a comment to me ages later. 😀😀

Place a bet Tom bought it ! 😜

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Douglas Meltzer
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posted March 15, 2018 06:06 PM

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Let's try this again. I've deleted a number of Mr. Manders' and Mr. Hutahaean's posts, mostly because I'm tired of this nonsense, along with a number of Forum members who asked me to stop this.

Sarcasm? Nope. Try animosity.

Doug

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

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Mark Mander
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From: Dunstable ,Bedfordshire.
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posted March 15, 2018 06:07 PM

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Mike,
I Have an appropriate film for you to edit,Edward Scissorhands!!!Mark

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Tom Photiou
Film God

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From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted March 15, 2018 06:13 PM

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i wouldn't want to chop up my own films but certainly would like to see edited versions of other films, a re edit of guns of navarone without that awful narrator,two others i would like to see as edits are private Ryan and mississippi burning.

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Larry Arpin
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posted March 15, 2018 06:14 PM

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I bought 2 features, Predator & Commando that looked as tho they were cut down to fit one of those blue 1600 foot reels. I eventually sold Commando but there wasn't much cut from it. I still have Predator and there is fairly bits cut. Mostly talky scenes. But all action scenes are intact. It is a great digest.

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Winbert Hutahaean
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From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 15, 2018 06:16 PM

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Thanks Doug to get involved. And I am really sorry to disturb your dinner time. I knew it is morning time here in the Pacific when everything is still fresh.... [Big Grin]

[Big Grin]

Just to make it clearer, "boring parts" is only one reason from many. However cut an F/L can be based on different reasons, such as:

- To fit with the reel size
- due to bad prints condition on several part
- buying odd prints and ended up cannot be able to complete
- etc, etc

What ever is the reason, it will end up an F/L becomes a digest/mini feature. So share your stories. Some here have come with great stories.

BTW, who ever hadn't known, a long time ago, we have made a challenge to create our own digest from an F/L supposed "Cars" was going to be released. This is another game for fun [Wink]

[Wink]

cheers,

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

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Douglas Meltzer
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posted March 15, 2018 06:18 PM

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I've bought rental prints that had sections (probably replacement footage) that looked much better than the rest of the print, so I tried to cut something that made sense using just those scenes. I failed miserably.

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

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Tom Photiou
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From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted March 15, 2018 06:21 PM

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recently, i missed a 16mm feature of the Klansman, on super 8 there is only a 400ft edit, while this edit is OK it is one of those Iver releases that should have been in there double album releases. This 400ft cut is somewhat hurried and ends far too abruptly. a little re cutting of the end could have made it much better [Wink]

[Wink]

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Winbert Hutahaean
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From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
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posted March 15, 2018 06:26 PM

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In my home country, super 8mm is just like treasures. We cannot get print as easy as people in the Europe or the US.

So I once had the Persuaders (episode: The Chain of Event, 3 x 400') that only have 2 reels. When I got the complete version, I was thinking to sell this 2 x 400'.

Many Indonesian collectors would just be happy to buy this 2 x 400', although the story surely did not flow well, just for the sake they have something to play in the projector. But I was not felling good to sell something like that, so I did edit this 2 x 400' to make the story has more sense and sold it... [Big Grin]

[Big Grin]

I forgot which parts were in my hand at that time, but it did happen... [Wink]

[Wink]

I knew this is not an F/L but still in the range of the post.

cheers,

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

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Oliver F. R. Feld
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From: Berlin, Germany
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posted March 16, 2018 12:56 AM

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My heart is bleeding...
I screen ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST in beautiful scope (one of those „boring“ features) once a year to people who want to watch it and only watched it on TV before.
They were always enthusiastic and didn’t describe it as to be boring again.
I couldn’t imagine to cut a feature.
In that case I use a DVD and jump to the interesting scenes.
It’s like going to the theatre and asking for the Phantom to throw down the chandelier at the beginning of the show.
But this is only my opinion.
I did the other way around: I put together all the available pieces of CARRIE from the marketing-film and Derann cutdowns who are different. The marketing-film 2-reeler is a very good cut with longer scenes but is missing the title sequence and the shocking end when Carries hand wants to pull down Sue into her grave for example. Now my version is about 50 minutes.
Regards
Oliver

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Mark Mander
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From: Dunstable ,Bedfordshire.
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posted March 16, 2018 08:13 AM

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I rang a friend last night and he said he has participated in making his own edits,he once did the thriller 10 Little Indians but after it was completed was more of a comedy than a murder mystery,the film was very splicey and he wanted to clean it up with a more smoother film through the gate,so it does go on,Mark

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Tom Photiou
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From: Plymouth U.K
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posted March 16, 2018 10:27 AM

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10 little Indians! That titles changed a few times. It ended up as "and then there were none". I prefer the original. Not much of finding a copy unless on 16. [Wink]

[Wink]

[ March 16, 2018, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]

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Mark Mander
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From: Dunstable ,Bedfordshire.
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posted March 16, 2018 10:45 AM

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Hi Tom
What was the original? Seemed a shame to chop it up and I don't think he watched it after,Mark

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Tom Photiou
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From: Plymouth U.K
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posted March 16, 2018 11:04 AM

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[Big Grin]

forbidden for some reason.

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Osi Osgood
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posted March 16, 2018 11:39 AM

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Mike, loved ou're post and such work to get the "perfect" Ben Hur for you.

Some people might be shocked but I almost did a digest of the full Derann scope Ben Hur.

The reason?

It's too bloody long for us to sit thru comfortably.

I didn't end up "downsizing" the full feature into a digest, and glad that I didn't, but boy, I was REALLY tempted!

My solution was to say, "To heck with the feature, we'll just watch the reels with the naval battle and of course, the chariot race", (which, except for the very end getting crowned with the wreath, is all there on one reel!).

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

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Graham Ritchie
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posted March 16, 2018 12:24 PM

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I made a 20 minute digest on 35mm, from a scratched print of "The Dolphin Tale" for use on one full 2000ft reel, to use at the Heritage Park where the Westar 35mm projector lives on display.

Visitors can see not only the projector running, but the highlights from the film as well.

I used a dvd of the film to choose the parts to make up a begining, a middle, and an end that makes sense....I spent a lot of time watching the dvd for reference material.

The end result was very good and worked well, creating an interest of the film and the projector for the short time the visitors had.

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Tom Photiou
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From: Plymouth U.K
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posted March 16, 2018 01:23 PM

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I think the Ben Hur 3 x 400ft cinevision version was an excellent edit and i have to say i much preferred that to the full feature. A shame they are all but few, faded.

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Mark Todd
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posted March 16, 2018 02:01 PM

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I wish there were some digital digests around to project or I could cope with doing some myself.

Hoping my son can redo me a decent hd one of the jaws trailer as no decent ones about, not even on the blu ray.

Best Mark.

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Bill Brandenstein
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posted March 16, 2018 02:11 PM

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A few years ago someone generously gave me a stack of old TV prints in 16mm that were smelling of VS. There was no way I could keep much of the stack, so the idea was to enjoy watching everything, hang onto the best, and pass on the remainder. That worked out great.

One of the features that was especially repugnantly smelly was Dan Daily and Jeanne Crain in "You Were Meant for Me" from 1948, which also featured the extraordinary pianist Oscar Levant. It's not an amazing movie, but some of the tunes are. So I made a 9-minute cut-down by salvaging part of the main title and clipping out 3 songs, with a couple of seconds of black leader between each, and the "The End" title. Gave it a bath in film cleaner and put it in the deep freeze. 4 years later still runs perfectly and the smell has even decreased. Pretty good considering the rest of the feature was already starting to warp when I began the venture.

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Dave Cross
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posted May 02, 2018 02:49 AM

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I haven't done any with film but I do digital digests all the time, sort of like with the Cars challenge a few years back. My son is 5 and loves the Avengers and superheroes in general but doesn't have the patience to sit through something like, say, Captain America The Winter Soldier. So I trim the Marvel movies down to 50-60 minutes for him and remove any objectionable language and overt violence. It's great fun and sort of a game for myself to see if I can jettison a lot but still make it coherent and enjoyable.

I edit some for myself also so I can watch certain films I love even if I don't have the time. The ones I do are usually pristine widescreen versions but, if I'm feeling adventurous, I'll edit some down to 30-35 minutes, add film fade and make them flat like this one here - Iron Man Super 8 Digest Intro. I generally try to avoid faded Super 8 prints like the plague but it's kind of neat to watch one you've done yourself to give the illusion of an old print. And if I get tired of it, I just remove the fade and watch it normally.

Making them flat takes more time because of having to reframe but the look of Super 8 was so ingrained in my childhood, I just sometimes love watching movies this way and it's kind of interesting and fun to watch digests that were never released (as far as I know). Plus, I think a movie like Phantasm or Night of The Living Dead really benefits from having an old look to it instead of the clean remastered versions so widely available.

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