8mm Forum: Is there a 8mm Film Directory?

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Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on March 02, 2011, 06:57 PM:

I just keep thinking of great films I'd love to have on Super8 and then spend an hour searching through old forum posts and ebay and google to try to find if they were ever even made.

Is there any kind of master list from each distributor?
Or something similar?
When you think of a great film you'd love to have a print of how do you find out if it was ever made?

Like I just spent an hour searching to find if they ever made a super8 print of The Thing by John Carpenter. 1982.

I know this is reaching, but are there any Coen Brother films on Super8? Raising Arizona?

Questions I have...

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 02, 2011, 08:04 PM:

Kirk,

There are rumors out there of a comprehensive list but I've never seen it. I think John Black may know something about that.

Here on the Forum we've compiled lists of releases from various distributors, such as U-8, Ken, Columbia, ABC films, Cineavision, etc.

I've never seen a Coen Bros. film on 8mm. Optical prints were still being struck for airlines when Blood Simple was released, however it's not the type of film that would have been shown in-flight.

Doug

Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on March 02, 2011, 08:31 PM:

Thanks Doug!
Where could I find these lists that the forum has compiled?

I also rebuild vintage puch mopeds and use a forum for that.
They made a google doc that was open for anyone to add to and keep clean. Just an honor system that no one would delete the whole thing or intentionally put something in incorrect.

Maybe an idea? If you had the lists somewhere I wouldn't mind trying to put together and open source little list on google docs.

Best!
Kirk

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on March 03, 2011, 08:06 AM:

Gil O'Gara printed a fairly inclusive checklist of silent films released in both formats from 1960 through 1985, with quite the number of distributors - From what I understand, he is working towards an update someday - Shorty

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 03, 2011, 09:26 AM:

Kirk,

Here are some that we've done. We've talked about doing a database of all 8mm releases but it is a huge undertaking. Feel free to get us started! I would suggest that we also publish the same list here because as we've seen, links to other sites from years ago tend to become inactive.

We've also mentioned having a topic index similar to the one I have in the Review section, but I don't have anywhere near the time to do that.

Universal 8

Ken Films digests

Ken Films/ABC Films Features

MGM

Columbia digests

Doug

Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on March 03, 2011, 12:02 PM:

Thanks Everyone.
I really think popping all this info into a google doc would only take a few hours and then we could all reference one place for movie title searches. I'm booked this weekend, but maybe I'll start pulling this together early next next.
Thanks!
Kirk

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on March 03, 2011, 01:00 PM:

Hi Kirk,

On the previous thread I made a post of exactly what you are looking:

What is this? "8mm film directory 69-70" &"Feat films on 8mm, a directory for rental"

One of the book is for sale:

http://www.amazon.com/Feature-Films-8mm-16mm-Videotape/dp /0835211126/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289009905&sr=1-5

only $3.44...so grab it.

Cheers,

Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on March 03, 2011, 01:24 PM:

Thanks Winbert!
Those will go on my next amazon order!

So, I took an hour this morning and tossed a bunch of info on to a google spreadsheet. I organized it by tabs and cleaned up one section. It needs quite a bit of clean-up help. Which is monotonous and lame, but it would go quicker if someone else wants to jump in. If someone is interested I'll send them the link and some instructions so we don't do double duty on the same page.

Looks pretty cool already and it's searchable!

Send me a PM if you want to be involved. No offense if you email me and I don't share it. Only 2 or 3 people should work on this or else it will get really confusing.

Best!
Kirk

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on March 09, 2011, 08:53 AM:

Hi Kirkamus
Its worth keeping an eye open for the now vintage Derann Film Cats which detail oh so many of the early titles from the 60's and 70's. Mine have been well used and are never far from hand.

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on March 09, 2011, 02:11 PM:

I have a large grouping of materials I use.
1 - The Limbacher book - "Feature Films on 8mm, 16mm and videotape"
2 - All of the old 8mm Collector/Classic Film Collector/Classic Images issues up to around 170 or so were still dealing with film collecting, rather than just star bios... There was a great multi feature piece called "An annotated list of 8mm silent feature films compiled by James Ennis" not too mention every issue listed who was was putting out what - this is very helpful for short films
3 - Perry's Movies HOME MOVIES (I have issues 1 - 28)
4 - about 50 old Blackhawk catalogs over 30 years
5 - small but VERY important indie company catalogs for EMGEE & THUNDERBIRD
6 - Old journals like Flickers/Bootlace/Super 8 film review/Projections/Group 9.5 mags/Film Collectorand many others are extremely helpful
7 - Plus I have about 5 3-ring binders filled with all of the old newsletters/mail lists of the even smaller distributors/sellers as often they would have unusual items no one else would have.
8 - Finally catalogs for companies like Kodascope/Excel/Derann/UA Home/Sears. too many to mention and others that released for the home market...

I don't think there could ever be a complete list of titles as in the 1960's and 1970's there were companies that popped up and then vanished, but had unique material.....That is part of what keeps it interesting is the endless possibilities of discovery

Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on March 09, 2011, 03:11 PM:

You gotta start somewhere right?

This is a page everyone can edit and add info in.
PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE FORMAT.
If you have suggestions on format let me know and I'll do my best.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhNSqJgx18PidGxKbmJzdG56YnVfRzBXWFpJcXZtanc&hl=en&authkey=CPysx6QC

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on March 10, 2011, 12:00 PM:

I know you said don't change the format but I was trying to show you a slightly better, more efficient way on the Universal page, since databases are part of my job.. The way it was you could not even do a simple sort (For instance the films were listed by the Universal ref numbers) I tried to look at them in alphabetical order and through all of the formatting off. but I am guessing you may have changed it all back since the changes are mostly gone now, so I'll leave it alone... Good luck...Its a great idea but one suggestion, with anything that is multi-user the more tabs you add, the more potential you have for mistake...If you are going to have a separate tab for every company it will quickly become a very complex interface and many mistakes will be made...My suggestion is to let the database do the separating for you (ie: the column I added stating "company", and have everyone enter data on a single page..If you'd like some suggestions I'd be happy to send a mock excel over for you to look at, based on what you designed only making it more geared towards easy entry by others, and then easy sorting so folks can get right to what they are looking for.

Posted by Kirkamus Anderson (Member # 2441) on March 10, 2011, 12:53 PM:

Hey Dino!
I didn't change back anything you did, but if you got a better way go for it man! Maybe just make a new tab and make all the changes. If it's better then we can just delete everything else and use your way. I'm in no way a database expert and I bet you know better than anyone else if it's your day gig.
Go for it man!

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on March 10, 2011, 02:30 PM:

OK so I added a sheet called Master Test that has what I was thinking of...I have a couple of formulas to calculate stuff like approximate running time, and some drop downs to simplify choosing and help in calculating the formulas, let me know if you think it works for you...I would avoid getting toooooooooo detailed like directors, stars, this and that because again then you defeat the purpose by making it so labor intensive to add info.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on March 10, 2011, 05:59 PM:

Dino's reference of the research material he uses, is exactly what I am using (give or take a few catalogs or magazine issues).Of course these have taken years to collect and especially most of the small magazines, all circulating by subscription only, are almost totally unavailable today, even from their original publishers. So,if you see them at a -con or -fest or flea market, grab them at once, they are a treasury of information. Remember that at the "golden age" of film collecting,the seventies and eighties, most of those were monthly magazines. 24,or more,pages of nothing but 8 mm film reviews ! ! !

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