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I just saw someone's post about selling a film, and I didn't want to intrude and go off-topic there ---
I can understand someone being reluctant to sell films due to unreasonable demands by buyers, but an accurate description is everything, I've found.
I recently took receipt of a film that was grossly -- and I mean grossly -- misdescribed. A "few" splices shouldn't mean one every few seconds for even just the first few minutes of the film. And then roughly one every 1 or 2 minutes throughout. And then about 3 of them being severe jumpcuts that eliminated up to 2 minutes of screen time! Seller claimed "top quality" with just a few splices! Oh, yea, it "ran fine" too. Yes it did, and the splices were clean, even though they clipped dialogue and eliminated significant footage! Although there were "no returns" he agreed to one, and it is on the way back to him. Hopefully I will be fully refunded. I've had much better luck with sellers who have no equipment with which to test the films!
Never say "mint" or "near mint", since your test run to observe condition might have added some wear, regardless of your machine being clean and not having the reputation to scratch films.
We may all disagree on "acceptable" wear in terms of lines, but there is a difference between a line or 2 that comes and goes vs. dozens of lines on every single frame of film.
If you do notice a jump cut, there is a difference between one that may eliminate up to a second (which as we know is 24 frames) vs one that eliminates 30 seconds or more. Even if you are not familiar with the movie, it is usually obvious more or less if more than a second is missing.
Probably the most difficulty comes from buying/selling 16mm prints, since this is where the most signficant differences of opinions can occur -- whether a print is an "original" or a "dupe." I've successfully returned prints sold as originals since they were obviously dupes. There really is not fail-proof way to guarantee a print being original, but a seasoned collector can tell right away within a decent margin of error. In another example, I bought a "Blackhawk" that turned out to be a dupe of a Blackhawk. Seller never said "original", but an unauthorized dupe of a Blackhawk is not a Blackhawk. It had a printed in splice that I know was not in a bona-fide Blackhawk of that title -- not to mention that nothing about the picture quality even came close to a 16mm Blackhawk. And also my Super 8 Blackhawk of that title looked much better than this 16mm dupe!
The other subjective attribute is color/colour. I hate it when people say the color has "warmed" when they really mean beet red! Even when they show screenshots showing beet red! And then people tryto defend the imperfection saying that the fade "suits" a movie like this. Nope -- if it was filmed in full color, then full color suits the film best.
If a film smells of vinegar, and you state the fact, there are no "buts." "Probably still has a lot of life left." "No warp yet." "Still runs fine!" VS prints are diseased films that will infect your other prints! They should be discarded not sold! And then there's:"You can scan it before it get worse." I'm sorry, if it is not a one-of-a-kind film, then no way. But it is never a one-of-a-kind film, and it's usually one that the studio already has scanned in HD and is available for streaming and/or is already on disc!
What I'm basically saying is just use common sense, and more often than not you will not have any unhappy buyer, though it is a personal choice if you wish to rarely sell or not at all. Just don't try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes!
I can understand someone being reluctant to sell films due to unreasonable demands by buyers, but an accurate description is everything, I've found.
I recently took receipt of a film that was grossly -- and I mean grossly -- misdescribed. A "few" splices shouldn't mean one every few seconds for even just the first few minutes of the film. And then roughly one every 1 or 2 minutes throughout. And then about 3 of them being severe jumpcuts that eliminated up to 2 minutes of screen time! Seller claimed "top quality" with just a few splices! Oh, yea, it "ran fine" too. Yes it did, and the splices were clean, even though they clipped dialogue and eliminated significant footage! Although there were "no returns" he agreed to one, and it is on the way back to him. Hopefully I will be fully refunded. I've had much better luck with sellers who have no equipment with which to test the films!
Never say "mint" or "near mint", since your test run to observe condition might have added some wear, regardless of your machine being clean and not having the reputation to scratch films.
We may all disagree on "acceptable" wear in terms of lines, but there is a difference between a line or 2 that comes and goes vs. dozens of lines on every single frame of film.
If you do notice a jump cut, there is a difference between one that may eliminate up to a second (which as we know is 24 frames) vs one that eliminates 30 seconds or more. Even if you are not familiar with the movie, it is usually obvious more or less if more than a second is missing.
Probably the most difficulty comes from buying/selling 16mm prints, since this is where the most signficant differences of opinions can occur -- whether a print is an "original" or a "dupe." I've successfully returned prints sold as originals since they were obviously dupes. There really is not fail-proof way to guarantee a print being original, but a seasoned collector can tell right away within a decent margin of error. In another example, I bought a "Blackhawk" that turned out to be a dupe of a Blackhawk. Seller never said "original", but an unauthorized dupe of a Blackhawk is not a Blackhawk. It had a printed in splice that I know was not in a bona-fide Blackhawk of that title -- not to mention that nothing about the picture quality even came close to a 16mm Blackhawk. And also my Super 8 Blackhawk of that title looked much better than this 16mm dupe!
The other subjective attribute is color/colour. I hate it when people say the color has "warmed" when they really mean beet red! Even when they show screenshots showing beet red! And then people tryto defend the imperfection saying that the fade "suits" a movie like this. Nope -- if it was filmed in full color, then full color suits the film best.
If a film smells of vinegar, and you state the fact, there are no "buts." "Probably still has a lot of life left." "No warp yet." "Still runs fine!" VS prints are diseased films that will infect your other prints! They should be discarded not sold! And then there's:"You can scan it before it get worse." I'm sorry, if it is not a one-of-a-kind film, then no way. But it is never a one-of-a-kind film, and it's usually one that the studio already has scanned in HD and is available for streaming and/or is already on disc!
What I'm basically saying is just use common sense, and more often than not you will not have any unhappy buyer, though it is a personal choice if you wish to rarely sell or not at all. Just don't try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes!
I haven't planned a trip over the pond anytime soon though.
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