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I know I sometimes put on a record when watching an 8mm film, but I was wondering if anyone back in 8mm’s heyday tried it, like with records or a mechanical toy. Anyone?
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Silas, that takes me back to being a kid, about 6 or 7. I had my uncle's borrowed super silent projector and a silent 200ft Disney of Herbie Rides Again. So for sound, I would borrow a cassette tape of film music and, if you held the play button half way down on the cassette player, you would get this really speeded up music. It was very funny and seemed to suit the movie!
There was a company that did 200ft films with matching sound on a vinyl lp...someone will remind us of the name.
I had a Laurel & Hardy. The idea was that you had the projector ready on 3 of the leader count and when you heard the beep on the record, you started the film. If you were lucky it was kind of in sync...for a few seconds anyway!! -
Hi Rob. As I have mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I have a couple of those Golden Book Films - Storytime Series which are cartoon drawing stories (not moving animation) on a silent 200' spool with and accompanying 33 1/3 rpm 7" vinyl disc with the soundtrack. I did transfer one of them to a sound stripe with quite a good result. One of my very few forays into sound syncing.Comment
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I got this idea that I could "improve" silents by playing CD music wild with a film. It basically failed because the music's mood hijacks the film's and since both music's and film's moods often change quickly I got weird moments where (for example) our hero has plummeted off a cliff and the music suddenly turns very happy! ("Wait!...Wasn't he the good guy?!)
(They can't all be The Wizard of Oz with The Dark side of the Moon in the speakers!)
I did actually shoot a film once where I had the songs picked out even before I loaded the camera, I filmed and edited to fit the music, I got the film striped and I recorded the music on the stripe. That works because It was planned as a single entity from the start. The music and the film reinforce each other instead of arguing.
There is personal film trivia here. I got the striping done at EVT magnetics in the UK and they sent the results to Tim Christian, a former Forum member and dearly departed friend of mine. He checked the stripe and then shipped the film to the US.
-since he watched the film with his wife, I've actually had a UK premier, just once, in a living room in East Anglia.Comment
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Back in the day (1978/79) I recorded real life sound effects to accompany a silent Woody Woodpecker cartoon. It was awesome! It always synched up because I used the same projector and cassette recorder for both recording and playback. Sadly, I no longer have either the film or the cassette. And certainly not the projector (crappy GAF Dual 8).Comment
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That sounds awesome! Do you remember what cassette you used by chance?Originally posted by Rob Young View PostComment
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I can't really remember, Silas. Being 6 was a loooong time ago!! I think maybe it was Disney theme tunes or something similar.
Just reminded me that when I was a student, I copied a super 8 version of the original silent Nosferatu onto VHS for a friend. I was listening to Metallica Enter Sandman at the time and I thought, hey this really suits this movie. I dubbed it over the scenes in the castle where Nosferatu first appears.
It was hilariously suited and creepy. When I showed it to another friend he said, "have a look at this..." Off he went to get a magazine with a Metallica interview in it. On one of the photos, the drummer was wearing a Nosferatu T-shirt..." Weird!
It really did work well though and I had plans to sound stripe the print and make up a whole soundtrack, in the style of Giorgio Moroder's Metropolis, but with various rock music. Never got around to it sadly.
PS. Just also remembered when I was about 10, I tried to learn the guitar. I could just about manage D, E, A and F. When I would show my couple of 200ft silent Westerns, I would play along with what I believed was a dramatic combination of 4 chords. When it was over, the family would say encouraging things like, "very effective." I think they really meant, "make it STOP!!!" LOL.Comment
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There have been some Japanese companies that shipped MCs together with their unstriped films and at least one USAmerican and one French company that shipped LPs/78rpms together with their unstriped films.
And there are some projectors (at least Super8 by Noris) that have an integrated MC player/recorder and a Pathé-9.5mm-projector with an integrated/coupled record player.
But so far, I have never used them myself.Comment
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Yes, Joerg, those super 8 projectors with cassette players built in...I'm guessing that is one of the reasons that Ken films released a 200ft version of The Empire Strikes Back and Alien with a cassette of the soundtrack in the box.
I have Empire, and it does also have a magnetic stripe and the soundtrack on it. Never been lucky enough to find the 200ft Alien with cassette though.Comment
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Most likely Bolex. But it is not stated on Grahame's website:Originally posted by Silas Buchanan View Post
http://pathefilm.uk/95soundattach/95soundattach.htm
(Scroll down until you can see the „sound on disc“.)
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Looks like Pathex also had some films with „sound on disc“ - search for „SndDisc“ on this page: http://www.pathefilm.uk/95flmcat/95flmcatpathex.htmComment
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Americom! That's the name of the company that released 200ft silents with a record to go with it.
My memory was jogged courtesy of Ged at The Derann Vaults...
Silent – Derann VaultsComment
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I also prefer to watch silent comedies when they have musical accompaniment. I recently sent two Super-8 prints of Billy Dooley 1-reelers (“Dizzy Sights” and “Sailor Beware”) to Alberto to be mag-striped, and then had Adam record the music onto them from the DVDs.
They turned out really good.
it’s not inexpensive but that’s the nature of our hobby. That’s what makes it so much fun.Comment
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