Faulty new Derann S8 prints collection surprise

[Lee Mannering]

Treated myself to a small collection of new un boxed Derann films probably coming from the final clear-out at the end of trading. Did have a feeling I was in for a surprise as some of the other white boxes we purchased on the final day when opened had faults but not to worry happy to support them on that grey day.

Opening the new delivery of Polyester humpy bumpy dark grey striped films I peeled back the end masking tape and pulled a few feet of film off to inspect. The film was cracking as it peeled away so I knew Euston we have a problem so I pulled off about 10ft. The film was warped with a significant curl as was every one thereafter and so I guessed whoever did the Paste striping had cooked it in the dryer when striping causing the damage. Its not the first time I've seen this on Derann films in latter years and I suspect it wont be the last.

As we used to do with problematic shrunken Acetate films years ago we can try to store them rewound inside out for a start although with Poly doubt it will help any. I did apply a reasonable application of Film Guard to one and rewound a few days later removing the excess which did help the jitters on screen. Film tolerances here then are of course off the radar and more than any Eumig or Elmo GS1200 can cope with or be expected to for that but as I say FG did help the problem.

A shame but something to be aware of if you are buying the later releases with the dark grey humpy bumpy stripe, a good indicator it may turn out to be a over cooked Paste stripe.

[Mark Todd]

I remeber even at the time when New you got this Lee.

I used to buy a lot of trailers and many had the dreaded lumpy stripe, or even many holes stripe, more holes after you ran it through as the lumps were knocked off ( not great in the film path etc ) stock.

Also I had a fair few where the emulsion side had gone sticky and unstuck as you ran the film with a little crackly sound to it as it came away.

Also as you mentioned they did a funny twistey warpey thing too and if you looked at the reels it was as if someone had sort of pressed there thumbs in to the film in places and all warped. I think these had sat somewhere, possibly hottish for a while maybe or from the processing possibly too.

It was a bit hit and miss at the time, but also the later kodak stock if you watch runs less evenly with slight judder over other stocks, and filmguard etc doesn`t help a lot as its in the slitting/hole punching.

Some of the prints done then are lovely though, but not as nice as the pre or not pre striped agfa on the whole, odd ones do stand out as great but many also suffer from a very bluey look/hue.

As we know much of the printing variation came after the super 8 specialist printer was let go so other people were used on the days super 8 was printed.

We are still lucky it carried on though, but I still really wish over the last Derann years they had a super 8 enthusiast there in the building.

Best Mark.

[Larry Arpin]

It's a shame Derann just didn't invest in a super 8mm printer and printed their own films. They could have been a lot better off gluing the stripe to the undeveloped film as Kodak used to. The stripe will glue on the black backing even if it's polyester. Then printed the films. They could have sent the films to any lab as this is something I did years ago.

[Brian Fretwell]

I think Ged said on the close down day that someone did suggest that Derann installed a printer and that they would process the film for them. He has also said that after visiting a lab he couldn't stand the smell of the processing chemicals, so I think him doing it was a definite no-no.

As for adding stripe to unexposed film, you should have seen the look on Derek' s face when he was demonstrating the striping machine (not actually running it due to the chemicals) when I said "At least you don't have to stripe it in the dark" !

[Adrian Winchester]

On the subject of Kodak adding stripe to undeveloped film, I expect most of us consider this as good as it gets, but that perception is partly the result of Kodak's quality control standards! I remember Derek saying at the time that Kodak decided to stop offering pre-striped stock that the reason was because the process would go wrong so frequently - presumably partly because of it having to be done in dark conditions - that they were throwing about half of it away!

[Paul Adsett]

Precisely why Kodak were and are the best film producing company in the world. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable.
As for Derann's "bumpy lumpy grey stripe" I cringe every time I project one of those, when I think of what it is doing to my sound heads.

[Tom Photiou]

I only have a handful of films with the bumpy stripe. As Bill said, the projectors were built and designed for proper sound stripe, this later stuff must be pretty heavy on sound heads. I know it was that or nothing but i certainly dont want to wreck the heads on our machines. Until i had a conversation with Bill some rime ago i didnt realise how much glue chemical was mixed in with it just to make it stich, hence why many titles have poor quality sound. One of the worst being Madagasger penguins, the sound quality is ok but the amount of hiss is so noticeable. Take a look at the stripe under a decent magnifier, its not good for any sound heads.

[Brian Fretwell]

It was printed (I think in Movie Maker) that all paste stripe is convex and will wear the centre of heads most. Laminate stripe is flat so if played on heads worn by paste stripe it will not make as good contact. The rollering of the paste stripe after application and before curing is one of the most important stages, it seems.

[Paul Adsett]

I find it amazing that super 8 sound prints, recorded 50 years ago, still sound as good as new. Too bad the same is not true for the picture, which in most cases has lost all its color becoming a hideous red. Who would have thought that the tiny magnetic stripe would last this long. It appears that the system was correctly designed so that the head would wear down and not the stripe.

[Brian Fretwell]

At a Dolby lecture at the NFI many years ago they showed a piece of early ToddAO 30fps 70mm film that I think they hoped would show that their Dolby version was much better. They were all surprised at how good that sounded. It was not from an actual film but a demo reel from when the system was being sold to other directors.

[Lee Mannering]

Very true all. I'm with you Paul that dark grey stripe is very abrasive. If anyone has a reasonable microscope have a good look over a 200ft film, it will make you week for the safety of your magnetic sound head. A great pity.

[Mark Todd]

You do ned to keep the grey stripe Derann prints filmguarded for your heads/guides etc.

But thank goodness they kept going with it. Some are very good too.

I just got a trailer of revenge of the Sith and the little short before it and its just lovely on the later Kodak LPP.

Sounds a bit silly but I`ve now run its a few times as its so nice almost enjoying the look of the print as much as anything !!!

Just had that with a Derann 80`s LPP print of The Dog House T + J I got for my son, really lovely.

Not sure if its the silly daft hobby, or silly daft me.

Best Mark.