Now added to our site on youtube are two new films.
Two new "Gazetteer" editions have been added, the first featuring our fantastic old 35mm cinema projector, the Kalee 12.
View here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usGp9gHDjes
The second film was filmed in Tain Picture House last weekend and is a brief glimpse of the building as it stands today. We didn't get much film due to very poor light and there was no electricity in the building but it's still a nice we look at the place.
View here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxgYkxqPsg
Kalee 12 Projector & Tain Picture House
-
FILM THURSO
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:37 pm
- Location: Thurso
- Contact:
-
Ray Williamson
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:08 pm
-
Ray Williamson
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:08 pm
-
Dave Watterson
- Posts: 1879
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:11 pm
- Location: Bath, England
- Contact:
I liked both films, Darren. The "dead" cinema was sad but how great that some folk may be willing to have a go at restoring it.
It was a shame you did not show us how you actually threaded the Kalee ... but I guess you would have run out of hands if you were also the only cameraman.
There are YouTube movies of Simplex and Victoria machines too ... our film society at Bradford on Avon restored a Vicky, I've played with Simplexes and those strange Russian "portable" ones as well as a Spanish portable machine which surfaced briefly in the UK.
Someone recently mentioned that their film society had had an "old days" show and everyone had forgotten just how much noise even a 16mm projector makes when running at the back of the hall.
Cheers
Dave
It was a shame you did not show us how you actually threaded the Kalee ... but I guess you would have run out of hands if you were also the only cameraman.
There are YouTube movies of Simplex and Victoria machines too ... our film society at Bradford on Avon restored a Vicky, I've played with Simplexes and those strange Russian "portable" ones as well as a Spanish portable machine which surfaced briefly in the UK.
Someone recently mentioned that their film society had had an "old days" show and everyone had forgotten just how much noise even a 16mm projector makes when running at the back of the hall.
Cheers
Dave
-
FILM THURSO
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:37 pm
- Location: Thurso
- Contact:
The projector in the picture looks like a Kalee 8 or 11. I do own a Vulcan DL lamp housing same as the one above, still trying to prize it out of the hands of a horrible little heritage crowd who think it's their's! (a string of nouns going through my head right now)
Our local cinema used combine Vulcans with Kalee 21's up front. Prior to that they had the model 12's and before that BTH machines with deaf-aid fasility in the balcony. Model 12's are nicely compact mechanisms when used in conjuction with RCA photophone sound heads which drive the whole machine, It might be a Simplex or Westrex sound head in the photo.
These old machines are beutiful things like steam engine and are best seen doing the job they were built for. Then one comes to appreciate the quality of the equipment.
We didn't get much film on our first visit to Tain, most it was about seeing the place first hand to work out the possabilities but we will be going back to get more and there are some interesting plans affot filmwise.
Filming the Kalee 12, there is film of me lacing it up but it was shot from a bad angle and you can't see the lacing process but you can see the top of my head- bad shot for two reasons. One is still making efforts to embrace an impending bald top but some things take more counciling than others!
Mr PMiddy, well done on having a Kalee 21, Kalee projectors are magnificent machines- every home should have them! (and re-inforced concrete floors
)
Our local cinema used combine Vulcans with Kalee 21's up front. Prior to that they had the model 12's and before that BTH machines with deaf-aid fasility in the balcony. Model 12's are nicely compact mechanisms when used in conjuction with RCA photophone sound heads which drive the whole machine, It might be a Simplex or Westrex sound head in the photo.
These old machines are beutiful things like steam engine and are best seen doing the job they were built for. Then one comes to appreciate the quality of the equipment.
We didn't get much film on our first visit to Tain, most it was about seeing the place first hand to work out the possabilities but we will be going back to get more and there are some interesting plans affot filmwise.
Filming the Kalee 12, there is film of me lacing it up but it was shot from a bad angle and you can't see the lacing process but you can see the top of my head- bad shot for two reasons. One is still making efforts to embrace an impending bald top but some things take more counciling than others!
Mr PMiddy, well done on having a Kalee 21, Kalee projectors are magnificent machines- every home should have them! (and re-inforced concrete floors
)-
Brian Saberton
- Posts: 355
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:00 pm
- Location: Scotland
Isn't it wonderful to see a projector made all those years ago still capable of giving good reliable service today.
Here's a web site that the projector and film collecting buffs might also like to see:
http://www.bfcc.biz/
For those of you who haven't come across the site before, Keith Wilton who runs the BFCC (British film Collectors Convention) has produced some excellent DVD's about film collecting and home cinema with lots of shots of enthusiasts with projectors ranging from 8mm right up to 70mm (I kid you not).
Here's a web site that the projector and film collecting buffs might also like to see:
http://www.bfcc.biz/
For those of you who haven't come across the site before, Keith Wilton who runs the BFCC (British film Collectors Convention) has produced some excellent DVD's about film collecting and home cinema with lots of shots of enthusiasts with projectors ranging from 8mm right up to 70mm (I kid you not).
Brian Saberton
This is a serious question and not meant to be rude but why do people buy, at high prices, fragile Super 8 mm feature films when most films are available on DVD which can be projected to at least the same size as S 8 mm with better picture quality and superior sound? With the advent of HD then the quality will far surpass that of 8mm. Intrigued.
ned c
ned c
-
Dave Watterson
- Posts: 1879
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:11 pm
- Location: Bath, England
- Contact:
Come to that why use a Kalee 12 to screen 35mm onto an A4 size "screen" ?!?! See Thurso's YouTube offering.
Dave
P.S. If I had such a beastie I'd knock holes in walls and make a real cinema at home. We did it for 16mm many moons ago. These days a video projector (I prefer the European name "beamer") sits in the same room as the audience and our cinema doubles as a spare bedroom.
Dave
P.S. If I had such a beastie I'd knock holes in walls and make a real cinema at home. We did it for 16mm many moons ago. These days a video projector (I prefer the European name "beamer") sits in the same room as the audience and our cinema doubles as a spare bedroom.
I on the other hand would either get the best HD projector I could find with all the bells and whistles in the sound department. Not good for nostalgia! But it would blow the socks off in all departments.Dave Watterson wrote: If I had such a beastie I'd knock holes in walls and make a real cinema at home. We did it for 16mm many moons ago. These days a video projector (I prefer the European name "beamer") sits in the same room as the audience and our cinema doubles as a spare bedroom.
Watching a war film or action film, you feel that your there.
Stingman
Ian Gardner
Film Maker
Film Maker
-
Brian Saberton
- Posts: 355
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:00 pm
- Location: Scotland
This is a serious question and not meant to be rude but why do people buy, at high prices, fragile Super 8 mm feature films when most films are available on DVD which can be projected to at least the same size as S 8 mm with better picture quality and superior sound? With the advent of HD then the quality will far surpass that of 8mm. Intrigued.
I think most film collectors (including myself) have now moved from super 8 or 16 mm to DVD. Some, especially those with existing large collections, are using both mediums whilst others have stayed purely with film because that is what they like and prefer.
Personally I have been collecting films on 8mm since the 1960's so had quite a big collection but I've sold a large part of it off now in favour of DVD. I much prefer DVD mainly because I can buy classic and modern features very cheaply with excellent sound and picture quality and not have to change reels half way through a show. I find now that I watch far more films than I used to do because it is so much easier.
Mind you, film collecting's a hobby like any other so I guess it comes down to freedom of choice and what you enjoy doing.
I think most film collectors (including myself) have now moved from super 8 or 16 mm to DVD. Some, especially those with existing large collections, are using both mediums whilst others have stayed purely with film because that is what they like and prefer.
Personally I have been collecting films on 8mm since the 1960's so had quite a big collection but I've sold a large part of it off now in favour of DVD. I much prefer DVD mainly because I can buy classic and modern features very cheaply with excellent sound and picture quality and not have to change reels half way through a show. I find now that I watch far more films than I used to do because it is so much easier.
Mind you, film collecting's a hobby like any other so I guess it comes down to freedom of choice and what you enjoy doing.
Brian Saberton
-
FILM THURSO
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:37 pm
- Location: Thurso
- Contact:
If I raised the projector up 4ft I could project out the window but as making that film earned me a complaint from my neighbours (and quite right they were coz it was too loud). At the moment the lamp housing only has a 500w Halo strip which doesn't provide the right density of light to do anything bigger than A4. The rooms in the house are decent sized but would amount to nothing more than a spacious projection room. The floors are concrete but as I'm upstairs I'd still be warey of the weight involved.
As for super 8, I don't think there is such a thing as a "fragile" projector. There are good quality machines and then there's junk, just two catagories! The appeal of super 8mm as those of us who have experience of the format, is about the love of real film. An actual film print has truer colors than DVD releases, Disney's "Cinderella" is a good one to make the comparison. In the ballroom scene when the lighting changes to the magenta and cyan on the film print, it is rich and beautiful but on DVD the color are washed out.
Whilst Film-Thurso has been priced out of filming in super 8 (thank you Kodak- ignorant) we will never ditch super 8mm. We are happy to add more to our collections. The only reason we've gotten into video more fully is that it can now be presented on the big screen by projection and in CinemaScope too. We love movies no matter what form they come in.
As for super 8, I don't think there is such a thing as a "fragile" projector. There are good quality machines and then there's junk, just two catagories! The appeal of super 8mm as those of us who have experience of the format, is about the love of real film. An actual film print has truer colors than DVD releases, Disney's "Cinderella" is a good one to make the comparison. In the ballroom scene when the lighting changes to the magenta and cyan on the film print, it is rich and beautiful but on DVD the color are washed out.
Whilst Film-Thurso has been priced out of filming in super 8 (thank you Kodak- ignorant) we will never ditch super 8mm. We are happy to add more to our collections. The only reason we've gotten into video more fully is that it can now be presented on the big screen by projection and in CinemaScope too. We love movies no matter what form they come in.