Archive for March, 2012

Proper Storage of Film Reels

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Before we had all the digital video recording devices today’s technology has to offer, people were shooting home videos and movie shorts on film reels to be viewed on a projector screen. And, even though we are now capable of filming hours at a time and storing lengthy data on massive hard drives, or transferring film to DVD, a few filmmaking enthusiasts still prefer the old film stock.

Whether using the medium for present film projects, or holding on to past memories and family keepsakes, film reels need to be stored with care to maintain the film’s integrity. There are three basic popular film stocks – 8mm, 16mm and 35mm and three types of film bases – acetate, nitrate and polyester, but not all three film stocks used each base. Acetate and polyester were used for all three, but nitrate was only used for 35mm. 

The first motion picture camera, invented in 1889, used 35mm nitrate film and until the 1950s, this stock was extremely common. Nitrate, however, turned out to be highly combustible and the hazardous material was no longer used in the making of film stock. But, since 35mm was the film stock of choice for most big motion picture movies and many home movie makers, you may find it in your collection. Nitrate film should be stored in a well-vented can and kept as cool as possible, preferably in a freezer.

More popular among the amateur or independent filmmakers is 8mm or 16mm film. The acetate film doesn’t have the combustible qualities that nitrate film has, so, back in the day, it was marketed toward the home movie maker, since it was safe. These are the most likely long forgotten film reels to be discovered in your grandparents’ attic or basement. And, if not already done, 8mm and 16mm films should be stored properly to preserve the fragile images they house.

The best way to store old film reels, like 8mm and 16mm acetate film, or any new format film like polyester, is in moisture proof and corrosion resistant containers. They should be kept in a room with a relatively constant low temperature and humidity. The reels should be stacked horizontally and make sure they are ventilated, film needs to breathe.

And, while it may have been found there in the first place, film, typically should not be stored in an attic. Heat increases the rate of decomposition. Also, avoid contact and close proximity to chemicals, paint or exhaust fumes, so the garage is out too.

Acetate-based film is susceptible to ‘vinegar syndrome,’ decay due to acid emitted by cellulose triacetate film as it ages. This reaction causes the film stock to shrink or shrivel, separating the base from the emulsion, the thin layer of gelatin where the photographic image is captured. There is a vinegar scent when this occurs, so it is easy to spot and smell. To preserve film that has already been exposed to ‘vinegar syndrome,’ move the film reel to a cooler location.

By taking the time to handle and store your film reels properly, you can increase the lifespan of your most precious memories by decades.

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The History of Movie Cameras: Part 1

Monday, March 26th, 2012

There is much debate over the inventor of the first motion picture camera, but Thomas Edison usually receives credit. There were many inventors working on the concept around the same time, each coming up with a new way to record images in a continuous motion, among them English photographer, Eadweard Muybridge and French scientist and chronophotographer, Etienne Jules Marey. But, in actuality, it was Edison’s assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson who, in 1889, invented the Kinetograph, the first motor-powered camera that could photograph motion pictures.

True, in 1879 Muybridge introduced the Zoopraxiscope, which projected a series of images in motion. The pictures were taken by multiple still cameras, however, and recorded on glass discs, so the device was really the first projector, but Muybridge was on the right path.

Early moving image pioneers like Muybridge and Marey recorded images on paper strips and glass. In order to record successive images on a single camera, film stock first needed to be invented. The Eastman Kodak Company made motion-picture film available when they released celluloid film in 1889.

It was in 1888, that Eadweard Muybridge visited Thomas Edison’s laboratory, in hopes of collaborating on a project that would combine the Zoopraxiscope with Edison’s phonograph. Instead of partnering up with the photographer, Edison got the idea for a motion-recording camera and filed for a patent. He gave his assistant the task of inventing the device. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson experimented with the Kinetograph using emulsion-coated celluloid film sheets and eventually manufactured a motorized machine that moved film through the camera. The Kinetograph captured movement on 35mm film using a shutter system. The movies could be watched on the Kinetoscope, the Dickson-invented viewing device.

While the Kinetograph set the standard for theatrical motion picture cameras, it was heavy and bulky and future models worked to slim down the load. After more than a century, the motion picture camera has come a long way.

Important Dates in Movie Camera Development

1889 - The first working motion picture camera was created by William Dickson, commissioned by Thomas Edison. The Kinetograph took a series of photographs on 35mm film stock.

1895 – Louis and Auguste Lumiere invented  the Cinematographe, a device that took, printed, and projected film. The 16-frames-per-second projection speed of the Lumière Cinématographe became standard.

1934– Bell & Howell invented the first light weight 8mm movie camera. The film came in a plastic cassette, making it possible to load the camera in daylight.

1965 – Kodak releases the first Super 8 camera. Intended for amateur filmmakers, Super 8 becomes popular as a hand-held camera perfect for recording home movies.

1983 – Sony released the first camcorder available to the public. The Betamax system used a magnetic tape cassette, eliminating the camera-recorder cable. The camera could be held with one hand and was shoulder-mounted. That same year, JVC released a VHS format camera.

In the mid-eighties, Sony, Panasonic, RCA, JVC and a number of other companies began producing a variety of compact video cameras. Formats like VHS and Video8 emerged, catering to amateur filmmakers and professional videographers alike.

By the mid-nineties, these same companies were continuing their technology war and releasing digital motion-picture cameras at incredible rates. These cameras have evolved into the high-quality digital recording devices we rely on today.

More on the recent technological advances soon!

 

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How Did 8mm Film Come To Be?

Monday, March 19th, 2012

Home movies have been around since the early years of America’s Great Depression.  The great leap forward that made it possible to capture the best moments of family vacations, weddings and special events on film came in 1932, when the Eastman Kodak company created the 8 mm film format.  Until that time, home cinema was the domain of the well off.  When Kodak launched 8 mm film, however, recording special events for posterity made a sudden and irreversible move into middle class America, Europe and the world.

By taking what was then the standard 16 mm film spool and adding twice as may perforations along each edge, Kodak was able to design a far less expensive option than the 16 mm format.  The secret came in designing the spool holes so that only half the film was exposed on the first pass through the camera.  Kodak’s revolutionary design allowed the camera to be opened and the spools flipped, so that the unexposed half of the film could be used on the second pass.

After both sides of the 16 mm film were exposed, the film would be split down the middle, thus yielding two lengths of film, both of which were 8 mm in width.  Because each of the new rows of film had just one row of perforations, the new process effectively yielded four times as many frames as the single-pass, double-perforated 16 mm film.  This allowed for exceptional cost savings, with no loss of quality, making the new 8 mm format an instant success.  The newest star in cinematography not only appeared on the horizon, it became accessible to the masses.

For almost 60 years, Kodak continued to manufacture 8 mm film, albeit with some modifications.  In 1965, Super 8 film was introduced and became an instant hit with home movie makers.  Easier to use because it didn’t require reloading halfway through the film making process, Super 8 gave better quality and rapidly took over from its ageing contemporary.  By the early 90’s, however, 8 mm film in all its formats was facing extinction, though it survived for a number of years in independent film stores and eastern European countries, particularly in the black and white format.  Once digital technology arrived on the scene, however, the 8 mm film format was as doomed as the dinosaur.  It became possible for people from all income brackets to transfer their 8mm film to DVD.  Camcorders have been all the rage for almost 20 years, and 8 mm film has been consigned to the history books.  By transferring 8 mm film to DVD, home movie makers the world over now have an even more inexpensive and reliable platform on which to record and preserve life’s major events.

 

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Scrapbooking in a Digital World

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Do you have a whole bookshelf of scrapbook albums, and are considering the transition to digital scrapbooking? Or perhaps you’ve never made a single scrapbook page, but are searching for a way to organize the hundreds of photos you’ve snapped with your digital camera.

Scrapbooking is an art form that thrives in a digital world. If you’re familiar with traditional scrapbooks, you may be wondering what a ‘digital scrapbook’ entails. These ‘books’ are actually digital files that include digital images of your photographs, text, and other mementos, along with a layout, background, and embellishments of your choosing. Essentially, what you see on your screen is a digital image that looks like a page in a traditional scrapbook.

Why transition from traditional to digital scrapbooks? Before the digital age, avid scrapbookers took their roll of film to the local photo center, and then cut and pasted those precious photos into a layout made with layers of paper, ribbons, stickers, and other creative designs. But the digital era has revolutionized this time-consuming process! There are many benefits to scrapbooking on your computer:

  • There are no specialized supplies to purchase or store
  • Page embellishments are reusable, and you can change their size or color to suit your design ideas
  • These supplies are inexpensive – and sometimes even free
  • Using them doesn’t leave you with a mess all over the kitchen table
  • With a laptop or smartphone, you can work on your latest project while you’re on-the-go
  • The finished scrapbooks don’t require a bookshelf for storage and are easily shared with friends and family around the world

How can you get started with a digital scrapbook? The first step is to gather your digital memories. This may mean scanning photographs from the pre-digital era. Of course, many of your more recent photos will already be in a digital format, whether stored in your cell phone, the memory card of your digital camera, or online on sites like Facebook. You can also use a scanner to capture images of ticket stubs and other mementos.

Now, think about how you want to organize the photos. Of course, there are no ‘pages’ in the digital world. But that doesn’t stop digital scrapbookers from creating amazingly creative layouts. You may want to start with a ‘digital scrapbook kit,’ which provides all of the elements you need to get started, like backgrounds, alphabets, layouts, and even premade pages waiting for your digital photos. Instead of decorating the pages with stickers, ribbons, and dried flowers, use an image editing program to add clip art and bold stripes of color. There are also scrapbooking software programs that can be used to build your pages, rather than using image editing software.

One big change from on-the-page scrapbooking is the number of freebies out there! There are plenty of free downloads for page layouts, graphics, and other embellishments for your digital scrapbook pages. You won’t need any more fancy scissors, die cutting machines, or other expensive scrapbooking tools, or a dedicated scrapbooking room, once you go digital.

What do you do once you’re finished creating the digital ‘page’? When working with a digital scrapbook, you can choose to maintain the pages in a digital format, sharing them through email, Flickr, Facebook, and other websites. You can also print out your finished scrapbook, either on your home printer or through a printing company such as Shutterfly, to create a beautiful photo book.

Now that we all live in a digital world, it’s time to make the switch from paper to pixels!

 

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The Beauty of 8mm

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

Great memories should be savored and cherished; Mr. George Eastman of Eastman Kodak Company understood that. In 1932, Eastman released the 8mm film format to the general market, enabling the creation of home movies in a less expensive way than the 16mm format, which was introduced in 1923. 8mm has two versions: regular 8mm or double 8mm, and Super 8mm. Both are 8mm wide, but due to its smaller and more extensively spaced perforations, Super 8mm has a larger image area. Both regular 8mm and Super 8mm have proven revolutionary.

Captures mobility

A picture is worth a thousand words. No argument there. Whether it’s a group hug with coworkers or relatives at a family reunion, or a lone shot of you smiling on your high school graduation day, a picture stays still, capturing the essence of only that moment. However, 8mm film captures more than a single moment. Whether you’re cooking for a grand and festive affair, or planting your favorite rose in the garden, or enjoying a picnic with the family, filmmaking allows you to view the experience in its true form. The beauty of 8mm is that it allowed you to make home videos so you can revisit the physicality of the moments that matter.

8mm Transfer to DVD

When stored in a cool and dry area, 8mm film can last for a very long time. However, depending on how well it was processed originally, and whether it was handled carefully and stored appropriately, over time, the quality may fade. Fortunately, as time moved forward, technology evolved and 8mm is adaptable to change. Enter DVDs, introduced in the 1990s. DVDs have a large storage unit that allows you to backup critical data and store the disc in a safe area. It also allows you to copy and transfer files to a family member or friend’s computer. You can transfer 8mm film to DVD, which enables you to preserve the data in its current state. The beauty of 8mm is that your home movies are here to stay.

The Evolution of Super 8mm

Super 8mm, introduced by Kodak in 1965, was developed primarily to energize the home moviemaking market. Independent film artists, industrial users and home moviemakers zealously embraced Super 8mm, deeming it superior to the standard 8mm, particularly because of its instant loading film cartridge. Super 8mm was a unique film format that enabled filmmakers to generate awesome shorts, features and advertisements.

Along with 8mm, Super 8mm and 16mm, there was also 9.5mm. The latter is the oldest of the four, dating back to 1922. The location of the film’s gauge can help you to identify the type of film. For a 9.5mm, the gauges are in the center. For a 16mm, they are on the frame-line. For a regular 8mm, they have the exact size and location of a 16mm, except that the 8mm has half the width and twice as many sprocket holes as a 16mm. For a Super 8mm, the gauge has an expanded image with tiny sprocket holes alongside the image.

8mm, Super 8mm and 16mm are all transferable to DVD. But the ultimate beauty of 8mm and other formats is the everlasting memories they bring.

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Hello, and Welcome to the Home Movie Depot blog!

Monday, March 5th, 2012

As you undoubtedly already know, what we do is transfer home movies to DVD.  Over the last decade, we have helped hundreds of thousands of people recover their precious memories from obsolete formats like 16 and 8mm film, Betamax and VHS videotapes, slides and negatives of various types, and turned them into something they can enjoy with current technology.  This process is something that we feel passionately about.   And while our website explains a lot, we would like to begin interacting with you in a different way.

For example…most of you probably don’t know very much about how Home Movie Depot came to be.  Our business started as a hobby in an extra bedroom.  It was started because Gary McKinney wanted to help his in-laws watch their 8mm home movies, but couldn’t find anyone to put them on a VHS (yeah, we’ve been around for a while).

Being a scientist, Gary decided to figure it out himself.  While he did so, people would ask him about what he was doing, and when they found out, generally their reaction was “Hey, could you do mine next?”   For months Gary would work at his day job, and then come home and transfer movies.  After a while, he realized that he needed to do this full time.

Slowly but surely he built a business.  They moved out of his spare bedroom, and began hiring staff.  Some of those first hires still work here (I’m looking at you Chris)!  They changed the name, built a building and a website and started taking orders online.

A lot has changed since our beginnings, except the basic premise.  We love helping people with their home movies.  There is nothing cooler than having someone from Customer Service tell you about how we transferred someone’s baby pictures, saved a wedding video, or helped Grandma see her first husband who passed away 50 years ago (true story).

We also love sharing interesting things that we find on the web, techniques for saving (and sharing) your home movies, and talking about our customers.  But we could really use your help!  If you find anything that we should be checking out, send us a Tweet and leave a comment on our Facebook Page, or drop us a line.

Thanks,

Home Movie Depot

 

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