HISTORY:
My "world" is 'the arts' and more specifically, music, artwork and hand crafted/decorated chinaware's.
I am not a film enthusiast but an associate has asked me to find new owners for THEIR large collection of photographic and film items ... this is one of those items.
While the world of 8mm/Super 8mm is not my area of expertise, I am doing my best to establish the condition of each item that I am listing.
I tend to be quite detailed in my item descriptions, please READ all the details to decide if this item may interest you.
Now, on with the description ...
KEN FILMS - Super 8 Film
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Catalogue # No catalogue number on the box
SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978) Selected Highlights
Classic Superman, where it all began with Christopher Reeves ...
Housed in a stiff, two piece cardboard box, top section opening upwards.
Leader film fitted (very short)
7" 400' light Green/Grey unbranded plastic reel
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel are both undamaged
The cardboard outer case is in very good condition, only the slightest of handling wear to the front graphics, no tears nor seam splits - very nice!
Graphics are clear and there is no personal writing
NO unusual smells detected coming off the film i.e no vinegar odours but there is a light/slight "Hey I'm old" musty odour
NO personal names or other writing on the case or the film reels
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
I ran the film through the projector for the first 5 minutes or so, to observe the colour and sound.
The colour is degraded due to the dreaded Red shift (or lack of Blues in particular) although in my opinion, the colours are not too bad at times! During the opening credits, Blues are fine and within some of the scenes too but overall though, there is that definite shift to the Pinkish/Red end of the spectrum.
SPECIAL NOTE:
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots ... now my digital camera is antiquated and it's limitations are definitely showing up in these sample photographs.
I take the screen shot in very low light levels, the camera flash is turned off (otherwise the picture is flooded with White) and the camera shutter speed is very slow.
This means I have trouble getting sharp photographs, especially when there is movement on the screen and I have noticed that after viewing quite a few films now, that my poor OLD digital camera is tending to emphasis the Red's in the photographs anyway - in real life the on-screen picture is not as Red as recorded in the photographs.
Here's a strange thing though ... if I "stop frame" with the projector lamp on, the colour is substantially better displayed - I am not very familiar with the art of film but to me at least, this seems peculiar.
AUDIO ALERT:
Sound (English) is very good, crisp, clean and at a good level - not muffled WHILE IT IS THERE! While watching this film (first 5 minutes or so only) the sound is great to start with and then around the scene of Superman running in front of a train, it just stops! It doesn't go strange but just goes silent - the picture continues on as normal. I think someone has been playing around with the soundtrack on this one. It may well be that the sound returns at a later time in the film but I ran it on for around 30 seconds after the silence began and no sign of audio up to that point.
In my opinion, after this very brief test, I am happy that the film is as stated on the case and looks to be in fairly good "technical" condition, albiet with some sort of audio issue.
Anyway, I am very fastidious and careful with these films and I have now packed it back into the original cardboard box and sealed within a clear plastic packet - waiting for a Super 8 film enthusiast to give it a new home
