How Did I get Into Film Collecting?

[@3koningen]

Hi Fran. I don't know how you do it but you always make me feel better. Thank you.

[@quantumleap359]

Our local library had a 16mm film lending section. All through the 50s and 60s I checked out many films for family and friends viewing. Sadly, the film lending service was discontinued in the late 70s when videotape became more and more accessible. Many, if not most of the old 16mm prints were stripped from their reels and relegated to a dumpster. There were films in the library which, while well worn, were still viewable. One in particular was titled "The Making Of Audiotape", produced by Audio Devices. Very interesting and very rare. Another was the "McGraw-Hill series, "Planet Earth" batch of films. I would love to see these again, I have looked through KZbin, but cannot find either the series or the Audiotape one.

[@NullStaticVoid]

I was into film collecting for a while before I moved across country. Me and my GF of the time were driving through Berkeley and saw a dumpster full of 16mm films right off the UC Berkeley campus. We filled up her car with hundreds of them and then began the hunt for a projector. I was an AV nerd in High School so I knew all about how to thread a projector. Eventually got an Eiki and a Bell and Howell.

[@dazzfromaus4797]

We still have our 16mm film collectors here in Australia too. I to have collected quite a few good feature films and documentaries in my collection. Good on yah for collecting.

[@anthonyrobertson2011]

My parents had a film camera and projector. There were home movies and film projects my mom had her high school classes do as projects. After my parents died I just threw them away. The projector had been broken for some twenty years and film was probably degrading, so I saw no reason to keep it all. I wasn't driven to try and get it all up and going, and I was too young to remember what it was about and such. Sad in a way but that's life. I don't think anyone thought about film going bad at the time.

[@videogeekin]

I started collecting silent( because I wasn’t rich enough to buy a sound projector)super-8 short reels in 1972. I loved Science Fiction. I believe I sold them in the 80’s but I had these and some others when I was a Trekkie in seventh grade. All we’re about 11mins.,silent and in b&w(War of the Worlds, When Worlds Collide, First Men in the Moon,The Spider,First Spaceship on Venus.

[@janderogee]

Hi Fran, the preservation project is inspiring in many ways. I like (and are sometimes amazed by) the diversity of the content. I'm pretty sure that with each film that you preserve and upload, you make many people smile and teach them something about things from the past. Very informative in many cases. A big thanks! The same also applies to your electronics related project videos, which are always informative, inspiring and a joy to watch. Thanks!

[@matteobucca4528]

Hi Fran I would like to see a video on how you digitize your 16mm. Greetings from Sardinia (Italy)

[@FranLab]

Sure - kzbin.info/www/bejne/paileWCuhbaqr5o

[@matteobucca4528]

@@FranLab wow, I missed it! Thanks very much you’re so kind.

[@JDVHS]

I LOOOOOOVE your uploads of converted films! :D

[@KeritechElectronics]

Yeah, you could get'em back in the day, no problem... Nowadays they're a damn hard thing to get a hold of. Stick to your collection :) We (as in: people passionate about preserving the cultural and technological heritage) should collect any technology or media that are becoming obsolete because later on it'll all be near impossible to find. This is already happening with compact cassettes or VHS tapes - for our generations (millennial and Z) they are kinda what film or reel-to-reel tapes were for gen X.

[@FranLab]

In the Big Reel days film was arguably more expensive then (relative to inflation) particularly for a good quality print.

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@FranLab seems like another example of price dip: when some tech is mainstream, it's worth a meaningful amount of cash, then it'll get cheaper and cheaper as it becomes obsolete and is phased out - basically there's plenty of it and no one wants it. Then people throw the stuff away... and finally, perhaps because some influencer (Techmoan anyone?) puts it in a limelight, it'll become rediscovered and a craze begins, items fetching hefty prices on collectors' markets. Sometimes costing more than back in the day.

[@imark7777777]

I hope these are being archived more than just KZbin maybe somewhere like your internet archive or another video service just for redundancy and copyright issues....

[@Vintech64]

Is there a video on how you transfer 16mm film and audio to digital?

[@Dingomush]

You do so much for conservation and preservation it’s inspiring.

[@Torby4096]

Curious: why did you switch channels?

[@lamecasuelas2]

How do you make sure that they don't catch fire?

[@FranLab]

Not nitrate. Acetate.

[@lamecasuelas2]

@@FranLab ahhh!!

[@itsthatguy478]

Hi Fran. I have a Theory about the meteor extinction and wanted to run it by you. This is the condensed version. Astroid smacked the earth, BOOM ! It caused the earth to wabble , giving us four seasons. Dust and ash clouds choked the earth and plunged it into darkness. nobody, and I mean NOBODY considered the effect it had on GRAVITY. Imagine a basketball spinning on a finger, a hand smacked it causing it to spin faster and gives it a wabble. With the increased speed of the ball, The gravity on the surface would increase as well. Gravity increases weight increased all large plants and animals die . Why ? In animals as large as the dinosaur , their hearts couldn't pump enough blood to their brains and their lungs couldn't work properly to keep them alive. In plants , the increased weight just crushed them. The smaller plants and animals survive because they are closer to the ground where the food is now, The smaller plants bend more easily instead of breaking and survive. So . . . What do you think ? I have been kicking this around for a while and would value your opinion. Thanks Fran.

[@LRD113]

You can bake all films before transfer 👍

[@FranLab]

No! Don't ever do that. That's audio tape. Acetate film is not audio tape.

[@LRD113]

@@FranLab okay didn’t know that 🙏👍

[@LRD113]

As always so fascinating and interesting you are outstanding you are probably 1 in a million you have so much knowledge and done so many things that it is breathtaking-and your guitar playing is really sublime you don’t overplay every tones is in perfect harmony 🙏😊👍✌️.

[@seanbatiz6620]

Dang Fran, whenever you breakdown any of this old film-stock archiving process, I can’t help but feel restless in the absolute NEED of doing something similar with my own collections of vintage films.. although, most of mine are “motionless” 35mm filmstrip “movies” that are from roughly about 1951 thru 1956 & incorporate the use of actual records for audio dictation between each frames’ image. I acquired a mid 50’s DuKane filmstrip projector with builtin turntable & builtin amp. Played every one of these “kits” (Filmstrip, Record &, original adjoining literature) that I own for review; all run thru projector quite well ‘but’ definitely are several of the 40-some of them that have been “gassing off” and WREAK of disgusting smelling vinegar oder! Hate that smell 🤢🤮! So yeah, I really REALLY need to digitize these fairly soon, before a complete loss. Just an excruciatingly time consuming process with specifically filmstrips, as each and every SINGLE frame needs to be properly scanned, color corrected when necessary & then later, overlayed for correct audio track synching 😔. These I’ve collected are mostly Jam (Handy) Organization productions for General Motors but, mostly for GM’s BUICK Division from the first half of the 1950’s… most use 12” 33 1/3rd RPM records, some use smaller 10” & about ten of them use them MASSIVE 16” diameter 33 1/3rd RPM records that thankfully I chose to collect & restore that mid 50’s DuKane filmstrip projector because it turns out was designed to handle them HUGE records just fine! Gunna take me a long minute to fully digitize/archive all of it

[@scottthomas6202]

I thought " safety film" ( polyester) had been the standard since the mud 1930s....

[@FranLab]

"safety film" is cellulose acetate - as opposed to nitrate, which is what you're thinking of.

[@aroncells3120]

Your very relaxing to listen to and I'd say a great conversationalist, I think you would a perfect girlfriend ❤️