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What's the appeal of 16mm film??

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3Stooges:
As someone who has never seen a Stooge film or any other film on 16mm, I was wondering why people spend anywhere from $50 to a few hundred bucks PER FILM on Ebay to watch the Stooges in 16mm. With TV technology being so advanced now like wide screen, big screen, plasma, LCD and 9 feet InFocus wide screen projections, it seems like a lot of money to spend just for one film. I'd assume that TV versions are better video/audio quality, so why buy the 16mm? Especially films that are on DVD.

Do people buy them so the can broadcast them in real movie theaters? Are there just 16mm buffs that like the crackling and the look of 16mm kind of like how some people just prefer the old LP records instead of CD's?

I have absolutely no experience with 16mm and would like some 16mm expert's insight.

shemps#1:
Part of the appeal is that home projection is a dead market. Just like cassettes and CD's killed of vinyl, home video killed off home projection. It's a rarity, how many people have 16mm projectors?

garystooge:
I can't speak for others, but as an avid 16mm collector, I like everything that is part of the hobby: tinkering with the projector, threading it, focusing it, experimenting( with different lenses, projectors, bulbs)
making repairs to the films, splicing film together, and of course all the joys of watching films the way they were intended to be watched, complete with the whirr of the projector, jumpskips in the film and occasional lines and scratches in the print. You can actually get the feel that these films date back to the 1930's and 40's, unlike DVD's which are so clean and enhanced that they look like they could have been filmed last week.

And guess what....even with the jumps, skips and imperfections, the Stooges are just as funny as on the antiseptic DVD's.

Pilsner Panther:

--- Quote from: garystooge on February 10, 2005, 04:42:53 PM ---I can't speak for others, but as an avid 16mm collector, I like everything that is part of the hobby: tinkering with the projector, threading it, focusing it, experimenting( with different lenses, projectors, bulbs)
making repairs to the films, splicing film together, and of course all the joys of watching films the way they were intended to be watched, complete with the whirr of the projector, jumpskips in the film and occasional lines and scratches in the print. You can actually get the feel that these films date back to the 1930's and 40's, unlike DVD's which are so clean and enhanced that they look like they could have been filmed last week.

And guess what....even with the jumps, skips and imperfections, the Stooges are just as funny as on the antiseptic DVD's.

--- End quote ---

I can still thread a Bell & Howell 16mm sound projector with my eyes closed, which will give you some idea how ancient I am. There is something marvelous about that early technology, which for me (of course) includes 78 r.p.m. records and Edison cylinders.

Maybe the marvel is that it all worked!

 ;)

Dunrobin:
Back in the ancient times, when I was in Junior High School (they hadn't been PC'd into "Middle Schools" yet), the school had a small movie theater next to the library.  I worked in the A-V dept., and we used to show movies during lunch time on 16mm Bell & Howells. 

At one time, like Pils, I could have threaded the projectors with my eyes closed, although I won't claim to still be able to do it.  I could could probably still remember if I looked at it though!  ;)

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