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Topic: Non-film uses for scrap film

John Schulien
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 206
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-22-2001 04:00 PM

I like the idea of using markers to draw each
frame, although it seems like a good way to
go blind, or insane, or both.

You can also purchase clear uncoated leader
from fpcfilm.com. No need to bleach a trailer.

$66.00 / 1000 ft acetate editorial leader
$61.30 / 1000 ft polyester processing leader

One roll should keep anyone busy for a while.
Don't forget to painstakingly draw the academy
leader!

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 08-22-2001 04:09 PM

Here's a link to purchase FPC leader products:
http://www.fpcfilm.com/US/en/motion/FPC/fpc/edit_leader_prod.html

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Aaron Sisemore
Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day!

Posts: 3061
From: Rockwall TX USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 08-22-2001 04:38 PM

>>I have made my own "scratch movies" before, by taking a piece of old black leader and using the tip of an Exacto® knife to scratch a picture onto each frame of the film. Now that you mention it, soaking/bleaching the emulsion off an old tralier and using a set of fine tipped markers to draw the pictures onto the film would be a lot cooler, not to mention easier.<<

Randy, I believe the trademark is X-ACTO®...

Yes, making your own 'films' using clear leader is a hell of a lot of fun! When I was in 3rd grade our teacher got ahold of a 400' reel of clear 16mm film, and let the students have at it with a set of felt markers. The we projected it. I still have the film around here somewhere... I have tried the same with 35, with limited success.

Aaron

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-22-2001 04:48 PM

Yeah, I guess you could buy clear leader but old trailers are free; a bottle of Clorox® costs you about $2 and you can steal an old five gallon bucket from the back of the theatre before they toss them into the dumpster.

(Did I get the trademark right this time? ).

I made a cardboard mask which had a hole in it about the size of a frame of film and laid it over the top of the film while I was drawing/scratching the pictures into it.

Yes, it IS enough to make your eyeballs explode, trying to draw that small but if you take frequent breaks it's not too bad.
Besides, being able to take your "masterpiece" to work and actually run it through a projector is pretty good motivation to keep working at it.

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Mervyn Collard
Film Handler

Posts: 10
From: Bude, Cornwall, England
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 08-22-2001 05:28 PM

Randy I agree it is pretty cool to take your onw film to work and show it.
Imade a three minute film some years ago 1954 to be excact called HIT by drawing onto some black spacing with a pin. I also drew sound track plops etc in sync with the pix. It got shown at the 1st Animated Film Festival in London in 1958 - that was pretty cool.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-22-2001 05:56 PM

That musta' been cool!

Isn't there some Japanese guy who has won some awards with his animation made by drawing on film?

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Andy Muirhead
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Galashiels, Scotland
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 08-22-2001 07:19 PM

Just been mucking about with this stuff recently, had a staff show where i used a slide projector and got some black film and wrote messages on it to project on the screen while it was starting, basic juvenile stuff like "kris is gay" (childish snigger!), but then i thought how cool it would be to nick titles from trailers, and project onto the screen while people were coming in (our number one has no curtains, and all the audience see's when they are coming in is a black screen). So we had planet of the apes, and i cut the logo out of a spare trailer, mounted it on slide and we had the logo projected on the screen, before the ads + trailers.

Looked a lot better than a blank screen!
(not strictly a non-film use, but hey!)

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Michael Brown
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1522
From: Bradford, England
Registered: May 2001

posted 08-23-2001 04:57 AM

A good use of scrap film (well technically we use some blue mylar that is around), is to to use it it make a border around the edges inside poster boxes, ect. Since we are a student cinema we use it to promote the fact that we show real film and we are not a student video club

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Sean Weitzel
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall)
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-24-2001 12:57 AM

There was one master, in my opinion in the art of hand drawn/hand painted films:

Len Lye
http://www4.hmc.edu:8001/humanities/mus127s/Lye00/lye00.html

(my fave was always "colour box")

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 08-25-2001 04:14 PM

In a decorate a fish contest a local production company used pieces of film with emulsion bleached along with negative to make scales for their ornamental fish. Film can also be used as an emergency dog leash or coated with some spray stick-um as a substitute for fly catch strips (remember them?). Use old nitrate for road flares.

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Steve Scott
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1300
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 08-25-2001 11:57 PM

Our place uses trailers to hang stockings for each of the employees during Christmas. I also love to go into our huge, open lobby after hours with some unused trailers & see how far they'll roll & if they'll go around corners.

I had one roll from our ticket podium 70 feet into a hallway & 30 feet thru that hallway before falling sideways!

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Christopher M. Belch
Film Handler

Posts: 24
From: Canton, Michigan, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 08-26-2001 12:15 AM

Sounds like fun, drawing our own films!!! Too bad i am such a bad artist that i mess up stick people. One quick think, u r sure that the marker wont come off onto the projector??? Just think of the possibilities, and i will have bigger square to draw in, a full 70 mm (imax)!!! Wow, this is cool.

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Christopher M. Belch
Film Handler

Posts: 24
From: Canton, Michigan, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 08-26-2001 12:17 AM

O, and i forgot, one of our projectionists used to do a little explanation of how the projector worked (we have a big window outside the projection booth). He would cut up pieces of scrap and give them to people after his "presentation." People seemed to get a kick out of it.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-26-2001 01:52 AM

Don't worry about your art abilities. Just let it all hang out. In fact, crummy artwork can actually enhance the effect if you play your cards right.

Start out simple. Just draw stick figures, for instance. When you start to get better at it your creativity will start to flow and things will start to look better.

To make it easier, use the "key frames" principle. That's what professional animators do. Let's start out simple... Suppose you draw a stick figure, waving his hand.
Decide how many frames you want the motion to take. (To keep it simple, let's just say 5.) Draw the first frame with the guy's hand in the starting position, then skip down 4 frames and draw the guy with his hand at the end. Then, go to the 3rd frame and draw his hand half way between the two positions. After that, do frames 2 and 4, moving the hand so it splits the distance between the adjacent frames.
If you want to repeat the motion, skip down 5 more frames and copy the 5th frame and fill the rest of the frames in stages.

Yes, your picture will be all jumpy and squiggly but you can use that as part of the effect. (Kinda' like the "Squigglevision" that you see in some cartoons on TV.)
Don't go for a huge project right off the bat. Do something small. Maybe 10 feet of film. Make your cartoon so that it can be spliced into a loop and run it through the projector that way. After you see what it looks like on screen you'll start to get a better idea of how to draw things. It'll start to "flow" after a while!

As to hurting the projector: I don't see any harm in using markers on a 35mm. The ink isn't going to touch any part of the projector. (If you're careful with your drawing.) Besides, if it does, it should come off the metal parts pretty easily next time you clean. As for IMAX, I wouldn't know because I don't know enough about them.

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 08-26-2001 09:21 AM

For 15/70 film, draw it so that the 2nd frame is to the left of the 1st (as you look at the image right-side-up). That will keep the ink away from the field flattener.

Just don't go and bleach an Imax trailer at random. They cost us $3000 and we can resell them if they're still in good shape.

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