Need Help Sourcing Pokemon Film Reels

[Josh Severson]

Hello everyone. First time here. I make niche items like table tops and desktop lamp shades with reels of 35mm film that gets backlit to see the scenes. I have a lot of requests from the Pokemon community but cannot find any trailers or full movies available anywhere. Would anyone here be able to help me? Any help is greatly appreciated. Also i have about 200 movie trailers if anyone is also a collector of 35mm film

[Ryan Gallagher]

I'll bite.

That is probably because Pokemon memorabilia is one of the most collectible items (if not the most) right now. It's rarity is due to everyone and their brother chopping them up to sell as collectible film strips (see Ebay).

There is one complete trailer on ebay at this moment, and the seller wants 50,000USD for it!!!! They are probably crazy but you'll never know what the limit is if you don't try I guess.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275943749954

I'm all for upcycling and reuse. But you'll not find many friends here if they learn you are chopping up otherwise complete 35mm prints for bespoke furniture projects. A trailer or an odd reel might get a pass.... but for the desirable stuff even the odd reels are important to the archivists and collectors trying to complete or repair another print.

Your best bet on pokemon trailers is just to buy large unspecified lots when you find them, you never know, you might "collect them all". ;-) Or find some folks who are into trading trailers and you have a bunch of stuff they want in exchange for the unobtanium. I would list all the trailers you have somewhere linkable, and post in the "wanted" section a "make an trade offer" for any pokemon footage. Considering the prices anyone here would be a fool to just hook you up without serious pause. But imagine you get one, what are you gonna price that lamp or table at? ;-)

[Benjamin Ruder]

Hello everyone. First time here. I make niche items like table tops and desktop lamp shades with reels of 35mm film that gets backlit to see the scenes. I have a lot of requests from the Pokemon community but cannot find any trailers or full movies available anywhere. Would anyone here be able to help me? Any help is greatly appreciated. Also i have about 200 movie trailers if anyone is also a collector of 35mm film

How about printing a reel instead of destroying the limited supply of materials available for archives and projection?

[Josh Severson]

I was unaware you are able to print a reel.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I was unaware you are able to print a reel.

Most of the surviving film labs can do it. But you face some hurdles:

First, Copyright. The studios will take a very dim view of you duplicating a 35mm print. (And BTW the studio's legal eagles DO watch this forum and others like this for film pirates.) Also, many studios still frown upon anyone possessing 35mm film prints (they generally ignore trailers though.) You also run the risk of a lawsuit from the Pokemon copyright holders AND the studio for reselling products with their cash cow IP. (The theatre I worked at had a manager who would make holiday wreaths out of old trailers...he got caught by a studio and was ordered to stop making them.)

Second, you'll need a source (35mm negative, or a print or portion of to have duplicated.) Both processes are stupid expensive in small runs (and using a print will require an dupe negative to be made, or a digital scan and film-out, further upping the costs.) And, due to point one, good luck finding a lab willing to do the work.

Third, the cost will be a lot. How much do you charge for your creations? Can you justify double, triple or quadruple the price for having custom print runs made?

Fourth, As Ryan mentioned, you are definitely in the wrong place to ask for help in chopping up film prints. As I said before, trailers are fair game as they were, in the later years of film, considered a disposable commodity. I personally, (and no one I am aware of based on my years of being on this forum,) would be willing to sell or trade a print to you or anyone else, knowing the intended purpose. So use your trailer collection for your creations, but stay away from the "Hot" IP items (Disney, Marvel, DC, Pokemon, Superman/Batman, etc.) as they can and often will aggressively enforce any real or perceived copyright infringement, especially when used to sell products.)

I am all for creative products designed around film projection (there used to be a company that made tables out of 6,000 foot projection reels that were very cool and sold for a premium) EDIT: You can still get reel tables here: https://www.theaterseatstore.com/roo...ie-reel-tables and, to a limited degree, creative products using old trailer films, BUT you are taking a huge risk asking for prints. And i re-emphasize that even certain trailers can get you in trouble due to the content they hold.

[Emiel de Jong]

Copyright is a huge issue. Apart from that, you could use these services to create 35mm prints from any source material:

https://www.cpclondon.com

[Josh Severson]

Thank you guys for the responses. I had no idea it was a hobby sin to use these for art. I thought it was a better way to show off the product instead of sitting in a reel on a shelf. I guess it’s kind of like putting a body kit on a Ferrari to make it look for modern the Ferrari community wouldn’t sell you their car to be destroyed. So apologies for that. Still if anyone ever sees This that has a full movie or trailers i will be a large cash buyer.

But if someone knows someone that would do a re print for me i would be a buyer and of course help with a finders fee. This way i dont destroy a vintage piece.

again apologies for my bad behavior in the community it was not intended to be insulting. I’m an artist not a menace. lol

[David Ferguson]

I had no idea it was a hobby sin to use these for art. I thought it was a better way to show off the product instead of sitting in a reel on a shelf.

It is very frowned upon here to do that - and most film collectors wouldn’t agree with the description of “sitting in a reel on a shelf” either. Yes, they do sit on a shelf a lot, but film is designed to be projected and when it is, it looks wonderful. If it’s cut up, then that reel is damaged forever, and there’s no way to ever put it right.

There are companies like CPC London who can print from a digital video file (mp4 or similar) onto film, and I actually know a few collectors that have done this to try and replace missing bits from reels (because past projectionists or others have cut scenes or clips out). However it’s very expensive, and is never a perfect match for the reel (you’ll always be able to tell it’s not original).

So as a film collector myself, I’d urge you to not cut up film reels (I’d even say trailers too).

[Ryan Gallagher]

Thank you guys for the responses. I had no idea it was a hobby sin to use these for art. I thought it was a better way to show off the product instead of sitting in a reel on a shelf. I guess it’s kind of like putting a body kit on a Ferrari to make it look for modern the Ferrari community wouldn’t sell you their car to be destroyed. So apologies for that. Still if anyone ever sees This that has a full movie or trailers i will be a large cash buyer.

But if someone knows someone that would do a re print for me i would be a buyer and of course help with a finders fee. This way i dont destroy a vintage piece.

again apologies for my bad behavior in the community it was not intended to be insulting. I’m an artist not a menace. lol

Copyright issues aside. As David suggests, printing your own material from digital to give a reasonable facsimile would potentially be the best of both worlds. As i'm sure you know in your furniture/art creation endeavors... there are more desirable/recognizable moments in any film/trailer. So even if you had what you are after, probably 80% of the footage is ultimately "waste", or at least less premium media to include.

If you were printing your own footage you could just repeat the desirable stuff over and over again! Get 10x the number of your end product from a single "printing" versus an original print/reel.. So perhaps the up front cost of having a lab print something is not as crazy as it sounds, all depends on what people pay for this stuff.

The one "downside'' (or upside from our film preservationist perspective), it only has collectability due to your creative creation and reference to the title, value is not piggy backing on the collectability of genuine vintage film cells.

After all, if you want to continue to make these indefinitely, or make them for impossible to find titles, printing your own footage is probably the only sustainable way to go. Otherwise you are just part of the problem that makes it harder and harder to find good condition material.

You are also in a catch 22 now with materials costs. If a title is popular enough for someone to "request", it's probably collectible enough to be harder to find or more expensive from the get go. Printing your own footage could be a combination of your 10 or 20 most requested titles in one shot.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Just brainstorming... you know what else was designed to be lit from behind.... original movie posters!!

If you are not making movie poster coffee tables now, you should. Displaying them this way is much more in line with their intended purpose, and will not raise many objections here. And they are possibly easier/cheaper to source than prints too. Also easier to scan/reproduce if you want to offer recreation versions too.