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.
Vinegar Syndrome: my nose came up NEGATIVE on this reel ...
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 ...
Film stock is on an unbranded Black plastic 800 foot reel and has been stored in a POSSO library case (drop down front door) with very basic labelling on the library case and none on the reel.
JAWS (1975)- Super 8 Film
Catalogue # Not Stated on packaging
JAWS (Roy Schneider)
I think everyone knows the storyline ... massive shark takes to adding humans to it's diet (Oh my what big teeth you have and Oh, that breath!), terrorising the young fun loving, beach folk on Amity Island - instantly recognisable sound track!
The unbranded reel is housed in an original POSSO (France) heavy duty plastic case, Brown drop down door.
Leader film has been fitted, but not a film clip.
800' Black reel with feet & metre measurement scales but no branding or country of origin indicated. There looks to be almost 800' of film on the reel but it is not overloaded.
I believe this reel will provide around 35 minutes runtime, I only "test viewed" the first 15 minutes or so
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel is undamaged, straight and true
Labelling has been applied to one side of the POSSO library case only (Red dynatape) - no identification on the reel itself.
NO Vinegar odours coming off the film at all.
NO personal names or other writing on the library case or the film reel
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
The projector film path has been completely cleaned prior to running this film through the machine. I now have a "running sheet", my maintenance schedule if you like - I record when each maintenance is performed (usually after just 3~4 films each clean) because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
I ran the film through the projector for the first 15 minutes or so, to observe the picture and sound and I wanted to look "further" into the reel because when the reel is viewed "side on" I can see a change in the colour of the film stock, I wanted to see what the picture was like in this area.
The film begins quite Pinkish, actually more like a Mauve colour as there is some Green and I suspect even Blues mixing with the Reds which creates this quite strange light Purple effect. The colour seems a little erratic, one minute the ocean is quite Red-Pink and the next, the water looks Green-Blueish in colour. Overall though, the Greens are still present but the Blues much less so. Moving further into the film, where the stock looked "different" side-on, the colour doesn't really change at all, perhaps more Greens and not so Red - when monster of a shark is attacking the boat, the water doesn't look too bad - a Green-Blue colour, sort of like it has Green-algae!
The sound is fine, perhaps at a slightly lower level than other films I have watched but it is clear and easily understandable.
SPECIAL NOTES:
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. The photographs do not do the film justice but my aim is to show that I have confirmed the reel contents and make a quick judgement about the condition of the film. In all cases, the actual picture views much better than my rather crude screen shots.
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 (it doesn't even have a White balance control) is tending to emphasise the Red's in the photographs anyway - in reality the on-screen picture is not as Red as recorded in the photographs.
In my opinion, after this relatively brief test viewing, I am happy that the film is as stated on the outer POSSO library case (JAWS) and it looks to be in reasonable "technical" condition after 50 years!
As with all of the larger diameter "open reel" film I am finding when I sort through the boxes, I am adding a couple of satchels of Silica Gel (for moisture absorption) and sealing the reel within clear plastic. I then also seal the outer library case. This is done in an effort to preserve the current condition as much as possible.
