BENEFITS
OF CONVERTING YOUR HOME VIDEO TAPES AND MOVIE
FILMS TO DVD:
• Your movies will never deteriorate. Your family
can continue to enjoy precious home movies for
many generations to come.
• DVDs can be played back on virtually any DVD
player and have the highest quality picture.
• Navigational menus allow you to instantly and
randomly access any part of your DVD movie (just
like jumping around to a particular song on a
music CD). Take control of your viewing pleasure
with instant access.
• DVD disks are much more sturdy and more compact
for storage than video tapes and movie films.
Minimum
charge $ 19.95 - 24 hour notice of cancellation
required
Price
per foot of film
(8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm, silent or sound) .13 per
foot
Splicing 1.00 per splice
Cleaning and Lubrication .02 per foot
Edits 1.00 each
Titles 2.50 each
Fades and Wipes at beg. and end No Charge
Correcting film wound backwards on reel 1.00 per
reel
Format changes if all 8mm is grouped together,
All Super 8mm is grouped together, and all 16mm
is grouped together No Charge.
Background sound or music added at no additional
charge.
Types
of Film
8mm
(8 millimeter)
This is a common type of home movie film. It is
8 millimeters wide and has sprocket holes along
one edge. The rectangular holes are oriented from
side to side to the film and line up with the
internal edges of the frames. Sometimes the reels
are in boxes that read '25 Feet' but don't let
that mislead you. When purchased, this reel of
film was 25 feet long and 16 millimeters wide.
It was exposed along one edge, flipped over, and
exposed along the other edge. During processing,
the film was split down the middle and spliced
together into a 50 foot reel. It is all silent
film. In the 1950's, Kodak briefly offered to
add sound strips to 8mm film but it required a
special projector to play and was soon discontinued.
We cannot transfer sound which was added this
way.
Super
8mm
This film came on the market after 8mm but resembles
it closely. The sprocket holes are a little smaller
and are oriented lengthwise to the film. A sprocket
hole will line up with the middle of each frame.
This film was sold in plastic cassettes which
were returned to the lab for processing. They
were returned to the customer on 50 foot reels.
This film came in both silent and sound varieties.
16mm
This is a higher quality film which was sold before,
during and after the time periods 8mm and Super
8mm were popular. It comes in both silent and
sound varieties. It is 16mm wide and can have
sprocket holes along both edges (no sound) or
one edge (with sound) of the film. It was sold
on 50 and 100 foot reels. Older film was shot
at 16 frames per second and was usually silent.
More recent film was shot at 24 frames per second
and often had sound.
16mm
film shot at 16 frames per second will appear
to run fast - the 'World War I Syndrome'- as seen
in old newsreels. In order to slow it down, it
must be digitally remastered for an additional
fee. Please call for details if you need this
service.
Movie
Film in Cassettes
Some types of movie projectors required that film
be loaded into hard plastic cassettes. In order
to transfer this film, it is necessary to remove
it, destroying the cassette in most cases. One
type of cassette loaded film is called 'polarvision.'
It is basically super 8mm film but tends to be
a little darker. It usually transfers quite well.
Quality
of Transfer
All
three types of movie film transfer to video with
excellent results. You may be surprised to see
virtually no flicker to the film. Although the
film color sometimes fades a little with age,
it holds up well during transfer. If you had film
transferred a few years back, you may be surprised
to see how far technology has come.
To
really enhance the quality of your film to video
transfer, we can now transfer your Old Home Movies
to DVD. This format offers extremely high quality
results, far exceeding the quality of VHS, as
well as truly preserving your films for years
to come. If you do not presently own a DVD player,
we can make you a VHS copy of your digital transfer
for you to enjoy now and you can archive your
DVD Master for future generations. This service
is slightly higher than the above mentioned prices
for transfer directly to VHS, but well worth the
difference.
ASK US ABOUT IT!
Estimating
Footage
Movie-to-video
transfer is priced according to the length (or
footage) of the film. The same guidelines apply
to estimating footage regardless of the type (8mm,
Super 8mm, 16mm) of film.
If
the film you have is on small (3 inches across,
usually blue or white) plastic reels or in small
yellow boxes, you can estimate the footage yourself.
These each usually contain 50 feet of film. Add
them up, multiply by 50 and you have the footage.
Sometimes,
the film is pre-spliced onto larger reels, and
estimating footage is a little more compliacted.
Reels may hold 50, 200, 300, or 400 feet. 16mm
film can be on even larger reels. Call us for
assistance, or bring your film in to our shop
and let us estimate the footage for you.
Additional
Services
Film
Cleaning
Film cleaning and lubrication are available for
$ .02 per foot of film. This is highly recommended
for film over 15 years old or that has not ever
been cleaned or lubricated. This greatly improves
the quality of the film for transfer and thus
produces a much higher quality video. It does
not remove 100% of the spots and, of course, will
not restore film which has been scratched or badly
damaged. This service is mandatory for film that
is molded, dirty, dry or has any chemical smell
to it. We reserve the right to insist that it
be cleaned if absolutely necessary. It could cause
damage to our equipment.
Splices
and Edits
Splicing (connecting ends of film) consists of:
Splicing
all 50 foot reels together and returning them
on 400 ft. reels
Splicing
together broken film for the purpose of transferring
onto video cassette. If the tape has been temporarily
repaired with tape, it must be replaced.
There
is a charge $1.00 each for the above. There is
no charge for the high quality reels and cans
we provide with the splicing. We generally make
many more splices in the course of preparing a
film for transfer but, unless there are an excessive
number, we only charge for the above mentioned
ones.
Preserving
Original Film
As we prepare movies for transfer, the smaller
reels are joined together into larger ones. Leader
tape is added to the beginning so that we can
capture all of the film action from beginning
to end. Whenever we find blank or totally black
film in excess of about 5 inches, we remove it.
Old splices are often in disrepair and are replaced.
Even film that is given to us on larger reels
often needs repair. The film runs more smoothly
when it is on larger reels. The film will be returned
in metal or plastic cans, which are the best possible
way to store and preserve film. It is wise to
save this original film as long as possible as
a backup.
If
for whatever reason, your movie film must be returned
in exactly the same condition as when you provided
it to us, please be sure to make us aware of this,
as it is very difficult (or impossible) to restore
after the fact. In this case, we can run the film
on the smaller reels, but will have to charge
a $1.00 Edit Charge for each time the recording
deck must be stopped and restarted for reel changes,
cutting out blank or black sections, film or splice
breakage. This can be very costly. We may require
additional time to process these orders since
they require more hands-on attention and take
more time, but we feel that it is important to
accommodate your needs.
Editing
Film for Content
It is not practical to edit the films for content
as we transfer them. If you need this service,
you should have all the film transferred and then
edit the video tape. Another option is to procure
a movie film editor and manually cut and re-splice
the film before sending it to us.
Damaged
Film
Movie film often comes to us in very poor condition.
We will try to salvage film if at all possible.
Some
types of damage are:
Brittle
Film - Due to storage in hot or dry conditions
or due to extreme age. Sometimes we can loosen
this up enough to run, especially if only the
outer layers are stiff. Let us have a look at
no charge, and we'll let you know whether or not
this type of damage can be overcome.
Emulsion
Peeling Off - Due to the same reasons as above.
Usually this film is not worth watching even if
we can get it to run. Again - we will be glad
to look at it. If we can get an image, we will
run it and you will not be charged extra.
Chemical
smell - Referred to as "The Vinegar Syndrome"
After a period of years, sooner or later, a chemical
reaction begins in the film which produces acetic
acid (hence the vinegar smell). This causes the
emulsion to separate from the film base and eventually
ruins the film. Once this reaction begins, the
film deteriorates rapidly and in just a few months
cannot be salvaged. Film with a chemical smell
should be transferred immediately.
Moldy
or mildewed film - Due to storage in an overly
wet place. This film will smell musty and look
awful but is usually in very salvageable condition.
Cleaning is mandatory and may not remove 100%
of the mildew, but the film is usually very supple
and runs well.
Broken
film - This can be re-spliced and run if the pieces
are not too small. Wrap the film on a reel, if
possible, in the desired order. Splicing charges
will apply.
Torn
& missing sprocket holes are not a problem.
Film
which was never processed after exposure - If
it is not too old, you may be able to get your
outlab service to process this film. Sometimes,
if the film is old, the developing process for
this film will be discontinued. There is a lab
that still runs these films (Rocky Mountain Film
Lab 303-399-6444) but you should be warned that
it is expensive (sometimes $ 30.00 - 40.00 per
reel), it may take a year or more to process,
and you are charged whether the film turns out
or not. Call them directly to see if your film
can still be processed. Because of the time involved
and expense, we do not handle this service.
When
sending 8mm and super 8mm film, please make sure
the 8mm and super 8mm film containers are numbered
in order. After the film has been prepared we
then mount the reels on our Telecine 8mm/S8mm
system. Our Telecine macine produce a Flicker-Free
image by using a optical glass prism which synchronizes
standard 18 or 24 frames per second movie film
speed to 30 frames per second of video. This process
eliminates the roll bar or flutter associated
with using a video camera to record the film projection
off of a frosted movie screen. The image from
the Telecine Macine is focused directly on the
lens of the Video camera in an aerial image system.
We use 3 chip digital cameras to record the image
from the telecine Macine. For our clients who
request their transfer onto mini-dv or DVD, we
use a firewire to connect the camera to our digital
video deck. Therefore, there is never a loss of
the digital signal. Once we have transferred your
films to digital tape, we then can produce a DVD
for you. Let 90 Acre Productions preserve your
precious family memories for many generations
to come.
Your
movie film will be returned in better condition
than when we received it. We transfer both 8mm
and Super8mm film to video.
