Sonic Power: Sound and Cine from Home-Made to Hollywood

 

Have you ever watched a movie in silence? And we’re not talking about the old Hollywood films of the 1920’s with the dialogue cards and the over-acting. We mean modern movies which have been muted, say. Or maybe you’ve put together your own indie flick, and watched it through before laying down the soundtrack.

If you’ve done any of this, you’ll have probably noticed just how evocative music in the movies can be. Sometimes you won’t even notice just how much the music or score contributes to, say, the suspense or romance of a certain scene – until you take it away. It’s a case of you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, right?

 

So important is music to movies that some songs are hard to separate from the films they appeared in. Reservoir Dogs owns ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’ by Stealers Wheel. Thousands of people will evacuate the waters if anyone even dares hum the first bars of John Williams’ score for Jaws. And every man in a tuxedo will mentally sing the James Bond theme to themselves – fact!

Many of the old-school cine cameras that came out didn’t have microphones attached. That means when we convert your old films to digital, the scenes play out in sheer silence. For some that’s fine and dandy, but others prefer to enhance their films with some background music – just like in those Hollywood movies we all know and love, it can help add character or emotion to what’s unfolding on the screen.

 

Here at Cine 2 DVD Transfers we offer the option of adding music to your film – so if you’d like easy listening music or even classical, we’re happy to oblige. After all, they’re your memories, and we know how much they mean to you. Whether you’re looking to transfer Super8 to DVD or all types of cine film to USB, we’ve got you covered. For more information on our services, please do contact us on 0800 592433 and we’ll be more than to assist with your enquiries.

The Spirits of Christmas

And so it’s almost upon us. Less than a month to go before we’re all sat around the Christmas tree, passing out goofy presents, watching the Queen’s Speech – because grandma insists on it every year – and arguing over who actually won Monopoly. So, with that in mind, one quick question: what’s your favourite Christmas memories?

 

Maybe it’s that time Aunt Jemima fell out of her chair after one too many Harvey’s Bristol Creams and Tia Marias. Or the time you all had a nuanced debate out over whether EastEnders’ Dirty Den was right to divorce Angie on Christmas Day. Perhaps it was the look on your daughter’s face when she finally – oh, finally! – got that My Little Pony she’d been waiting all year for. Or even your mum’s last Christmas in the old house – you’d never seen so much tinsel and fake snow in your life! And remember the time you were visited by the three spirits of Christmas…

Whatever the memory, you won’t want to forget them. Sure, Christmases come and go, it’s hard to even keep track of them all. It’s the season of looking forward to the upcoming year. But it’s also about appreciating what you’ve got. So if you’ve got a wondrous Christmas from days long gone captured on cine film, you might want to consider having it transferred to DVD. After all, not only can you re-watch and re-live that time you received that awesome pair of multi-coloured socks from your significant other, you can also share it with others, giving them a highly personal Christmas gift.

 

Here at Cine 2 DVD it’s not just wedding and birthday films we can transfer. If you’ve got old Christmas moments captured, we’ll convert those for you too. We specialise in transferring 8mm film to DVD, so you’ll never forget those insanely magical moments. For more information about what we do and how we do it, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0800 592433 or email info@cine2dvdtransfers.co.uk and our professional, amiable staff will be only too glad to assist with your enquiries.

Knowing Your Copyright from Wrong

You may have heard in the news yesterday that two people have been arrested in the UK for pirating the Stallone-Statham-Schwarzenegger actioner The Expendables 3. Turns out that what wasn’t expendable was the $10m revenue the film apparently lost out on thanks to online pirates – at least, that’s the view of the movie’s producer.

 

With the issue of copyright rearing its head in the headlines again, it’s worth bearing a few things in mind. You may not realise it, but Great Britain actually has an entire police department, the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), dedicated to hunting down those who flout anti-piracy laws.

Here at Cine 2 DVD Transfers, we specialise in converting your old films and videos onto the DVD disc format. But that sort of service is reserved for those products for which you actually own the copyright. So how do you know if you own the copyright on your intellectual property?

 

Here in the UK, copyright is granted if you’ve created the work – be that a recording of your sister’s wedding, or an original poem you wrote for your mum’s birthday. That blog you run on the side, you own the IP for that. And you don’t have to do anything in order to copyright anything you’ve created, it automatically comes into effect the moment you’ve made it. Generally speaking, copyrights last life plus 50 years too. That’s why you’ll sometimes see movies and books in the public domain – the copyright expired and no-one renewed it.

But pretty obviously we don’t own the copyright to The Expendables 3 – even if we have the DVD at home. In fact, these days, in the age of digital ownership, you rarely even own items you’ve purchased, at least not in the legal sense. So you don’t own that song you bought on iTunes – you’ve bought a licence to play it; a licence which can be withdrawn at any notice. Same with film and game downloads.

 

If you’re looking to transfer your old home movies, whether it’s birthdays, christenings, weddings, Christmas get-togethers or that old film you made back in school – because you own the copyright to them – we can help. Here at Cine 2 DVD Transfers we’re always on-call to convert your cine films to DVD for you to watch and share once more. For more information about our services, please contact us on 0800 592 433 or email us at info@cine2dvdtransfers.co.uk and we’ll be glad to assist.

Why Transfer Your Old Film?

There’s nothing more special than a present that’s come from the heart, and we believe that here at Cine 2 DVD Transfers, we offer just that.

Our services are unique, and provide you the chance to rediscover old film footage through modern methods, making those memories able to be re-lived over and over, in the comfort of your own home.

 

So, if you’re still not sure as to how our wonderful service works or are currently worrying about unique and special gift ideas for your loved ones – here are just a few reasons why choosing to transfer your cine film to DVD may just be the ideal present you’ve been looking for!

It’s special

Years ago it wasn’t as easy to make memories as accessible and easy to record as it is today. Some people may have their wedding footage, birthday parties or the growing up of their children stored away in the attic on a format that no longer exists, so why not make these memories able to be seen again?

And what better way to do it than through a loving gift?

We offer conversion services that cover all reel sizes, including Regular 8, Standard 8 and Super 8 so whatever your film, we can transfer it to DVD – a perfect gift for a birthday, anniversary or Christmas.

It’s unique

We can pretty much guarantee that when gifting a DVD to a loved one full of lost footage, old memories and ‘the good old days’, no one else will have bought that person the same gift, so at least you don’t have that to worry about!

As DVDs are now the most common form of video playing medium, not only is your gift modern for those who may not be aware of such services, you are also providing loved ones with watchable moments of other loved ones and those who may no longer with you to celebrate such special times. We really can promise that our services are of such high quality that your loved one will not be disappointed with your special and unique gift.

It brings the family together!

There’s nothing better than curling up on the sofa on Christmas day, or any other night in the year for that matter, with your family and watching home-made movies and embarrassing footage of years gone by. Nothing brings a family together quite like old footage, no matter how embarrassing, so even if you don’t want to gift the memories, once on a DVD and easy to access – family parties are sure to get a little more interesting! It’s sure to be a great topic of conversation round the table, and it’ll give you all something different to do together on a wintery evening when you don’t want to leave the house and fancy sitting in front of the TV with your nearest and dearest and a glass of wine! Lovely!

Memories aren’t forgotten

Of course, we understand that special memories don’t always need to be watched to be remembered, but our service makes sure that no memory or special event becomes obsolete as it becomes impossible to watch cine film. With modern technologies forever changing, we provide you with the ability to move memories forward, no matter how old.

Here at Cine 2 DVD Transfers, we offer a unique and special service which allows you to bring memories from the past to today, allowing them to be watched, remembered and enjoyed for years to come. For more information or advice, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly team on 0800 592 433 today!

Lights, Camera, Action: The Many Types of Film

People have pretty loose ideas about film. They know how to watch them – either at the cinema, on the small screen, or on their laptops – but they’re not always sure how they actually come about. But when you think about it, there are loads of different types of film, from the classic Hollywood-style 35mm, to those home movies shot on 8mm.

With that in mind, we’re going to take a gander at all those different types. In doing so, we’ll explore their history, their general uses, and just what you can do with cine film in a world seemingly dominated by digital production. So let’s begin this journey at the beginning, starting with…

 

Movie buffs and photographers the world over will instantly recognise 35mm. For film-makers not shooting on digital, 35mm film is the industry standard – and it’s been that way since 1892, when Thomas Edison used film stock supplied by George Eastman – he of Eastman Kodak fame – for his Kinetoscope. Though Edison tried his best to licence his design of 35mm film, his patents were declined and, in 1902, the courts ruled that everyone could use the format. It paved the way for 35mm, with its distinctive 4-perforations per frame, to dominate the industry right up to the present day. However, despite its look and use, 35mm isn’t generally considered to be what’s known as cine film. That’s typically reserved for…

If you’ve never heard of 9.5mm cine film, there’s a reason for that – it’s pretty rare. The format was mainly popular in the UK, France and a few other European countries at the turn of the 20th century. The world-famous Pathe pioneered the 9.5mm – part of their Pathe Baby range – in order to give home viewers the chance to watch commercial films in the comfort of their living room. You can easily identify 9.5mm film by the single centre sprocket between each frame. Some film aficionados still make use of 9.5mm, but for most, the format is more or less obsolete. Far more popular was…

 

16mm came about as a cheaper alternative to the expensive 35mm. The cine film was developed by Eastman Kodak and released in 1923. One of the main reasons for its introduction was to offer film fans their own opportunity to create movies – usually these would be wealthy families, given the cost was, although less expensive, pretty prohibitive. Film was still a new medium, and cameras and projectors weren’t cheap either. In fact, there have been three kinds of 16mm released – the standard 16mm, Super 16mm, and Ultra 16mm. Over time 16mm was also adopted, for quite some time, in TV productions before video and digital formats took over.  You’ll recognise if you have a standard 16mm cine film in your possession by the two sprocket holes on either side of each frame. Although 16mm film was intended for amateur film-makers, it was superseded, a decade later, with the arrival of…

 

If you’ve ever owned a camcorder, you’ll have probably heard of the term ‘8mm’ – although during the 1980’s and 90’s they tended to come in cassettes, the original 8mm film came on a regular reel. 8mm was originally made by the Eastman Kodak Company and introduced to the public in 1932, as an even cheaper alternative to both 35mm and 16mm film. Despite the quality of the images captured paling, when compared with other film types, there was no stopping 8mm – it became the cine film de rigeuer of amateur movie-makers, and remains probably the most popular cine film ever made. It gave everyday people the chance to capture those life moments, like weddings, birthdays and christenings, and remember them forever. In the 1960’s, Kodak produced the far superior Super 8 format, which offered a higher picture quality, and was marginally more popular than the original 8mm. And so…

If you have any type of cine film stored away with no way to watch it now, we can help. Here at Cine 2 DVD Transfers, we have over 30 years experience specialising in converting any type and size of cine film to DVD digital format. That means you’ll be able to re-watch, re-live and remember some fantastic memories. For more information, please contact us on 0800 592433 or email sales@cine2dvdtransfers.co.uk.

Getting Your Films in Order

We’re often asked how our customers can get their cine films in to some sort of order prior to conversion to DVD when they don’t have a projector to use. We are pleased to be able to offer loan of a hand cine viewer at a one off cost of £30. This includes delivery of the viewer, subsequent collection of the viewer along with your order.

 

How We Transfer Your Cine film to DVD and Digital

When choosing who to entrust your family cine films to it’s important to understand the process and techniques that will be used. Whether you are transferring Super 8 to DVD or perhaps Regular 8 direct to digital.

This is how we at www.cine2dvdtransfers.co.uk work.

Firstly your cine films are inspected for physical condition. Any splices that might need repairing are remade. Poor quality leader is also replaced.  Often we will splice smaller 50ft reels together to form larger reels. We do this as it is more efficient and helps us produce the best transfer from your cine films. For splicing we use splicing jigs made by the world renowned CIR company of Italy. This splicing method uses crystal clear splicing tape and edge to edge alignment of the ends of the cine film.

The next step is the scanning.   All 8mm cine film is scanned using one of our Flashscan HDs

 

Cine film is air dusted and passed over a pair of particle transfer rollers so that all loose dust and dirt is removed.  Ask us about additional wet cleaning for exceptionally dirty cine film.

Next the film is scanned.

The Flashscan HD is a high definition sprocketless scanner which outputs at 720p. Full hardware based video processing along with software signal processing ensure superb results. The high energy flashing LED light source offers both scratch concealment and unrivaled colour rendition. An operator monitors and controls the Flashscan at all times.

The 720p avi files that we capture are stored on our in house NAS raid arrays, ready for the next stage of the process.