If we could plant a giant sign with flashing red letters pointed toward your house/apartment/condo/man cave/she shed, it would scream the following: DON'T USE A MOVIE PROJECTOR TO WATCH YOUR FAMILY'S HOME MOVIES!
Why do we sound like Chief Brody from Jaws yelling, "Get out of the water!"? Because movie projectors can ruin vintage films.
Your Super 8mm/Regular 8mm/16mm films can shrink with age or improper storage. The result is that the distance between the sprocket holes on the side of the film has decreased.
But the guts inside your film projector have not changed. The sprocket claws that grab those holes on your film and pull them through the projector are made of metal. They're still the same size they've always been.
So what happens when shrunk film meets a vintage film projector? Celluloid carnage.
The sprocket claws can't consistently grab the film to pull it through the projector. The picture jumps. The film gets stuck. The sprocket claws punch new holes across the images. Your film folds up like an accordion inside the projector. It rips in two. Your nostalgic picture show is now a horror movie.
How can you prevent this hair-on-fire moment from happening to you? Two ideas:
Use a vintage film editor to screen your films first. These editors also use sprocket gears like film projectors, but the posts that the film reels sit on have manual cranks that let you control how fast you advance or rewind your film. If the film has shrunk, you'll feel it slipping inside the editor. However, it won't break. If the film is slipping and not staying attached to the sprocket gear, detach it from the gear and simply rewind it. At least you didn't break it or destroy it with your projector.
Hire us to digitize your films. At Memory House, we use state-of-the-art equipment like the Filmfabriek HDS+ and the Lasergraphics Archivist to create digital files that you can watch on Windows or Macs. These machines don't use sprocket claws to move the film. They're very gentle with your home movies. Result: you're the family hero. You carefully preserved family memories without destroying them.
To be fair: not all celluloid movie film shrinks with age. We often hear from customers after the fact that they've already used a projector to screen their films. Nothing bad happened.
But if your films have spent decades in a damp basement or an uninsulated attic, why take a chance on ruining your one-of-a-kind media? At the very least, give us a call first (513-999-2979) , or send us an email. Let's take a look at it together.
Don't ruin Christmas 1974. Don't mangle your mom's prom. Don't make grandma cry, because you ran her 1956 wedding film through the meat grinder in the closet. Play it safe with the family celluloid. Do it right the first time with Memory House.
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