SUBTITLED KODAK 1958 film "How film is made"

[Marco B]

Hi all,

You probably have not been aware of it, but after Sal Santamaura originally announced in (there was a url link here which no longer exists) he had discovered the fascinating historic Kodak 1958 documentary titled "How film is made" on the internet, showing the production process of film in a Kodak plant as it happened 50 years ago, Ray Rogers, Denise and Louis Ross and others have been working hard on making an English subtitled version of the film available for all APUG members and visitors to enjoy.

The originally English language film was dubbed in Dutch here in the Netherlands, where it was uncovered as part of a heritage and finally digitized by Frank Bruinsma of the Super 8 Reversal Lab in the Netherlands. He put it on his website, where Sal found it.

Many thanks to Frank Bruinsma for allowing us to use his film and add subtitles to it. And thanks to everyone else who cooperated in the project or gave useful comments and background about the film in Sal's original thread.

So now I can officially announce the English subtitled version. You can view it from two websites: Denise's Light Farm website dedicated to all things related to emulsions and emulsion making, and from my personal website.

To spread the load a bit and to prevent to much traffic clogging up one or another web page:

My suggestion: throw a coin! Head is Denise's website, Reverse site is my website!

Denise's Light Farm film link:
http://www.thelightfarm.com/cgi-bin/showvideo.py

My website's film link:
http://www.boeringa.demon.nl/menu_technic_kodakfilm.htm

Enjoy and best to you all!,

Marco

 

[mooseontheloose]

Fantastic Marco! Thanks for posting it - I really enjoyed it.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Marco;

I used your web site and the video stopped at about 10 minutes with the progress bar at the far right. It could go no further.

A comment about the red solution that I just noticed. Next to the reddish solution, to the left, are bottles of a cyanish colored liquid. That would rule out most everything but sensitizing dyes.

PE

 

[Marco B]

Marco;

I used your web site and the video stopped at about 10 minutes with the progress bar at the far right. It could go no further.

A comment about the red solution that I just noticed. Next to the reddish solution, to the left, are bottles of a cyanish colored liquid. That would rule out most everything but sensitizing dyes.

PE

That thing about the progress bar being on the far right and the video stopping, I can't explain. Probably some traffic issue as everyone is jumping on it. Try it again later.

Send your remark about the bottles and the KBr issue (discussed before in the original thread by Sal) to Ray Rogers in a PM, so that he can add your remark about sensitizing dyes to a document with comments that he is compiling.

 

[Ektagraphic]

Thanks soooo much!!! I have always wanted to be able to see that with English!

 

[BetterSense]

A fascinating movie! It must have been hard to work in the dark. The ending line of the movie was so appropriate: "shoot it while you have the chance"!

I calculated that each one of those silver bars would cost about $15,000 at current silver prices!

 

[Sal Santamaura]

Thanks to everyone for all that work! A first quick viewing with subtitles pointed out one thing not otherwise apparent to me. The spools were steel, not plastic, since they were placed by a magnetic carrier. Perhaps backing paper edge beveling became superfluous when plastic spools were introduced.

Thank you again.

 

[BetterSense]

I don't shoot medium format, so maybe that's why I don't understand about the edge-beveling bit anyway. What is this "edge beveling", and what purpose does it serve, and why would the spool material make a difference?

 

[nickandre]

I can't stop thinking how much film they wasted for that movie. Could it have been some test run or something?

I think it's just careful alignment of the edges of the backing paper.

 

[Photo Engineer]

The edges of the paper are "feathered" to make them thinner and the paper is wider than the inner width of the spool. Therefore, on winding the paper forms a black barrier against the edge of the spool to prevent light leaks from the edge inward. It also tends to keep the paper wound more tightly to prevent unwinding when you break the seal or when you take out a used roll.

That is as much explanation as I have been able to dig up. I have no idea how it is done or what the extra width is, nor do I know the thickness at the edge compared to the middle.

PE

 

[Photo Engineer]

Seeing this film again triggered a memory. The scenes of coating were also published in a book by G. Eaton of EK and copyright in 1957. In fact, I have previously posted those pictures here on APUG.

PE

 

[iamzip]

Would it be alright to share these links on other forums?

 

[jimgalli]

Bravo! That was fun. Thank you!!

 

[ath]

well done.

 

[Marco B]

Would it be alright to share these links on other forums?

Yes, sure, why not, just be aware it might have some consequences for the availability to APUG members at this moment, as the hosting servers of our providers might get a bit of an extra hit. I do hope they are not going to complain... it's a first for me to publish such a big videofile on my website. But anyway, I think it will be found sooner or later and mentioned elsewhere, so in that sense I really see no issue. It's already on the Silverprint website as well...

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Very cool. Any way to download and save the video for future viewing?

 

[Q.G.]

Play it, and then copy it from out of your browser's cache.

 

[Dennis S]

Thank-you. This answers a few of my questions about the manufacture of film. I watched it before but it gave no indication of where light must be limited in the production line. It even contains the grain on the film they used to produce the video.

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

Excellent movie. Thanks for everyone who brought this to us.

 

[doitashimashite]

Thanks a lot. I enjoyed that.

 

[BetterSense]

Apparently this film was pre-safety film? I'm surprised no mention was made of the flamability of the film stock or precautions for fire safety.

 

[Kirk Keyes]

Post safety film. Cellulose can be converted into cellulose triacetate and that (along with other variations of cellulose esters) was often used as safety film. As you mention in the other thread, other polyesters can be used as well.

 

[BetterSense]

Oh. I remembered the video mentioning nitric acid during the emulsion-making part, so I assumed it was the old nitrocellulose film.

 

[Toffle]

I have watched this a few times since the first buzz a month or so ago. Very informative and entertaining... but it is the sound that has been echoing in my mind these last few weeks. After thinking about it, (or rather, clearing my mind and letting the associations create themselves) I am almost certain that the musical soundtrack may have been composed by Raymond Leppard, the British conductor and film composer. Of course, it could just be a product of its time, but the music is very similar to his soundtrack for Lord of the Flies, from the same era.

... just a little bit of trivia of absolutely no consequence...

By the way, I met Mr. Leppard in the late '70s while studying for my music degree in Windsor, ON. Charming fellow (who cussed like a trucker... )

Cheers,

 

[John Shriver]

So far as I can tell from my inventory, the beveling/feathering of the edges of the backing paper continued until the switch to a plastic backed backing paper. It was certainly still so treated when 120 switched to plastic spools in the 1970's. (The other roll film sizes used metal spools to the end.)

From the patent, I think that the paper was "distressed" before it was cut. Pretty much just run it over a flange that stretches it, and puts a dent in the paper. Then cut down the middle of the dent.