We often talk on the forums about the days of Derann, Walton, castle & CHC and a few others, as well as the recent releases but very little talk ever mentions the short films that Barry of Independent 8 bought us on super 8 back in the day. These films were imports via Rank Labs in Slough however, if it weren’t for Barry perusing them and being able to make them available to buy, the collectors wouldn’t have seen them. They weren’t blockbuster features or digests, but they were some of the best quality, and cheapest one reeler releases we saw on super 8. Barry was lucky to have the labs import these and print them for us and also Derann to help list and sell them, however, like Dave Baker today, he also, (even back then) couldn’t seem to get the support from collectors. As I understand it, in some cases only 20 trailers sold of some titles, no one could say it was the prices as Barry’s were £23 for a 20ft ad reel while Derann’s were £27.95. Like Dave Baker on the other thread, Barry wasn’t going to sustain losses for too long so sadly the releases petered out. My only guess is perhaps at the time collectors were looking out for the blockbusters that were being put out by Derann. Just to remind us of what it was that Indi 8 did put out I have attempted to list the titles here below with the original prices. Just look at those low prices!!!! Some of these trailer reels and the ad reel are sought after today. The VFM reel 5 is one I will keep an eye out for. Here is the list of releases that were put out as imports from Independent 8 films back in the early to mid-90s. Sadly, Ads & things Vol 2 didn’t make it onto the lists due to the lack of support for the vol 1 of which I do have a copy and is reviewed here, (link below this section). As I understand it, only 20 copies of vol 1 sold and the thing to remember about the lack of support here is the fact it was at a peak of super 8 when there were plenty of customers so in the end Barry didn’t go ahead with getting the negative made for No 2. Barry also said, “Another factor may have been that the Disney releases may have killed off a lot of the market at the time as they kept Derann very busy in the early to mid-90s. During this time it got much longer to wait from ordering the negative to getting the finished product, it didn't really matter too much with my releases, but I had to pay up front for the negative and the costs of the prints ordered, so quite an outlay for a small outfit like myself, and there was no guarantee I could sell the 20 ordered let alone go into profit by ordering more. My last few releases never got my my money back, so that's when I called it a day”.

Regarding Indi 8s ads and things No 2, Barry added, “number 2, was never printed as No 1 sold poorly later, Derann re-released it with my permission as one of their last trailer reels and one of my last ever releases "Ads + Things" (this had the Scope trailer to "Papillion" + ads + daysets, again poor sales)”.

Independent 8 Ads reel 1, 200ft colour sound

Independent 8 Ads and things Vol 1 200ft colour sound contains £21.99
TSB trailer sponsorship, Nescafe (deserted seaside shop), super Nintendo games console, Gordons Gin, advert for the Batman movie 1966 video release, 7 up, (man at dam), Lee jeans, (rescuing cow form raging river), Guinness pure Genius, (different to the Derann, this is one the one with the tower & sunken ship), TSB enjoy the film. There are some excellent cinema logos Warner cinemas logo; Gift vouchers; Warner Bros cinema feature presentation; THX sound system logo. A packed 200ft reel with excellent sound and image and very vibrant colours throughout. The logos were presented after all the ads so as Kith Wilton pointed out, you could remove these and use them for the start of your film shows and still have a full reel of adverts. This reel was released at the time with a special introductory price so hopefully it was snapped up. We are lucky to have this excellent reel in full in our collection. Nothing will be cut out, I prefer to leave these as they are.

Ads & Things Vol 2 1 reel colour sound £21.99. Not released despite this review from Keith Wilton in a FFTC magazine.
A second outing for Indi 8 films with another 200ft reel of ads and things, this reel contains, Pearl & Dean opening; Tenant’s multi-screen advert – “The missing body” (in extra vision); Levi jeans, set in the 20s at high school American football game; Duracell – pink rabbits; Simonize liquid diamond polish, model on car bonnet who keeps slipping off; Iron Bru, send up of Snow white with snow white music, Slazenger sport deodorant; Channel 4 film commercial; Nescafe, girl in VW; Pearl & dean closing; Warner cinemas, THZ sound system; warner feature presentation; THX Dolby digital train. Another well put together selection with excellent image colour and sound. Also originally at a special introductory price. While two of the logos are the same on both ad reels, I wouldn’t have seen this as anything other than a bonus. Another full 200ft reel.

Cinema Etiquette monster style. 1 Reel, 2 minutes.
Amusing Gremlins style animated assortment of day sets which include “no smoking”, “no taking” etc. This set makes a welcome change for those who like to include the occasional dayset but who are also looking for something that little bit different. This reel would surely raise a few loud smiles, again print and sound are A1.
Cinema etiquette No two and a half. 1 Reel, 1 minute 45 seconds.
The first item on this reel is an animated American cinema item that extols the audience to leave via the exits either side of the screen since this facilitates easy access to their cars. The next item is computer animated character announcing the various virtues of the cinema and requesting the audience not to smoke or talk during the film etc., one such announcement; “welcome to a wonderful world of motion picture magic” is ideal for the start of any show. Bringing the reel to a conclusion is the Dolby Digital helicopter. Another short winner worth is alone for the DD helicopter.

Congo Trailer.
From the author of Jurassic Park comes this African ape tale: “the myth of the killer ape is true!” exclaims one of the major characters. The reviewer at the time said the sound to this trailer was particularly well recorded, described as very dynamic.
Jumanji Trailer.
Action full, special-effects packed and very very noisy! Robin Williams declaring “he is not afraid” is told, prove it. “It’s a jungle in there” we are told over the closing credits, “it is”. Fast paced, loud and action packed, exactly how a trailer should be. Print and sound, A
Stargate. 2.30 minutes.
No need to see this movie as this fast paced action packed trailer is virtually a mini digest of the feature that has Kurt Russel and James Spader materialise on the other side of the galaxy. An odd mixture of Egyptology and science fiction. Excellent special effects and another “A” for print and sound. One I am pleased to have in my collection.

VFM trailer reel No 1. 1r/ 6minutes 15. Price at the time of release £23
Three fast paced trailers on one value for money reel that includes, Mission Impossible, Total recall and Eraser. At the time these came out the Indi 8 sales lists described this reel as giving you the equivalent of £40 of trailer had you bought them separately. For anyone who likes the modern fast paced violent action films this would have been a must have at this price. Today three trailers will cost you £120 or more.

VFM trailer reel No 2, Scope. 1 reel 7 minutes. £23
Three action scope trailers for the second of the VFM reels.
Star Trek first contact; Executive decision and in the line of fire. Another winner for fans of star trek and Clint Eastwood action films. Print and sound “A” as always.

VRM trailer reel No 3, 1 reel, 6 minutes. £23
Another winner from Indi 8 with three trailers plus a teaser. The nightmare before Christmas, (teaser), The Nutty Professor, (Eddy Murphy), The Nightmare before Christmas, full trailer and excellent Mars Attacks. A crazy reel with excellent “A” image and sound. One I am pleased to have recently bought from Barry. (At today’s price  but eBay’s price).

VFM trailer reel No 4, 1 reel 150ft, Scope.£23
This is one I never did find and am still on the lookout for. The reel starts off with a trailer for the Bet Midler film, Hocus Pocus.
We then move onto the trailer for the special edition of The Empire strikes back, described by the original reviewer, Keith Wilton, as a scorcher, KW said that this release of the trailer was better than the scope trailer originally available for many years previously and benefits from a few teaser scenes from the return of the Jedi. The full trailer for the return of the Jedi follows, although not as good as Empire, it does have several sequences from the special edition with one of the most remarkable of which is the crowd celebration from scene of Tatooine viewed from the air. This is a must for any Star Wars fans and unlike many 35mm print reductions to 16mm negative, this is not too dark.
If you already had the original Star Wars special edition trailer, that one added to the two SW films on this reel would make one of the best all action trailer reels you could find. Print and sound “A”.

VFM trailer reel 5, 1 reel, Scope. £23
This is defiantly another trailer reel I would like to get hold of, “Please stay calm” says a character in this reel: sound advice as this reel is mayhem and conflict all the way through! The scope screen is filled with action from Volcano; Con air and the Fifth Element. Good print and sound as always.

VFM trailer reel 6, 1 reel, Scope 5 minutes, £23
This is a reel we had but decided to sell it on as Mclintock was not a favourite the reel does contain two John Wayne Blockbuster, A tongue in cheek trailer for Mclintock. This trailer contains the water hole mud sequence as well as John Wayne’s battle with his estranged wife Maureen O Hara. The slightly longer War wagon trailer is presented in promo format with John Wayne addressing the camera about the plot and introducing the cast which includes Kirk Douglas as his partner and rival.
The War wagon concludes with the caption claiming that when the war wagon rolls – The screen explodes! Both trailers look as if they came from technicolour master material, a very good action packed reel. Print and sound “A”.


Once upon a time in the West, Scope trailer.
I am pleased to have this excellent scope trailer in our collection and reviewed on the reel magic forum. The colour and sound are outstanding. There is clearly some wear from the original source material but this soon clears and you are left with an excellent long trailer with some fast pace sequences from the movie. An outstanding trailer which fills the scope screen and, makes you want the feature.

A few other trailers which were releases from Barry were,
“Timecop”,
“Ace Ventura, when nature calls”, (another in my own collection),
“Mortal combat & street fighter”, (double bill),
“Star Trek Generations” which was one of Barry’s best sellers.

Today, the costs of having to get a good 35 or 16mm print of a film to hack up have disappeared and as I’ve found out, negatives are not required so I’m not too sure how todays 8mm films are made having to have a negative made, a lot of the cost has all but gone aside the raw materials. While 16mm is different to 8, all the items I’ve had done on 16mm from digital are all stunning prints with correct colours, none have required a film print to cut/edit or a negative to be made.

Tom,

Thanks very much for sharing this. If it is OK with you, I would like to add this info (as may be needed) to Super 8 Database.

Thanks Greg, yes indeed, no problem.

Great list, Tom.

I'd love to find the Ads 'n Things reels. Been looking for those for while. As I used to work for THX, so I'd love to get those trailers on 8.

(I have a few of them on 35, though, but don't have a projector for that!)

It is a very good full reel Martin, the quality is the same excellent standard as the Derran ad reels and on low fade stock.

Well this is a strange thing Tom, as I actually have Ads and Things, volume 2! I'm guessing that it is rare - presumably a couple of check prints were made and I have one of them?

As i understand it and as per his quote in the opening thread, Barry gave Permission to Derann to release it as one of thier last releases, hopefully Barry will clarify as he said it never went to print due to the poor sales of the first one, it could well be that yours is one of the rare ones that Derann had printed.

Guys, it was "Just Ads" No.1 that only had a few prints, I had at least 20 done (perhaps as many as 30 of each title) of each volume of "Ads + Things", sorry for the confussion, Derann re-printed what I called "Just Ads" and gave it there own title. I remember Bob Nicholls phoning me up and saying he'd seen the latest Derann ad reel, but was sure he already owned it, which he did, he was one of the few who actually bought "Just Ads" No.1, I remember him telling me he thought my prints were better than the re-prints!

Thanks for clearing that up Barry, we have vol 1 which as said, is excellent in every way, content image and sound quality. Looking at the price of the day, £23, it seems mad now that so few sold when at the same time, Deranns ad reels were 27.95.
The advert for the VHS release of the 1966 Batman film is funny now looking back as it was obviously the VHS cassette was the latest way to view a movie at home, now the VHS format is just so redundant as will DVD be soon and Blu ray in favour of 4k, then that'll be out dated by streaming, Betamax and laser discs along with DVD HD all took money from people promising to be the latest thing. No one will own anything before long. I wonder how many people have bought and wasted cash on the same film in just about every format gone by yet cine films can still be sown universally around the world.

Here are the covers of my two Ads and Things reels. The price on both of them was £21.99 each!

Thats very good, so Vol 2 is one for me to look out for, Good to know they are out there somewhere.