Today I finally watched my Star Wars print in scope. I watched through it once before, but did not find my scope lens at that time. Very nice prnt on 2x1200’

There's a new condensed version on ebay at the moment Vidar, for £ 490.00 for the 600ft version, doesn't say whether its scope or flat. Its very odd that some one would spend a lot of money on a "new " print and then sell on ebay as "nearly new " whatever that means a couple of weeks or months later ?. It don't bode well for the new prints,as it suggests there not as good or the quality is not up to Derann's version of the same film, its like buying a new car only to sell it when the ash trays are full, utter madness.............

Very nice Vidar and a much sought after title in the scope full length.
The 600ft version is not a scope print the attack on the death star looses a lot of impact on 4:3. Your print looks immaculate Vidar, is this one you bought recently?
Paul, I did see the one on ebay, not too sure why the BIN price is so high but I'm sure some star wars nut ,(who probably hasn't got a projector) will buy it.

No, not bought recently. A few years back, but only just saw it without scope lens when I moved it onto 2x1200’ so first time æi really got to enjoy it. On Facebook, I added a few videos and it looks better, iPhone camera didn’t focus to well on most pictures. It is really in great condition. Next week wewill do Empire feature. Been a couple of years since it was watched too. Never tire of these films

Hi,

My understanding is the new 600ft digest is far superior quality over the old Derann Scope feature which is not considered to be among the best of Derann films. The Derann feature sold well back in the day, but many say it is a tad grainy and lacks the sharpness of their best Scope films like The Fog, Speed and Master and Commander. Sure the new 600ft digest is letterbox (not full scope) and the image is trimmed slightly left/right to fit better and the sound is mono but image wise the picture is sharper and far better than the Derann version as reports have said. The new 600ft version is also taken from the 1977 version. For those looking for the full feature you are better off looking for the German release on 6x400ft reels in Scope which again is far superior to the Derann version. 2 copies of this have been on sale this year, both is Stereo.

Graham S

If you reger to mypictures, they are blurry compared to the film on screen. Focus isn’t too good on the iphone. I found it looked very nice. The film clips on Facebook looks decent, too bad we can’t upload movie files here

Hi Vidar,

no I wasn't referring to your pictures just comments made by others who have it.

Graham S

I think with regard to the Derann feature of which we also have, I agree it isn't Deranns best, but it is pretty good, there are a few scenes which are grainy, particularly in the desert in reel one, over the years it has become well know but appears to be a favourite among collectors, especially in that it is full length and scope.
As for the 600ft version, it is to be commended as all new releases are, and I can see the image is very good indeed but being letterboxed, you only get two thirds screens coverage on a 4:3 screen, (unless you zoom out on a widescreen), but whats caught peoples eye, (and this was pointed out to me, not me to others, i couldn't care less one way or the other), was the scandalous BIN price of 495, (600 dollars) which seems to have magically dissapeared now there's a bid on it.

Just a question about the 600’, is it from digital source?

I believe it is, as all new releases more or less are as i understand it.
Please correct me if im wrong, but it is good that this popular title has been made available again for those who would like to add it to their collections.

The derann feature come around more often than most i note, perhaps better to have the feature given the price of this cutdown, i wonder how many of these were sold to genuine collectors not prospectors ...... A closed shop when these turn up, and the like, there seems to be an inner circle " a clique " of the same old faces that get them first, and advertise them as all sold or that old chestnut " very very very rare " but i'm selling this one to help you out .........

Paul, anyone can buy these. You just have to contact the seller/distributer. I'm not sure what you are referring to. There is no closed shop, if you have the money you can buy whatever.

As for this new 600ft it is expensive but as reports say it is very well edited and uses different shots to the old Ken digest to tell the story, most which are now faded.

Graham S

HI Graham, who is the distributor you refer to ?, i have looked on steve osbornes site but there is no adverts on there for the film, perhaps you can direct me, as i originally wanted and was very eager to buy a copy of the curse of the werewolf the colour version, but it never materialised or did it ?, so is it from the same invisible source that star wars came from ?. The person on line selling the star wars cutdown originally asked for ideas and requests for titles that might be good sellers and invited people to drop him an email to go on his list, well i'm still waiting for his response, or is it that some people "need not apply ".....

Another important feature of the new Star Wars feature prints, which as Graham has said are of superior picture quality, is the fact that they are finally in the correct aspect ratio. The Derann scope prints cropped the top and bottom of the image, but the new prints have small black bars to the left and right of the image, maintaining the correct aspect ratio and showing more of the top and bottom of the image.

There are advantages of the sharper image on the new version, but where the derann feature, (like all super 8 scope films) crops tops a little, the flat version crops sides I assume, however, where any flat version of a scope film is shown, you lose that huge width which all audiences love, especially on an action film like this, the attack at the end on the death star is a huge winner on the scope screen.
All said and done, the 600 footer is a welcome release for collectors and like all the new releases, does look good on the big screen, even if there is a visual difference to the look of the film. We are fortunate to have the feature of Star Wars and even though some scenes are a little grainy which is well known in the super 8 world, a half hour cut down cannot match the full scope feature, I know it was a long time ago now but our feature was half the price of the 600ft version so there's no way I would pay 350+ for it and as for the BIN price that it was up for before someone put a bid in,
But I repeat, a good release, a good cut down by the looks of it and a chance for those to buy who were after an abridged version, IMO it just cannot be the same watching it flat covering two thirds of a flat screen due to the masking when you can see it full on 10ft wide screen with a little top cropping which is hardly noticed .

I think super 8 did take a big gamble with scope releases, some films did have awful cropping with half of heads gone, fortunately, the few scope films we have aren't like that, those that were, were rapidly sold on.

Paul
Thanks for your reply. The Star Wars digest and many others are sold by Dave Baker in the USA but I'm unclear if he is still getting these films printed given a recent post on here complaining of the sales, and if he isn't is Steve Osbourne taking over?
The Star Wars scope feature, I believe, is from Steve Osbourne but anybody ordering needs to check.

Tom
You raise many interesting points. Firstly going by reviews the Star Wars 600ft digest is not total full frame but rather letterbox with black bars on the top and bottom although the sides are trimmed but not sure how much is missing. However I have read that there are a couple of scenes where the full width is shown and the black bars top and bottom are deeper. A bit like the Jurassic Park digest which shows a long shot of the dinosaurs as wide then returns back to the letterbox so might have a better impact on screen if the death star scene is like this. There is also nothing stopping you projecting the digest 10 feet wide if you have a big enough screen to give you same feeling of watching a scope film.

The problem with Super 8 Scope is that scope does really push the small super 8 frame to the max and you do lose sharpness when watching with an anamorphic lens. This is fine with a stunning print but if it's slightly soft the Scope viewing will be even softer. Sometimes I feel Scope works best on 16mm and upwards.

As for wanting the full feature I partly agree but you know I love digest's when they are edited well and the image is good, like the Jurassic Park digest. If I was offered the full feature of JP for £150 more I'd probably still opt for the cutdown as I can get my super 8 fix in 30 minutes. If I want to see the feature then I can opt for the shiny disc with all the extra stuff on it like making of documentary's. Most of the modern cutdown's I have I am happy with them and wouldn't want the full feature on Super 8. A good example is The Fog 600ft I have which is great but I'm not a lover of the full film enough to want the full Derann feature. I find I'm a shorts man these days and while I do have a few features, most of my collection is shorts and extracts/digests of features. A particular favourites of mine are the 007 intro's which I love. I couldn't afford the full features but wouldn't want them either on Super 8.

It will be interesting to see if these new digests increase in value on the second hand market like the Derann releases have in the past, particularly this Star Wars release as Star Wars has it's own market unlike many other films. These 600ft digests are definitely not cheap but will someone pay £400 - £500 for them in years to come?

Graham S

Thanks for the reply Graham,
Regarding the value of films in the future, thats almost impossible to gauge but I'm guessing there will always be an interest in films to many people. My own guess is that there's no way the value of films will not stay as high as it is forever. I've noticed already that there are some really good titles appearing on ebay that simply do not sell, or take several times listing before they do sell. Equally, there clowns listing trailers over and over again with start prices at £30, even £129 for a trailer to the witches of Eastwick, this only does harm to the hobby and thanks only to greed, hence why I questioned the staggering BIN price of this cut down, it was in line with those who list with very high start prices.

It is also clear this year that sadly, we have lost many long term well knowledged collectors. This has flooded the market with a small percentage of very good titles but equally a very high percentage of faded and worn junk as well as titles people these days no longer have an interest in. The evidence is all over ebay now with some decent titles BUT, the majority is just trash that goes around in circles over and over again. Certain desirable titles will more likely always sell for good money, these are the ones people want.

I've always likes a good cut down, as you said, you can get a good evenings viewing and see many films in one hit, the Jurassic Park 600 edition is definatly one of the best edited films I've seen in all my years of collecting so for me it was a one off. Had i never had got back into 16mm I may well have bought a few others, in particular, the two true lies reels, one I would very much like, but for the price I can get two, maybe even three or more 16mm feature films where the quality does over ride much of whats on offer on super 8 and while 16mm scope still can crop tops, (but I have yet to see it as none of my 16mm scope prints have crops) the image of 16mm is always sharp, scope or flat.

Back to the Star wars edit, and I must make this point very clear, I am not knocking it in any way, I was just bewildered by the ridiculous BIN price, but thats gone now due to bids. It may well go over what the BIN price was but I really do tire of seeing films being listed for OTT prices or OTT BIN, start low and let the bidders decide, that way your going to do better and the customer will hopefully come back for more.
The edit, I'm sure is very good, the quality looks very good as well and the image sharp due to the fact it's a brand new transfer from a digital source. But for us, having had a digest for years before acquiring the scope feature, the widescreen will win over on this title even at the cost of a few grainy scenes, the majority of the feature film is fine. If I want an action packed edit, I simply view reel 4, (or reel 2 of ours which is also on 2 x 1200).

As per my previous thread on new film sales, (permission of David Baker before I put it up), the sales are not that good with one or more titles only selling a fistful, our hobby is in demise and the so called new younger people are not out there. Todays students, (and I know them very well as some collectors know), love the analogue stuff and are always taken back by the set up, however, when I tell them the costs for what they get, they just look, and that look tells me all I need to know. You may get one or two who join the hobby, but when a grand can only buy a few half hour cut downs, then the hobby becomes only for the well off or those have no clue about the value of money. .

I sell to buy, and when I buy it's at normal prices or I go without. If you've seen my 16mm thread on duck you sucker, this a 4 x1600ft feature and the price was well under a new half hour edited crop of a blu-ray. Thats just me putting it in simple terms, NO malice is intended toward any of the new 600ft edits, but hopefully, you may see where I'm coming from.
But long let new releases continue, and Vidar, your feature looks just fine.

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I totally agree with you Tom. As you already have the Derann full length 'Scope' (and stereo) feature buying this new mono 600ft digest will be an unnecessary expense, given the price of it. The only way you might consider it was if you cashed in the feature while prices are high and managed to get a good secondhand copy of the digest cheaply but until then I'd stick with the feature. It must be a great watch in scope.

BTW it will be interesting if this feature gets any bids and what the final price may be.

Werbung: Ebay STAR WARS DERANN SCOPE

EDIT: Don't know why this forum defaults to the German Ebay but the film is located in the UK

Graham S

The SW feature is always an odd one on ebay, it seems to go for anything from £800 to 1800, (a few even more), it all depends who looking and how much they want it as with all sales on there. I must say though, I could never give up the scope feature for a half hour version after all these years, we only paid 180 back then, but It would be a good addition for a ton

Nice Vidar .
I've sold a few of my SWs prints as I fell in love with the new S8 print which have the correct ratio as my old 35mm feature used to enjoy. Sadly that went to pink land but I did read the original sound track for posterity. My new print has that dubbed in Stereo and personally very nostalgic for me. My 35mm feature I used to project early 90s regularly with the slight black bars each side of screen the correct ratio. Memories....

Sounds good but the 8mm scope print is certainly not to be sneezed at, the new one may well be the right ratio but it's still flat and will only fill two thirds of a 4:3 screen.
At the end of the day, as long as it looks good up on the screen its not a big deal, when the first 400ft version came out back in 1977 I cant think of one collector who was bothered about it being less than 20 minutes and only being 4:3

I still think this title in any length or format is baffling at the prices it fetches. It isn't rare, in fact it's probably one of the most common titles that comes up for sale, it's a force of its own, (no pun intended).

As for the scope feature, while super 8 collectors are aware of top and bottom crops on all but the cinevision releases, no one in an average audience ever seems to notice this, and the last reel of the feature, the main attack, stands very well on its own if time is limited.
It's very good for collectors to be able to get there hands on a new cut of this title though.