Our Boomer childhoods were quite well recorded when compared with those of our moms and dads. Growing up in the Depression, when you could either eat or take pictures, but not both, ensured that few photographs of our parents as cute kids would exist. And movies were simply unheard of.
But in the boom years after WWII, our parents could afford nice gadgets like they would never have dreamed of owning in their youth. And they were also very proud of their kids. So many of us were immortalized on 8mm film in our childhoods.
My father didn't have a movie camera. But I had an uncle who had one, and I'm reasonably sure that he shot movies of me. It would be a thrill to see them, but I probably never will.
My wife's parents had a movie camera as well, and also have movies of her running around as a toddler. She was a real cutie, BTW. ;-)
They also have footage of the 1964 Winter Olympics. Cool stuff.
8mm film can trace its origin to 1932. Eastman Kodak released a movie system that used a 25 foot 16mm film roll. The film was exposed, then turned over and exposed again. When processed, it was split lengthwise to produce a 50 foot 8mm movie.
By 1965, the venerable 8mm format received a major overhaul with the development of Kodak's Super 8 system. The sprocket holes were shrunk, providing 50% more frame size. Plus, Super 8 cameras had a built-in filter that allowed you to use one type of film for both indoor and outdoor movies. Previously, you had to buy daylight- or tungsten-balanced film to get the right colors.
Another innovation of most Super 8 cameras was a light meter. Amateur moviemakers now had a much better chance to create a perfectly-exposed film.
Oh, and Super 8 was now one continuous 8 mm roll of film. No more turning a cartridge over and shooting the other half of your movie.
The mid 60's to the early 70's was home movies' heyday. Super 8 sold like hotcakes, and Boomer kids all over the country were being filmed in massive numbers.
That meant that many of us also grew up with the rest of the home movie equation: a noisy projector and a screen to present the fruition of our fathers' cinematic efforts.
One of the first things we learned was how HOT that projector bulb would get! We would generally only touch the metal enclosure only ONCE.
And of course, having company over meant getting everything out and forcing them to watch our movies, which we assumed was as much fun for them as it was for us.
Of course, the invention and eventual affordable price of the videotape recorder caused Super 8's popularity to decline. This is particularly ironic considering that a Kodachrome movie of the 60's that has been kept in moderate conditions is likely in pristine condition. However, twenty-year-old videotapes are frequently unwatchable due to tape deterioration. If you have videotapes you want preserved, you'd better get them digitized quickly.
8mm and Super 8 moviemaking has made a nice comeback, with vintage cameras in good condition available for reasonable prices on eBay and would-be cinematographers using the still widely obtainable film to make movies that have a lot of charm that digital recording lacks.
However, we kids of the Boomer generation can remember when home movies were cutting-edge technology, and how vacations were frequently accompanied by the familiar whir of a camera recording our fun times.
Comments (6)
My Dad has a home movie of me pushing my big sister down the stairs in a Krazy Kar on Christmas Day.
Say, you should do a piece on vintage action figures of the sixties like Johnny West or Matt Mason or Captain Action...if you haven't already.
Posted by Lee | April 25, 2008 4:01 AM
Posted on April 25, 2008 04:01
Here's the sound of a Brownie home movie projector:
http://tulsatvmemories.com/brownie.html
Posted by Mike Ransom | April 25, 2008 9:27 PM
Posted on April 25, 2008 21:27
My favorite part of the home movie experience is when the subjects (usually the grandparents or aunts/uncles) would stand completely still in front of the fruit tree or something like they were taking a photograph. The next thing you'd see would be my dad's hand waving around in front of the lens trying to get some action out of them. It's a movie - move! Ha!!
Posted by Cathy | April 26, 2008 2:22 PM
Posted on April 26, 2008 14:22
Just found your blog - cool stuff! :) I look forward to returning.
Posted by Fourleafclover | April 27, 2008 2:42 AM
Posted on April 27, 2008 02:42
My childhood and my parents younger years are all on the 8mm film reel to reel! We used a Montgomery Ward projector which still works today! We had the pull up portable viewing screen also! All of it was color movies and of course no sound! I remember the splicing that was done when the film broke or the leader broke! The films were stored in the metal cans! I remember the small plastic spools too! Remember when the movie jammed in the projector and then melted! My childhood from the early 60s is still on film and has survived pretty well considering! The MW projector also run by tubes!
Posted by Rivers End | January 2, 2009 7:23 PM
Posted on January 2, 2009 19:23
My father was big into 8mm and super 8 film. We grew up with projectors and film. My father took lots of stuff. My brother carelessly mishandled it and some of it was lost. But most survives. I’d like to get it all transferred to DVD.
But here is the point I want to make. Though 8mm and super 8 were not top quality and resolution and frames sort of jittered and there was no sound, yet these are sought after items by some. Why? In fact, many boomer toys and relics are all such collectors items. Why?
Because there was so much that was good and wonderful about the time. So many good feelings and associations. If there is one thing I could convey to those 10 years or more younger than myself (50), it was that the world was so much better. Everything was better. It really was. Its not just in our heads. Anyone who can barely even remember it will tell you that. You’ll hear it from boomers all over all the time.
So despite the lack of quality, the 8mm has come to be associated with those beautiful times. And in order to replicate the sense of those times, you need the means by which those are best recorded and remembered, 8mm and s8. It goes hand in hand with the time. We have all seen lots of those clips on TV documentaries. Movies use them, too.
Sorry you couldn’t be there, kids, but I really wish you could have been. Telling you will never really convey what we really had. You have to feel it and experience it. Seeing it all on that old film is as close as you can perhaps get to it. Go to YouTube and you can find quite a few of those clips. Try “Redbank” and you’ll see stuff from Redbank, South Portland, Cumberland County Maine from kids near my time, some my friends and schoolmates.
And you might even want to think about how we might turn that clock back just a little to a better time.
Posted by Scott Irv | June 12, 2009 2:32 PM
Posted on June 12, 2009 14:32