Edwin,
I very much take your point for the need of a full service lab, yes, it would be the best thing. We must present them with business they will otherwise lose and hope that it effects some change. Thanks for your info, it is added to the list now.
x Martha
--- On Mon, 28/2/11, edwin m <ed___209_at_hotmail.com> wrote:
From: edwin m <ed___209_at_hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Threat to 16mm printing in the UK.
To: frameworks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
Date: Monday, 28 February, 2011, 13:59
i think that's a good idea. please add to the list that i will be shooting and finishing an 8-minute film on super16 by around that time. i expect it'll be 2500' minimum (not much, i am poor!)
i think something else needs to be said, too, just so people outside the uk understand exactly what's happening here: five years ago there were a couple of full-service labs in london, and one or two not too far outside. they've been being bought up for many years, with the goal clearly being market dominance - whenever it happens, the smaller facility is wound down and prices go up. there's no issue of sustainability - people are still shooting lots of 16 here. just off the top of my head, i can think of several uk features that originated on super16 in the past couple of years. virtually all of these will have gone through soho images.
it's continuing 16mm facility makes money (they have a central soho location, aren't a charity, and they aren't even denying its profitability). but the main thing is that it is now the only remaining full service lab. i know it sort of seems to be possible to suggest "hey, why not send your stuff for processing in berlin, maybe tk in soho" etc., but if 16mm is to stay afloat as it currently does, there needs to be somewhere you can walk into at 6am with an arm-load of film and come back a few hours later to pick up dailies, or somewhere who can cut and grade your negative, and give you an offline in one of 50 different video formats at the same time. as each of these services disappears for really short-term economic reasons, the whole situation becomes unmanageable, and something profitable and genuinely useful disappears for no good reason.
basically: we must keep a full service lab. not just because it's the only way a feature or large-budget short can be made on 16mm, but also because for someone in my/our position, it's the only way lab work is affordable. if i get 400' of film processed, i won't meet the lab minimum, and will be charged £150 for a simple job (if they're feeling nice - otherwise £200). if it's a full service lab, i can go through the whole process there, making each individual part profitable for them, and meaning i avoid getting hit with minimums five times over at five different labs. and working that way, i get the expertise of the same people who tk, grade, print 35mm commercial work - for all soho images' faults, those guys are amazing, and i for one would not want to lose them. we've got a deal going on at the moment where we're being provided with an industry-standard service that actually manages to make a profit. the risk isn't the removal of a simple service
for no good reason, but that if it goes, our little economy goes too, and suddenly it's even less possible to make work on 16mm.
edwin
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:54:59 +0000
From: cherrykinocinema_at_yahoo.com
To: frameworks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Threat to 16mm printing in the UK.
Dear Frameworkers,
I propose to compile a list immediately, via Frameworks, of all the 16mm print work UK filmmakers will need carrying out by 1st May (some known, some realistically projected), and send this to Deluxe/Soho Film Lab, as evidence that we still present a viable economic return to them. We should include email contact for every piece of work required, so it is not just hot air, and request that the lab themselves tally up an estimate of what this would come to in total, and then they will see for themselves if this is good for their income. I will also suggest that we would be willing to accommodate a change in how they do things, for example should they make printing very part time, or even monthly. Obviously frameworkers don't constitute everybody who will need print work done in the UK, but it's a proactive step that might make a difference. If you know of anyone else who needs work done there, who isn't on Frameworks and might not get this message,
please pass this message to them and ask them to email me the work they'll need in a concise way and I'll include it (cherrykinocinema_at_yahoo.com).
Please email me via Frameworks (not in too much detail) what the required work is, with your email contact written below it. I will copy and paste this into a document to send to them, and will post the final version on Frameworks next week.
If people agree this is a simple and hopefully useful way of doing something immediately, please do this. We can make Sunday our deadline, giving us all 7 days to do this.
Perhaps this could help us persuade Deluxe/Soho that they can operate 16mm printing efficiently for themselves (eg part time or even monthly) to make the best out of it while still focussing on the higher income jobs - especially if the equipment is essentially the same.
Cheers - and send those jobs through asap - before Sunday!
x Martha (from Cherry Kino, Leeds)
--- On Sat, 26/2/11, Gawthrop, Rob <Rob.Gawthrop_at_falmouth.ac.uk> wrote:
From: Gawthrop, Rob <Rob.Gawthrop_at_falmouth.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Threat to 16mm printing in the UK.
To: "Experimental Film Discussion List" <frameworks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com>
Date: Saturday, 26 February, 2011, 15:02
I've used them, they were prepared to run throuh some very outdated and
badly stored VNF which worked out fine. Its the minumum charges that's the
problem. If you want high-quality grading though I couldn't advise.
Rob
On 26/02/2011 14:17, "nicky.hamlyn_at_talktalk.net" <nicky.hamlyn_at_talktalk.net>
wrote:
> They still do reversal processing. It's an amazing place, full of old
> equipment, and run by a dedicated man, Tony Scott, for years, but their prices
> are very high. I'm not exactly sure who their clientele is, but I don't know
> anyone who uses them on a regular basis,
>
> Nicky.
>
>
> On 26 Feb 2011, at 11:18, Pip Chodorov wrote:
>
>> Nicky, just curious if you've heard of this lab that one of the
>> Guardian comments mentions: http://www.film-photo.co.uk/
>> -Pip
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Niagara is a wonderful lab -they are doing a job for me right now-
>>> and Alpha also appears to offer a very good service, but for us in
>>> the UK, there are very few viable, affordable, alternatives.
>>>
>>> Nicky Hamlyn.
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> FrameWorks mailing list
>> FrameWorks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
>> http://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>
>
> nicky.hamlyn_at_talktalk.net
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
> http://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
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