glen_h Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Discussion in another forum about Super 8 film reminded me of watching 16mm movies in school. I asked my kids (now 28 and 25) if they ever watched movies in school. First it took a while to explain what movies are (that is, film on big reels), but finally they decided no. By then, it most likely would have been DVD, though possibly in the earlier years VHS, but no 16mm movies. Starting about 4th grade, my teacher picked me to actually run the projector. After not so long, I learned how to manual load the usual automatic load 16mm projector, and in later years would volunteer to run the projector. So, not really a question, but if anyone has memories of watching actual 16mm movies in school, and wants to say something about them: 1 -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Yes, but I wasn't quite nerdy enough to belong to the projectionist squad.;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJT Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Sixteen millimeter film was my savior! In fourth grade (late 1950's) I was able to let the teacher (Sister Felcianna, God bless her) borrow my family's 16mm sound projector and she would have the class and I spend the afternoon watching movies. One of my favorites was "Our Mr. Sun", directed by Frank Capra. Great movie, then and now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellinder Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 During high school (1962-1965), several of my teachers used 16 mm short films strictly for educational purposes. I didn't get to see full-length films until late during my undergraduate years. During that period, I needed some extra money, so I applied for a part-time projectionist job in the university library. I got some quick tutoring and then was left to my own devices. Fortunately, business usually was slow so I used the down time to watch films on my own. I wish I could remember which films I saw. On a related note, during my wife's 9th month of pregnancy, I hurriedly decided to get a super 8 camera to document my son's early life. That ended very quickly, when I found I was more interested in trying single-framed movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 I believe I am in the mixed generation. - I have clear memories of video stuff being watched at high school 1982 to 90 but there must have been movies too somewhere. - Elemantary school (only? - Maybe not, stuff was there and paid for...). I had 3 buddies dabbling with 8mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomspielman Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 By the time I graduated from High School in 1982 I'm sure there were some materials we were watching on VHS. My high school job was working at a grocery store and we rented VHS movies along with players so I know the technology was available. You had to put down a pretty massive deposit to rent a player. But for most of my pre-college schooling we were watching 16mm movies. That and "film strips" which I think were 35mm but with the frames oriented the other way. Film strips usually came with a cassette tape or maybe even an album that beeped when it was time to advance to the next frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_hutcherson Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 That and "film strips" which I think were 35mm but with the frames oriented the other way In the still photography world, we call that "half frame" but it's normal "full frame" for 35mm cinema. In any case, I'm too young to have watched 16mm movies-most everything we had was either on VHS or DVD(by the time I was in high school). With that said, I do remember plenty of slide shows and also some film strips occasionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 Ah! the 35mm film strips - here are some selections from one given to me when the local camera store went out of business. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Michael Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Years ago, we used to pay to watch Terry Tatchet’s (2nd form maths tutor) porno movies in the sixth form. . . . haha! . . . maybe you went to the school across the road from me . . . We formed a 'Student Council' in Fifth Form and made many proposals, one of which was to have movie nights to raise money. So long as it was "for a good cause" the Headmaster ticked it off. One of the Industrial Arts Teachers moonlighted as a Projectionist at the Drive ins (remember those?), and my Uncle was GM of a large Drive-in consortium... all very good thus far. Went swimmingly all through Fifth Form and we raised a lot of money for many Charities. Midway through Sixth Form we found an interesting recent release "The Night Porter" - seemed that the Boss had a glance at the advertising and thought it was a film of an historic value - different story the next day when we were called up to the Boss's office to 'please explain'. WW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Michael Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Not luck - we (the newly formed "School Council") chose the movies. The Night Porter, still has class, IMO. A classic of that genre. WW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted August 22, 2019 Author Share Posted August 22, 2019 We had one year "Wait Until Dark", not as a classroom movie, but at the end of the year, anyone who returned all their library books could watch it. That was 8th grade. Two other that I remember, I believe from earlier years and in class, are "Hemo the Magnificent" and "Donald in Mathmagic Land". Both were not new by the time I saw them. It seems that Hemo was even shown on broadcast TV not long before I was born. 1 -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Michael Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 We had one year "Wait Until Dark", not as a classroom movie, but at the end of the year, anyone who returned all their library books could watch it. Hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now