AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 5-20-2025

Hello everybody. This is Skip Alzheimer. Welcome to the AV Geeks lunchtime streaming show. We watch old 16mimeter films and this is a pre-recorded show because I have a prior commitment that's right during lunch. Um my mom is vi visiting so good to see her. and get to show her the work that's being done at the archive uh etc. So today have lots of films lined up. Uh first of all uh here's a film that uh I showed when I did a physical media screening um films about film in Durham a couple of weekends ago. This is uh how to do uh make films but without a camera. It's called ink paint scratch and it is pretty awesome. I've done workshops where uh we had kids kind of make their own films um using the techniques showed in this film. Next is uh another film from that uh show that I did, the handy dandy do-it-yourself filmmaking film. I've shown this before, but I did a new scan of it. Um, and this was one of the the films uh that has a song that was in the toetapping tournament um internally but didn't make the cut, but it's still pretty catchy song. Uh, and uh, one of the people, one of the kids in the film is Jim Cohen, who is now a uh, documentary filmmaker. So, uh, it's stuck. Uh after that is a cornet film shape hunting circles, semicircles and ellipses. Then another cornet film which is little lost burrow uh which we saw some time ago but um it's still pretty good. It's a new print I scanned. Uh, and then finally, we're going to end with a a film called Inside Inside Out, which is basically a kind of a introduction to that series, the educational uh television series Inside Out, and talks about how kids watch it. You get to hear teachers talk about it. And uh so the reason why I'm showing that is because tomorrow, Wednesday at 1:00, we're going to have the filmmaker who made uh several of the Inside Out films. This is back in the early '7s, 72,73 and uh John Alman. And he's going to uh talk about some of the films he made uh live um via the internet. Uh, and we're going to have Owen Gotautleb who is a uh media educational media um academic in Rochester and uh he's going to kind of facilitate the discussion and then you get to ask questions at the end. And so John Alman uh of the Inside Out series that he did, he did Bully, which we're going to watch, and then we'll watch segments from other films that he made uh including Someone Special, which I love, uh and uh Donna, Breakup, and then the the the film that was banned um in Boston uh from television, public television, uh in my memory, and he'll talk about those and how he was drawn to all these controversial subjects in the early '7s. So hopefully you can join us tomorrow for that. Uh if not, it'll be recorded and it will you'll be able to watch it later. But um I love having filmmakers on because especially ones who have done films that have affected me. Uh I saw Bully um when I was homesick. Um and so what would happen is uh all the local educational uh television uh things would show stuff that would be shown then in schools with schools had televisions and I happened to watch it when I was at home and I didn't have anybody to process it with. So, one, I was sick. Two, there's this emotionally charged and you'll see why tomorrow. Uh, film about a kid who's being bullied and what happens and it is it's something and it still resonates in my head. Um, so maybe I get to process that with him. I get to find yet another filmmaker who I can sit and talk about the films that I saw that traumatized me as a kid. Um, anyways, uh, thanks for watching today. Very much appreciate you and your eyeballs and your comments. If you like what you saw, uh, or watching, hit the thumbs up, hit the like button. You can also hit, uh, go to ko-fi.com/avgeeks or patreon.com/avgeeks. Those are great ways to support us. Uh, other ways is using the superthanks button in YouTube. Anyways, uh let's watch some films. Enjoy. Hi, my name is Robert Sworth and I'm going to show you an easy way to make movies without a camera that you can see right away. [Applause] Any size film will do. I'm using a piece of a Super 8 home movie where the pictures didn't come out. film has a coating on one side called emulsion which can be scratched off. Then you can add color to either [Laughter] side. The best thing about making a movie this way is that you can show it right after you've drawn it. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Here's another method. Drawing on 16 mm film with pen and ink. Can you figure out what I'm drawing? [Laughter] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] You can paint with food coloring or Easter egg dyes, but they will stick only to the emulsion, the side of the film which can be scratched off. Remember, another way to add color is to dip the film just like Easter eggs. I have already drawn some bouncing balls with color markers. Have you ever thought of using a toothbrush this way before? [Laughter] These are some of the techniques I used in a film I call the chameleon. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] After making several films, I wanted to try one with simple animated characters performing in time to music. I sent the film to the laboratory to have a black and white print made. Next, I added color. All of the actions were drawn to fit the music from an old photograph record. [Music] down. Heat. I love you. [Music] Super eight camera check. Exposure meter check. Tripod check. Film check. Tape recorder check. Microphone check. Tape check. Spare batteries check. Lens tissue check. Shot list check. Okay. Well, this year at school, our class started a film making project. Yeah. We learned how to use a Super Eight movie camera, light meter, tape recorder, and all sorts of other equipment. So, this weekend, our school said we could borrow their equipment and start shooting our movie. [Music] The hardest thing was trying to pick a subject for our film. Yeah, we went through all sorts of ideas. We finally figured out that since we're shooting movies, we should find a subject that has some movement and action. That's why we decided to make a film about jousting. There are horses, knights, ladies in costume, and lots of excitement. Child, jousting is Maryland's official state sport, and it's been carried on ever since before the American Revolution. Basically, each rider tries to land little rings that are suspended above the course. Anyway, it sure turned out to be a beautiful day to go out in the country and do some shooting. Pack away your film for a day in the country. Making a movie on an afternoon. You planned your day ahead of time. Your camera's all ready. Great things will come. A filming for fun. All the things I see and know. I've got them on film to show. There's nothing in this world I can't see. Gee, my camera. My camera and me. My camera. My camera and me. There's much to be said for one's presentation. Keeping your audience in mind. pieces will fit for editing later to film a charging horse who runs along the course. All the things I see and know I've got them all filmed the show. There's nothing in this world I can't see. G my camera. My camera and me. My camera. My camera and me. cameras and tripods and other equipment. Seems there are many things that could go wrong. But you'll soon see the techniques are simple. Everyone should try his hand at shooting. I feel all the things I see and know. I've got them on. Film the show. There's nothing in this world I can't see. G my camera. My camera and me. My camera. My camera and [Music] me. This Super Eight camera is like most of the ones you can buy these days. It has a viewfinder that looks right through the camera lens. It's called a reflex viewfinder, and it's the best kind to have because the picture you see is exactly what the film is getting. [Music] The controls in the camera are really very simple. It has a dial to set the camera speed. 18 frames per second is a standard speed for Super 8. And a dial to set the lens aperture. The lens aperture controls the amount of light reaching the film. And on lots of new cameras, it is set automatically by a light meter built right into the camera. This camera has the automatic aperture, but we also learned how to use a separate exposure meter so that we can always use cameras that have to be set [Music] manually. To use a light meter, first you look on the film box to get the ASA number. This number refers to the sensitivity of the film. And you set the light meter so that it shows that number in the ASA window. We're using Kodakchrome 2 and it says ASA 25. So, I set the meter to ASA 25 here. [Music] in the little window. You set the meter dial to this number and the scale tells you how to set the camera. It's quite simple once you figure it out. Of course, there are all kinds of different exposure meters, but each one comes with an instruction book that shows you how to use it. The tape recorder is even easier to use than the camera. This one uses cassette tapes, and to load it, you simply snap the cassette in place. Just press the record button and turn it on to start recording. It's a good idea to tape a short test to make sure you're getting the right amount of recording volume. And you should always hold the microphone as close as possible to the sound you're recording, but this is about as close to the horses as I want to get. I hear you're a champion. Can you tell us what you're a champion of? Well, I'm the national jousting champion. I used the recorder to tape an interview with one of the jousters. I figured we could use your voice in the narration of our film. I think it looks a lot easier than it really is because you have to be able to ride the horse and hold the lance and uh make the time through the track and get the ring all at the same time. Can you tell us what jousting is all about? Well, the object is to have the horse trained to run through the track and you keep your undivided attention on this ring. The minute your horse spins around, you you uh get sight of this ring and you concentrate on it. The horse must run on its own through the track with not paying any attention to anything that's going on on the side. Thank you for the interview. You're welcome, Yane. [Music] Our camera has a zoom lens which can be operated manually by this lever or else electrically with this switch. [Music] [Applause] The electric zoom is usually smoother, especially if you're trying to hold the camera steady at the same [Music] time. You can zoom in or out while you're shooting if you want, but our teacher said most beginners get carried away and zoom all the time. [Music] Another thing we learned is always to use a tripod for shooting things that don't move themselves, like buildings or trees. This is especially important when the lens is set to get close-ups. Without the tripod, our shots would wobble around too much. Of course, if you want to handhold the camera, you should use both hands to try to keep it as steady as [Music] possible. From watching films at school, we learned that you should try to shoot each subject from a couple of different angles. First, you should try to get a wide view or long shot as they call it so that your viewer can see the whole subject. Then, you should move closer and get medium shots and close-ups to show the interesting details. Later, these different shots can be edited together to make a more interesting story. Memories are made on days like today, but memories are hard to show all your friends. Capturing a story with camera and recorder. Memories will be something to see. All the things I see. I've got them on film to show. There's nothing in this world I can't see. My camera. My camera and me. My camera. My camera and me. There's a lot to see with your camera. Subjects are constantly moving. Keep your head cool. Always remember, carefully choose the things that come to your mind. All the things I see low. I've got them on. Film the show. There's nothing in this world I can't see. G. My camera. My camera and me. My camera. My camera and me. [Music] Well, we sure had a lot of fun shooting our film. Yeah, but shooting the film is really just the beginning. The next step is editing all these shots into a finished film. But you can see how we did that in another movie called The Handy Dandy Film Editing Film. And I've got them on film the show. There's nothing in this world I can't see. G. My camera. My camera and me. My camera. My camera and me. [Music] Someone behind. [Music] What's special about a circle? It's a closed curve with no beginning or ending. Every point on a circle is the same distance from one point, the center. How are these two circles alike? They have the same center. What makes one circle larger than another? A longer radius, diameter, and circumference. Now, let's go hunting for circles. [Music] Hello. [Music] Now you know about circles. Remember a circle has a radius, a diameter, and a circumference. [Music] What's a semicircle? Half a circle. The diameter of a circle divides it into two semicircles. Sometimes you see a circle as the outline of a sphere and a semicircle as the outline of half a sphere, a hemisphere. Semi, hemi. What are we hunting for? Semicircles and hemispheres. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Now you know a semicircle is half a circle and makes the outline of a half a sphere. [Music] What's this shape? An ellipse. It's different from a circle in one important way. To draw a circle, you need only one point. The center. The center is the same distance from every point on the circle. But there's no center that's the same distance from all the points on an ellipse. Now, let's go ellipse hunting. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Now you know how to find ellipses. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] It was the beginning of another hot summer day on the great desert. The mountain foothills and the rocky flatlands below were slowly warming beneath the sun's steady rays. The desert life was stirring. One by one, the animals were leaving their homes and hiding places to search for food. A little band of wild burrows had been awake for several hours. They had spent the night together, huddled closely to protect themselves from the chill night wind. But now the sun was up and they were all busy looking for desert plants to eat. Well, almost all of them. One little burrow, Blanco, was still content with his mother's [Music] milk. Blanco's mother took good care of him. No matter what she was doing, she always wanted to know where he was. She made sure he didn't wander too far from her side. [Music] Blanco would have been happy to stay with his mother like this forever. But on this particular morning, his mother saw something that would change their lives. [Music] She knew that she and Blanco might be in danger. The riders hadn't seen them, so for the moment at least, they seemed safe. But suddenly, the riders were thundering past them. And then, without warning, they were coming right at them. [Music] There was nothing poor Blanco could do to help his mother. These men captured wild burrows and then offered them for sale to prospectors. Burrows are good pack animals. Prospectors use them to carry their equipment up into the [Music] mountains. Blanco's mother didn't want to go into the truck. She didn't want to leave Blanco. Blanco was sure he would never see his mother again. [Music] For the first time in his life, Blanco felt all [Music] alone. His mother was gone. Who was going to take care of him now? Who would protect him and feed him when he was hungry? Would the other burrows? They didn't want to be bothered by another burrow's baby. Because none of the burrows wanted to take care of Blanco. It seemed that there was only one thing for him to do. He had to leave and try to find his [Music] mother. Days passed. Blanco was hot and very hungry. And what was worse, he was lost and without a friend. [Music] But what was this? A rabbit. She looked friendly to Blanco. So when the rabbit hopped away, Blanco tagged along behind her. Blanco followed the little rabbit all day and into the night. He followed her to a ghost town. She hopped on ahead of Blanco. Now, while Blanco had been following the rabbit, something else had been following them both. A hungry bobcat. The rabbit ran on. She seemed to know her way around the town, but it was all new and strange to Blanco. Now, as Blanco tried to catch up with his friend, the hungry bobcat was doing the same thing. [Music] When Blanco finally came into the town, he couldn't find his friend anywhere. But he did see what was after her. And then he saw the rabbit running for her [Music] life. The rabbit and the bobcat ran under the wall of an old wooden house. Just one board was holding it up. Blanco kicked at the board and the wall came down, trapping the bobcat. But the rabbit was safe. The rabbit ran and Blanco followed as fast as he [Music] could. And after the sun had risen on a hot new day, they were far away from the ghost town. When the rabbit stopped at a cool stream, Blanco was glad. He was tired and hot and very thirsty. [Music] The cool water tasted good. Blanco hadn't found his mother, but at least he thought he had found a friend. But then the rabbit saw something. Another [Music] rabbit. And the new friend he thought he had hopped away. And he was all alone again. Poor Blanco, still without his mother, again without a friend. Now all alone, he wandered about on the desert. Days passed. He was so hungry. Sometimes he tried eating the desert plants. But he hadn't learned which ones were good to eat. He came upon all kinds of interesting creatures. Some were very dangerous. Poor lonely Blanco. How he missed his mother. Now he was sure he would never find her again. It was the beginning of another sad, lonely day for Blanco. And then he heard something. When he saw what it was, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was his mother, loaded down with an old prospector's equipment, heading for the [Music] mountains. The prospector could see that Blanco was his burrow's baby, so he let Blanco tag along. At last, Blanco was where he wanted to be, with his mother. She would teach him everything he needed to know and she would never ever be taken away from him again. [Music] [Music] The following is from National Instructional Tele. television. This program was supported by Exxon Corporation and developed in association with 32 educational agencies. [Music] You shouldn't keep your opinions to yourself. You should have a discussion because you it lets you um bring your ideas out and from inside to out and I think that's part of the reason they named it inside out. Heat. Heat. [Music] There's no more deers allowed [Music] this time. She's going to do it. She's better. I think we should take it. She's She's got to do it this time. Here comes Clarissa. Ty, listen to me. Stupid. You shouldn't have to do this. Why do you think you should have to prove yourself? Look at her. She's going to chicken out. Look, I didn't think you were going to come here to talk to me. Just do the dare or don't. Either you can't let her do it. Don't do it at all. And then don't be around with her. Get around with the No, we can't let her do it. We're going to let her do it cuz she going to. Either she's going to or she won't dare at all. Or else. Go go go go go go go. Oh, come on. What kind of ending is that? Expect us to decide what she's going to do. All them educational shows have them kind of endings. They don't tell you they don't tell you um what's going to happen. So, you got to figure it out yourself. I I I don't really think I'd do it. I think she should have because everybody else had a dare and she didn't have her dare. So, I think she should have done it. They were a a lot luckier. You know, they were really lucky. And even if they You aren't making an example out of anybody. You're talking about a program. You're talking about something that could happen to any child. And they're looking at real children. You aren't talking about it in a book. You aren't looking at something that really has nothing to do with them. And this is something that's very exciting to children. When the child who is an actor is doing something like the children are in this program so well that the children forget that they're actors, you have got it made because they respond. They are the person taking the deer. They are the child trying to decide am I going to cross that street? would I do it? In the program called Must I, May I? The children were able to identify with the uh Debbie and Bobby, the boy and girl that were in the this program and they were able to see that a lot of the things that happened to each of them happened to other children or maybe even happened to themselves. Jackie, I think he just stepped right up to the problem and tell his parents he was old enough to take care of himself. He didn't need any um anybody to say, "Watch out. You can't cross the street. Be careful." He should just tell his parents he's not a baby anymore. And step right up. And then they might let him do more things by himself. Bobby, watch what you're doing. I told you to be careful. Want a ride? You can put the bike in the car. No, I'm just going to Chris's. Chris isn't home. I already phoned to make sure. I think you better come with me. Then I'll go to John's. You know, you've got to cross Blue Street to get to John's place, and your father forbids that. I don't want to go home. Why can't you leave me alone? Oh, stop being such a baby now. I'm not a baby, and I'm not going home. Well, don't get lost. I first give him a little responsibility. And if if I was Bobby's parents, and then if he asked for more responsibility, we give him a little more. And if I was Debbiey's parents, then um I I would get I wouldn't give her so much responsibility. I can't I have to take Philip and Cory to daycare. We can't finish it unless you come. Why do you have to take them every day? What's wrong with their mothers? She's away. Watch it, Phillip. Maybe I should get Peter to take him. Peter, you take them today. They're your cousins, too. I'm busy. Hey, see you later, Dad. [Music] Why do I always have to do everything? I wish I live someplace else. If I were Debbie, I would try to get get the kids to somebody who knew knew more about housekeeping and have them do it. Well, if I was Debbie, I would tell my um mother to keep her if she was home. I really don't think that Debbiey's mother was home. I think that she was probably working at a place where she wouldn't get out till late. And when she did get home, I think that Debbie should tell her mother to have her brother do some of the responsibilities cuz she couldn't do all of the responsibilities. The inside out program is something that a child can make a part of himself. He has to think about it. He has to look at it. He has to interpret it. And then the beauty of the beauty of adult is it's not just what he's thinking. It's what he's thinking and what the group lends to it. [Music] Hey, Stewart. I heard you were moving to DC. Could I have your bike? Could I have your boat? You three guys don't have to worry. You're not getting any of my toys. I'm going to tell my papa all about it tonight. I'm not going. You better watch out. I heard that those boys are pretty tough up there. I don't need to worry. I'm not going. We'll see about that. How was school today? Fine. We saw a real good movie. Uhhuh. It was about a farm boy and his father couldn't make enough money. Money. Oh, yeah. And so they had to move. And the boy had a boat and a dog and a bike. Remember last year when we moved away from New York? I do. Remember how mad I felt? Well, well, that boy felt just like me. Mhm. And after the and after the show, we um Mrs. McCarthy and us talk talked it over and she asked, "How did we feel when we moved away?" Oh. And how did everybody feel? Mad or sad or maybe even happy? Hey, what subject was this column? Was it social studies or what do you mean? Well, you know, in what subject did you see the film? Mrs. McCarthy said it was inter inter but it was a real good TV show. It was daddy. I don't know. I think it's down by the boat. Well, when Well, I want to tell him that I'm not going to DC with you guys. Well, shoot. It's going to be fun. All my friends are down here and my relatives and my dog. My bicycle. Wow. Your bicycle. You can get a new bike. Probably get stolen. Look, you can't go no place else. You got to stay with the family. You where you want to go with the family. Where are you going to stay? I stay at grandma's house. Now, now look, you have to go to get children to do things for you or to work. Sometimes you have to know them because it's very difficult in a group of a large children or maybe in a team to find out what they're really like. When you use these programs, you don't have to make a judgment. They don't have to look for what you think. They can look at the program and express themselves. you haven't pride, you haven't asked personal questions, but you find out all of these kind of things and you can do something about what some of their problems are if you can find out about them or sometimes they can help to solve other children's problems. The great part about inside out is the fact that we can we can provide uh health education different from what you've had before. Health education has been the basic five and has been the you know the body parts and this thing which is an important part but the whole area of mental education mental health I should say uh has been not neglected but perhaps sidestepped. I think we have a a good deal of information that tends to support the the idea that you can't really separate the the individual from the physical and the emotional. But now with this series, we can begin to deal with the mental, emotional, and social health aspects of a total health education program. I think in the past, it's been too easy to look at a TV program as a package thing and you turn it off and you go back to, you know, whatever you were doing before. This isn't going to let you do that anymore. It's almost impossible for a classroom teacher to create the kind of dramatic situations which get the message across that than the way inside out does. The program service to trigger discussion and it allows the their feelings to come to the surface and they can begin to look at how they feel and how others feel and they can begin to see that uh in many instances they have feelings much the same as their friends and in some instances they may differ and that it's okay to be different. Something which I'm quite pleased about is that it's not strictly a cognitive approach. It deals with the effective domain. It's going to give the youngster a chance to have some input. It won't be strictly a teacher textbook kind of thing. It'll be more of a pupil oriented program, which is what I'm really enthused about. I'm very excited about the series. It's it's beautiful, stimulating, relevant, tremendous, terrific, exciting, motivating, involving, dynamic, fantastic, valuable, captivating, entertaining. Who wants to be crammed behind a book? Inside Out is a series of 30 15minute color programs. The series is based on two years of planning and development by leading health educators, medical consultants, learning specialists, and instructional broadcasters. The programs are available on videotape, cassette, and classroom film and include a teachers guide required for use of this series. A 30inut inservice film and utilization teacher training workshop materials are also available. For further information about Inside Out, write NIT, the National Instructional Television Center, Box A, Bloomington, Indiana. What are you going to do? I'll tell you what I'd like to do more than anything. Yeah, I'll tell you if you catch me first. What I'd like to do more than anything is to come and live with your family. A come on. No, really. You're my best friend. Your parents are really nice. A Come on. You know what they make me do. Pick up that. Pick up this. Have to m Yeah, they were nice, too. They don't scream all the time. Do this, do that, brush your teeth, take a bath. Would your parents take your bike away for a month if you broke a dish or something? No. But they were lucky. All sorts of Did your dad blow up all the time? and shove you around. No, but and you're really lucky. I got two more. You know what? It didn't serve our parents right if we ran away. Oh, where would we go? I know places. Or we'd really get it when we came back. Well, we wouldn't come back. What do you mean? Well, at least not until we wanted Jeff. Oh, our parents would really worry about us. Well, maybe yours would, not mine. Inside Out is a series of programs and related materials developed by 32 educational agencies in the United States and Canada. This program was made possible by a grant from Exxon Corporation and produced by WNVT, Northern Virginia Educational Television, under the supervision of NIT, National Instructional Television.