Preparing 8mm Movie Film for Digital Conversion

Step-by-step instructions for preparing film by Johnella Boynton

Arrange your reels of film in chronological order and number the cans or boxes. If you have 50' reels still in the yellow Kodak boxes, there may be date information stamped inside the box flap or on a postmark if you used mail order processing.

Converting your 8mm movie film into a digital DVD media is a fairly labor intensive operation, so be prepared to spend some time on the project. It is not something that you can do in a half day. We will provide workshop training, equipment and supplies but you will be expected to do the work. We will not do it for you. There are commercial operations, both locally and by mail that will do the entire process for you for a price that varies depending on the quality of their work. If you are willing to spend some time, the reward will be saving some money and the satisfaction of doing it yourself. You will also end up with a quality product that is better than that provided by the lower cost commercial providers.

Fifty foot reels should be spliced together onto larger reels for convenient handling during conversion. We have splicing supplies and 400' reels available at a nominal charge in the CyberCenter. Leave the leader ( two feet or more) on the first film on the reel. It is also recommended that a short length (six inches of so) of leader be left intact between reels that have been spliced together. This will help you to identify individual reels after they are spliced together. Be careful to keep the film in the correct orientation when splicing. The emulsion (dull) side should be out on the reel and be sure that the film direction is not reversed. Just remember that you must rewind film after handling it for cleaning, viewing or splicing.

All film must be cleaned and lubricated prior to passing through the WorkPrinter XP telecine converter machine. We have cleaning fluid and rewind reels available for your use. Workshop sessions are being organized where you will learn how to properly clean, inspect and splice your film prior to conversion. Film should be cleaned and spliced several days prior to being converted to allow time for the cleaning fluid to dry. For additional information about film cleaning click here.

Film Cleaning Station

A film cleaning station has been set up in the CyberCenter Workshop to assist member in preparing their movie film for digital conversion. Here film can be inspected, splices checked and replaced if necessary, film cleaned and lubricated prior to being introduced to the telecine equipment.