Bringing a little cinema to you - our 8mm projector

We've had a bit of interest about that 8mm projector that we mentioned in our talks and presentations post last week, so we thought we'd tell you a little more about it.

You may remember a time when VHS video tapes were the method of watching films at home, in the days before DVDs. In the days before that, the home projector ruled the territory of at-home film-watching. There were various types of projectors that you could buy, which took different sizes and types of film.

By far the most common home film projectors showed a type of film called Super 8. This was one of a few different types of 8mm film (that's film which is 8mm wide - film in cinemas is usually 35mm, or 35mm wide). Our projector is one of those; it'll also show Single 8 film too, another type of 8mm film that preceded Super 8.

Many home films were black and white and silent, however some would be in colour and have sound. The film you can see projecting here, which is a celebration of 50 years of Mickey Mouse (recognise the Sorceror's Apprentice?) is in colour with sound.

We've collected a few titles that we can show to demonstrate how these home projectors worked to school and educational groups. They're a mixture of sound, silent, black and white and colour. These include cartoon favourites such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and the Flintstones, as well as a short film of one of Laurel and Hardy's adventures.

Feature-length films were impractical to show on small projectors like these and would have been very expensive, so instead film manufacturers would sell short clips of their feature films on 8mm film. We've collected examples from Disney's Pinocchio and Bambi.

If you're interested in having us demonstrate the 8mm projector for your group, let us know! We're happy to include a short talk about the Regal, film and projectors, the history of British cinemas or any combination thereof to give the projector some context. Some showings can even be provided for free, depending on the titles you wish to view, what type of group you are and how far away from us you're located.

For details of the films we can show, the types of groups we can show them to, distances we'll travel, dates we're free, costs involved and so on, get in touch. We're happy to chat about your requirements and see what we can do for you.