[Frameworks] Threat to 16mm printing in the UK.

[Freya]

Nicky is right, it's not that people aren't using the labs quite the reverse. 

Film lab North had loads of work when it was shut down, but the decision was more to do with the larger company and the shutting down of the Yorkshire TV campus generally. It was to do with poor decisions, now partly reversed, in a larger company.

Some of what is happening now may be a knock on effect from this. Many people may have just given up on film and gone fully digital but some will surely have switched their processing down to London, where the remaining few labs are, thus exacerbating the problem of high demand.

European labs are great in theory but there can often be difficulties with barriers in terms of currency and banking before you even get into barriers of language and the possibility of stuff getting x-rayed. Hopefully in time, ways will be found around this stuff. I suspect eastern european labs might be the ones to track down and see if you can work something out with but I have no leads on this.

love

Freya


--- On Sat, 2/26/11, nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net <nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net> wrote:

> From: nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net <nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net>
> Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Threat to 16mm printing in the UK.
> To: "Experimental Film Discussion List" <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
> Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 10:21 AM
> But the point is that Deluxe / Soho
> Film Lab, (who are not Technicolour, and have only recently
> become Deluxe Soho, and were for a long time exactly the
> kind of small lab you mention) are still making money on
> 16mm printing. The processing machines are dual guage, and
> it's the same chemistry, as an earlier posting pointed out
> (can't remember whose), so it's hardly a nuisance for them
> to continue with 16mm.
> 
>  They have work "backed up", so it's simply not a case of
> the odd roll coming in every now and again. This is what's
> so annoying and irrational about their decision. They want
> to spend as much time on the most profitable areas of
> activity, 35mm duplication, and this, apparently is what's
> driven the decision.
> 
> 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.
> 
> 
> On 26 Feb 2011, at 07:22, John Woods wrote:
> 
> > Use it or lose it.
> > 
> > Sorry to be negative but petitions won't do it. When
> the lab would get a couple 
> > of hundred feet that need printing every now and then
> while the majority of 
> > their income comes from bigger clients wanting digital
> post services, then the 
> > 16mm printing becomes a nuisance. Its just like how
> Kodak is canceling film 
> > stocks that expire in the warehouse faster than they
> can sell it in quantities 
> > worth their while -I'd worry more that they'll stop
> selling print stock before 
> > all the labs give up the ghost.
> > 
> > So find a smaller European lab that is looking for
> that kind of work like 
> > AlphaCine or Niagara Custom Lab over in N.A. and
> support them, use your money to 
> > do the talking. They are out there but they just don't
> have names like Deluxe or 
> > Technicolor.
> > 
> > John Woods
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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
>