The Humming Projector

20 – Special: Q & A with Phil Sheard at Blackpool 2025

The Humming Projector — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

This special episode is a recording of the Q&A session with Phil Sheard, the owner of Classic Home Cinema, and Adrian Winchester. It was recorded at the Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention, Sunday the 16th of November at the Grand Hotel in Blackpool.

A huge thanks to Phil Sheard, Adrian Winchester and the organizers for letting us publish this recording!

Links:

19 – The British Entertainment History Project

The Humming Projector — Thu, 29 May 2025 17:10:56 +0000

Over the years, Britain developed into one of the world’s major centers of the film and television industries. And behind all the great movies that have been produced over the years, there are many men and women who made it all come together and their stories are an important part of the history.

In this episode, we talk to Sue Malden about the British Entertainment History Project who seeks out to document and preserve this history while key players are still with us. Sue is an independent media archive management consultant and formerly the head of the BBC Broadcast Archives, and is one of the lead figures at the British Entertainment History Project (BEHP).

Some topics in this episode:

Some topics in this episode:
What was the motivation for creating the BEHP, and when did it start?
Who does the project interview?
Who performs the interviews?
The wide range of people they interview (not all are white male actors)
Several well known productions are mentioned, like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Who and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
We learn how Sue became a secretary of the BEHP when she arrived late for a meeting.
Challenges of running the organization
More volunteers are needed and how can they join?

Links

18 – Film is Fabulous!

The Humming Projector — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 04:31:38 +0000

In this episode we talk with former head of the BBC Broadcast Archives, Sue Malden , professor of Cinema and Television History at the De Montfort University, Justin Smith, and long time collector John Franklin. They are some of the people behind Film is Fabulous!, an organization run by film collectors, cinema lovers and vintage television enthusiasts which aims to support private collectors in the United Kingdom, in order to preserve vulnerable film treasures.

Some of the topics in this episode

What is Film is Fabulous! ?
What was the motivation that lead to their establishment, and why do they seek to become a charitable trust?
What happen to the films when they are collected?
Preserving knowledge about film handling, and knowledge about the film collecting culture
The importance of trust
Making the rediscovered material available to the public
Screenings at The vintage television festival Sunday 11th May - We are let into the secret on a couple of the rediscovered titles that will be shown.
Restoration in the digital age
What have they learned after their pilot study?

Links

17 – Super 8 Database

The Humming Projector — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 08:13:23 +0000

Five years ago, the super 8 database was launched. At that time it had been in the works for two years, but was finally in a state where it could be made public. Greg Perry joins Eivind to talk about making the database, the road to the current state, and its place in the community

Topics in this episode

The motivation make the database
How Greg got into the project
How has the road to the current state been
Its place in the community
What can we expect in the future?

Links

16 – BFCC Lite With Talking Pictures TV

The Humming Projector — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The British Film Collectors’ Convention is back! Together with Talking Pictures TV, they Present BFCC Lite the 29th of September in the UK. But how did a TV channel and a group of film collectors find each other? What makes a TV channel, which gathers millions of viewers each week, different from other TV channels, and why do they care about film? Listen to this week’s episode where we talk to John and Mark from BFCC and Sarah from Talking Pictures.

Some highlights of this episode

We learn about Talking Pictures TV, a TV station with five million viewers each week
Talking Pictures profile, and relationship to film.
Black and white movies the other TV stations have forgotten with film as a source material on a daily basis
Difficulties running a free TV station
Talking Pictures’ Special relationship with the viewers. Talking to viewers at the Christmas time
How did BFCC and Talking Pictures find each other for the BFCC Lite event? And why is it called Lite?
The new place St Albans and the guests that are coming to the event

Links

15 – Bootlace Cinema: An interview with Mark Williams

The Humming Projector — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:38:09 +0000

In this episode we talk to director, producer and now also author, Mark Williams about his new book: Bootlace Cinema, Collecting Horror, Science Fiction & Exploitation Movies on Super 8. The book has been out less than a week, and we are thrilled to talk about it here in this episode.

Some highlights of this episode

Mark’s way into Super 8
The idea of writing the book and the long way to the finished product
The term “Bootlace Cinema”
The choice of film genres for the book
Mark going to Blackpool when he was young
Keith Wilton’s film editing
Mark hosting film shows at school

Links:

You can buy the book at Amazon UK, Amazon US and many other Amazon branches.
The British Film Collectors Convention (BFCC)
The Blackpool Film Collectors Convention

14 – Off2 and Super 8 in Germany with Joachim Schmidt

The Humming Projector — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 08:53:42 +0000

In this episode, Eivind talks to Joachim Schmidt, a German collector known for his Off2 project. He has produced a huge number of YouTube videos and work for raising the awareness of this media outside the collecting community.

Some of the topics we cover:

The major players in the German industry
How did German releases differ from English/American ones?
Super 8 in East Germany
What is Off2 and what does it mean?
Joachim’s motivation for the project
The Off2 website vs the YouTube channel
Attention from media scientists from the DiCi-Hub project
Which kind of videos does he produce, and the process of making them
What does Joachim collect?
Memorable moments and wishes for the community in the future

Links

13 – Special: Q & A with Ged Jones at Blackpool 2023

The Humming Projector — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 11:00:00 +0000

This special episode is a recording of the Q&A session with Ged Jones, former director at Derann, and Adrian Winchester. It was recorded at the Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention, Sunday the 26th of November at the Grand Hotel in Blackpool.

A huge thanks to Ged Jones, Adrian Winchester and the organizers for letting us publish this recording!

The Q&A session can also been seen as a video from Super 8 database.

More information about the convention can be found on their web page.

Highlights in this episode

We learn how Ged got employed
Branches and ventures
Deals
Adrian discovers he had a bootleg
Hard times when video arrives
Derann invest in 8mm when the others stopped
Derek spots an opportunity in the gents' loo
Did Derek aim to be a world leader in Super 8?
Open days
Did Derek love to watch film?
The best and the worst part of working at Derann
Derek and Ged becoming consultants for “The Abyss”

12 – Christmas Special

The Humming Projector — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 18:15:11 +0000

The Humming Projector Podcast has completed its first year. We celebrate this 12th and final episode of the year with a Christmas special.

Join us while you work to prepare for Christmas, or during the holidays as you relax in your favorite chair, while Doug and Eivind discuss several Christmas related subjects

Subjects in this hour long episode:

We look at the year that has passed
Christmas related subjects
Ged Jones pop in and talks about Christmas at Derann
Was Derek Simmonds fond of Christmas films?
Derek’s black snow at Christmas
We have a Quiz
Eivind share's his craziest shipment story
Film related jubilees to celebrate
Christmas releases

We wish all our listeners a peaceful Christmas and a happy new year!

Music

Christmas Is Coming by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Presents On Christmas Morning - By Steve Oxen Swingin' Yuletide - By Steve Oxen https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/downloads-c/christmas-music/33

11 – Report from Blackpool 2023

The Humming Projector — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 19:33:17 +0000

Join Eivind as he reports from the Blackpool convention in November 2023. You can follow the convention day by day, and listen to bits of the events. There are interviews with Jim Cecil, Nigel Lister, Del Phillipson, Dominique De Bast, Vince Wright and Lee Mannering, and we will also get a taste of Ged Jones' and Adrian Winchester's Q&A (the complete Q&A will be released some time in this winter/spring).

10 – Working at Derann – An interview with Ged Jones

The Humming Projector — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 10:40:39 +0000

Often when Derann is mentioned we hear mostly about releases and deals. In this episode Eivind talks to Ged Jones, a former director at Derann, about his work there.

Topics in this episode:

Derek founding the company and selling from his home
Derek's first shop and moving to a new one
Colleagues working at Derann
Ged working very late and sleeping in Derek’s office
Operating the sound, striping and printing machines
Customers visiting
Ged’s favorite and and least favorite parts of the job
Good and bad periods
Signs of the end
Conventions, including one without any visitors

Links:

09 – Boxes and box art

The Humming Projector — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Beautiful design, quick and dirty design or even no design at all? Cardboard, clamshell or hard plastic?

In this episode Eivind and Doug talk about boxes and box art.

Some of the topics we cover:

The artistic side of boxes
Why did some expensive prints have cheap design?
Which distributors had the best designs?
Fan art
Different types of boxes
Which box types had the best survival rate for Eivind's collapsing shelf?
What do we do with damaged boxes?
Best and worst designs of boxes we have owned
Why were the Disney designs from Derann so much better than the rest?

Links:

08 – CineSea – Doug Meltzer and Joe “Shorty” Caruso

The Humming Projector — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 11:08:29 +0000

In this episode we talk to Doug Meltzer and Joe “Shorty” Caruso about the CineSea convention on the east coast of the United States.

Some highlights of this episode:

How Shorty got his nick name
How CineSea came to be and the motivation for creating it
The events from Thursday evening until Sunday at noon
Similarities in form and atmosphere compared to Blackpool
The importance of conventions for the community
Presentations

The next CineSea will be the September 28th to October 1st (2023).

Go to http://cineseafilm.com and https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/ to learn more about CineSea.

07 – Special: Q & A with Ged Jones at Blackpool

The Humming Projector — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 12:04:44 +0000

At the Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention in November 2022, Ged Jones, a former director at Derann, had a Q&A session lead by Adrian Winchester. In this special episode we are happy to provide the audio recording of the entire session. A huge thank you to Ged and Adrian for letting us publish this here on this podcast!

Highlights of this episode:

How Ged got the job at Derann
The rental business at Derann
How deals were made
Ged doing editing
The Disney deal
A projector damaging the rental films
Ged becoming a director
What happened to the negatives after Derann closed the doors?
The difficult years after the arrival of VHS

Links:

The video posted by Super8database from the convention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqtvz-IQ_0U (you can see parts of the Q&A session there too).
https://blackpoolfilmconvention.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1811529095633982

06 – Shooting Super 8

The Humming Projector — Fri, 26 May 2023 07:20:50 +0000

In this episode I talk to Simon McConway and Mark Norton about filming with Super 8. Why is it still fascinating, and why is filming on the format worth a lot of money? Get tips about filming, selecting a camera, adding audio and learn about their experiences.

Topics:

Why are we still fascinated by shooting Super 8
My shot with Simon's camera
What type of films do you shoot?
Audio - Striping of film and syncing external sources
Cameras, existing ones and the new from Kodak
Filming with Standard 8
Frame speed and how it affects the impression
What do they think about the future
Tips for those who want to try
Where can you learn more about filming

Links

Super 8 magazine - A magazine made by Jürgen Lossau with content in both German and English
Click & Surr - Jürgen's shop in Berlin

05 – 8mm Elvis – An interview with author Vince Wright

The Humming Projector — Sat, 06 May 2023 09:53:24 +0000

In 1977, the king of Rock n' roll, Elvis Presley, died. This also happened to be at the height of Super 8, and the king left a huge legacy in this format.

It is not very often we in the film collectors community are treated with a new hardcover book. But Vince Wright, a long time Elvis collector and former Derann employee, has just given us such a book dedicated to Elvis on 8mm.

In this new episode of the Humming Projector Podcast I talk to Vince about Elvis and his new book 8mm Elvis, a fantastic book for both avid film collectors and Elvis collectors who want to learn more about Elvis on this format.

As always, you can listen to the episode on our website. You can also find it on Spotify, Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts and other podcast players.

Topics in this episode:

Why the interest in Elvis?
How did his death affect the Elvis community?
How did he get the idea to write the book, and how was the process?
The foreword by Ged Jones
The cover design that have a clear resemblance to certain releases.
What will you find in the book?
Fan filming and preserving of the history
What did Vince learn while working on this book?
Where can you buy the book?

Links

Buy the book at www.8mmelvis.com
Elvis on Super8database

The book cover

04 – Projectors

The Humming Projector — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 11:30:00 +0000

In this episode, Doug and Eivind discusses the complimentary part to films, namely projectors.

Topics in this episode:

Our first memories of projectors
Why are we passionate about projectors?
Different types of collectors when it comes to projectors
Projector "tribes" can divide the community with heated discussions and get in the way of knowledge sharing
Preferences we might have
Statistics about Super 8 projectors
Brands and manufacturers
The future of projector maintenance
Van Eck Video Services
Recommendations for new collectors
Projectors at Super8database

Upcoming conventions:

The CineSea convention, in New Jersey, USA , April 20-23.
The British Film Collectors Convention in London, UK, April 29.

03 – The British Film Collectors Convention (BFCC)

The Humming Projector — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 12:07:55 +0000

In this episode I talk to Mark Williams and John Clancy about the British Film Collectors Convention, a convention that is now back after a hiatus.

This episode in brief:

The history of the BFCC
The hiatus and challenges of organizing such an event
A behind the scene history with a ladder accident :-)
What will happen at this year's convention
The importance of conventions
Time and place for the convention and how to get there

Links:

02 – Blackpool, an interview with Simon McConway

The Humming Projector — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 19:34:15 +0000

We had a chat with Simon McConway, one of the organizers of the Blackpool Film Collectors Convention in England. Although the episode focuses on the Blackpool convention, we discuss subjects that is relevant to any film collectors convention.

Here are some of the subjects we discuss in this episode:

What happens at the convention (the major events at the convention)
The background and history
Why should new people go there
Who are the new group of organizers, and how did they end up taking it over
What are the plans for the future
Other conventions we know about

The next convention will be Friday 24th - Sunday 26th of November 2023 at the Grand Hotel.

Links:

Video from the 2020 convention: https://youtu.be/Fqtvz-IQ_0U
Video from the 2021 convention: https://youtu.be/-ofFqMc1P-8

01 – Digests & Extracts

The Humming Projector — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 11:19:54 +0000

Eivind and Doug talks about Digests and Extracts.

Topics in this episode:

Why did they make them?
What makes a good edit?
Do they have their place today?
Extracts vs Digests