Gauge Film
  • Info
    • About
    • Processing
    • Scanning
    • Contact
    • Postage
  • 8mm Reversal
  • 8mm Negative
  • 16mm Reversal
  • 16mm Negative
  • Sundries
  • Info
    • About
    • Processing
    • Scanning
    • Contact
    • Postage
  • 8mm Reversal
  • 8mm Negative
  • 16mm Reversal
  • 16mm Negative
  • Sundries

The Future of Gauge Film

25/1/2013

5 Comments

 
So with the discontinuation of 100D, the price rises on Super 8/ 16mm B&W and Neg and Kodak's hesitance to keep supplying us with 16mm film (for which they gave no reason) it's fair to say Kodak has dealt us 3 crippling blows in quick succession in little over a month. I would be fibbing if I said I wasn't worried. I built a snow Totoro this week to help calm myself down and consider the future. Please read on to find out where I'm at.
Picture
Truth be told we're already feeling the effects of the 100D discontinuation and price rises. It's been the first time in a long time that we haven't been able to meet our two week turnaround on our colour developing due to a lack of film to process (usually it's the other way around). Secondly I honestly don't think people will purchase Tri-X or Neg carts at Kodak's new list price of £21,73 so I have refrained from purchasing all Super 8 stock from Kodak. Lastly there will be no new 16mm stock in the store in the immediate future as for what ever reason Kodak don't seem to want to sell it to us and their prices are steep. So in Feb we're back to selling S8 colour reversal only (the stuff we got from Wittner this month). It's fair to assume if colour doesn't sell at the new prices nothing will (fingers crossed it sells). If it does sell I'll look to Wittner for B&W and Neg stock come March. As an optimistic side note the Standard 8 film services will still be going steady but unfortunately not many folks use Standard 8. So what on earth can one do to keep the store up and running throughout these difficult times? 

A Change of Pace

Seeing as I'm less busy at the Lab, the most proactive approach I've come up with is to hire myself out as a camera operator for various events for other filmmakers. If I could get the hirer to purchase film, processing and telecine from me as a package deal this would be cheaper for them overall, postage costs would be minimal as well because I could bring and take all film stock to the event/lab personally. I would only have to post the processed films and dvd disk to the hirer when everything had been developed and digitized. After It's been shot, developed and digitized the hirer can edit the raw film as they see fit. This approach would  give me time to develop, dramatically improve overall turnaround time and give me some extra cash for services rendered. I have all the equipment necessary to do this kind of work and I'm extremely handy with it. I have 3 high end Super 8 cameras, shoulder support, monopod, tripod, nice wide angle lenses etc... I could do your standard coverage or do something more specialist like time lapse shots.. Remember I don't only shoot and process my own film regularly but also have the privilege of watching other peoples endeavors on a weekly basis (a schooling in itself).
Picture

CONCLUSION

This isn't really how I imagined this year beginning. Everything was going wonderfully up until last December but alas I love shooting film as much as I love processing it and if my shooting skills can help keep the lab open then so be it. So if anyone requires a  camera operator for a particular event I would jump at the opportunity to work with you. If anyone could recommend how much I should charge for my services per job that would be great as well. I'll get to work on "A camera for Hire" section of this website but if anyone needs a primary or secondary film camera operator soon then please drop me a message. Please recommend me to individuals that do this kind of work so they can keep me on record.    

All the best
Kevin
5 Comments

Telecine Update

20/1/2013

0 Comments

 
After chatting with Roger this morning he has confirmed the telecine unit is complete and will be posted out by friday. We had first planned on having it up and running in January, then February but now it seems likely it wont be until March. It'll take me a good month to set it up and become proficient at using it. It's great that it's finished at last though.   
Picture
0 Comments

Stock from Wittner 2013

8/1/2013

21 Comments

 
I just want to get some input from you guys and girls. I have placed my first order with Wittner (nice guys) for 100D and V50D S8 carts & with the UPS shipping each cart is costing me around £21. Very expensive and this will be the roundabout baseline for colour reversal film in future. Because the film stock is so expensive to buy in, I'll probably only sell it with process paid or process+telecine to try and keep the overall costs down. However with paypal and ebay fees we're talking about a pretty steep rise from my current prices. It's going to be around £32-33 pounds for a process paid cart and £40ish for a film+process+telecine. Pricy to say the least but realistically this is as good as it's going to get for colour reversal now. I just want to know what peoples thought are on this? Will you pay that much to keep using super 8 colour reversal? It's worrying because I suspect many people wont and this will decrease my turnaround time and generally have a negative effect over a prolonged period of time.       
Picture
Picture
21 Comments

Gauge Film 2013

2/1/2013

0 Comments

 
Happy new year to all! It's going to be a month of alteration. You may have noticed we're light on S8 cameras atm. This is because we didn't have time to look for any last month. We'll still stock cameras in future but we wont have as many due to time restrictions and the fact that 50% of the cameras we get in are broke (It's somewhat of a financial black hole). We'll only buy up sure things in future. As already mentioned we're selling off the last 100D and looking into new stocks this month. Still no news on our telecine unit. I'll be contacting Moviestuff on the 7th if it doesn't appear soon. The aim is to have everything up and running for Feb so I hope it turns up. I'm also developing a batch of colour this week and B&W next week so for anyone who didn't get their films back over the holiday, your wait is almost over.   
Picture
0 Comments

    Author

    Kevin Timmins

    Archives

    August 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Info
    • About
    • Processing
    • Scanning
    • Contact
    • Postage
  • 8mm Reversal
  • 8mm Negative
  • 16mm Reversal
  • 16mm Negative
  • Sundries