Reel Film Day | Celebrating Film & Movies: A Life-Changing Phenomenon and a Cultural Defining Element

If you were under 35, it is doubtful you have seen or viewed “reel” film. You probably haven’t sat in the theater and heard the click, click, click of a film that has broken in the projection room while a theater full of patrons sit and wait patiently for it to be spliced back together. You haven’t listened to the "oh" that starts as a small rumble in the theater and increases to a dull roar as the conversation builds and then erupts into applause after all the repairs have been made.

Reel to Reel Projectors were common in classrooms across the United States until the late 1980s. They were used to supplement childhood education with news, documentaries, updates of troop readiness, world events, even show movies with cultural references.

When I was a child, reels of film actually arrived in our classrooms so we could see news documentaries, updates of troop readiness or world events, even movies with cultural references. Our teacher would roll in a cart shared by all the classrooms, and then patiently feed the film from reel to reel, then turn out the lights and begin the movie. The anticipation was palpable.

The first gift of reel movies was simply a big change in the way of life and in the field of storytelling from the very beginning since before the early version of conveying story. Everyone understood music and the appreciation that it was introduced and learned in the theater because someone either by organ or piano played the music and on screen actors had to possess the ability to perform so that your audience could grab the story with no words. It was truly a production of art. Then, “talkies” which required someone who played the video track and you to either read or interpret the charade on the screen were truly ground breaking in terms of recording motion and sound to convey the story together.

In the 90 years from 1888 when the first film was produced to the 1970s we made so much progress in the way productions could create stories and computers could affect a film and support big ideas. In 1977 when Star Wars IV: A New Hope was first released an entirely new cult phenomena came from it. When George Lucas started making the second set of three films, he found that the production had to go back to the original 1970s movie reels and restore and remaster them in order to utilize key sections in memories and digital scenes. The advancement in technology just a few short years since the original reels had been created had come so far that they could enhance them in the way that George Lucas had originally envisioned their production.

Now so much has been developed in a fully digital format and we have so much access to information, pictures and video at our finger tips that I often wonder if we will be able to preserve these classics for future generations. The films on these reels may have sat in warehouses for many years or will they be allowed to disintegrate overtime and destroy the valuable content that they hold?

If these reels are lost, we will also lose incredible craft of those actors, actresses, and directors, as well as the stories they told. We may also be unable to study peoples interpretation of lifestyles, cultures and histories. We could lose cultural elements like stage productions and classic musicals, the westward expansion and how pioneer life was lived, catalogues of battles and war strategies from the journalists that experienced it along side our troops. The greatest of comedians and the histories of slap-stick and physical comedy are something that even elementary students can appreciate. Then with the introduction of the family and situational comedies where parents and children could together sit around the tv and laugh together; from the early days of Ozzie & Harriet, Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, until syndicated television caught up with the classics of the 1980s & 1990s like Full House, Boy Meets World, Family Matters and other T. G. I. F. favorites and so many more.

However, not digital affects are the best thing; even 8K HD isn't perfect. Think about difference between and iTunes or digital cut of your favorite cut and the returning appreciation to vinyl records. Digital may give us the quick access, but vinyl recorded sound is deeper, richer, and the music, it’s more alive. That depth of quality just cannot be obtained in a digital production. So many people now have found a record player and sought for the right vinyl to get the quality that they want out of the old technology. The nuanced sound of big bands and brass is not the same on digital. You just can not make the jump into the depth of the music.

Reel to reel movies became more accessible and more common of a thing in the 1950s and 60s. They were a culturally changing event. Even daily TV shows like ”Leave it to Beaver” had the boys talk about spending Saturday afternoons with friends at the movie theater and then the malt shop. It was a cultural, life-changing thing; it changed the patterns of our lives.

The theater experience now has a new series of obstacles to face with cultural changes, new societal norms, and the a loss of the complete mystery surrounding the release of a new film. We have lost the social aspect of grabbing your friends and going to the theater on Friday night to see the newest films available. Waiting in line for tickets and hoping your film is not sold out; grabbing popcorn, drinks, and candy then entering the theater. The anticipation, the chatting of the group, and mystery of what is to be seen, has all been lost to time and technology. Today, even if a movie is still in the theater in many cases, you can just download it, or view it by paying a fee.

If you get the chance to find an old black-and-white movie or a reel to reel, take a minute to appreciate the joy of storytelling from the past. Although rare, it should be cherished, for it is a different way for the story to be told.

Until next time,

M. G.

Sources:

https://nationaltoday.com/reel-film-day/