All too true, Jessica. *Unlike* independent distributors such as Janus, Kino, New Yorker and Milestone, the staff at Swank have little knowledge of their 35mm inventory. The prints are very hit-or-miss. Sometimes they're pristine (as was a print OUT OF THE PAST), but other times they're virtually unprojectable (ask me offline about our KUNDUN disaster). There's literally no way to find out in advance what you're getting.
I think the problem is twofold. Swank has not been investing very much in new 35mm prints, because it's cheaper and easier for them to rent out DVDs of older titles. Also, the major studios themselves are not striking as many prints as they used to--many recent restorations are available *only* in digital formats. We're seeing fewer and fewer old films available on 35mm, period. It's a shame, because most academic institutions lack the equipment to show high definition video, effectively leaving them out of the loop apart from lower resolution DVD versions. Call me old-fashioned, but there isn't very much magic in watching a DVD blown up on a big screen. --James -- James M. Steffen, PhD Film and Media Studies Librarian Theater, Dance, ILA/IDS and LGBT Subject Liaison Marian K. Heilbrun Music and Media Library Emory University 540 Asbury Circle Atlanta, GA 30322-2870 Phone: (404) 727-8107 FAX: (404) 727-2257 Email: [email protected] ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:54:38 -0400 From: Jessica Rosner <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] thanks for all the help with my Swank question! To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I would not bet on the Swank salesperson being a big film buff. Things might have changed over the year, but that certainly was not their reputation in the past. My favorite of all Swank stories involved a school that had ordered a 35mm print of classic film for which a studio had done a major reissue just about a year before. It was not a small reissue and I would bet several dozen new/restored prints were made. The programmer reminded the Swank booker to MAKE sure they got one the new prints as the "old" ones were known to be horrid. The day of the show the print arrived, it was red, splicy, and very beat up. It was clearly a decades old print. The irate programmer called up the Swank booker to complain as we could not even show the print. The Swank booker looked up the title in the Maltin TV/Movie book and pronounced " The film is 50 years old. What did you expect?" Apparently they had no concept a NEW print of a 50 year old film. On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 11:16 AM, Dennis Doros <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Maureen Tripp <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> As Sandra Jackson said, it seems it depends a lot on the film, anticipated >> audience size, and other factors--but I now have a ballpark range of >> estimates--I appreciate it, everyone! >> > > > I should also mention that it depends a lot on how well you get along with > the salesperson at the company. Most of us are in the business because we > love films. If you discuss favorite films (and books and museums) and what's > out that week and how's the family, you'll do well. If somebody comes and > complains that they are non-profit and we should treat them better, they > don't get as good a break. The retired Edith Kramer at the Pacific Film > Archive is a legend in this regard. She would spend two or three hours on > the phone charming the salesperson until she got the rate she could afford. > Funny thing is -- we had the same automatic friends rate for her for twenty > years and she still would spend an hour with us. One of our favorite > customers. > > -- > Best, > Dennis Doros > Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero > PO Box 128 > Harrington Park, NJ 07640 > Phone: 201-767-3117 > Fax: 201-767-3035 > email: [email protected] > www.milestonefilms.com > www.ontheboweryfilm.com > www.arayafilm.com > www.exilesfilm.com > www.wordisoutmovie.com > www.killerofsheep.com > AMIA Philadelphia 2010: www.amianet.org > Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook! > > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues > relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, > preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and > related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective > working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication > between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and > distributors. > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:50:29 -0500 From: Rudy Leon <[email protected]> Subject: [Videolib] Duplicate copies? To: videolib <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I am trying to develop an unofficial policy for when duplication of materials is a good idea. (We do not, in general, order duplicate copies of any materials) Do you order duplicate copies of films? Under what circumstances? -- Rudy Leon Learning Commons Librarian Undergraduate Library University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (217) 333-3503 http://www.deepening.wordpress.com AIM: rudibrarian -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:15:00 -0400 From: "Ball, James (jmb4aw)" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] Duplicate copies? To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <b0123513fa2c9044b01d2aa5f48bb3261454f59...@mcclane.eservices.virginia.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi Rudy, A cornerstone of our collection development policy is that we're here to support curricular needs and if I need to purchase multiple copies to do that then I do, though usually this is just for reserves (for example, if the class that's using a title is really large or if there's more than one class using it). We don't really have any kind of formula, though. I'd be interested it hear if others do. Also, if a faculty member needs a title that's checked out by someone else and we're having a hard time getting it back then I'll sometimes just go ahead and buy another copy depending on how much it costs. I don't purchase multiple copies, however, just because the title is popular for recreational viewing (okay, sometimes I do, but don't tell anyone) so I'm sometimes in the position of reminding users that our purpose is to support curricular needs, and I encourage them to check with our local video store (that's only ? mile away) or an online video store. Cheers, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 [email protected]<https://mail.eservices.virginia.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=62fe60f092584617be4c37bdfc2dcf42&URL=mailto%3amattball%40virginia.edu> | 434-924-3812 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rudy Leon Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 1:50 PM To: videolib Subject: [Videolib] Duplicate copies? I am trying to develop an unofficial policy for when duplication of materials is a good idea. (We do not, in general, order duplicate copies of any materials) Do you order duplicate copies of films? Under what circumstances? -- Rudy Leon Learning Commons Librarian Undergraduate Library University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (217) 333-3503 http://www.deepening.wordpress.com AIM: rudibrarian -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. End of videolib Digest, Vol 34, Issue 50 **************************************** This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments). VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
