Home Movie Day at The George Eastman Museum

Home Movie Day at The George Eastman Museum

Home Movie Day, a free worldwide event, was held this past week on March 22, 2025 at the George Eastman Museum. 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Home Movie Day is a worldwide event.

 

The public was invited to bring in their own films or home movies in multiple formats like 8mm, Super8 and 16mm. VHS or digital scans of "home movies" or "family films" to museum's Multipurpose Hall for public display and discussion.

The public was also welcome to view the films and learn about he low cost formats once used to record events at home now done by the device in your pocket!

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Multipurpose Hall at The George Eastman Museum

 

Prior to the event Gordon Nelson, assistant curator, Digital Collection and Home Movie Day event organizer said "With the introduction of 16mm film in 1923, followed by 8mm film in 1932, the opportunity for people to affordably document family histories and make their own personal movies became possible. Since that time, home movies have blossomed in ways that might have been unimaginable to even George Eastman, from the VHS camcorder boom in the 1980s to twenty-first century phone-generated clips instantly shared globally via social media.”

 

Faculty and Students of The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation Host Event

Film 'Check In' Process Performed by Students of the School

Faculty and students from The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at the George Eastman Museum will be on hand to perform film inspections and project the films. Films that were determined to be in good condition were screened. Super 8, 8mm, and 16mm, video (VHS tape), and digital formats (DVD and Quicktime files were welcome. 

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Student of The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation inspect films.

 

The film intake process on the films to ensure check for damage and determine of a particular film can be run through the projector. Running damaged film in a projector typically results in more damage done to the film.

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

Multipurpose Hall at The George Eastman Museum

Film Preservation Students Operate 'Vintage' Projectors at Home Movie Event

Not only did students perform film 'check in', they also loaded and unloaded film into the vintage projectors required to run this vintage film.

Several Projectors were used for the various film formats of 8mm, Super8 and 16mm film that was on hand for event:

• Elmo ST-800 Super 8 Sound Movie Projector 
• Bolex M-8 projector
• 16mm Kodak PAGEANT 250S Sound Projector

Here are some of the projectors used during the event:

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Projectors in the Multipurpose Hall 'Hot to Go' for the Show!

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Elmo ST-800 Super 8 Sound Movie Projector

 

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Elmo ST-800 Super 8 Sound Movie Projector

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

The Bolex M-8 Projector

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

The Bolex M-8 Projector is a Beautiful Classic Machine. 

The mechanical nature nature of motion pictures and moving images becomes clear when you take a close look at these projectors. 

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1 

Swiss Optics in this Bolex Projector

The art of converting a series of images into a fluid display void of 'stop motion' artifacts requires much experienced engineering and high levels of quality control, something local Kodak employees have always strived to obtain building these machines and making the film that runs through them.  The 16mm Kodak PAGEANT 250S Sound Projector is a great example.

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

Assistant Curator Gordon Nelson, the Host of the event, is seen here speaking with a member of the community standing behind the 16mm Kodak PAGEANT 250S Sound Projector used to display a home movie on 16mm film.

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

The film path can be seen in the side image of the Kodak PAGENT projector which is known to be "very gentle with film and forgiving with splices".

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

The Full 16mm Kodak PAGEANT 250S Sound Projector 

A large general interest in film exists in the city that put Eastman Kodak Company on the map in Rochester NY.

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

Motion Picture Art Before Devices 

Owners of Film Encouraged to Take Efforts to Preserve Home Movies 

Owners of actual film are encouraged to have their family films preserved via digital scanning as films will surely degrade over time. 

Associate Collection Manager at the Museum Kirk McDowell also did a presentation on the history of low cost smaller film formats such as 8mm and 16 mm and how they quickly achieved these low cost stock by simply diving 35 mm stock into 2 films to get 16mm film of split 4 times to get 8mm film.

McDowell also offered advice on how to store film in homes to ensure that they do not degrade over time

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

Showtime at The George Eastman Museum

A Variety of Vintage Film Content was Displayed at the Event 

This years vintage home movies included a West Indies cruise and island trip, footage from Iran, the evolution of a family owned lawnmower and tractor business from the ground up near Horseheads NY.  Several films had combinations of children on bicycles or tractors pulling a small trailer or wagon. 

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

Launch of Apollo 16 on Super8 film.

FIRING ROOM 1 Podcast Host John Boze narrated several short Super8 reels of the Kennedy Space and Cape Canaveral during the Apollo and Skylab Programs. 

 

Credit  | J.Boze | Firing Room 1 | Firing Room 1

FIRING ROOM 1 played the Launch of Apollo 17 on Super8 Film during the Home Movie Event.

Digital transfers of these Super8 films are available for free download here on FIRING ROOM 1 that can be used in your 'Fair Use' projects.

 

Local News Coverage of the Event

Local Rochester NY news briefly aired a screen shot of one of our Super8 reels projected in digital format in 2k high definition.

This reel was recorded on our Father's Super8 camera as he drove to work at the Launch Control center Center at the Kennedy Space Center.  This screenshot is from a reel shot at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Center now known as the Cape Canaveral Space Force Center.

Credit  | 13WHAM | 13WHAM | 13WHAM

A screen shot from our local ABC affiliate 13 WHAM showing a clip from a Super8 'home movie' reel of Cape Canaveral in 1972 that we displayed at the Home Movie event.   

 

We plan to have preservation work done on these films starting with a good nondestructive cleaning method.  We will discuss further preservation effects in future topic articles and features.

 

For more information:

The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation: The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation

The George Eastman Museum:  The George Eastman Museum

Eastman Kodak Company:  KODAK

 

Author: John Boze, Host of FIRING ROOM 1

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