Cine Film Viewer

[DaveH]

I think the film show that you refer to that took place in 2008 was put on by Karen Marshall of BBC Radio Sheffield, from whom we acquired the films. Eric Smith mentioned in a letter to the Archive of 2009 that he had heard from a number of past colleagues and pupils as a result of the filming.

Karen joined this site with the intention of advertising the showing and hopefully tracking down any ex students who were involved in it in any way.

On the site we have a large topic on Norfolk School and it seemed a good place to advise her to post in this venture.

She had already contacted me before SheffieldHistory as I had pictures of all the teachers at Norfolk School, inclusing Eric Smith, displayed on the Norfolk School section of Friends Reunited. These pictures are now also on Sheffield History (along with a few more) in the Norfolk School thread with detailed descriptions of my memories of them all.

Karen invited me personally to the showing, sending me 2 tickets, one of which I used to bring my friend Stuart0742 who was also at Norfolk when this film was made.

We met Karen at the showing.

I also met Eric for the first time in 36 years, so I was probably one of the "past students" he remembered.

[DaveH]

We may well put Dead Easy live online before the year is out (although the copy we have doesn't have a soundtrack).

The copy I am refering to may not have a sound track on the film.

Eric shot all of his 8mm film silent and any sound was not synchronised, it was musical backing only and so may have been on a seperate tape cassette or tape reel which was started at the same time as the film on a separate machine, silent cine projector and tape player working independently.

The sound track was prepared for dead easy by the school technician, Peter Harrison and for the first half of the film it was a harmonica piece played by Larry Adler. I suppose there could be some copyright issues with using the sound from professional recordings for public performances.

However, Pete Harrison was present at the 2008 showing and Dead Easy did have it's sound track. But by that time we were not watching an 8mm film and listening to a tape recording, - it had been digitised so whoever did the DVD transfer must have transfered the film images and the sound as one.

[DaveH]

We may well put Dead Easy live online before the year is out

There is already a partial version of these films online, mainly Dead Easy, with part of an interview with Eric after the showing of 2008.

I have made several posts about these films in the Norfolk School topic on here if you want to take a look and you are free to use any quote of mine from those posts to describe and elaborate on the films in your archive.

I have also linked the online version of the film / interview in that topic, but here it is again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrdKSGni0Qk

[DaveH]

I had a girlfriend at Norfolk who was a couple of years younger than me and she went on a school skiing trip to Switzerland during the Easter holidays 1973.

It was filmed, more than likely by Eric, and I remember it being shown just before the spring bank holiday in May / June 1973. I have only seen it the once.

I wonder if this film is now lost or if it has found its way into the archive?

School Skiing Trip to Switzerland, 1973

[Guest wallacestevens]

Hi Dave

thanks for the extra info., and for the link to the filmshow with the interview with Eric (which I hadn't seen before). All the films we have from Eric Smith are on our online catalogue, and there doesn't appear to be one that meets your description. But the films were collected by BBC Radio Sheffield as part of a film collecting project, and I believe that not all of his films were passed on to the YFA. Either Karen Marshall or Eric might know more about any other films.

[DaveH]

Hi Dave

thanks for the extra info., and for the link to the filmshow with the interview with Eric (which I hadn't seen before). All the films we have from Eric Smith are on our online catalogue, and there doesn't appear to be one that meets your description. But the films were collected by BBC Radio Sheffield as part of a film collecting project, and I believe that not all of his films were passed on to the YFA. Either Karen Marshall or Eric might know more about any other films.

Thanks Steve

Is the version of Dead Easy in the link, which has both a title and a soundtrack the same one as you have, with no title or soundtrack?

If not it is possible that the version you have of this film may be an earlier one which I was involved with. The version shown in 2008 by Karen Marsh in the link is a slightly later version made just as I was leaving school.

As for Eric's other films, I suppose given the 40 year timescle it is inevitable that some of them will become dispersed from his collection and go missing for one reason or another.

We should be grateful for managing to keep in preservation for future generations the ones that we do have, and I am sure that organisations like the film archive are doing a good job of that.

[Guest wallacestevens]

Hi Dave

Yes it is the same film, although our copy is silent (I like the soundtrack, especially the harmonica piece. I wonder what it is: it sounds a bit like Larry Adler). If, or when, we do put it live on the YFA website it ought to be a better quality.

[DaveH]

Hi Dave

Yes it is the same film, although our copy is silent (I like the soundtrack, especially the harmonica piece. I wonder what it is: it sounds a bit like Larry Adler). If, or when, we do put it live on the YFA website it ought to be a better quality.

This version was made in 1972-3. The soundtrack would have been recorded onto a standard reel to reel tape recorder using quarter inch magnetic tape and would only be very loosely synchronised with the film as the tape and silemt film in the projector would be started at the same time at a particular mark on the tape and splice joint on the film. Clearly the tape and film have now become seperate items and have not been kept together

As I said earlier, the music was done by Peter Harrison the school technician, he was a fan of Larry Adler and the music is from his personal collection. If you listen carefully you can hear the clicks and crackles in the recording typical of a damaged record surface, eg a scratch.

Also as I said earlier, this professionally recorded music, by a top harmonica player is probably still in copyright, even though Larry Adler himself died in 2001, it isn't "amateur" like Eric's film and this may be the reson that a public version has been offered as silent film.