Post 474 - Regular 8 in '68 - Two kids playing with a camera

The first portion of this epic bit of film making was too large for the blog, but Instagram came through, so here's a link-

1968 - A Trip to the Magician's House 

Then, over Christmas break in '68:

 

(c) 1968, 2022 Jim and Dave Middleton

The theme continued with "I, A Wizard," a title inspired by "I, A Woman" of similar vintage, suggested by the cinematic muse contained within my brother.  It, too, was a bit large for this blog, so Vimeo generously offered its space for a reasonable rental fee:

1971 - I, A Wizard

 The camera still exists.  Last week I discovered that there is a roll of film in it.  Uh Oh.

And the hi-tech projectors of that time - hand cranking and automatic scratching!

 

And this titling device, ca 1968, became the animation stand, moderately effective, if somewhat limited in focal length, camera movement (or stability), and stable framing.  But, hey, the footage was getting shredded by the projectors, anyway!

Post 471 - 1970 - Earliest Animation - "It's A Dog's World"

Summer 1970 - up at the crack of dawn to driver's ed, Sunday nights devoted to The Wonderful World of Color, a PBS animation showing an animated satire about picking a round table for the Vietnam negotiations in Paris that TOOK 500 DRAWINGS, so - well, that was a challenge.  It was certainly more relaxing than the prospect of making left turns against traffic on 28th Street in Grand Rapids (and that's still no picnic).

So after 2000 drawings, this happened.  My poor brother was enlisted into the adventure.  Even at just two minutes, the file seems too large for Blogger, so here's the vimeo link:   

https://vimeo.com/694548323

Our parents decided afterwards that we needed to "learn a trade." 

(c) 1970 Jim Middleton, boy without a driver's license

And shot on this advanced bit of mechanical technology:

Nixon Resigns and Ford Inaugurated - August 1974

With Super 8mm film and some lucky "wild sound" lip synching....

...a homemade kinescope!...

It was a warm summer in 1974, and the shredded lettuce at Burger Chef tasted so sweet...like the sweet taste of shredded Watergate documents...the sound came a few months later when a magnetic stripe was added to the original super 8mm film and the whole thing recorded on the fly, complete with projector noise.  Back when you could still do six impossible things before breakfast...