1977 UK theatre intro reconstruction (Released)

Leading on from this thread regarding original cinema screenings…

I recently had a lot of fun putting together a vintage 1979 theatrical intro to accompany a viewing of Alien - you can see that here. I’m about to do the same thing to put before Harmy’s newly specialised Star Wars, and I’d appreciate any thoughts on what would properly belong - especially from those with good memories of original viewings (something I don’t have, since my earliest viewing was a 1981 SW/ESB double bill).

I should stress up front that this is all about the experience of viewing in a UK cinema (i.e. in December 1977) though I’d actively encourage a US side-project if those programmes inspire similar nostalgia!

Here’s what I have in mind so far:

• Curtains
• Pearl and Dean 70s ‘Towers’ intro
• A collection of ads. There’s a mighty trove of vintage ad reels here but it would be good to know which would be best to use for authenticity - any direct recollection? I’d like to include a Kenner/Palitoy action figures ad too since I certainly recall seeing one of those in front of ESB.
• A decent ‘coming attractions’ logo
• Trailers - which? I initially have CE3K (is there a short teaser anywhere?), The Spy Who Loved Me, Airport 1977 and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo in mind - any others?
• A Dolby Stereo logo (this is the one I used for Alien - any better around?)
• A recreation of the BBFC certificate:

If anyone has any thoughts on any of this, I’d love to hear them. It would be great to make this as authentic as possible through our collective expertise - once it’s finished I can then get it distributed in suitable formats for folks to use in their own screenings.

Wow this is so cool. So nostaligic.

I've been trying to throw something like this together as in our house we watch our movies on a dlp projector, this going to look great.

Cant wait to see it coupled with Harmys project. This would also go great with the Negative 1 project.

Great work.

This video may help you: http://youtu.be/OEctWVF4J_w?t=2m48s

Love this.

I made one of the BBFC certificates, too (except mine has film scratches)

Out of interest, what fonts did you use?

And do you have a hi-res or vector of the signatures?

ads:I'd be tempted to go with

-) Kia-Ora orange juice in the square cartons (not the cartoon 80s ad).

-) There should also be at least one 'local' ad for either a restaurant (Indian would be the classic) or a DIY store. These were usually cheaply made with still photos and voice over.

-) an ad describing the ice creams that can be bought in the foyer or from the the people who came around with trays during the interval

-) A cigarette ad

-) A information screen/film that explains there is only smoking on one side of the auditorium.

-) A lyons Maid ice cream or Zoom lolly ad

-) a short public information film warning kids not to play on railways tracks or near electricity substations

-) a short movie preview (for something like a Bond movie or Herbie, like you said.)

It's also crucial to get the muffled speaker click/scratch/jump in between each ad as well as the image jolting slightly.

here are some more samples:

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA2Yy3sZq9M&playnext=1&list=PL937A4634E38DD609&feature=results_video

(this one has good authentic sound)

I definitely wouldn't have gone with the Pearl and Dean Towers into - definitely the other: bah bah bah bahbhabahba (asteroid). They stopped using the Towers in 1972!

ps- the Curzon branding image above- is that 70s? it looks 80s to me.

Hi Raphael, thanks for all the feedback!

The 70's style BBFC certificates were originally made up in Gimp by forum member See No Evil - see the original discussion here. I'm afraid most of the detail was embedded in the background layer so I can't advise on the fonts nor offer the signatures as vectors, but if you'd like that template (or any of my Photoshop-based variants) drop me your email address via PM. The resolution as it stands is certainly good enough for HD work.

I've actually just finished this reel, but for what it's worth I think I've covered most of your requests - I'm a bit confused by your Pearl and Dean description though, the 'Towers' intro (as I used in the Alien intro linked above) is the pah-pah-pah-pah-pah-pah one, i.e. the good one!

Interesting question re. the Curzon. The Curzon I've used as the basis for this (somewhat stylised) image is an independent place I used to work at. I was using a recent photo for the signage but as this 1978 photo shows, it hasn't really changed all that much!

I'll report back once I've uploaded this somewhere for viewing. MKV and/or BD folder will also be available shortly - what's going to be useful to people?

The Pah-pah-pah intro is called 'asteroid'

The 'Towers/pillars' intro is this one:

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

But you've got the right intro, by the sounds of it, so no problem.

Btw: your BBFC certificate is missing the word 'president' above the 'The Rt. Hon'...etc.

I'll PM you..

Oh! I don't know where I got that from - I've only ever known that eariler version as 'Pillars', and I know the tune is called Asteroid, but for some reason... oh well!

PM coming your way.

another thing: if you want period Kenner ads there's a whole dvd of them that I shared. But I think they're all US, unfortunately. The only UK ads I have are TV ads for Jedi

Here's the finished reel:

https://vimeo.com/47740980

I'm sure I've made a mistake or two in terms of correct vintage, but hopefully the overall feel is right!

great job.

good fun!

The only things that didn't seem right to me were:

-)the butterkist  and Express ads looked like late 60s

-)the star wars ad was US. The brits had their own voice-over actor versions.

-) There could have been more in-house cinema continuity, such as voice-overs explaining what was available to buy in the foyer, etc.

-)the CEOTTK trailer didn't match the quality of the rest.

but overall, I liked it!

dR

Loved it Jonno.

Making a copy now(hope thats ok?) Will tag it onto one of the new preservation releases soon.

Watching it makes me wanna watch Close Encounters!

Thanks for sharing your work.

Keep em coming!

Thanks for the feedback fellas, glad you enjoyed it.

I wasn't planning on spending any more time on this (I already disappeared down an After Effects rabbit hole for several hours once I discovered I could customise the curtains!) However I've located a better source for the adverts so I'll plug those in, and maybe a bit of extra in-house stuff while I'm at it.

On the point of the Kenner ad, you're absolutely right d - unfortunately I haven't even seen UK versions of the earlier Palitoy ads since they were originally used, and I suspect any that have survived aren't in the best of shape. Do let me know if you can correct me on this!

Of course you can feel free to grab the clip - Vimeo's MP4 is fairly respectable, though since my film grain filter works better at 1080p you might want to wait for the BD folder version for the full effect.

Jonno said:

Thanks for the feedback fellas, glad you enjoyed it.

Of course you can feel free to grab the clip - Vimeo's MP4 is fairly respectable, though since my film grain filter works better at 1080p you might want to wait for the BD folder version for the full effect.

Great stuff will hang on for your next version.

UK ads.

Although still Kenner, this might be a better fit because at least it has Anthony Daniels narrating it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GqR1q0vaSs

but anyway, here are a bunch of Star Wars Palitoy ads (though most are Empire). Unfortunately, the Star Wars ad is from 78

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvdtgYWF24g

If it were super authentic would have a Star Wars toy advert at all?

US screenings in summer 1977 probably wouldn't, but in the UK later that year? Perhaps.

Anyway, my main reason for doing this (as I've probably already mentioned) is that I recall seeing one for Empire toys - probably the second ad in the collection Raphael posted above, in fact - during the 1982 double bill so they were certainly shown theatrically at one point or other.

Reckon I'll swap in the 1978 Palitoy ad when I recompile - thanks for that Raph.

I actually was starting to collect bits and pieces to manually play before running Harmy v2.0.  In terms of a North American experience (Canada specificaly) I was thinking actually more along the lines of Drive-In promos and ads, which I grabbed from a terrific online repository of drive-in vintage stuff.  Not strictly perfect, but it did remind me of seeing the teaser for ESB and a few years later the teaser for RotJ, and the drive-in.  Might make a fun alternate opening.

This and this pretty much essential.

A trailer for CE3K too.

I imagine some of these adverts were current

This and this probably were too.

Thanks for the bump Bingo. I've actually just updated this reel to go on my DeEd 2.5 disc - I've made a few alterations and additions and used some higher quality sources for many sections.

Here's the new version, albeit in rather low quality (my grain filters played merry hell with the high compression rate needed by Vimeo):

https://vimeo.com/77330966

I'd love to use more 'local' cinema continuity (as shown in your second link) but I haven't found such things outside of Youtube and 720p isn't very forgiving of lower quality sources. I made an exception for the Old Spice ad at 2:51 because I love it so, but even that I hope to upgrade at some point.

As always, any ideas for improvement are welcome!

Very evocative.

The obvious change I would recommend is removing the "rated PG" line from the trailer for Sorcerer.

The other change or alternative cut would be (and I realise you are a Peal & Dean fan) would be to change it to Rank Advertising.

20th Century Fox and Universal films tended to go through the Rank/Odeon chain where as UA and Paramount went through the ABC chain (which carried Peal & Dean).

Such was the demand for Star Wars that later in the summer a deal was struck to allow ABC and independents to show it as well but the bulk of showings in the first run would have been in Odeon cinemas (the Odeon Hollywood Bar ad was a feature of my experience watching the film for the first time).

Also smoking tended to be allowed in designated areas.

Star Wars was the second film I saw in the cinema and I vividly remember looking behind and seeing the light from the projection booth catching the rising pillar of cigarette smoke.

I've posted elsewhere that for some bizarre reason they also showed a trailer for Star Wars before Star Wars (which lead to a burst of premature excitement).

So Black Angel is here:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/black-angel/id870578336

I'd really like to get this incorporated into an ESB trailer reel - watch this space.