I just picked up a A.V.E. dallies projector

[James Steven Beverly]

Another piece of the puzzle just dropped into place, I managed to snag a portable, interlocked, dallies projector to screen footage. I have been watching ebay religiously for a couple of years now and have never seen an interlock projector for sale on there so I can only guess they are pretty rare and considering the number of bids, I'd say that's a pretty accurate assumption.

 

It's older (which is probably all I coulda afforded anyway) but is in very good used condition though I'll have to make some improvements to it, sound-wise and with the addition of an anamorphic lens or lens attachment. It's an A.V.E. and here's what it looks like:

 

 

 

 

Anyone know anything about these and have any recommendations? B)

[nathan snyder]

I got my DeVry (which was a Kodak interlock modification) 35mm interlock a year an a half ago (on ebay - I guess you missed that one, I did exercise the buy-it-now option as soon as I saw it, thanks to my friend Roman Growchowski in Virginia) I still have yet to use the mag track interlock feature, unlike my Graflex (which was a Palmer interlock modification) 16mm interlock which I have used a fair amount.

 

The one thing I can recommend is not to use the mag track for the audio. Instead use the mag track as a controller for some other digital audio device. Simply by recording SMPTE code onto the mag track you can use a cheap decoder (as chaep as $15 on ebay) to control the playback speed of digital audio on your favorite sound or video editor on your computer. I have done it on my 16mm projector, and my 35mm projector, both using windows based PCs, and my friend Rich Roepnack in NewYork as done it with his Steinbeck editor and a Mac. It is frame accurate and allows for very complex multichannel sound high fidelity sound mixes with a first generation print, the best of both the sound and image worlds.

 

I would like to say I am a little envious. I love getting a new/old piece of equipment to put into production.

 

Good luck!

Edited December 5, 2007 by nathan snyder

[Paul Bruening]

Hey Steven,

 

This is a hoot! I've got the same beast in a 2-perf version.

[James Steven Beverly]

:( UMMMM......I got some bad news for you guys......after posting the pics of the A.V.E. projector on Film-Tech.com, I canceled the deal, APPARENTLY from what those guys said, these small 35mm projectors are definitely NOT the machines you need to view dallies. Here are some quotes:

 

First from Mark Gulbrandsen , who has been a dallies projectionist on over 40 feature films and is the David Mullen of the projection site ( here is his IMDB resume' just to verify his credits-

 

http://imdb.com/name/nm0347684/ )

 

"No professional DP would ever run dailies on that except just to verify that the camera even just worked. Beyond just seeing an image it can't be used for QC or grading of any sort.

 

Color temperature is wrong

 

Steadiness is not going to be adequate nor come close to SMPTE specs.

 

Wow and flutter and frequency response are not going to be adequate for the sound mixer.

 

How is the flatness of focus? I say doubtful...

 

Mark"

 

Gordon McLeod who is listed with Film-Tech's highest designation "Film God" had this to say:

"My experience was as portables go the only one i would use was the MP30 and even it had issues the only other portable is the Wassman that I would consider"

 

And Bill Gabel, another "Film God" designate had this to say when I mention that one of the reasons I bought the A.V.E. was because of a pictorial I saw at the Film-Tech website with an almost identical A.V.E. being used in it:

 

"Isn't his room a Private Home Screening Room? It's a nice looking room from the pictures, but as Mark said those projectors wouldn't be a good choice for working with todays film makers at any budget. They used those types of projectors in the days you where stuck in the middle of nowhere and needed to see the footage. That was many moons ago.

I work with many film makers here in NYC on all types of budgets and dallies. The Screening Room I run is in Times Square and fits the needs of the modern film maker for film and digital. "

 

I should mention that THAT A.V.E. was also listed on Ebay a couple of weeks ago but I wasn't interested in it because it had been modified and required either a platter or tower film feed system. I HOPE I'm not stepping on any toes but I thought I should relay the information as it seems valid and was imparted by experts in the field. :huh:

Edited December 6, 2007 by James Steven Beverly