Home movies

This photo shows my dad at Kota Tinghi waterfalls using his Super 8mm cine camera. Super 8 was the latest thing then. We had a projector at home and would enjoy watching all the films that he shot. We only had one other film which was Frankenstein which lasted about 15 minutes. I didn't like it much but I remember the projector being set up and some of the other kids in the area coming in to see it. My dad shot quite a lot of film it seemed at the time but nowadays, it seems to squeeze into about 20 minutes. I'm sure some of it must have disappeared over the years. For instance, here he is in this photo filming but we have no film of the waterfalls whatsoever. The cameras could be hit and miss in those days, unless you had a lot of money to spend on them. I remember that you had to go somewhere really dark to change the film and make sure that no light got in. Then, when it was finished, about 4 minutes worth, it had to be taken to a lab to be developed and you'd get it back about a week later. It must have been quite exciting seeing it for the first time. Many years ago, about 1980, I had our films transferred to video tape. They were silent but I got a sound effects LP out of the library and added sound as best as I could. It probably doesn't quite fit! Then when DVDs came out, I transferred the tape over. I'm sure a lot of the quality must have been lost and I haven't seen these films shown by a projector for over 30 years. My dad says that the quality was never very good in the first place. Anyway,here's one of the movies. This one starts on the Penang Hill Railway and shows Georgetown and the Botanic Gardens, along with those cheeky monkeys! There's also clips of Sandycroft and I think I even cry in it (I would have been embarrassed at one time!). There's also clips of us feeding the Koi Carp at the Sultan's Gardens in Johore - you can see I wasn't very big at the time - and film of Johore Zoo which shows a clapping gorilla and a three legged tiger. 

The worst zoo I've ever seen.  

I hope that you enjoy it and oh, try turning on the sound!