Old Movie Film Reels- What Can You Do With Them?

Film reels were a common sight in the past, but they largely fell out of favor after the introduction of digital video in the 80s. Today, film reels are primarily used by film studios across the world. However, even these companies are phasing out the use of this physical recording format in favor of innovative digital recording formats.

Many people find old bins full of film rolls in their family storage spaces. These films may have belonged to their parents or grandparents and hold valuable memories from another time. If your film rolls are precious to you, you should consider preserving their videos through adopting professional film or vhs to digital service.

However, if your films aren’t of any particular importance, you could use them for a variety of other purposes. Here are some things you can do with old movie film reels.

1. Disposal

If you don’t want your old movie film reels anymore, you can get rid of them. Reel-to-reel, photo negatives, slides, and VHS tape are not considered hazardous and can be thrown in the trash.

Unfortunately, these items aren’t recyclable. So if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, you could hold onto them and use them for other purposes.

2. Decoration pieces

Film rolls fell out of fashion so rapidly that the mere sight of one is able to conjure up images of another era. There’s no denying that these filming format relics have a certain allure to them that looks stylish and exciting.

It’s similar to the feeling you get while holding a vinyl record. Something about having photographs or videos stored on a physical analog medium feels novel in the digital era. Due to this reason, many people have started using old films as decoration pieces.

Some popular film decoration uses include:

Sticking them to windows

Some film hobbyists like to cut out individual frames from film rolls and stick them to windows. This decoration piece looks stunning when the sun is at the right angle and is shining directly through each frame.

You can place different colored image slides adjacent to each other to create some color variety, or you can group similar hues together and watch the shades evolve while gazing along your window pane.

Creating lamps shades

Another interesting way to use old film rolls is to make lampshades out of them. Many decorators will take the wireframe of a lampshade and wrap film around it so that they form a continuous translucent cylinder.

When done correctly, you will end up with a lamp shade that shows off each film frame in bright colors once the lamp is turned on. However, these lampshades don’t last very long as prolonged light exposure tends to fade old film. So consider using old movie film reels as short-term decoration pieces at film watching parties.

3. Convert your film to digital video yourself

If you want to preserve the photos created or the videos recorded on your film rolls, you should consider converting them to a digital format. This process can be done in using many DIY methods. These include:

Taking a video or photograph of images

You can convert your photos and videos by displaying them using a film projector and taking a high-resolution photograph of the projected image. This image can then be converted to digital formats and preserved.

Recording images directly from the projector

This method requires some projector modifications and tinkering to get right. It involves beaming the film image from the projector directly into a camera. A lens filtering attachment and a cloth are used to project an image onto the camera lens so that the image is recorded in high-resolution.

The recorded video can be uploaded to a computer for editing and post-production before being saved.

Purchasing an automated film reel converter scanner.

If you want your film rolls to be converted in higher quality, you can purchase a film reel converter scanner. These devices are easy to use and often produce decent results.

You simply need to load or feed your film into these machines and watch them display your photos and/or videos on their built-in screens. These devices automatically record the images they are producing from your film and save them as digital files.

The only drawback is that these devices tend to be expensive. The affordable ones on the market tend to be poor quality and may even damage your film during the conversion process.

4. Take your film rolls to a professional for conversion

Some film rolls contain images and videos that are too valuable to lose. If you want to convert these to digital formats for preservation, the best options is to take them to film conversion professionals. These companies offer reliable film to digital service, and are familiar with handling old movie film reels.

Smooth Photo Scanning can convert your analog films to digital format with better care and precision than DIY conversion methods. We have high quality frame-by-frame film capture equipment that is ideal for converting old films to digital files.

Smooth Photo Scanning also offers photo scanning service and other digitization services. These can be used to create high resolution digital images from photo prints, slides or film negatives. You simply need to ship or drop off your collection at our facility, and we will convert all of your analog media to digital.

We also offer photo restoration services to edit and touch up poor quality photos using post production software and techniques. We can even make a fifty year old photo look as bright and vivid as a modern day photograph.

As you can see, there are plenty of exciting things you can do with your old movie film reels. So impress your friends with some unique party decorations made from film. Or show off your old home videos at the next family get-together with the help of our film to digital services.