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TARZAN AND THE ROCKY GORGE
11 1/2 minutes  Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Robbins Barstow, an Amateur Cinema League member and a fan of Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan movies, rounded up his siblings and friends and led them into the wilds of Granby, Connecticut for this epic tale of a journey into Edgar Rice Burroughs' Africa. Historical Background:
Robbins Barstow's filmmaking autobiography:
From 1932 to 1985, I shot 16mm film, using several, successive cameras, an providing my own live narration whenever I projected the footage, after extensive film editing.
In 1985, because of the cost of 16mm film, and a desire to record live commentary while filming, I switched to 8mm film, shooting with a new camera (Canon Model 814XL-S Super 8), which had a plug-in, hand-held microphone attachment. I used this for just four years, until 1989. I also bought a new 8mm projector (Chinon Sound SP-350 Twin Track Magnetic) which reproduced the sounds recorded while filming, but which again required live narration during projection for sequences having a silent sound-track. I made five major 8mm film travel productions (Japan, China, Baja California, Cape Cod, and Around the World), as well as recording numerous family events and gatherings, during my four 8mm years. During this time, I began the process of having my films (both 16mm and 8mm) transferred from film to video, so that I could re-edit them, add titles and credits, and record narrations on the video, for broadcast over local, public access television, and playing on home VCR's. In 1989, I finally switched to shooting video and bought the big camcorder which I am still using (Panasonic AFPiezo, AG-170 Pro-Line VHS Reporter, with a built-in, external microphone). This enabled me to record events, activities, and expository monologues live, to create (by computer) and tape my own titles and credits, and to tape photos and other items for inserts. I was able to use extensively the then very-costly VHS editing equipment provided to our Wethersfield Public Access Community Television. Since I was now retired, I used my camcorder to videotape a large number of local documentaries, lectures and other community programs for both the Wethersfield Historical Society and the Wethersfield First Church of Christ, Congregational, as well as many more family chronicles. Since these were all shot on video, I didn't have to worry about making transfers from film to tape to edit these. All my life I have had two primary aims in my movie and video making: create meaningful records of people, places, and events; and to share these "moving images" with other people. I edited my films to make them meaningful, and I projected them to limited, on-the-spot audiences, in homes or auditoriums, share them. With the advent of video, movie projectors became obsolete, and potential audiences became greatly increased. So starting in 1989, I switched focus almost entirely from film making to video production. I traded in or sold my film cameras, though I do still have stored in a closet, unused, both my 16mm (Kalart/Victor) silent projector, and my 8mm (Chinon) sound projector. In addition to producing amateur video programs directly, I arranged for the transfer to video, either professionally or by myself at home using inexpensive mirror-projection equipment, of more and more of my stored 16mm and 8mm films. I still have a substantial number of reels of 16mm film footage not yet transferred, but I have discarded most of my original 8mm film footage, already transferred, as being no longer viable or of continuing value. I now have accumulated a library of over 100 amateur video productions, packaged and labeled with home-computer-made jackets, which I have produced from both my films and my videos. And I am still working on more, to comprise my "moving image legacy," at the studio by Cox Communications, our area cable TV company. Since I was now retired, I used my camcorder to videotape a large number of local documentaries, lectures and other community programs for both the Wethersfield Historical Society and the Wethersfield First Church of Christ, Congregational, as well as many more family chronicles. I now have accumulated a library of over 100 amateur video productions packaged and labeled with home-computer-made jackets, which I have produced from both my films and my videos. And I am still working on more, to comprise my "moving image legacy."
Of the 12 separate productions which I have so far donated to the Library of Congress as the "Robbins Barstow 20th Century Family Home Movie Collection," ten consist almost entirely or predominantly of original 16mm film footage, with titles, credits, and occasional expository inserts, plus narration, added on the video/DVD versions. The last two programs, "Touring Paris with Two Grandchildren" (1992), and "Fourscore Years: A Cinematic Autobiography" (1999), are on video (and DVD) only. I have included them to round out our seven decades of family home movie chronicles.
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