OPPENHEIMER: EUMIG E.C.S. TYPE SPLICES FOR IMAX 70 MM 15 P. FILM PRINTS

The craziest splicing system for Super-8 film could only have emerged in the late sixties in the fiendishly of the wizards of Wien: the Eumig Chemo Splicer. I bought my ECS splicer when I was twelve years old but I never liked the system, until a few years ago! Now I use it when I want to make a slightly special transition between two sequences. 

70mm 15perf. splices type Eumig ECS, in zig zag

A splicer like this could only have been invented in the 1960s, sprung from the diabolical mind of a Teutonic scientist from Austria. In his day, as a child, the Eumig Chemo Splicer splicer cost a fortune (5,500 pesetas in 1972), and  me, of course, was not at all happy with zig-zag sawtooth splice).

However, currently, with vintage in full swing, these crazy zig zag splices, from the mythical Eumig (in those times the most important company in Austria), are a reflection of an era, so I try to do some into almost all my documentaries, as a nod to all of us who grew up with the super-8 and knowing that they will go unnoticed by the vast majority of viewers. After making the ECS zig zag splice, I reinforce it with another invisible one from Fujifilm.

It came as a surprise to me to discover that this splicing system is the one chosen for 70mm 15-perforation film. Eumig technicians wrote in the 1960s that the zig-zag splice increases the contact between both ends of the film. This is very important on 70mm 15-perforation film, and the splice is masked by the projector gate. Also, as my friend Gordon McLeod told me, zig zag splices prevents the splice from hinging or folding as it passes through the rolling loop. A lot of projectionists use blooping ink to hide the splice.  After all, the Eumig scientists may not have been so far off the mark!   (Note, with 70 mm-15 perforations films tape splices need to be retaped every 200 passes)