How many people here watched movies on these in school?
Posted by someguyfromsk@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 106 comments
Posted by someguyfromsk@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 106 comments
lordskulldragon@reddit
We had something similar, but the reels were smaller.
jackfaire@reddit
Yup started with film projectors. Then it was TVs with VHS and by the time I was in high school TV with Laserdisc
Sorry_Consequence816@reddit
Specifically those damn tornado movies so we would know that you will be outside playing in a field with your friend and an adult safe and happy in a sunny cloudless day. Then suddenly you would be in the middle of a storm that came from no where, the sky is dark, the adult has disappeared (as has the tractor he was standing beside and working on) and the lesson is to get in a ditch to survive to tornado.
Life long funnel cloud phobia unlocked.
Jenn31709@reddit
Nope, we had this bad boy
New_Forester4630@reddit
u/someguyfromsk you gotta be really that old or that poor to use that.
In the 80s we did video tape.
In the 90s we did LaserDisc.
ahz0001@reddit
Yes, usually VHS. Once there was also a LaserDisc.
Also, math teachers worked out problems on plastic sheets and overhead projectors
Puzzled_Loquat@reddit
When I got my first teaching job in 2007, I had one of these.
SeriouslyTooOld4This@reddit
SAME! My hands were always stained from Vis-a-vis markers.
CherryFlavorPercocet@reddit
We had an LCD monitor that was transparent and sat over one of these. You could see the monochrome display on the wall. Teacher used it for a game called cannon fodder. She'd split the kids into two groups and kids were taking turns estimating velocity and trajectory. It was tons of fun. We used these regularly but I loved the cannon fodder game.
I had zero interest in school but when you made it a game it was tons of fun.
Josephthebear@reddit
Here's corporate whatever the hell thing is - Mankind
AV16mm@reddit
Did your science teacher ever remove the upper lens and use one of these bad boys to light paper on fire?
Beliliou74@reddit
I think of naps when I see this setup
New-Specific4225@reddit
I’m pretty sure this is why I got a D in math in 10th grade. Everytime this turned on I was out like a light.
PowderedToastBro@reddit
Last time I saw one of these was at a DOD school overseas in the early 80s.
LittleTownie@reddit
I used to love watching the light from the projector to the screen. Sometimes, you could see the colors in the air before they become image's on the screen.
LoganJamesMusic@reddit
A few times. Eventually became the owner of a 16mm projector when someone was clearing out items my childhood church didn't need or want anymore and came across the church's projector. He gave it to me thinking it was an Open Reel tape recorder by mistake.
BeefSupremeeeeee@reddit
I can hear this picture.
Roderto@reddit
I’d like to pretend no… But yes.
mdmc7183@reddit
Yes, through third grade in 91-92. Fall of 92 my district made the switch to vhs.
LazarusDark@reddit
No, those were gone in my schools, the ones we had only looked like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/The1980s/s/8gH4ES7COc
I don't remember them being in my elementary school though, we only had VHS in my elementary school. These film projectors like the one above were in my middle school, and mostly in the science class I think, for old science films. Maybe that science teacher was just stuck in her old habits, doing the same exact lessons every year for decades, lol, and didn't want to change anything. In high school we had laserdisc players on carts with honestly huge TVs; there was a lot of money in the high school I went to, we'd moved to a nicer area by then.
runningskirtsnmanis@reddit
BEEP
sahurley@reddit
It was a great day when you were chosen to be the one to advance the film.
dkonigs@reddit
I remember a larger version of this design that had an audio cassette player mechanism in the back.
Dirtycurta@reddit
For watching "film strips."
Echterspieler@reddit
We had that exact brand only we got the ones with the built in tape player
Jaleou@reddit
It's been forever since I thought of one of these
JLLIndy@reddit
In 5th/6th grade social studies our teacher had a weekly news reel thing on these. Each slide was a story and he would snap his fingers to go to the next slide, I hated it. He pronounced Tupac Shakur as Toopack Shaker. But we were pretty young and didn’t know who that was.
EvenSpoonier@reddit
I think the last one I watched was in sixth or seventh grade.
impeesa75@reddit
Ciba Geigy has entered the room
TK-385@reddit
The only time I saw these were in summer schools that played movies during movie time. Otherwise it was a rolling cart with a TV and VCR and occasionally a slide projector with a rotating carousel.
ChromeDestiny@reddit
We had a proper VCR when I was in pre school then all through public school it was typically film reels and film strips then in high school it was back to the VCR.
OldPros@reddit
I was the AV guy!
BillBrasky1179@reddit
OldPros@reddit
I got laid all the time being the AV guy. Chicks dig it.
Renfek@reddit
Shen1076@reddit
Trout Fishing in Vermont
Echterspieler@reddit
Once in a great while. I got to see all the formats. This Vhs and laser disks
bell83@reddit
We didn't have a motorized projector to watch stuff on. We did watch a lot of stuff on these bad boys, though
Munkzilla1@reddit
Same we got to change the film strip for the teacher!
bell83@reddit
Yup. And/or operate it
Munkzilla1@reddit
We had this
VikDamnedLee@reddit
I did but our projectors weren't sleek and retro-futuristic like that. We had these ol' boxy POS's.
ryguymcsly@reddit
They'd roll those out for the cool 1960s nature/anthropology documentaries in high school. In jr high and elementary these were all we had. The TV cart of justice wasn't a thing I saw until halfway through Jr High and it seemed crazy that there was just a VCR and we could put any tape in it.
red286@reddit
I remember they hauled these out for our very first every sex ed class in 3rd grade, showing how babies are made (in the most sterile sense, "the sperm meets the egg and fertilizes the egg which then turns into a baby 9 months later!").
By 6th grade everything was on VHS, though they were those huge clunky-ass top-loading VHS players that had an analog tape position counter, not the sleek ones people were actually buying at the time.
popcorngirl000@reddit
I used to help thread the movies on these bad boys in elementary school
Critical_Picture_853@reddit
Yeah. Too many to remember
DJ_Micoh@reddit
Hell I'm solidly mid-millennial, and we were still using them when I was at school.
johnvalley86@reddit
I remember watching an educational video about the dangers of electricity on one of those in second grade. Main character talking to you was a lightning bug with a light bulb for its body. I think it was actually produced by The Electric Company
Puzzled_Loquat@reddit
I think we did… in early elementary school.
pandafish78@reddit
In 1st grade I remember we watched Cat in the Hat on one of those. I’m pretty sure the audio was separate on a record. Most of my time in school we watched stuff on vhs.
Jaleou@reddit
I used that to show movies on Thursday Nights working at the library in 96 and 97. It was fun, they had a whole system to flip between 2 different projectors so the reel changes were mostly seamless. Once a month I'd show a foreign film, but mostly they were older ones.
Sometimes I'd have to run and get some scotch tape to fix the film if it got shredded. Once I accidently ran. Roberto Begnini film out of order, running reels 1 3 2 4.
Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit
Not movies, no—but does anybody else remember PAN, PAN, THE GREEK GOD PAN: ONE HALF GOAT, THE OTHER HALF MAN…
Probably not.
Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bES62cJOMu4
JSpitzRule@reddit
A few times, but mostly on VHS.
Basic-Biscotti-2375@reddit
We got split up boys/girls in the third grade and had to watch puberty films on that sucker. The principal sat in on ours and threatened us with consequences if we laughed. We were fighting for our lives that day
sonsofthedesert@reddit
Not me
MushroomBackground@reddit
I HAVE, I WENT TO CATHOLIC SCOOLS, IN FACT I WENT TO FOUR CATHOLIC SCOOLS DURING MY CHILDHOOD.
rootbeer277@reddit
I'd have thought at least one of them would teach you how to turn Caps Lock off.
sbernardjr@reddit
My enduring memory of these machines is when the movie was over, the teacher would have to reverse the reels (bypassing the bulb) and wind the film back up onto the original reel. It wound much more quickly in that direction and when it was done there would be a little end of the film left hanging out that would slap against the side of the machine until they turned off the motor.
BrainFartTheFirst@reddit
My school ditched these for VHS early. We still had record players though.
cheeker_sutherland@reddit
Yeah we only pulled this bad boy out for drivers training. Some old school “scare you straight” movie that I can’t remember the name of.
katharsister@reddit
Yep. We watched classics on this like Ricky Ticky Tavi, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and Charlotte's Web.
There was this other weird one and all I remember is a little girl going up and down these really steep mountains and comically falling down the side of each one, and the class thinking it was hilarious. If you know the name of this movie place help me unlock this memory!
Siphoneder@reddit
All my schools from elementary to high school were built in the 80s or 90s so there wasn't much legacy stuff around. I don't think I've ever seen a film projector outside of a movie theater. I was born into the VHS era.
gbyrd013@reddit
I can still hear the clicking of the film at the end of the reel.
CelticSith@reddit
"Harry knew things were going on with his body that weren't before. He had more hair in new places, and new urges when he saw Sally. These urges confuse Harry, but don't you worry Harry, it's all part of the magic of puberty"
Accio_Diet_Coke@reddit
That picture just unlocked that click, click, roll sound they make. I could probably make an asmr video and rake in that YouTube cash.
h0uz3_@reddit
As a kid I found an 8mm projector and an assortment of films to go with it. Those films were not age appropriate.
nvmls@reddit
I loved being picked to be the one to change the reels.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
Mostly no. We had VHS and Laserdisc. But I distinctly remember them showing us one of those red asphalt movies in the first grade on one of these projectors. Even then I thought that was fucked up. lol
sbgoofus@reddit
ours were B&H Filmosound...I think... big, teal green
PersianCatLover419@reddit
Yes, also when I have worked teaching elementary school it was funny how Gen Z was fascinated by an overhead projector, and I realized they had never seen one used before ever.
_ism_@reddit
try at home. In the late 80's my mom borrowed one from the library because they had a reel from the 70's with a sex talk on it.
The one with cartoon people standing 3 feet from each other with a man shooting a dotted line from his groin into the woman's bellybutton.
For years i thought you got pregnant by standing too close to naked boys
augustwest30@reddit
They would show us Our Gang/Little Rascals films in elementary school on one of these as a fun activity. The film media was probably the original reels they showed in the movie theater in the 1930s because the quality was really bad. Every now and again the timing would get messed up and the shutter in the projector wouldn’t align with the film frames so they would have to stop the projector and get the film realigned.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
We definitely watched some old films from the 50s and 60s in grade school science. Then again later in drivers Ed.
taggat@reddit
What should you do if you see a nuclear blast? That's right duck and cover!
Poison_Ivy_Rorschach@reddit
Loud and always overheated and smelled funny.
ChrisTGIK@reddit
Oddly enough, the teachers were all over the operation of these things. Get the VCRs in class and it was brain drain chaos.
mmoonbelly@reddit
Junior school. Watched some sad film about pit ponies…
practicalradical510@reddit
Not me. But I vividly remember when my teacher broke out a laser disc to watch Jacques Cousteau circa 1990. WTF?!
I felt like I had been transported to the future. How the hell were those 12" records making rainbows and storing video, too? Sick!!
Shirkaday@reddit
I think these were phased out before I even got to kindergarten, which would have been 88-89. We moved from Milwaukee to Houston around that time and Milwaukee Public Schools were pretty far behind the school district I was in outside of Houston in terms of technology in the classrooms. It was like going forward in time 10+ years when we moved. I would bet that the Milwaukee schools still had these, but I moved before I experienced them.
Any videos I recall watching in the Houston schools were laserdisc or VHS. We always thought it was cool when they got out the big shiny record.
Finalgirlcandy@reddit
I did in grade school. I clearly remember Leonard Nimoy in one of them (big Star Trek fan even then), but I don’t remember what the film was about
elkniodaphs@reddit
It was probably this one about Dr. Jean Paul Gassé, the French biologist.
The_same_potato@reddit
Nah never saw one of those. 83 kid
EpsomSaltedQuilter@reddit
My child was looking over my shoulder when I opened this and said, "What is that? It looks like a Mickey Mouse toaster."
crackersncheeseman@reddit
Herbie the Love Bug
Fit_Permission_6187@reddit
Since when were Xennials born in the 1950s
ONROSREPUS@reddit
I think I maybe remember once or twice when I was really young. I remember the sound they make.
LBC11-11J@reddit
We watched Old Yeller in the Gym/cafeteria/auditorium in elementary school.
Spartan04@reddit
16mm projector, we had those in my elementary school. We also sometimes watched filmstrips that had the audio on a separate cassette.
We did have VHS players as well, on the typical TV carts most of us are familiar with. Only had a few for the school so if a teacher wanted to show a VHS tape they’d have to go get the cart and roll it to the classroom.
When I was in high school they installed TVs and VCRs in every classroom. Big CRTs on a heavy duty wall mount. I remeber a few of my classrooms having to have the desks rearranged since the only place they could put the TV had desks in the way.
Rhizobactin@reddit
Yep. I remember for the holidays in elementary school.
Probably not Never-ending Story, but I can’t recall atm.
We needed these since we’d do an assembly and we’d turn the gym into a theater and TV carts wouldnt be sufficient.
bebop8181@reddit
👋👋👋
djayed@reddit
My parents had the deep throat porn on this kinda film and a projector. Once when my parents were out of town, we had all the neighborhood kids over and had a movie night.
We also watched Mighty Mouse for good measure.
FoppyDidNothingWrong@reddit
Overhead, laserdisc, and vcr
kayla622@reddit
The last time I ever remember watching a film strip was in the 5th grade (1994). We watched a film about Homer and his donut machine. After that, we always watched either VHS or laserdisc!
taleofbenji@reddit
Its legacy lives on to this day in the term "highlight reel."
Slaphappyfapman@reddit
Nice try, boomer
Majestic_Occasion_49@reddit
On rainy days, we had Richard Simmons: “Sweatin to the Oldies” on projectors for PE.
Uviol_@reddit
All of us
Josephthebear@reddit
Booop*
AmbitiousFlowers@reddit
I don't recall those, but it's possible my elementary school used them. Honestly, I don't recall watching anything in the classroom until possibly jr. high where we had the VHS players and TV on a cart. There was one class in high school that had a LaserDisc player with a TV.
TheREALBaldRider@reddit
One of my plant biology classes in college had videos played on these.
Harlockarcadia@reddit
We had this through 5th grade and VHS, mainly because some teachers had videos they wanted to show us that were only on reels
chief_n0c-a-h0ma@reddit
Yeah we would have these sometimes. Most of the time it was VHS or those film slide projectors with the small spools of film that some kid would be tasked with manually advancing.
Themoosemingled@reddit
Canadian National film board short animations.
someguyfromsk@reddit (OP)
I don't think my school even had a VHS player in elementary, we did have a few of these though. There was a couple on carts that could be taken to a classroom, and one in the back of the library in a area behind a big bookshelf.
Justin_Sideme@reddit
✋