Nitrate Film Burning

[BmovieBen]

oh i hope this isn't what happened to London after midnight

[coinneachclachair]

well considering it creates its own oxygen when burning, it will burn underwater. [so I was informed] we used to keep some in a safe at my work, as the fire brigade used to send newbies arround , I would show them the "danger" places in a cinema....ending with a wee demo on how things were in the old days....lighting a six inch strip of nitrate film....[horible stench btw ]

[contrapezist]

@coinneachclachair Yea this stuff is a bit of a nightmare, not only does it oxidize and burn very hot but it also self destructs. Decomposition releases gas that turns to nitric acid which causes even more rapid decomposition and if left unchecked it will eat holes in the can and spread to the rest of the library.

[filmteknik]

Not all nitrate says nitrate (let alone has a star). Older stock doesn't say it because there simply was nothing else but nitrocellulose base at the time.

Furthermore not all film that seems to say nitrate is nitrate if the latent image on the edge of nitrate stock was printed through onto safety stock.

[WinFailure]

well the basterds sure werent lying about how fast that burns.. heh

[Smithereen1]

I saw that once in a film about some basterds. For the life of me I can't recall the name. :P

[yulio3000]

@Smithereen1 inglorious basterds, that movie is why i looked this up, DOWN WITH HITLER!!!

[mclarpet]

Nitrate film can burn INSIDE the film cans. It was resposible for a number of disasrous cinema fires.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Well aren't you an Inglorious Bastard.

[MrSingingpenguin1]

@Morahman7vnNo2 I see what you did there! :)

[Ampex196]

This is obviously a bh perf neg. In days past I've seen 'nitrate' markings duplicated on to tri-acetate prints. You can never be too careful with this stuff !! Happy days. Thanks for posting.

[PrescottValleyMan]

wow alaflambae anyone lolroflmfao

[moviemonkeys]

Whoa... scary!

[cinescopefilms]

dynamite.

[electricvisions]

and that's why they don't use nitrate anymore...

[Watcher3223]

... and haven't been used since the 1950s from a safety standpoint when acetate bases became widely accepted.

But, acetate filmstrip had its own interesting share of quirks: it can decompose into water and acetic acid.

Now, the industry uses polyester base for duplicate negatives, interpositives and theatrical prints, which is far more stable and durable.

But, original camera negatives are still shot on acetate.

And then there's digital cinematography...

[Interests2009]

They say that nitrate can self-ignite

[Watcher3223]

If it's deteriorated enough and if the conditions are just right, it sure can. But self ignition problems are largely overstated.