American Collectors

IndieFlix is selling the American Collectors Film

teravintage antiques — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:22:00 GMT

IndieFlix is a great film distribution company they are now offering the American Collectors Film. We are very happy to be involved with them please check their website

IndieFlix.com

American Collectors Movie selling on IndieFlix

teravintage antiques — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:06:00 GMT

American Collectors Movie can be purchased on IndieFlix

Film Production

teravintage antiques — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:15:00 GMT

One of the most memorable moments for me was late one friday afternoon in August when I recieved a call from Bob. " I've just lost the entire film", he said. Unable and unwilling to understand what had just been said, I asked him to repeat himself. "I was backing up the film onto the new drive and all of the sudden it just stopped. I can't get it to open up anything and its everything we've worked on for the past three months." My first thought was, how handy it was that I was standing in a liquor store, and I told Bob I'll be right over. I really couldn't believe it and I had to see for myself. Seeing for myself however wasn't at all satisfying. In the old days of mechanical failure there would be smoke, a burning smell, and horendous grinding noises that were indicators of a mechanical melt down. In this modern world we live in, we stare at a motionless silver box and a blank screen. It seemed so surreal that the entire summer's effort to finish this film was gone. In true Murphy's law scenario, the only things that were still there were the things we were not going use!

We sat down and contemplated the future. Luckily there is a whole indusry that has sprung up to retrieve data from this type of meltdown but it comes at a very high cost. What should we do? Going back to interview people never seems to get similar results as the first time when everything is fresh.

Our commitment to the project was on the line and we decided to bite the bullet and pay for data recovery. The idea of walking away from all the time and energy and that goes into a project like this was never truly on the line but to contemplate our alternatives was a sobering experience. These days we've come out of the experience with our data saved and we are down to the final edits (I hope)! Bob now does triple back ups on everything. Making a film is always a process of discovery and I've discovered that the saying Nothing is easy and nothing is cheap has taken on a whole new meaning for me.

Pittsburgh Collector Gets Lucky

teravintage antiques — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:41:00 GMT

Todd McDevitt, owner of a chain of comic book stores in the Pittsburgh area, is the proud--and surprised--owner of a pre-WWII detective comic featuring the first appearance of the Caped Crusader, Batman. Somebody found the comic while cleaning out their attic and brought it to McDevitt's store.

McDevitt told the Beaver County times, "I've been toying with the idea of reading it, but I haven't yet. I'm going to savor it."

See the whole story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_en_ot/batman_comic_4.

Back in the game!

teravintage antiques — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:23:00 GMT

The American Collectors' crew took a little summer break but we're back in action now. We'll be shooting new interviews starting next week. We also hope to get some footage from the Bellcon Comics Convention (you can learn more about that at www.myspace.com/bellcon).

I'm really looking forward to getting out into the field and meeting more collectors. Coming up: America Online disks, cheetos that look like other things, and gumball machine jewelry!

--June

The Jacques Costeau of Garage Sales

teravintage antiques — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:21:00 GMT

Richie's friends know better than to drop by on Saturday morning. That's when he hits the sales looking for dusty treasures. He calls himself the Jacques Costeau of garage sales.

His prized vintage audio gear is stored in a collection of Airstream trailers on his property. And those trailers are FULL! Richie also has a great collection of 1960s and 70s toys and pop culture paraphernalia. See the R. Crumb Devil Girl Choco-bars box in the second picture? Mmm, chocolate. Sadly, the box is empty.

Cat Whiskers

teravintage antiques — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:51:00 GMT

Sally has several collections, including boxes and gross candy, and depictions of the letter "S." But she got in touch with us to talk about her cat whisker collection. It's the second picture down. The next picture is the box collection.

The boxes are Sally's oldest collection. It started when her high school boyfriend gave her a handmade wooden box. Now she has hundreds of beautiful and unique boxes, a few of which are shown below.

Film clips on the American Collectors MySpace Page

teravintage antiques — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:21:00 GMT

You can see excerpts from our first three interviews on our MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/americancollectors. Keep an eye on that page--there's more to come!

Breweriana--it's not just empties

teravintage antiques — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:48:00 GMT

Gary collects breweriana--items related to beer brewing. You might think your recycling bin holds an impressive collection of bottles, but Gary has you beat. Although he focuses on historic Puget Sound breweries, any beer gear that catches his eye is fair game for his collection.

Life's a trip

teravintage antiques — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:44:00 GMT

Tracey has over 60 vintage suitcases. She sees life as a journey, and her suitcases hold the souvenirs she's collected on the trip so far. These cases are packed with with Tracey's artwork, photographs, and every card and letter she's ever received!

It's All in the Family

teravintage antiques — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:48:00 GMT

Collecting is in Debbie's blood. Both of her grandmothers collected, and so did her dad. Now her three sons have collections, too.

Debbie has the oldest collection we've encountered. Her maternal grandmother started collecting miniature shoes in 1941. She passed her collection on to Debbie, who collects little shoes to this day. The same grandmother gave Debbie her first Barbie in 1959. Her Barbies are Debbie's favorite of her many collections, and she still loves to dress them up. Debbie's grandmother also made the beautiful wedding dress in the second picture.

Rocket Man

teravintage antiques — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:48:00 GMT

Jim has been hooked on classic 1950's science fiction since he was a kid. A few years ago he discovered that he could buy posters for his favorite films on Ebay.

Many mouseclicks later, he has around 5,000 posters. Every month, Jim displays different posters from his collection at his donut shop, Rocket Donuts.

Jet Set

teravintage antiques — Mon, 28 May 2007 06:22:00 GMT

Matt showed us his collection of airline ticket jackets--the folders that airplane tickets came in. Remember tickets? They were these paper things . . .

He started his collection when he was just six years old and his family got stuck at the airport. He passed the time by picking up discarded ticket jackets that he found. Now he has thousands of them!

Matt's collection fostered a lifelong fascination with geography and travel. He has a web site, www.viatime.org, where kids can create a virtual airline and plot its routes. You can see more of his collection by visiting his virtual ticket museum.

Card Shark

teravintage antiques — Tue, 22 May 2007 05:05:00 GMT

Jeff likes to collect things that have to do with vices: cigarettes, booze, gambling. Not sex, though. He explained to the American Collectors crew that "those sorts of things get expensive."

Jeff has one special collection that he describes as his life's work: a nearly complete deck of cards made up of playing cards he finds on the ground. He's been at it for twenty years and only needs six more cards.

Surfer Girl

teravintage antiques — Wed, 16 May 2007 00:01:00 GMT

These pictures are from our first location shoot. We visited Denise K., who collects Hawaiiana and items related to surfing. We had a great time talking to Denise and checking out her beautiful collection.

Denise grew up in Huntington Beach, California, where her dad was Marketing Director for Laguna Swimwear and initiated the first "Masters" Invitational Surfing tournament. As a result of his efforts, in 1966, the Laguna Masters Invitational became the very first surfing competition ever covered by "ABC's Wide World of Sports." This was a huge milestone in the world of surfing.

--June

Whatcom County filmmaker creating documentary about collecting

teravintage antiques — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 18:30:00 GMT

Story about "American Collectors" doc in the Bellingham Herald.

Production Assistant

teravintage antiques — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 18:21:00 GMT

June Hathaway has just signed on as our production assistant. She will be doing some research on the psychology of collecting and working on the interviews. Here is her web site: June Hathaway

American Collectors Film Update

teravintage antiques — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:38:00 GMT

Hi everyone!

Thought I would give a quick update about our progress. Bob was interviewed about the film in an article that will be in the Bellingham Herald soon! Be sure to check it out!

I am on my way to Portland this weekend to attend the biggest antique show in the Northwest. I'm going with over 200 flyers and an ad the Portland Expo program guide. I'm looking forward to meeting some collectors and getting lots of contacts for the film. We plan on starting to set up interviews towards the end of March. Will keep you posted!

WELCOME

teravintage antiques — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 01:53:00 GMT

Looking forward to talking to other collectors out there. I think we will start interviewing the 3rd week of March. So feel free to make contact to set up a interview.