Yesterday I wrote an opinion piece about how repackaged and rebranded films help film manufacturers sell already produced film. Here is part 2 of that.
I have had a few comments discussing this and it seems that the whole situation is more complex than what I was trying to get across yesterday.
Here are some reasons why film repackagers might choose a film for rebranding and repackaging.
1) The use case for the film has ended and there is no longer have a market for the film, already manufactured and in cold storage. e.g Aerial Reconnaissance film. In this case you might be able to buy the film at low cost and there might be enough stock for say 5 years retail supply. when it's gone, it's gone. Kodak Aerochrome is a great example. No use case and materials not available or environmentally unsound. The repackagers who got it knew it was limited supply.
2) A company decide to take advantage of a film produced for a different purpose, e.g. Movie film. This is obvious that there is a stick of film that is normally not used for stills photography, but is used in the Movie industry to produce feature films. If you want your photos to look like stills from a movie this might be an attractive option. Did you know that 5 studios; Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros all signed a deal with Kodak to continue to shoot movies on 35mm film. This means that Kodak can invest in movie film production and continue to produce Double-X, Vision 50, 250 and 500 in daylight and tungsten variants. Still photographers now have a guaranteed source of B&W and colour films to use going into the future.
3) A film manufacturer may have a small quantity of stock but not enough for worldwide distribution. Think Film Washi in Brittany. Low scale, handcrafted production and distribution. When it's gone it's gone.
4) The government of any country might have asked for a film to be developed for a specific application for their emergency services, military or security services. While the manufacturer is under Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) they may not be able to sell the film commercially. However if at no time do they reveal the origin of the emulsion, it may be possible to sell commercially under a different brand. Sometimes there is no NDA or the NDA has expired in which case you'll find out it's origin.
5) The film manufacturer may not want their name associated with an artisan brand for commercial reasons. At the moment Kodak Gold colour film is (checking Analogue Wonderland) 7.00 GBP per 36 exposure roll. Kodak may (stressing I have no evidence to back this up, aside from anecdotal) have sold Kodak Gold to Lomography under the commercial agreement that the source isn't revealed (Commercial NDA) and Lomography don't attempt to undercut Kodak. So Lomography Colour Negative 100 and Colour negative 400 (the speed change obfuscates the origin and doesn't really matter due to exposure latitude) is sold at 9.50 GBP per roll and Lomography state manufactured in the EU. This may account for why repackaged films are often more expensive than the branded offering.
6) A film manufacturer may not have the advertising budget to promote their films. Foma films are a great example of this. Their film maybe the most repackaged film manufactured today. Foma have the coating machinery and the finishing (confection) machinery but their advertising reach is very small scale and limited. However if a bunch of Artisan film brands sell under their own branding, Foma can sell more film and have a greater reach.
7) A premium film manufacturer may feel that budget brands are gaining traction and they would like to launch their own budget brand. Harman technology did this with Kentmere. The emulsion is good but budget and the packaging is cheaper. So they can now invent a story about how they took over this old traditional family film and paper company. Harman obfuscated the origins of Kentmere films, the original Kentmere company only produced photographic paper. The truth is that Harman only wanted the brand name for a budget range of film and paper to combat the rise of repackaged films. I'm not saying that Harman are rotters because the film industry is expensive to be in and Harman are ensuring their future. Agfa APX 100 is rebranded Kentmere 100, according to sources.
Like I said it's a complex situation.
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