guy bourdin super 8 films

Post by **adoyle** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:32 pm

some great little super 8 clips from one of the 20th centuries great fashion photographers..
he had a major obsession with capturing images medium format,35mm polaroid and super 8..
a real need to frame life and find perfection within
when the image was taken he would start to lose all interest in it.
a lot of his stuff was destroyed,dumped or found decaying after his death..
these little clips were just random film fragments shot during his stills fashion shoots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q9CS5Mmeg8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwzoz7Uv6qk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df21ZHkNghY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4MftvoumNA

Post by **twotoneska** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:37 pm

These are really interesting. Is there more info on how these came about?

i.e. Are these films presented exactly as they were made, or did someone edit the raw footage into smaller films?

Post by **vegetable man** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:57 pm

beautiful.

those are edits made from the originals (you can see them too):

http://www.showstudio.com/projects/blumenfeld/films/

Post by **dsam7** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:44 pm

Fabulous!

True creativity. Bourdin blows away the cheap imitators in the fashion world of today.

Does anyone know what super 8 camera he used?

Post by **adoyle** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:04 am

he used a nizo 800.
he loved design and this shape is one of the best...
he had the fantastic polaroid sx70.
as i said after he died his brother samuel had the terrible task of trying to save a lot of the remaining items that could be salvaged..a lot was beyond help..
so many photographers have ripped this guy off,he still is a major influence.
forget bailey,newton et al this guy was seriously screwed up,but a total genius.
i think you can find about 7 films on you tube..
these were found in a shoe box sent to a london telecine company and tweaked by an editor and a photographer called nick knight,who happens to be a great post modern photographer in his own right.
madonna had to pay bourdins family A MILLION DOLLARS for copying his work for a pop video,a couple of years ago.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/madimages1.html

Post by **arnaud** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 pm

When I saw these at an exhibition in Paris (back in 2004), I thought it was 16mm (the asian models close to the sea cannot be filmed on super8?).
Here you can see better quality ones and more choice.

a.

Post by **dsam7** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:01 pm

Thank you Adoyle & Arnaud. These films are a great find. I was aware of his photography but not his super 8.

I hate people who copy, thankfully his imitators have to live with the knowledge that's all they are - imitators!

Post by **mathis** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:07 pm

Nah, that must be 16mm.

Post by **adoyle** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:34 am

about 4 years ago in london i met guy's son samuel at the michael hoppen
gallery,just off the kings rd.
the exhibition was for works from the exhibit A photo book.
samuel told me the movie material was mainly super8..
i also met the editor that put the pieces together for show studio and victoria and albert museum exhibition..
it is all super 8.