why use R8 - a new film project

[studiocarter]

Please help me to make a film that extols the virtues of making Regular 8mm films. I can pay for it but partners would be more fun.

If you would write a testimonial, that would be a beginning. There have been many reasons told to me but I never had written down so they were forgotten. I just acted upon them and began shooting R8 film.

One of my reasons was to teach something in art class that could get my students a job but I didn't have much of a budget. R8 was just the ticket. Fundamentals of proper filmmaking were thus taught and we made really neat animations.

That is my topic but not the entire testimonial which would be quite a bit longer.

Your page or pages could be pm (emailed) to me or simply posted here. Some kind of permission to use it would be needed if you would be so kind.

I intend to release on the latest and greatest media which I think is blueray?

So, to sum up:

Just write why you think Regular 8mm filmmaking was great to do or why it still is being done or why you use it or why you transfer it or why you collect them or the equipment

The goal of the "film" is to have teachers let students use the media.

Thanks,
Michael A. Carter

PS: You may use the above idea in any projects of your own in any way you see fit.

[super8man]

Editing this into context may be required but here's my contribution...

http://home.pacbell.net/mnyberg/super8mm/8mm/index.htm

We've all seen it before. Television shows like "The Wonder Years" use it to tug at our hearts. Movies like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" glamorize it and make us long for a time long ago. An uncle of yours fondly recalls doing it until one day he simply stopped - he can't quite remember when or why. TV commercials cleverly try to mimic it to sell old products to a new generation.

What is "it?" Why, regular 8mm film of course. Our parents unknowingly created three-minute time capsules of precious moments of a life that never was.

A whole generation of regular 8mm amateur filmmakers documenting our first steps into infancy. Our first Christmas. Our first bath. Our first steps. Others went further and captured the moments that would shape generations to come. Color scenes from a GI's two-year "police action" in Vietnam. The John F. Kennedy assassination - captured in its horrific entirety on regular 8mm silent color film by a businessman who would never pick up a camera again in his life.

No one knows why, but the facts are clear. We all love looking into the past. And no other format of media quite captures our hearts like regular 8mm film. Can you hear the Credence Clearwater Revival song playing? Perhaps it is the simple fact the celluloid is SILENT. We don't get to remember what was said. Only how it looked. So we interpret the scenes individually, within our minds, and fill in what isn't there. And, given the choice, we prefer things to be happy instead of sad. So, we hear the music and watch the scenes roll by with gladdened hearts.

[marc]

I have a Bolex c8 and I was thinking of shooting something using this camera with the 100D at 30fps to get maximum resolution. With the Bolex engineering and most prime lenses( not necessarily the Bolex ones, although those are top notch) Super 8 wont come close to that. Maybe if you put together a few clips that are transferred at the highest quality, like 10 bit uncompressed on Bluray, as a demo in different situations this would be a good selling point so that people could actually see it's potential.

[MIKI-814]

An ASA 10 fine grain Kodak b/w film is available in R8 through The Widescreen Centre (UK). I will give a try soon:

http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/Cata ... _Film.html

I also shoot with Fomapan R100, a stock that I like very much, quite different from Plus-X and very interesting in cloudy days.

[Charlie Blackfield]

I know this may sound absurd, but one of the attractions I find in Regular 8 is the additional inconvenience compared to Super 8, when it comes to loading the film. No real advantage, of course; however it's a good stepping stone to 16mm (and possibly larger) film formats, and my logic was that Regular 8 will give me the skills and experiences needed to move on to 16mm, at the cost of Super 8 filming (i.e. I can afford to make a few mistakes along the way - quite a few of which I have already made...).

Since then I have come to appreciate Regular 8 in its own right rather than as a cheap version of 16mm. I own a 1956 Paillard-Bolex B8 camera, and it's now my favourite camera for travelling. Very lightweight, yet it has lots of different framerates (up to 64fps) and interchangeable prime lenses. The windup clockwork motor means that I have never to worry about batteries. A superb little gadget that has already provided me with some beautiful footage, both colour and black and white.

[MIKI-814]

I know this may sound absurd, but one of the attractions I find in Regular 8 is the additional inconvenience compared to Super 8, when it comes to loading the film.

No that absurd, I agree on that

I own a 1956 Paillard-Bolex B8 camera, and it's now my favourite camera for travelling. Very lightweight, yet it has lots of different framerates (up to 64fps) and interchangeable prime lenses. The windup clockwork motor means that I have never to worry about batteries.

Same here. I also own some big Canon's but for carrying and filming around I prefer to pick up the tiny and lightweight B8. Mine also have a variable sutter and I'm very happy with it.

[Will2]

R8 gives me the look I used to get with Super 8 before transfers & stock became so good (damn you Roger!! ) It's very nostalgic.

Part of this is because I'm using inexpensive R8 cameras too, like the Canon Canonette Cine 8. I have about 5 of these now, having not paid over $10 each for them. I load two at a time and carry them around on family outings.

[VideoFred]

One of my reasons was to teach something in art class that could get my students a job but I didn't have much of a budget. R8 was just the ticket. Fundamentals of proper filmmaking were thus taught and we made really neat animations.

Very nice project! Perhaps this can help a bit, to show the quality of the old format.

http://www.vimeo.com/2823934

Of cource I can upload these clips without the Avisynth comparison.
I have two 400ft reels of this stuff and full permission from the author to publish whatever I want from it.

Fred.

[marc]

Fred,
That must be the old ASA10. My father shot some of that back in 1961. The resolution is unreal! I wish that Kodak made slow speed like that now!

[studiocarter]

That must be the old ASA10. My father shot some of that back in 1961. The resolution is unreal! I wish that Kodak made slow speed like that now!

7363 reversed is shot at ASA10, too bad it's black and white. I shot a lot of it. The chap in London splits and perfs it for R8.

[marc]

That must be the old ASA10. My father shot some of that back in 1961. The resolution is unreal! I wish that Kodak made slow speed like that now!

7363 reversed is shot at ASA10, too bad it's black and white. I shot a lot of it. The chap in London splits and perfs it for R8.

Yeah, but it would be awesome to have it in color. Black and white really does not interest me that much.

[MIKI-814]

7363 reversed is shot at ASA10, too bad it's black and white. I shot a lot of it. The chap in London splits and perfs it for R8.

I'd like to try it. I shoot a lot of B/W and suppose it has a very fine grain, hasn't it?

Is it well perforated? Any stability issues? It's not cheap at all.

[8mm]

R8 is more like filming with a 16mm camera, most R8 cameras are little 16mm cameras scaled down. I agree that they are more interesting to load than a super 8 camera becouse you actually get to feel the film that you are shooting on.
Does anyone know if Kodachrome is still being made for R8? Wittner had them on their website last year but I cant find Kodachrome for R8 there anymore.

[MIKI-814]

Does anyone know if Kodachrome is still being made for R8? Wittner had them on their website last year but I cant find Kodachrome for R8 there anymore.

As long as Kodachrome type film is out of production it will disappear from all stocks and formats.

[alan doyle]

the greatest advert for this fantastic format is videofreds..Expo 58 footage..
photographed on a tiny bolex in glorious moller anamorphot widescreen..
look at most kodachrome 35mm footage from the 40s or 50s in film archives...
this footage looks better..
shot by a fantastic cameraman and scanned with freddies magic this is the best reason to use this format..
reversal films are special..i believe they connect on a conscious and subconscious level..
whether it is old or new footage done well,they can have a greater emotional impact than many newer technologies..
i also believe standard 8 is a closer relative to 16 and would be a better format for teaching photographic technique.