Guardian News story

[Astro]

arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1882551,00.html

Hi all
I am quoted in this news item, but I the journalist has made an error.
I did not shoot any scenes for the film 8mm with Nicholas Cage, I advised Columbia Pictures on the different stocks available and types of looks suited for snuff movie imagey as did Pro8mm no doubt.

The interview seemed upbeat as I explained Super-8 has out lived many formats in Video. I was asked whether cameras we're still in production other than Pro8's efforts and I explained the situation that Super-8 is reliant on 30+ year old equipment in order to exist. I didn't expect the headline to be so negative.

As always the media seem intent on painting film (stills or movie) in a negative light. And it helps no one. But I've put the link above for anyone interested.

Astro

[/url]

[Astro]

More Updates, BBC Radio phoned had the same neg angle on the story of the demise of Super-8. So I corrected them and possible interview next tuesday.
Astro

[MovieStuff]

It is comforting to know we have a resident expert on the preferred 8mm emulsions for a proper snuff film. :lol:

Just kidding. Congrats on the interview!

Roger

[Astro]

Thankyou!

But we've been takin calls all day from worried customers about the End of Super-8.

I think the handling of the Kodak lab in Switzerland closure has not helped Kodak & it would be nice to see some positive motion picture publicity from them in the mainstream press, but it's probably not viable for them being 3.5billion in debt.

As for Snuff movies, I was hired to shoot one on Tri-X super-8 for Granada TV for The Last Detective IV earlier this year.

So anyone shooting snuff give me a bell!....No actually Don't!!!!....Please Don't!!!

Astro

[hellesdonfilms]

I think the article was terrible it paints film making as some dinosaur that is only used when you want to make something that looks really bad.

it se ems this is the only story the media like to paint as i've been asked by my local radio station to do an interview but only in the context of "old technology versus new" i said i would do it but i'm not quite sure what i've let myself in for.

[Scotness]

Yeah quite a crappy article - how about this quote:

Kodachrome is black-and-white stock to which colour is added during the processing.

Scot

[super8man]

so is wikipedia wrong?

"K-14 is the process used to develop several types of film, including Kodak's Kodachrome series of slide film. The process is very difficult, and requires developing firstly in black and white, then adding colours manually, which prevents individual operated laboratories from being able to develop film using the K-14 process."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-14_process

[reflex]

Kodachrome is black-and-white stock to which colour is added during the processing.

It's horribly worded but more or less true. Nearly all modern films have dye couplers incorporated into the emulsion layers. K doesn't -- the colour is introduced during the developing process.

Oh, where is John P when we need an eloquent paragraph or two on the topic?!

[MovieStuff]

Kodachrome is black-and-white stock to which colour is added during the processing.

It's horribly worded but more or less true. Nearly all modern films have dye couplers incorporated into the emulsion layers. K doesn't -- the colour is introduced during the developing process.

In fact, the concept was supposedly developed by Technicolor as a more convenient alternative to the 3 strip process. The idea was to have essentially one black and white film that would then be run through three dyes to add the colors, thus allowing color film to be shot on a camera with a single film movement instead of three. There is some disagreement among film-tech historians as to whether Eastman or Technicolor came up with the Kodachrome concept first.

Roger

[David M. Leugers]

I hadn't heard that one before Roger. I remember reading that a couple of guys invented the process using their bathtub as a lab. Seems strange that Kodachrome was being shot during WWII while Technicolor was using the 3-strip color process with their truely monstrous cameras. Kodak supposedly bought the process and perfected it. Would be nice to see the definitive story... Super8Today or SmallFormat listening?


David M. Leugers

[Angus]

The trouble with newspaper articles is that they are rarely trying to be objective...they always have an angle because they are trying to sell newspapers and trying to keep the reader reading.

Apart from the misunderstanding over Jake and Nicolas Cage's film, there's little that is factually incorrect...its just written by somebody who's knowledge is limited. The article gives the impression that just because the little yellow envelopes have died, that super 8 itself is about to expire too.

I find it a shame that 90% of the time the only "qualities" of super 8 that get mentioned in mainstream media are its ability to be made to look bad...but anything that publicises the format's continued existance isn't a bad thing necessarily...I liked the line about super 8 outliving VHS

[Andreas Wideroe]

Same here in Norway. Dagbladet, one of the 3 largest newspapers had a 3 page article about the end of Kodachrome, but they angled it more like the end of Super8.

I even helped to journalist to get the article right, but when I saw it printed he had changed what I wrote and called Kodachrome a format, not a filmtype and it was a lot of negative writing about Super8 in there.

Sad people... I guess they don't have a story if they inform the readers that Super8 is still going strong and Kodak delivers 5 types of films still - much more than they did 5 years ago!

The article is called: "Till the last breath"
It's not published online, but a small picture can be seen here.

http://www.dagbladet.no/tekstarkiv/arti ... kodachrome

Andreas

[Astro]

Hi again

BBC Radio Scotland have arranged an interview with me from the angle that "If you want to preserve your memories shoot film and they want to talk super-8 and how it's more popular than ever.
So next tuesday I hope to put wrong to right.
Astro

[Angus]

Hopefully a chance to put the record straight, and inform people of some of the benefits of shooting super 8.


There was going to be a BBC radio documentary "no more yellow packets"....do we know what happened to that?

[MovieStuff]

Seems strange that Kodachrome was being shot during WWII while Technicolor was using the 3-strip color process with their truely monstrous cameras.

The problem with having only one strip ala Kodachrome is duplication becomes expensive and problematic, especially in terms of contrast. The advantage of the three strip process is that you had no positive original, since the originals were black and white negative. This meant that any prints would be lower in contrast and that color could be controlled with great precision, compared to making prints off of a single positive strip like Kodachrome. Not sure if Technicolor had the single strip available that far back but I think they would have used the three strip anyway, simply because of superior results in shooting as well as duplication. Like you say, the definitive story would be interesting. Perhaps I'll do a bit of research. It would make an interesting article.

Roger