super 8 films: on DVD

[steve hyde]

Edit: post any links to infromation on super 8 films here.



....not that new. But new for me since I saw them both in the past couple of weeks.

Neil Young's Rock Opera "Greendale" all shot on Super 8 color negative.
I thought this was going to be cheezy, but in the end I was charmed by it.
Anyone working in Super 8 should watch the film to see what full follow through post production looks like on DVD. (it might shatter the dreams of some)




The other film is Guy Maddin's "Cowards Bend the Knee". All shot on Black and White Reversal and lit for noir. The running time is one hour, which is a good thing because I can't take much more than that.


Steve

[Evan Kubota]

Figure this is as good a place to mention it as any - I recently watched the one hour documentary "Making of Cannibal Holocaust" included on the recently released DVD. There's quite a bit of S8 footage from behind the scenes on location in Colombia. Interesting to see what it looks like - quite good, apart from some degradation of the color quality.

[CHAS]

Figure this is as good a place to mention it as any - I recently watched the one hour documentary "Making of Cannibal Holocaust" included on the recently released DVD. There's quite a bit of S8 footage from behind the scenes on location in Colombia. Interesting to see what it looks like - quite good, apart from some degradation of the color quality.

Really??? Man, I got to get that. Any idea what cameras (s8) they used? Do they show the background of the (deleted) pirahna scene?

A disgusting movie, but one I've seen several times...

[Evan Kubota]

The S8 camera is never shown on screen, so I have no idea.

AFAIK the piranha scene was never shot since Deodato couldn't get an underwater rig in time. Apparently that scene is included in the draft version of the screenplay on the DVD.

The cameras the "film crew" was using are all H16s. Non-reflex ones, too. On the DVD menu there's an image of an SBM with the Vario Switar 86EE, but that was never used in the film from what I can tell. The later portion of the movie (the found footage) was actually shot on 16mm, which I didn't know until recently. Looked like they used an Arri S with 400' magazine.

[npcoombs]

Neil Young's Rock Opera "Greendale" all shot on Super 8 color negative.
I thought this was going to be cheezy, but in the end I was charmed by it.
Anyone working in Super 8 should watch the film to see what full follow through post production looks like on DVD. (it might shatter the dreams of some)

Really? Ive been watching some of my footage with a rough cut mastered onto DVD and the Vision 500T looks great. Mind, I did crop and stretch to widescreen to mask the softness in comparison to video, but still in those dimensions, with about 2/3 of PAL lines used the s8 works well.

However, for any serious production 16mm is clearly the way to go. And since it is almost the same price (after developing and transfer) there is no reason to go s8 except for convenience and to be able to run and gun shoots (particularly to be inconspicuous and spontaneous).

[steve hyde]

...Yes, I agree shooting entirely on super 8 will cost more in terms of lost production value than paying another third+ for S16. Although Super 8 obviously has its own photogenic virtues - camera mobility and so on.

I've been masking for widescreen without the stretch and like the look.

Steve

[steve hyde]

....anyway - The Flaming Lips documentary "My Life with the Fearless Freaks" from Bradley Beesley is really well done. Great examples of sound synch S8 and 16mm interviews. I saw a Beta SP projection.

[steve hyde]

I keep forgetting to track down a copy of "Fruit of the Vine". Sounds authentic.

[steve hyde]

I have heard "Ode" from KELLY REICHARDT is an interesting film made on Super 8 ... has anyone seen it? Where does one get a copy of it?



source: http://www.glasseyepix.com/html/ode.html

[Scotness]

Here's a list kind of (via the posters)

http://www.filmshooting.com./scripts/fo ... ght=poster

Scot

[pulsingcinema]

I haven't had a chance to check it out yet but Anchor Bay just released a remastered version of Dead Next Door. On the official DND website (I've forgotten the URL) director J.R. Bookwalter goes into some very interesting details about what it took to reconstitute all the film elements and give them a modern telecine.

And the Super-8 footage on the Cannibal Holocaust DVD from the Alan Young documentary didn't look that great to me, it looked like an off-the-wall transfer because at one point you could almost see that someone slightly jostled the camera as it was recording.

[steve hyde]

...This is one of the best films *I have ever seen* and there is a lot of Super 8 footage included in the extras. (the super 8 footage is nothing spectacular)

See this film!






source: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=226

[Evan Kubota]

"And the Super-8 footage on the Cannibal Holocaust DVD from the Alan Young documentary didn't look that great to me, it looked like an off-the-wall transfer because at one point you could almost see that someone slightly jostled the camera as it was recording."

Yeah, I definitely didn't think the transfer was so great - however, the docu was produced for Italian TV by the looks of it. Given that condition and the age of the footage, I thought it was decent. It was also placed in a smaller frame on screen, though.

I recently obtained the out of print Criterion "Straw Dogs" DVD. I think some of the Dustin Hoffman behind the scenes footage is S8. Most of it looks like 16mm shot with some kind of early sync sound camera, though.

I'm embarrassed that I haven't seen "Onibaba" yet. "Harakiri" and "Kwaidan" are on my queue to see in the next few weeks...

[steve hyde]

haven't seen Harakiri yet, but I loved Kwaidan - great short-form films...

Steve

[Scotness]

The extras on some of the Bond DVD's are full of behind the scenes Super 8 - especially On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The transfers are great - but the stocks certainly have improved -- I saw the clip for Lloyd Cole and the Commotions "Rattlesnakes" recently - gee Super 8 looked bad back then (and that was only the 80's) - so rough it almost defeats it's purpose.

Scot