Living life on the Westside

Charles Doran's short 'Westsider' tells the story of an ambitious young architect whose dreams of living life large on the Los Angeles Westside (an area roughly bounded by Beverly Hills, Malibu and Marina Del Ray) come to an abrupt end. The result, a move to the Valley, an area that far from meets this upstarts social and aesthetic aspirations.

We caught up with Charles to ask him a few questions about his ambitious film which was shot entirely on Super 8mm film.


Q: So what made you use Super 8 for Westsider?

I had shot a lot of Super 8 when I was a teenager, mostly stop-motion G.I. Joe stuff, then I went to college and made some Super 8 and 16mm shorts then forgot about filming for awhile.

About five years ago I stumbled upon a class at UCLA Extension called 'The Art of Super-8' and thought to myself, “this would be a great opportunity to get back into filming” which was an idea I had toyed with for many years.

The six-minute Plus-X film I made for my class project was 'Ennui' which I tinkered with for a few years, finally releasing it at 14 minutes in time for an exhibition I curated at a micro-cinema back in late 2003. The film ended up doing fairly well, getting accepted into over a dozen festivals and screenings world-wide and winning best short film at the Boston Underground Film Festival.

The idea for 'Westsider' had been in my head for awhile, based on some personal experiences of moving from West L.A. to the Valley when I was 21. I originally was going to shoot it on Kodachrome for the lush, Westside sequences then switch to Plus-X for the dire Valley sequences, switching back to K40 in the final scene when the character goes back to the Westside in his mind. I had plenty of Super 8 equipment lying around doing nothing and I wasn’t prepared to buy 16mm equipment. Due to the different film looks I wanted for the locations we shot in I had no interest in shooting this particular story digitally.


Q: How many stocks did you use and did you learn anything from the experience?

We ended up using 9 Super 8 stocks! Velvia and some K40 for almost all of the Westside shots (when the character is living the “good life” in LA) and a mixture of the discontinued 7240, Kodak’s 64T, and an old roll of 160G for the Valley sequences. For interiors we used 200T and for most nighttime exteriors 500T. Three E100D carts were also used for some of the Westside sequences and a test roll of Fuji 64T also made an appearance on the Westside. But it was mostly 4 stocks – Velvia, 7240, 64t and 200T.

What I learned was how much you can get away with filming in the daytime without reflectors of any kind with all of the slow-speed stocks. I found the Velvia to be absolutely gorgeous and for the most part grain-free. Some people have criticized the look, saying it is too saturated but for the character’s state of mind it worked.

Another thing I learned was how important it is to work with your colorist, it was an educational experience, sitting in with Doug Thomas, at Spectra. He was able to tint the Valley sequences shot on 7240 and 64T to a disgusting yellowish-green as per my specifications. He was also able to make the 64T match the 7240 by blowing out the colors and adding grain. Not one person I’ve shown the film to has been able to tell the difference.

Q: Would you have shot differently in hindsight?

Not really. I could have shot for one hundred days more in the Valley – there are so many great, ugly locations - abandoned playgrounds, horrible tract-housing from the 70s, wretched stucco apartments and shops, etc. It was too much fun.

For Westside shooting I guess I could have gotten more stereotypical stuff like surfers and babes walking around in bikinis but there just wasn’t enough time plus I was working without an Assistant Director or Production Manager.

For most of the exteriors it was just myself, the Director of Photography, maybe a PA on a good day and the talent. As far as using less film stocks – it all just worked out the way it did. I didn’t have to shoot the 21-year old roll of 160 G but since it was a free roll I thought why not? Same with the Fuji test roll of 64T. If something like that falls into your lap you might as well take advantage of it.


Q: Did you have to do much in post to get visual continuity?

Not as much as one would think. The biggest challenge was getting the 64T to look as saturated and grainless as possible. What happened was Spectra temporarily ran out of their Velvia and my stash of K40 was long gone and I hadn’t heard of anyone in the U.S. selling the 100D yet because it was kind of a secret at the time. So we had no choice but to shoot 64T as best we could and have Doug at Spectra work on it. I think he did as good a job as possible. It’s just not that great a stock, in my humble opionion.

So to sum up, it was much easier making the 64T and the 160G looking like the horrible 7240 (in post) than making the 64T look good. I mentioned earlier that I shot a test roll of Fuji’s 64T – the grain in that stock was much closer to the Velvia – it’s a much better 64T than Kodak’s version and I wish it would be officially released!

Q: Any advice for others making Super 8mm stock choices - the good, the bad and the ugly?

Yes. I would say to buy 'Westsider' on DVD when it comes out soon to get to know how the different super-8 stocks can work together.

Seriously though, always shoot a lot of test footage before you finalize your stock. Be adventurous and try different stocks. So many people are stuck on Kodak’s 64T and 200T but there is more to life than those particular stocks. I would suggest that if you are not sure which stock to shoot to buy a 4 or 6 cart package at Spectra, other companies have similar packages, so do some research. Spectra has some great deals where you can buy the film, get it processed then have a best-light transfer done for a set amount of money, I tested the Velvia and 200T this way and was very pleased.

Otherwise you are flying blind. Unless you are making a 3-roll artsy, experimental film I can’t see any other way.


Q: What next for Charles Doran and Super 8?

Well unfortunately, nothing for the moment – 'Westsider' took up a lot of dough and I’m trying to save for a trip to South East Asia in December and January. And yes, I’m going to bring a Super 8 camera for that but also a Mini-DV. I’m submitting 'Westsider' to festivals right now.

A friend who works for a production house has access to some great digital cameras so I’m going to finalize a script I’m working on and hopefully shoot a synch-sound DV short early next year. I don’t think I will shoot a serious narrative on Super-8 every again, sad to say, unless a) it’s real short or b) someone else fronts the money.

I do have a double-system sound K40 short film called 'White Meat' I finished a few years ago that has been telecined and needs to be edited together. To tell you the truth I dread doing that because I’ve never edited doubled system sound before. Just the thought of trying to match everything up in Final Cut Pro is making me anxious...


To find out more about 'Westsider', to see stills of the film and to buy the DVD when it's released - go to the Westsider website.