Dagie, tea and Thierry - Cambridge now!

The Cambridge Super 8 Film Festival starts tomorrow and one of its star guests has arrived, German Super 8er extraordinaire, Dagie Brundert...

...Dagie Brundert, film poet extraordinary, has arrived in Britain for her first ever visit, as a jury member, exhibitor and workshop leader for the Third Cambridge International Super 8 Festival which kicks off this Wednesday April 29 for 4 days.

The festival posse has already introduced her to the culinary delights of English sausage, Old Spot cider and fruit crumble with custard, plus a visit to Clare College chapel, and look forward to a successful fest with some 90 films accompanied by director Q&A sessions, a local archive screening, a magic lantern show and an analogue performance by our comrades from Szeged, Hungary, to round off the proceedings.

Be there or miss out! If you can't join us, we hope to offer updates and vidcasts of significant events on www.cambridge-super8.org as they happen.

Good luck guys!

Picture: Dagie, tea and Thierry (might be coffee but tea scans better!)

New from Wittner: B & W 54 stock

New from Wittner is their B & W 54 Super 8 mm film stock which is 16m of ORWO UN54 negative film stock (ISO 125 negative / 100 reversal) in a Super 8 cartridge.

This film is a fine grained, panchromatic black and white stock that can be developed as both negative and reversal. Prices start (with processing to reversal) at 27.90€ for a single cartridge.

This represents a new, readily available black and white stock in the Super 8 fold and we can't wait to see some results.

More here (in German) or here (by a stupid robot).

Handmade Filmmaking Camp: August '09

If the more experimental, home brew end of filmmaking is your thing, then you should really check out the Handmade Filmmaking Camp. This year's event takes place from 1st to 9th August in the beautiful Rocky Mountains north west of Boulder, Colorado - an inspiring location if ever there was one!

This week long intensive course will explore all aspects of hand made films from experimental shooting, right through to self-processing using the camps on site facilities. For more on this unique experience in an amazing location, check out the following link;

Rocky Mountain Hand Made Filmmaking Camp

And for a first hand account, read this article from Super 8 Today.

[Via the Handmade Film Institute & Super 8 Porter]

Squeaky Wheel: Global Super 8 Day

On Friday 8th May, at 8pm, The Squeaky Wheel in Buffalo, NY (USA) celebrates 44 years of Super 8 with an evening celebration of home movies, experimental films and narratives by local and national filmmakers.

Remember, you can also submit your own films as long as they reach the Squeaky Wheel by this Friday, the 1st May.

More details here.

Pan on the Podcast

(Click to watch the film)

We're continuing our more experimental theme on the podcast with Cathy Rogers beautifully hypnotic 'Pan'. This silent short uses single Super 8 frames to explore the glory of local woodland.

Cathy is an artist from Maidstone, Kent (UK) who works predominantly with Super 8 exploring the formal qualities of film, the frame, form and rhythm which are highligted through her looped works.

You can find out more about Cathy's work at cathyrogers.blogspot.com, including details of her latest installations.

Click to watch the film in either Flash or higher quality Quicktime versions. Alternatively, follow the link below to download the original H264 file (Quicktime 7 required). Note: the Quicktime version is recommended for this film due to the way Flash compresses moving imagery;

• Pan (.mov file, 34.9MB)

Remember, you can also;

• Subscribe to the Super 8 podcast via iTunes here
• See our Blip.tv channel for non iTunes solutions
• For more on the onsuper8.org podcast click here including how to get email updates

Kodak Vision 3 Daylight - Pro 8mm release

That was quick! Following our post on Kodak new Vision 3 Daylight stock a week or so ago - Pro8mm have done the right thing...

Pro8mm of Burbank, CA introduces Pro8/07, an ASA 250 D negative film stock reformatted from 35mm to Super 8mm at our Burbank facility. The stock is made from 5207, Kodak's newest addition to their Vision 3 line of film. Pro8/07 is a medium-speed daylight balanced emulsion. The stock as described by Kodak is to have such attributes as "the highest resolution available, unrivaled highlight latitude, reduced grain in shadows, and greater flexibility and control in post." The film is $30.00 per cartridge, inclusive of our award winning processing.

For ultimate cost effectiveness and unsurpassed quality, try an all inclusive discount package with scanning. Discounts are progressive with the number of rolls ordered. A one-roll tester includes scanning in HD Pro Rez on our M2 scanner to DATA DVD for $108.00 or in SD on our Y Front to data DVD for $88.00.

Call us today at 818-848-5522, or email us at info@pro8mm.com

More at www.pro8mm.com or on Twitter or their user group on Facebook

Butt Race - stop motion 8mm

Nicely executed vintage home movie skit.

[via Boing Boing - thanks Simon]

BBC get on Super 8 and Cambridge

Nice little article on... BBC Cambridgeshire

Reminder: 1 week to Cambridge

A quick reminder - if you're in the UK you really should get down to all or part of the fantastic 3rd Cambridge International Super 8 Film Festival which kicks off a week tomorrow (Wednesday 29th April) and runs to Saturday 2nd May.

It's got a packed line-up of screenings, workshops, panels and events tickets for which can be purchased online at www.cambridge-super8.org where the fab festival programme can also be downloaded.

We making our now annual pilgrimage, so perhaps we'll see you there?

Szeged rolls again

Another firm fixture on the Super 8 calendar, the Szeged International Super 8 Film Festival, has just announced its call for entries. Taking place from the 9th to 13th September in Hungary's fourth largest city the festival promises a jam packed programme of 8mm films, events and happenings.

To enter your film send an initial e-mail to super8mmfest@gmail.com with the following key information;

• Name of the director,
• Nationality,
• Title of the film,
• Length of the film,
• Category (fiction, experimental, documentary, animation, narrative, comedy, film noir, music video, thriller),
• A maximum 3 sentence description,
• Year of production

You'll then be sent more details on where to submit your film on DVD, which has to be with the organisers by 20th August 2009. It should be noted that films made in languages other than English should have English subtitles.

The 8th International Super 8mm Festival aims to be a networking festival for the both the Super 8 community and film lovers, and accepts only films originally shot on the Super 8 film format.

For more go to the Szeged website (in English).

Tomorrow - One Take, Denver

More at denverfilmmakerscoop.blogspot.com

Not coming to a Super 8 camera near you?

Kodak have just launched their new Vision 3 250D (note the D) stock, they say;

Introducing KODAK Vision 3 250D Color Negative Film 5207/7207. The Kodak Vision 3 Film platform pushes the boundaries of filmmaking even further with a medium-speed daylight balanced emulsion.

+ The highest resolution available
+ Unrivaled highlight latitude
+ Reduced grain in shadows
+ Greater flexibility and control in post

Sadly it seems there are no plans (not that we've heard) for this in Super 8 from the big K. With medium speed, daylight and a wide latitude - this would be a boon in 8mm. Who'll re-manufacture first?

More at Kodak's site

Super 8: The modest medium

The internet is an amazing place and it's very easy to take it for granted - but sometimes things turn up that are really just amazing.

This week we were pointed in the direction of ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) and in particular a document entitled "Super 8: The Modest Medium" dating from 1976, written by Jonathan F. Gunter. Amazingly, this report into the viability of Super 8 for commercial use was commissioned by UNESCO!

This state of the art review gives an overview of the history of the development of Super 8 film, and describes a range of hardware associated with it, covering such areas as camera, sound synchronization, double system recording, lighting, film processing, sound transfer, editing, sound mixing, display, and methods of distribution. It examines the potential use of 8 millimeter for television broadcast, and examines Super 8 in relation to other media such as 16 millimeter film and videotape. It concludes that Super 8 is basically a production medium that is economical, versatile, and easy to operate. It is likely that it will have its greatest impact in the Third World. (WBC)

The 88 page .pdf can be downloaded here (for free) and provides a detailed snapshot of the state of the format in the mid seventies.

[Thanks Victor]

Dear Love, on the Podcast

(Click to watch the film)

This week on the podcast, Timothy David Orme's experimental film explores the long lost art of the holiday postcard. Shot on Vision 2 200T this 6 minute montage mixes spoken word and vintage postcards to reveal numerous snippets of long lost vacations and fantastic trips away. For more on Timothy's work visit his website.

Click to watch the film in either Flash or higher quality Quicktime versions. Alternatively, follow the link below to download the original H264 file (Quicktime 7 required);

• Dear Love (.m4V file, 71.9MB)

Remember, you can also;

• Subscribe to the Super 8 podcast via iTunes here
• See our Blip.tv channel for non iTunes solutions
• For more on the onsuper8.org podcast click here including how to get email updates

ProRes for Pro 8mm

Latest from Pro8mm on their direct to Apple's ProRes 422 format...

Pro8mm is now offering direct encodings of Super 8 and 16mm film images to compressed HD file format Apple's ProRes422 HQ. This new system is a highly efficient and versatile way to use small gauge film in High Definition. The files are recorded in real time using a compatible hard drive system directly from the scanner. This significantly reduces the wait time and cost for HD file based sessions. ProRes422 HQ files are ideal for editing & playing high definition on Mac Computers.

ProRes HD files are 1/6th the size of 10 bit uncompressed files. They are 1.33 gigs per minute in 23:98PSF compared to 8 gigs for uncompressed files. This makes them an easier and much faster way to store data. It also makes it easier to move the data from device to device, opening the way for more and less expensive storage options. Given their smaller bit rate, these files can also be played directly on a Mac computers' QuickTime Player. Additionally, they can be used with Final Cut Pro editing software without the need to do additional compression.

Our all inclusive film packages will be available for the new ProRes codec, along with new less expensive drive storage for more savings. With the smaller size, there will be additional saving on Hard Drive space with discounts exceeding 20%. You can sample this new workflow for $108.00, which includes a single roll of our Pro8mm film, award winning same day processing, prepped, cleaned, scanned and encoded in High Definition using ProRes HQ 422 which we will put on Data DVD.

The price for using ProRes HQ422 Codec and eSata or Firewire 800 Mac formatted drive in a scan session is $80.00 per hour. There is no additional cost for downloading to a drive. The ProRes codec can be used in all 3 common HD Standards: 1080P 23:98 PSF, and 1080I (59.94), 1080P 25PSF.

You can also test this new workflow for free by requesting the new Pro8mm Data Demo. The Data Demo has samples of all Pro8mm Data workflows. 10 Bit Uncompressed (SD/HD), DVCAM Compressed SD, and the new ProRes HD 422.

Click here for Apple White paper on ProRes

Wall of Fame - Gadget Show

File under miscellaneous - a pink Cadillac, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and a chilly Birmingham park at 8.30am?! Today's slightly odder 8mm task was a bit of technical help on a future episode of Channel Five's Gadget Show (UK). The premise - does Super 8 deserve to make it onto their gadget Wall of Fame? Watch over the coming series and find out...

[Pic - Jason Bradbury shoots his own crew with a (very) vintage Kodak Instamatic Super 8mm Camera]

Super 8 Late - this Thursday

- curated by Chris Kennedy
Thu 9 Apr 2009 11:00pm - 12:00am @ Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen Street St. W, Toronto

On a descriptive level these films are unambiguous - documents of movers, a train entering an underground station, moments in an apartment. To stop there, however, is to ignore the expressive undercurrents that resonate through each of these films. It is appropriate that these films exist solely and singularly on the intimate format of Super 8, transforming the smallest of frames into the richest of experiences. This is a format so unassuming that its obituary has long ago been written, but these six filmmakers show that even evaporation creates beautiful clouds.

Most of these filmmakers start from the commonplace, the everyday, recognizing the medium's history as a home-movie format. In Light Speed, Karen Johannesen creates an extremely kinetic film from the light coming through her blinds and the parallel patterns she finds in her immediate vicinity - her fire escape, the brick wall of a passageway and the chain-link fence of her yard. Steve Polta's approach is more contemplative. A House Full of Dust finds him capturing the detailed moments of a home, foregrounding the passage of shadows, dust and light, while 1997A (Arrival) succinctly draws out a beautiful abstraction from his morning commute. Takehiro Nakamura also abstracts his surroundings in Some Days Ago (Kajitu) by shooting through a crystal glass apple, the kind that innocuously sits on a family coffee table, distorting his neighborhood into an apocalyptical nightmare.

Philippe Cote's film is anything but commonplace, harnessing instead the energies of high altitudes. Its title roughly translates as the clouds in the fissures of the earth, and it finds him traveling up the French Alps to Mount Blanc. Through beautifully graphic compositions and a stunning use of time lapse, he reveals the furious cloud patterns that circulate around the glaciers and peaks of the mountain range. Jason Halprin's Mylar Balloon Rip Off watches more sedate air currents, this time man-made, in a subtle film that belies both the irony of his title and of his muse.

Francois Boué's document of New York movers lifting large crates up a stairwell is given the German title Aufhebung, which is another clue to the tension in these films. The title literally means up-lifting, but in philosophical circles it also translates into sublation - superseding, putting an end to, but simultaneously carrying forth a tradition. Perhaps this is the process at work in these finely wrought films, made in a medium so precariously balanced - each projection is a small act of destruction, but also an act that brings forth and preserves a future.

Halogenuros - the final report

We included the brilliant Halogenuros project on our podcast earlier this year. With its comprehensive mix of Super 8mm film stocks, stooting techniques and high resolution telecine - this experimental short pushed possibilities within the small film frame.

For those interested in the background to the project, the final report has now been published - documenting in absolute detail that process that its maker Daniel Henríquez-Ilic went through to bring the film to reality.

This hefty 170 page plus tome (41Mb download) is only in Spanish but, if you're multi lingual, it looks like an essential read - especially the shot by shot analysis of the film's make up.

Download it here (click on the document icon on the LHS of the page).

Tourné Monté 09

The veteran Super 8mm single cartridge film festival, Tourné Monté (Strasbourg, France), has thrown open its doors once again with the announcment of this year's competition.

The usual rules apply - one cartridge, in camera edit, return un-processed - and you can buy film directly from the organisers (€27 for Ektachrome, €33 for Tri-X - including processing). Entries have to be in by 31st July 2009 and the festival takes place on Friday 23rd and Saturday October 24th, 2009 at the Palais des Fêtes in Strasbourg.

More details and entry here (in French) or click the image above, or clumsy bot translation here

Cambridge preview night

If you just can't bear the wait until the Cambridge Super 8 Film festival (29th April to 2nd May - the line up looks incredible) they've got a great preview night on Thursday 16th April - more details here.