8mm documentary videos

[hudsonphotos]

I am a wedding still photographer, have never been to this video

forum before, and couldn't find any answers using the "search"

function. Please forgive me in advance if this quesiton has been

asked a million times already and please direct me to the right

place for help.

 

I am wanting to make vintage looking black & white videos of events.

I would like to use an old 8mm movie camera. I see a lot of them on

ebay.com My quesiton is: can you still buy 8mm film for this, and if

so where? Do I need to buy and learn how to do my own editing? Or if

I don't want to do any editing - what do I do after I record the

film? Transfer it to VHS or DVD? How can I watch a 8mm movie?

 

All help apprecaited!!!

 

Jason Hudson

hudsonphotos.com

[Karim Ghantous]

I used to shoot Super-8 film. But I assume you want Standard-8? Standard-8 is the original 8mm format. The sprocket holes were large and the frame was small. It was actually double-sprocketed 16mm film.

 

It came in 25 foot lengths on a little spool. You threaded the film through the gate onto a take-up spool. You shot 25', then reversed the spools and took another 25'. The lab would process the film, then cut it down the middle longways and cement them together to form a 50' length.

 

Super-8 is 8mm wide from the start with smaller sprocket holes allowing a bigger frame and comes in 50' lengths, packaged in a cartridge. You loaded the cartridge, shot, took it out and sent it off. No threading needed.

 

Okay... I assume you're doing sound sync in post production? Good idea! Oh, and you could edit the film but why risk damaging it? Transfer it to a MJPEG or, if you prefer, a non-compressed, broadcast quality format. Though it would be easier to just get it transferred to MiniDV, a MJPEG format at near-broadcast resolution (though it is compressed).

 

Then edit in your computer.

 

I believe you can get the film still. Try a place called Derran (or Deran) in the UK. They might help. I wish I could tell you more. Don't expect to find Stardard-8 in colour though.

 

By all means ask more questions because I can't think of anything else to suggest right now.

[j.w.]

Super 8 film, both B/W reversal and color reversal, is still available, as is the processing. Regular 8 may also be available, but I'm not positive on that.

 

Go to www.flicker.org; they have links on their web page for all kinds of small-gauge film resources.

 

Last summer I filmed my road-trip vacation in super-8 Tri-x reversal film, then spliced the small reels onto one larger 15 minute reel. Its awesome to see newly-processed film freshly projected.

 

As for specifically your application, first buy a super-8 camera. Try to get a better quality camera, with good lens, not one of those little boxy 8mm jobs. Second, yes, you can splice and edit and project the old fashioned way (like I do), but for commercial wedding use, the best way is to bring the film (after procesing) to a good local outfit that does film to video transfer, and do the edit after transfer. Make sure they can transfer to the highest format that you can support.

 

If you're not already setup to do commercial-quality video production in-house, perhaps that's where you need to start, first. In the long term its more cost-effective for you to buy into your own setup than pay someone to post-produce the wedding video for you...if you intend on doing wedding video/film on a regular basis. OTOH, if this is just a one-time lark, then pay someone to edit/transfer to DVD and be done with it.

 

BTW, the original super-8 format supported sound-on-film, but such processing is no longer available (from what I hear). So, to get sound on film now, you'll have to record the wedding scene on a good quality audio format, then have it dubbed in onto the transfered film footage in-computer (which gives rise to lip-sync problems).

 

What this all boils down to is that for curious hobby use (like mine), where I like B/W silent film and the mechanics of splicing and projecting film, super-8 works for me (at $10/minute). But for commercial wedding video, it may make more sense to shoot in mini-DV format, and convert the footage to B/W with "film-like artifacts" via Adobe Premier in post.

 

Good luck.

[hudsonphotos]

Awesome thanks!

[black___white_film_factory]

I can process your Super 8/Regular 8 stock, blow-up to 16mm/35mm or video transfer it to digital video. For more info and complete price list visit me at www.blackandwhitefilmfactory.com

Dragan