TAPE to FILM Transfer (super 8)

dasonras · May 15, 2006

Okay, your gonna think i am crazy to ask this but...

I am going to shoot on DVX100a, however, i want that extrememely grainy and blotchy look of super 8mm film.

I was originally going to shoot straight onto super8, however that was when we were dealing with a no-dialogue film.

We now plan to shoot a "talkie" and it is becoming too expensive to shoot super 8 when you take into account the number of takes we will have to shoot.

So, I want to shoot on 24p video, edit NLE, and then transfer to super 8 film. However, then I also want to transfer back to video because the end product will be DVD.

The transfer to 8mm is purely for gaining the grain and blotchy colors. However it will be less expensive because i will be buying film for an "already edited film."

How would i go about this? Is there a way i could do it on my own? Point and shoot style? What about flicker and frame rates?

May 15, 2006

You are crazy to ask this. But if that's fitting with your project, that's fine.

Really, if your intent is to try and "film look" it, and are looking at "extremely grainy and blotchy super 8 film" you have missed the mark by a couple years. Super 8 doesn't look like that anymore. At least, none of the current pro-grade super 8 stocks look like that if telecined professionally.

If you're looking for a "bad film" look, that's fine. There's places for that, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, many people use 16mm. Even with 35mm that's attainable. Super 8 is not required.

Sure, you could use current editing programes. Final Cut and plug ins for it, or even down to Vegas 6 (a shockingly good program these days) can pull of a facsimile of this.

However, if you really want to drop the extra money, you can get your video transfered to super 8 at my usual super 8 development lab here in Toronto, the Black and White Film Factory http://www.blackandwhitefilmfactory.com/pi...arts%20here.htm

Dragan offers a very professional film service.

dasonras · May 15, 2006

I emailed black and white yesterday and I am waiting for response.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I am fully aware of the look that today's super 8 provides. I normally shoot vision2 200t negative and my last music video was fantastic. The color was bright, vibrant, and very saturated. What i am looking for is the right balance of grain and random film artifacts.

My movie will be roughly 30 minutes final cut. If i shoot video first, i can afford to shoot for hours. Then i can edit it down to the right length and then transfer to film ( to achieve a film look). This way i pay only for the amount of film i need.

I've used so many programs and played with plugins. I am not satisfied with the results. You can tell it is fake. The artifacts and grain seem like just an overlay. Magic Bullet came very close to impressing me, but rendering times are too long.

Joe Gioielli · May 15, 2006

I was in the same position. Someone I was doing a project for (I do this as a hobby, I'm not a pro.) had the idea that Super 8 looked all grainy and blotchy. She wasn't happy with the way Super 8 really looked. Far too good.

Now I have a different video camera, a VX2k. I used the built-in ND filters and increased shutter speed to starve the camera of light. The footage looked all grainy (actually "noisy"), blotchy and generally craptacular. But it was what she wanted.

I'm not that crazy about the "old movie" filter in FCP, but that is a personal thing.

Best wishes

Joe