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Lack of decent Super narrative shorts online


Zachariah Shanahan

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There are so many experimental shorts and an abundance of test rolls, quick tests and so on. It's really disappointing to find no quality short films for the format. There are a few Straight8's but that doesn't equate to the same thing in my opinion. I'm talking about short films with dialogue, a complete narrative shot on S8.

 

Can anyone help me out?

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There are so many experimental shorts and an abundance of test rolls, quick tests and so on. It's really disappointing to find no quality short films for the format. There are a few Straight8's but that doesn't equate to the same thing in my opinion. I'm talking about short films with dialogue, a complete narrative shot on S8.

 

Can anyone help me out?

Here is a fairly recent one. There are a few trailers you can watch online.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2076223/

 

Super 8 is great for music videos or for recording a Rock Concert.

Check out "Under the Blackpool Lights", which is a White Stripes concert.

The concert was shot mainly with beaulieu 6008s. The music and

the S8 format are a perfect. combo. Listen with headphones loud and you'll see.

A sample:

Edited by Richard Hadfield
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Maybe readers can list theirs in this thread :)

 

Every baby or hobbyproject first step and such is online so these artistic workpieces must be online. Unless the material must

be kept for audience showings?

 

LIkely it is a problem of labeling such that these can be found but that these test clips would not list?

Use search terms like -test (minus test) or whatmore?

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There are so many experimental shorts and an abundance of test rolls, quick tests and so on. It's really disappointing to find no quality short films for the format. There are a few Straight8's but that doesn't equate to the same thing in my opinion. I'm talking about short films with dialogue, a complete narrative shot on S8.

 

Can anyone help me out?

 

There are quite a few, too many for me to make a list here now- you just need to keep looking - there are many on vimeo.

 

The probelm is that you are expecting people to give away things for free - by publishing hard work on youtube or vimeo for free - most people keep this work for festivals - test rolls etc are freebies.

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I have shot well over twenty narrative shorts (over half are sync-sound) on Super 8 in the past twenty years but none are to be currently found online.

 

I will have just a few clips and edited highlights online soon (from a new HD telecine), though I am incredibly reluctant to share for free what I usually screen as part of my exhibitions, installations and live performances.

I have always worked professionally on commercials, music promos and documentaries but my own experimental work now remains archived and catalogued at my elderly parents' house near Brighton (I sadly have no room for it all in my own home in London). It's all carefully stored away inside trunks and cupboards crammed full of all my old sketchbooks, notebooks and literally hundreds of props & costumes in their attic.

I had kept in contact with the local artist and experimental film-maker Jeff Keen (who died last year) and I could see how rewarding it had been for him to immerse himself within the creative process of film-making itself. We usually just drank tea and discussed comics, toys, Sci-Fi films and pop culture together, rather than filming techniques and cinematography. Though we did sometimes talk about our own ideas and I would very occasionally pop round to his flat in Hove (which was his own Aladdin's Cave of a film archive) and show him my latest short films that were usually dumped onto Hi8 and later DVDs.

Jeff always used to exhibit his own 8mm, 16mm and Super 8 films around Brighton & Hove (often at home) and via the London Film-makers' Co-op. He told me how rewarding it was to put on your own small screenings and as such I've followed suit. In this age of free downloads and streaming online, I like the fact you have to come to one of my own screenings/installations or sit in a film festival to watch one of my Super 8 & 16mm shorts.

My own film-making is quite personal and small-scale but is still certainly made to be shared through exhibition. I liked to follow Jeff's mantra of "go off and play" when preparing for a shoot with my friends or creating an inter-active screening with my Brighton based contemporaries. It's first & foremost FUN!

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Have you looked at FilmAnnex? That's a site that helps each filmmaker earn some measure of revenue from advertising, and you can watch for free. They don't really have a specific category for shorts, though.

 

I should ask in another thread if others here have tried FA much. All I can tell you about my own experience is that they've been taking a long time to "review" my latest upload.

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Well I am damn proud of my 8mm short film work, especially MISCOMMUNICATIONS, which is my best short film, period.

 

https://vimeo.com/27267624

 

For actual 8mm with dialog, that is not an easy thing to do because of camera noise and sync issues. For me, I shoot super8 using the format's strengths.

Edited by Matt Stevens
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With a blimp or barney, I actually struggle to even hear my Nizo 6080s running (and I have excellent hearing); so sync sound is still possible.

Crystal syncs are pretty easy to come by these days too. So shooting Super 8 sound productions effectively is still perfectly viable.

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Sleep Always is well done. I have it on DVD. Their pro sound mix helps. Sound is crazy crucial to a film's success.

 

Guy Maddin's HEART OF THE WORLD is the best short I have ever seen. No contest.

Edited by Matt Stevens
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