Very short film shot on 200T with Nikon R10

Stewart McLain · May 3, 2014

Just wanted to share a short film I recently shot on Kodak 200T with a Nikon R10. Criticisms are welcome although I really just hope you are amused for a couple of minutes.

Alessandro Machi · May 3, 2014

A lot of awesome stuff. Excellent location used at the perfect time of the year, a super-8 haven with the reduced contrast from overcast skies and fallen leaves. When I saw the wooden sticks I was a bit taken aback, I would have preferred those colorful swim noodles kids use in pools.

But then your storyline apparently is play games don't hit each other with wooden sticks which would explain the wood sticks in the opening scene.

Last shot could have been from far away, but suddenly races towards the kids to reveal their legs more playing with a ball, something that got hidden because of the hilliness of the shot.

Stewart McLain · May 3, 2014

Thanks for your response Alessandro. It was a pretty perfect time of year to be shooting. I was lucky to get some cloud cover on the second day because I didn't have an ND filter and once we got out of the woods the meter was really inching toward the red.

Your interpretation of the story is interesting. I like your thought about the swim noodles because I bet they would have been visually striking. I went with sticks because that's what we used for swords when I was a kid. Also, sticks fit the budget for this thing.

Thanks for your input!

Friedemann Wachsmuth · May 20, 2014

I love it. ust awesome. And it is a perfect example how much one can achieve with a single cartridge of film stock.

Phil Rhodes · May 20, 2014

Super-8 really is inordinately better than it ever was, these days!

Stewart McLain · May 20, 2014

Thanks Friedemann!

Will Montgomery · May 21, 2014

Sweet moves. If you could have shot some of it at 16fps it would have added to the cool Kung Foo vibe.

Here's an extremely short thing I shot on an Eyemo in 35mm if you want to compare grain...

Stewart McLain · May 22, 2014

Lower fps is a good idea. Next time, next time...

That Luke is swordsman to be reckoned with!

Brad Gerrard · February 28, 2020

Stewart did you use exposure compensation?

Did you just let the camera decide on the correct asa?

thanks,

Brad.

Stewart McLain · February 29, 2020

Hi Brad. To be honest, I don't really remember because I shot that like six years ago. I will say that it's likely that I did because I tend to get a little wound up trying do things the "right" way. I know I read a number of posts about how Super 8 cameras interpret modern cartridges and things like that. So there's a good chance I read about the current notch system and used the compensation dial but I can't swear to it. I do remember that I used an external daylight filter.

I also remember that I had to bribe my nephews with ice cream to do a second day of shooting. Little kids have no work ethic.