Sync

[Aaron Martin @ OH]

Hi,

 

I've been away from shooting super 8 film for five years, and this summer I'm jumping back in. None of the projects that I previously used super 8 on have required sync sound, but one of my upcoming projects might and, even if it doesn't, I'd like to try shooting some sync sound tests.

 

Can anyone on the forum recommend some best practices for shooting sync sound with super 8? For the project I have in mind I'll need to shoot an interview for about 45 minutes and maintain sync across multiple cartridges of film. I'd also like to be able to shoot handheld footage following a subject who is wearing a microphone.

 

Can anyone on the forum recommend some best practices for shooting sync sound with non-sync super 8 camera?

 

Thanks!

 

Aaron

[Josh Gladstone]

Basically, you can't. Not for long periods of time without a crystal sync camera. The best you can do with a non-sync camera is to have a sync marker at the head and tail of the take, be it a clapper slate or just someone clapping their hands. Then in post, you sync the two markers and hope that everything in between lays in properly. This will work okay for takes of a few seconds, but after that the sync will noticeably drift. If you're looking to shoot 45 minutes of dialogue-heavy interview footage, you're probably not using the right camera.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Josh Gladstone

[Anthony Schilling]

I've done it quite a bit for live music. My Canon 814XLS will hold sync for about 10-15 seconds before i see drift. The key has always been to have 2 cameras footage cut together, or have cutaway shots that you can go to then cut back to the re-synced dialog. It works well for 5 minute songs, but a 45 minute interview may be tough unless you can cut away to reference visuals often enough and use vocal pauses to re-sync.

 

Or you can pick up the new Logmar Super 8 camera that runs crystal sync. They may have a 200ft mag coming too.

www.logmar.dk

Edited May 3, 2015 by Anthony Schilling

[Rudy Velez Jr]

I wonder about the following:

 

Can you shoot with a 18fps super 8 camera (regular super 8 camera) and a super 8mm camera that has a crystal sync 24fps (mod by film group or some other mod)

/// So all the stuff that is not dialogue is done with the 18fps camera so that you can get more out of the cartridge.Then the dialogue scenes can be shot with the sync'd out 24fps camera? In post ( be it old school viewer/splicer or digital scan/telecine) you can sync the dialogue with the images.

 

Also when transferring your footage to digital is there anything one should consider when shooting sync or non sync super 8mm?

Edited May 22, 2015 by Rudy Velez Jr