Super-8 Sound Striped Film

John Adolfi · October 9, 2005

Is there a solution out there to shoot super-8 sound striped film. I'm not talking about older 40 or 160 asa film or striping after the fact like Fuji. Does anyone sell new sound striped film? Anywhere? My dream is the 100, 200 and 500 asa film striped. Yes negative and then transfered after development. Hey Kodak could you sound stripe film again? Shooting run and gun documentary style would be great to have this on hand.

One camera, one film, sound on film, mike on camera. Nizo 6080 you could barely hear the cameras engine. Great sound on film camera. Last shot in 1999. That was the last time I got a great Kodachrome picture and sound to boot. Imagine the concept. It's getting late. Good night.

Edited October 9, 2005 by John Adolfi

October 9, 2005

Why don't you simply velcro a minidisc or something similar to the side of the Nizo? Hit record before you pull the camera trigger, pause it after the shot is done. Or simply keep it running through a series of shots.

It is extremely easy to marry the sound and the image together in post on a good program like Final Cut or Sony Vegas. Preferably you've used a clapper bar -- if not, simply listen very carefully for the starting and stopping of the camera and cut the soundtrack at those points. Then you can easily stretch or compress a little when hooking those to the image, linking it to the first and last frame of the shot. The camera will drift a little, but what are you looking at? 2 1/2 minutes for the longest take? With electronic regulator (most super 8 cameras), drift is minor and easily compensated for with little if any effect on the sound quality.

You're going to get way better sound than the old on film method, and the little bit of extra effort is actually kind of rewarding as an accomplishment the first few times you do it.

Edited October 9, 2005 by santo

Anthony Schilling · October 9, 2005

Yeah, I've done a lot of minidisc syncing with Vegas.. it's so easy.. not to mention you get pretty decent audio (16bit) from a $200 HI MD. The odds of Kodak bringing sound stripe back are null.

I have a Nizo on the way, with sync cable socket... But it seems like the cable that works with is mini jack to 6 pin. i'll have to see if one on my cable will work, or maybe rig something.

October 9, 2005

Yeah, I've done a lot of minidisc syncing with Vegas.. it's so easy.. not to mention you get pretty decent audio (16bit) from a $200 HI MD. The odds of Kodak bringing sound stripe back are null.

I have a Nizo on the way, with sync cable socket... But it seems like the cable that works with is mini jack to 6 pin. i'll have to see if one on my cable will work, or maybe rig something.

I actually have an original sound stripper with manual, cement and heaps of audio film strip to turn normal super8 film, 8mm or 16mm silent film into sound film, so you can record a soundtrack afterwards using a normal sound-on-sound projector. PM me for details. Cheers

Marty Hamrick · October 15, 2005

I actually have an original sound stripper with manual, cement and heaps of audio film strip to turn normal super8 film, 8mm or 16mm silent film into sound film, so you can record a soundtrack afterwards using a normal sound-on-sound projector. PM me for details. Cheers

If ever there was a need for a stripe on S8 film as I see it,would be more of a way to put some kind of corresponding time code to specific frame.This could be done optically as well.That way a person could conform super 8 original and make super 8 print from original negative.There is a growing interest in that,again.Widescreen Centre in the UK now offers super 8 prints from super 8 negatives.From what I've read the results have been impressive.

John Pytlak RIP · October 16, 2005

DTS Digital Sound has been used with small format films. Timecode is optically printed on the edge of the print.

Marty Hamrick · October 17, 2005

DTS Digital Sound has been used with small format films. Timecode is optically printed on the edge of the print.

Does the DTS sound get recorded on a mag stripe or a CD synced with time code?

John Pytlak RIP · October 17, 2005

Does the DTS sound get recorded on a mag stripe or a CD synced with time code?

DTS normally has the audio data recorded on optical disk media. The timecode used for syncronization is printed on the print.

Their latest model loads the data from the disks into a server than can hold the sound for dozens of movies.

Marty Hamrick · October 19, 2005

DTS normally has the audio data recorded on optical disk media. The timecode used for syncronization is printed on the print.

Their latest model loads the data from the disks into a server than can hold the sound for dozens of movies.

And you say this exists for small formats?I heard that it existed in 16mm,but does it exist in super 8?

John Pytlak RIP · October 19, 2005

And you say this exists for small formats?I heard that it existed in 16mm,but does it exist in super 8?

Definitely 16mm. Super-8 could work if you could print the timecode along the edge (Super 8 actually has optical sound capability too).

John Adolfi · October 19, 2005

Here are some reasons for the sound on film methodology. For documentary filmmaking a sound stripe would be great. Firing up a near silent Nizo 6080 and a roll of 200 asa negative soundstriped film or perhaps the 500 asa. You can shoot lean mean and on the run. You see before final cut and the like when you cut sound striped film there was always that issue of cutting part of the sound off because the sound was recorded 18-24 frames ahead. But with digital editing that problem does not exist. If someone was to sell the super 8 striped film again I'd gooble it up. I recently reviewed my film I shoot with the Nizo 6080 in 1999 (kodachrome 40 sound film) and the sound is great! Matter of fact the picture has never looked better too!

Edited October 19, 2005 by John Adolfi

John Pytlak RIP · October 19, 2005

Here are some reasons for the sound on film methodology. For documentary filmmaking a sound stripe would be great. Firing up a near silent Nizo 6080 and a roll of 200 asa negative soundstriped film or perhaps the 500 asa. You can shoot lean mean and on the run. You see before final cut and the like when you cut sound striped film there was always that issue of cutting part of the sound off because the sound was recorded 18-24 frames ahead. But with digital editing that problem does not exist. If someone was to sell the super 8 striped film again I'd gooble it up. I recently reviewed my film I shoot with the Nizo 6080 in 1999 (kodachrome 40 sound film) and the sound is great! Matter of fact the picture has never looked better too!

Alas, the sales volumes of mag striped film products just couldn't justify the capital expenditure needed to meet new environmental requirements in capturing and recycling the volatile solvents used.

I've read that even oil-based paints are likely to be restricted in the future:

http://www.pcimag.com/CDA/ArticleInformati...,161361,00.html

http://quis.qub.ac.uk/pugwash/Washington%2...ed%20Paints.doc

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/1998/S...y-11/a22659.htm

Marty Hamrick · October 22, 2005

Definitely 16mm. Super-8 could work if you could print the timecode along the edge (Super 8 actually has optical sound capability too).

I remember seeing some super 8 prints with optical tracks,though I only know of two projectors that were able to play optical super 8 sound,the Elmo ST 1200 M/O model and I think Technicolor had an endless loop cart model.

I think also Fujica was experimenting with an SOF single 8 camera design that recorded optical sound but I don't think they got too far with it.

I'm not sure if there would be a big demand for it,but on some of the 8mm forums on other sites,there is definitely an interest in super 8 projection prints made from negative.So much of an interest a couple of labs in Europe offer it.Perhaps a module can be installed on a camera that would burn a timecode on the edge of the original film as it's being shot which could be used for later film conforming with film matchback programs,as is done in larger formats.

John Adolfi · October 22, 2005

I e-mailed a few places that I thought had the best chance to find some prestriped film and they all said , "no."

Too bad I really think there could be a market for it if everyone realized what could not be done with in the the new digital age. My Nizo did a nice quality job of recording quality sound from its camera mounted mic. Just think what could be accomplished with a high quality roving mic. Common somebody produce sound striped film in the cartidge and be a hero in many's eyes. If it was $18.00 for a 50' roll of silent 200 asa film, I'd pay an extra $12 for the sound stripe. Why not, can you record sound on film with 16mm? If I could I'd be there ressurecting the best Cannon Scoopic 200 I could find.

Edited October 22, 2005 by John Adolfi