Rick Palidwor

Try a stiff piece of plastic. Rick

Something for the trivia buffs out there: If you read the article you'll see that it says "One of Nowak?s challenges was finding a Super 8 camera. ?Bruce said the camera had to be silent, so I got on the Internet and found the Nizo 4080, the quietest Super 8 there is. I found one for sale in Germany and bought it right away. It was about $600 Canadian, including shipping of about $150. It was a great deal and I rented it to the production,? he said. He's simplifying things a little for the sake of the interview. In reality he didn't get on the internet and find the Nizo. He called me and I jumped on the internet and found the Nizo and arranged the sale. They paid me $200 for my time. It arrived on set the day they were set to use it. Like I say, for the trivia buffs. Rick

I have never heard of a camera needing a cartridge to run, though I could be wrong. Alessandro's suggestion re: "stuck in the middle of a dissolve" is a good one. Very possible on camera's equipped for this. Investigate that. Obvious thing to check: battery contacts. Are they clean? Even if they look clean, clean them again. They can develop a slight patina which prevents proper contact. Also, if it has remote capabilities try running it that way. This will get around possible trigger causes. Good luck Rick

Thanks for the plug Michael. Wildgrace, if you are looking for a camera contact me (send me a PM). I sell (but don't rent - not worth it). I have sold over a hundred cameras in the past few years and you don't have to spend too much to get a decent unit. If you want to rent there are two sources in Toronto: LIFT (co-op - you have to join) and Exclusive Film and Video. But you can buy for the price of a few days rental! Mitch Perkins in Toronto does widescreen conversions (simply filing out the gate - with all the pluses (inexpensive and easy) and minuses (extra frame not visible in the viewfinder, vignetting at certain lens settings). Some people find our method too flawed but others have seen the value: you expose more emulsion and therefore have to enlarge the image less during telecine, resulting in sharper and tighter images. For more info check our website: www.friendlyfirefilms.ca . Matting the normal image in post is not the same - you just take some of the image area and mask it, but there is zero gain in image quality. Worth it if you want the impression of a wide aspect ratio, but that's all it is - an impression. Pro8 in the US offers Max8, the widescreen idea but done "properly", but it's expensive. Your call re: how much you want to spend. If you are just using it as a learning too, don't spend too much. You can convert a camera by our method (supr-dupre 8) or a mere $50 and it will still funtion as a regular super 8 if that's what you choose to use it for. There are several facilities in Toronto that will transfer the super-duper (or normal super 8) images at a reasonable cost. And if you are looking for a course, my next super 8 class at LIFT is March 4. LIFT membership has numerous benefits (sound and audio gear and edit suites available for rent). They also have a facility to do optical blow-ups for super 8 to 16mm or 35mm (and samples there to show you what you can expect). If you are eligible to join Hart House at U of T (alumni of UT or other university?), I teach a super 8 class there on Sunday March 5. Rick No offence taken. We did not intend Sleep Always to make it into theatres as that is a completely different business model and difficult at the best of times, even when shooting on 35mm. Young and Maddin can get things in theatres, regardless of what they shoot on. Our intended product was DVD for the home movie market. Any time anyone intends to get a movie into theatres I quiz them about their business model and financing and intended audience and definitely don't recommend super 8 if it's really intended for the big screen. But depending on the movie, maybe it's a wise choice. Would depend on the script and the intended look. But having seen miniDV originated footage blown up to 35mm, which typically looks like crap, I don't see any disadvantage to super 8 (compared to miniDV). But realistically, do you expect to get it into theatres? Probably not. Rick

"long" vs "slightly long" = semantics. It's the word "long", however qualified, which is out of place. I have a couple super 8 cameras with a fixed prime lens which is 15mm. Funny that they would give me a"slightly long" lens rather than something "normal". Do a search and you'll see that the vast majority of the people in the industry consider 25mm to be "normal" in the 16mm format. Maybe everybody out there is wrong, in which case you haven't done a very good job of educating the industry. Thank you M'Lord. I am humbled that you have taken the time to work with the plebs. Rick

Santo you seem to be obsessed with "tools" which you clearly don't know how to use, which makes them "toys" in your hands. Look at your earlier post: since when is a 15mm lens in super 8 a "long" lens. I maintain that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, especially coming from an "expert" out to educate everyone. Tell me that that was a "typo" so I don't automatically disregard everything you have to say. And tell me that you understand circle of confusion so I know on what level to discuss these issues with you. Rick

I am not going to comment on the cost of this unit and whether it's worth it, which is probably an individual judgement, but since when is 15mm a "slightly long lens for super 8"? That's one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. "And 10mm is normal"?? I would say 12-15mm is "normal" (but I'm nitpicking) but the Nikon in question goes to 70mm. Some times you want to shoot on the long side of the lens precisely to minimize depth of field (a great way to mimic professional 35mm work BTW). And as Robert points out above DOF refers to "Acceptable" sharpness, which is relative (ever heard of the "circle of conusion"?) and a good shooter would probably be pulling focus with even the slightest movements, even at the wider side of the lens, to maintain maximum sharpness of the desired subject, something you seem to be obsessed with so I am not sure why you are missing the boat on this. You are right that S8 has a lot of depth of field (which is why a lot of professionals don't like it) but that doesn't mean you have to use it. It's a choice, another item in the tool kit and to treat it as a cut and dry fact as you seem to doesn't appear to be a very wise position to take IMHO. Rick

Bump (if I may) since the event is in less than two days. Rick

Excuses, excuses... (It's a Friday night, which is just after your lousy week and just before your lousy weekend:) The place will be full of people like you, only with slightly better dog sleds, so you'd fit right in. Rick

The Calgary film co-op, CSIF, has a lot of super 8 shooters so I would contact them. They'll point you in the right direction. You might have to send things out of town but CSIF will know the whozits and wherezits from that end. Rick

Does this mean we'll see you there? Rick

Nice to see such an old post come back. I'm not sure about the Beaulieu's. I've heard there are issues, at least with the way we have been doing the super-duper modification (simple gate-filing). Pro8 is doing the Beaulieu's as Max 8, so it's doable, but maybe only via their method. Contact mitchsperkins@yahoo.com as he did our super-duper modifications. Rick

It depends what you mean. I have never heard of super super 8. Rick

I am producing the Super 8 Circus again, as part of the University of Toronto Film Festival. We are screening Friday, Feb 17, at 9pm, at Innis Town Hall. There will be about 20 super 8 films, in-camera edits, with live music by GUH. Most of the shooters this year are students, and many are newbies, but we have returning guest artist John Porter, filmmaker John Greyson and writer Maggie MacDonald. I shot my film Sunday. It was a comedy and it took 11 hours, so I am anxious to see how it came out (get it back tomorrow). The festival itself runs Feb 14-18 and is screening all shorts from Toronto and beyond. For info go to www.uoftfilmfest.ca Of particular note is Saturday Feb 18, 7pm show. It's the Film Board Gala and I have a two-minute abstract shutterless piece showing, called Hi Lights. For the closing reception afterwards the Super 8 Circus is staging a loop installation. If you are in the Toronto area come and check us out (and if we've never met come and introduce yourself. I'll be the MC). Rick

I too thought the Limey was brilliant, and it was the editing that really stuck out. I want to see it again just for the sequence with Yes' Heart of the Sunrise. Rick

The shot I was referring to was with the Canon 814XLS and the C-8. If anyone who owns Sleep Always wants to compare the Nikon R10 and the Canon 814XLS, there is a recurring scene in the first half when Frank and Nada are in his room talking for the first time. All the shots of Frank are with the Canon. Nada was shot with the Nikon. It was two-camera coverage. Rick

I believe it's because the smaller f-stop is only pulling light from the centre of the lens. A wide f-stop pulls light from the edge of the lens, which is also why wide f-stops are softer: the edges of all lenses are softer than the centre. Naturally vignetting will also be increased. In general it is recommended that you shoot with at least f4 or higher with the C-8 Wide attachment, for this same reason: soft shots. I don't think the DOF plays into it. Never considered it. Rick

That internal filter was an 85. Get yourself an 85B if you can as I think it makes a slight difference. Enough for me to say "go get yourself one". Rick

I don't know this particular camera but they "take" any of the avvailable stocks as long as they are in the 50 foot cartridge. What you might be worried about is whether the camera reads the cartridge properly. Look in the top right corner of the film compartment, above the gate, and see how many pins are there. The more the better. If there is only 1 pin, the camera will read the Tri-X properly, and the K40, but that's about it. If you have manual exposure control, however, you can override the meter and set the exposure where you like. The key in this case is to know what the camera thinks is going on and compensate accordingly. For example, if you load tri-x, you get an accurate reading. You now know what Plus X SHOULD be (1 stop difference) so see what the Plus X reading gives you, compare that to what it should be, and you know how far it is "out". Adjust accordingly. That feels muddled. Hope it helps. Rick

Use the in-camera meter for your final decision because it gives you T-stops - the meter is typically "behind" all the other variables and knows how much light actually made it to the film. Use an external meter to supplement, if you want, by simply calibrating that meter to what the camera's meter is telling you. Then you have the luxury of walking around your set, taking readings, adjusting light and so on without disrupting your camera set-up. Rick

Are we only counting "commercial" music videos or local "indies" as well. I've made 9 music videos for heavy metal band Gesundheit, 7 of which were shot entirely on super 8. One of them aired on Much Music in Canada (and it happened to be shot in super-duper 8, so it's the first commercial airing of a super-duper 8 video to my knowledge - was in early 2002 I believe). The others might get aired as well, if the band would ever submit them - lazy bastards:) Rick

It can be done with the wide attachment - I've done it. You need a good f-stop, like 5.6 or better. There's a shot in Sleep Always where the character Frank enters his room after the first meeting with Nada, from a high angle, and he goes to the window. We had the wide attachment on my Canon for that. Rick

Super-duper 8 admittedly is subject to vignetting problems, but with careful lens settings it can be avoided. When you do get the settings right the results are significantly better than normal super 8. The footage you saw on line sounds like it could have been "Stuntman" by Justin Lovell, which has some vignetting. He too will figure out the settings to avoid it. In other words, the problem can be avoided, so I hope your interested in super-duper 8 can be revived somewhat. It's no magic bullett - I know of no one who has claimed that - bit for a simple mod it delivers results. Rick

Yes. He's at mitchsperkins[at]yahoo.com Rick

Another option is super duper 8 (similar to Max 8, but no lens or viewfinder recentering). It's not perfect, but you can file your gate yourself, or Mitch Perkins here in Toronto does it for $50. He also offers wide screen transfer. Check our website for more details about our super duper 8 feature Sleep Always. You'll also find contact info for Mitch and myself there. Also, many heated debates about the pros and cons on the various forums if you search for them. Rick