Brook K

Thanks so much everyone for all of this advice and these tips. As with all the responses to my other topics I've started, the info is overwhelming, but in a good way! I need all of this advice because it's from people doing what *I* want to do, and know what and how to do it. So again I thank all of you and am working on drinking all of this in.

I suppose I forgot to mention! My super 8 camera doesn't have any controls for frame speed, zoom, or pretty much ANY control. But I'm still very tempted to test out the medium and see what challenges and rewards it offers, even for just a very short experimental film. As for using a DSLR, I definitely want to. I just don't have the money to buy even a basic video-capable one. I suppose I'll have to save up for one first. That bothers me though because I am 43 years old. I feel a burning desire to get this movie made before I get much older and before time therefore runs out. It's just frustrating, cuz I want to go from step A to step K, and know I can't but know I have to deal with those steps. :( That's life i guess.

Ok, more than ONE question, I admit! :) I am a VERY beginning filmmaker who has not an iota of filmmaking and directing experience. Yet I have the dream of creating this huge, complex, well-polished independent short film using motion picture film and professional movie cameras. I am tempted to laugh at myself and say to myself, "Dude! You have no experience! Snap into reality and realize: you will not make this film and make it how you want it, without some type of filmmaking, directing, and cinematography experience." I am sure that is true and so.... I have no video camera except a cheap phone that has barely any memory on it so that is not an option. I do not have the money to buy a DSLR with video capabilities that I could use, either. BUT, I do have a Super 8 camera that someone gave me. So I figure, why not work with what I've got?! So, for any people out there who have made, or like to make, Super 8 films, what would be the best quality, least-grainy super 8 film out there? I would want it to be as clear and as close as possibly to standard 35 or 16mm as I can get, color-wise as well. I am guessing that the only way to do cuts is in-camera, correct? My camera has a tripod mount which I think is AWESOME, as I will definitely be using it! I am wanting also to do slow motion and time-lapse with the film, which leads me to my main question! Am I correct in guessing I would have to do that post-filming, using an optical printer?

Thank goodness I've been through photography school and know all the lingo and know what you were saying about lighting! :) I LOVED location class, since everything we learned was stuff that could be used in a film set (for the most part). But yeah I got everything you said. I don't think I'd like using an anamorphic, as I've looked them up and don't like the "tall and squishy" look they give to the images.

Great advice to keep in mind! Thanks Justin!

Gotcha! Wonderful! Thanks so much David. Another of many things I will want to check into! :)

Pardon my ignorance as I am new, but what are Low Cons and what is halation? LOL

Indeed! Awesome. ;) Thanks Adrian.

ARRGHH! I'm already extremely daunted! I knew making films is a huge undertaking and a huge amount of work, but seeing the steps laid out makes its scope seem even MORE daunting! LOL Guess I'd better get used to it huh, if I'm going to be a director. :) AND producer also, now that I think about it. :)

EXACTLY the look I was referring to! Looks like fog filters are the way to go to achieve that effect then. I always thought it was ONLY from using tungsten film but now I know there is more to it. :) Thanks David!

Sounds like one thing I needed a reality check on was that LIFE gets in the way of a film coming out exactly like one wants it, unless all the "stars are aligned right". I knew that already in the back of my mind but needed to be reminded of it. It ALSO sounds like storyboards are a HUGE help, and almost are a must. There's no other way i can think of that the director can accurately communicate exactly what they want a scene to look like without those drawings. Also sounds like *pre-scouting* all locations is a must as well, because then you can see what shots will and won't work and can choose ones that still look great and fit your vision, while working within whatever confines exist in the workable space. thanks so much for that info sir!

I am a new filmmaker and have a movie I am wanting to make (which is just in the planning stages at this point). Here is my question: I have a very specific vision of what I want the movie to come out like, even down to the camera movements and angles. Now, I know that many of you have gone to school to be cinematographers, and part of what you do is the camera angles, and you work with the director to figure out the way to best represent a scene visually; that is part of your art. My question is, would you work with a director who has to have every scene in the movie the exact way they envision, knowing that it removes some of your creative input (using the information you went to school for)? and if not, why? and what would you say to such a director about how he/she can work equally and in balance with you to get things done, and still allow both you and he/she to come up with a product you both are proud of? hope that makes sense!

Thanks for clarifying about the developing of the film. Yeah I had originally figured that a lab was the only realistic and feasible way to go, and what you said cemented that in my mind! :) Thanks so much for explaining that little editing process to me. I want to do as much of the editing myself as I can, or at least be involved in the process almost constantly, as I have a specific vision of how I want it to look. Thanks for letting me know also about the 35mm and about it being most practical to use the 4 perf film. (Which as far as I know is the standard for 35mm film and has been for years, so to me it's a natural choice). As for the aspect ratio, I'm still not completely sure what it is or how it will affect me (or how I can MAKE it affect me) in regards to making the film. I know that it will affect how my the film looks when displayed/projected, depending on what device or screen it is projected onto. But I don't know much more about it than that.

Well, I'm torn because I want graininess but not too much. Probably the average graininess from any of todays' normal films would do. Film with grain will ALWAYS look more beautiful than a digital recording with noise (trying to replicate the grain!) As for the S16, I will definitely look into it. As for the editing movie in digital, how would I go about that? Would I scan the print in somehow into digital form and then edit it in a program like Premiere Pro? I'm gathering no one does old time editing and splicing machines with film anymore!! although I'd wanted to, to see what it was like!! And YES I definitely wanted to get an ULTRA talented cinemtographer! As well as a magazine loader who knows what he's doing. EVERYTHING associated with the film stock and camera I have to do totally right, because not only does the look of the movie depend on it but also the movie itself, since if the stock gets screwed up then that's a lot of money wasted. As for the developing, I am a photographer and have had experience with developing rolls of still photography film. I presume the process is just the same with a reel of motion picture film. Only I'd have to be absolutely errorless with it!

Pardon my ignorance but I am still incredibly new (as in, haven't as yet shot a single film!) What is DI? As for what film I was using, my *dream*, to be frank, is using 70mm. But the cost of that will surely raise the cost of making the film exponentially, not even to mention the extra cost there would probably be to get the 70mm print printed onto 35mm reels for showing on the average cinema projector. SO, all that said, I will very likely go with 35mm, since more information can be fit onto a frame of that than 16mm, obviously. and I want THE best quality image, for every single frame.