Eric Brown

Once, again, thanks to everyone!

Thanks, Michael. I'm in the states. I'll be sure to check out that website.

I've looked around but couldn't seem to find a supplier. Does anyone know where I could puchase some? Thanks.

Mitch: Cool. Just wanted to make sure I didn't ruffle any feathers. Giles: Thanks for the list. I am curious about something, though. Any idea as to where I can buy the Wittner Chrome 100D? and if so who can process it here?. Three users gave high ratings in a Super8 today magazine I just read. (Although that article is over a year old) Toby: Thanks for the compliment on the clip!

okay...point taken. No DV in the super8 forum. Just the same. Thanks for everyone's input. :P

Andrew There's a fairly active community of A1 users over at DVXuser and DVinfo.net. Might want to try there as well.

Thanks, Doug. More great info. I'm assuming that I can transport my lighting knowledge from all my DV shoots to film in some respects. In other respects, maybe not. I've read and re-read Blain Brown's "Cinematography: Theory and Practice" many times now. A great book that has served me well so far. But lighting is an art form that takes years if not forever to truly master. I'll be learning until I'm dead and that's fine by me. Hope this isn't blasphemy posting this in a Super8 forum, but here's a DV clip from a recent short of mine. http://www.vimeo.com/233301 Thanks again for everyone's help.

Wow. Great resources for the online stuff you guys. Very much appreciated! :D I'm pretty excited about this as it's fairly new territory for me. The Northwestern Film Forum here in Seattle has a homemade Tele-cine type machine that I hear is pretty decent. Looks like it's time to become a member.

This may be too late but set your gain to -3. The XL2 can do nearly noise free (to the eye) deep blacks. It's all in how you set it up and how you set up your lighting.

Mitch Thanks for the great advice. I'll be messing around with Super8 for a while then move to 16mm at some point. I'm just trying to get more familiar with film stock instead of having knowledge of just miniDV and HD. My goal is to be more well rounded in both formats. Thanks, again.

Ashley Yes, it's a bit long. Here are my opinions but keep in mind they are just that, opinions. The opening with you and the Gl2 should be eliminated completely. Start the reel with the multi-window thing you got going right after that. The war clip has some interesting stuff but cut out the talking section and put in the best footage in terms of dramatic angles and captured action from the battle sequence. If it flows that way in the actual film, that's for the film. Re-cut for your reel. The music video had some really cool things going on it but I'd find a way to use the strongest section of that as well. Typically, for a first reel you want to keep it as short and powerful as possible. If you even have a slight feeling that something is off or it doesn't grab you then cut it out. Be ruthless. Sometimes it's easy to get married to the images we create. Overall nice work.

Being new to Super 8 I have some questions for anyone who can answer. I've been going through the forum a bit trying to get a handle on what stocks are good and what Super 8 cameras are decent. I've shot exclusively digital for a couple of years and even as a kid never shot super 8 except on one occasion. I'm basically looking to see what film stocks look most vibrant with tight (minimal?) grain and what stocks are good for indoor/outdoor. Can I just use one stock and correct with gels? What's a good, solid super8 camera (preferably used)? All answers are appreciated.

The best thing to do is go to IMDB and input Canon XL2, this should give you a list of at least features that have been shot with the XL2.

I don't believe Optex is with us anymore. I'm also not sure which houses rent the adapters out for use with the PL lenses if at all. As far as the quality goes you only need look at 28 days later to determine that. Considering it was shot on a first generation Canon XL, I was fairly impressed. There was another company making PL mount adapters but I forget the name. Sorry. Time to Google it!

David, don't you mean the XL-H1? Not sure how fair it is to compare an HD camera to a MiniDV camera like the XL2.