Charles Doran

Yes, but negative stock has far more latitude. I shot tons of the Velvia 50D but mostly under bright skies. I would have loved to have shot some 50 neg as well in different lighting conditions.

Ha...you are quite funny... too bad "famous" can't pay the bills... I look forward to the PTC project being DONE.

it would be cool to see your film ("Kodachrome" right?) as well as Steve Hyde's "Shikashika." Lots of other interesting S8 films as well. Wouldn't mind seeing "Angel Recovered"...hell, they should just tour the whole thing.... If anyone makes it please let us know how it turns out!

Looks like some very interesting films will be playing...including Westsider! http://www.cambridge-super8.org/ schedule: http://www.cambridge-super8.org/assets/CS8...2008Booklet.pdf

I used to love splicing the old fashioned way...Used a Hervic (RIP)... easiest splicer in the world. Wish I could still find some of the tape patches...Anyone have a cache hidden away they don't need?

Hey Rick, I don't know if I count as a "main player" but I'm in it...I'll let Philip (Last Coyote) know to come here. Shame about filmshooting.com...anyone know when it's set to come back? CHAS

I remember seeing this info, or maybe just some of this info on someone's website once ... (yeah, real helpful, I know ;) )... Maybe Giles (onsuper8.org) has it? I have an old Photography mag from the early 70s I should post...real weird to see all the different companies that sold their own stock...I wonder if the Prinz brand held up at all...

Yes, they are. Do a search and you'll find lots of info on them on this board.

MIchael, thanks for conversing with this difficult bunch (or solitary person, whatever). Do you have anything you could post from your not-so-good Kahl days?

I got mine off of e-bay a few years ago (I believe he had a distributor but was also selling it there) -- you might try googling Matt Pacini -- I know he has a website for his production company somewhere.

And we should move on...because you say we should move on? Funny how you pop up out of nowhere, with no postings to any of your own films or film websites, reference a well-known trouble-making troll like Santo then tell us all the things you intend to do but none of the things you have done. Very odd... Personally, I prefer Panavision and Aatons...but you know what? It doesn't mean I've shot anything on them.

No problem -- btw, maybe we went over this already, my memory is awful -- but did you see the 7240 clips I posted on my site? -- I tried to show the opposite -- 7240 at its absolute worst!

a.) I think you guys did a great job with "Sleep Always" -- I left my copy at Spectra to give them an example of how good the 7240 stock can look. b.) I have a copy of a short film Trevor/Santo made and it's complete and utter shite.

fraid not...

I'm selling mine -- no need, especially since I don't have access to a 1014-XLS anymore! Anyone interested here is the e-bay link

good lord, sounds horrible. Sorry you had to go thru this mess. Well at least your film turned out ok, right? I'm going to SE Asia in December for 4 weeks....anyone have any experience with Hong Kong, Bangkok, Vietnam and Cambodia airports?

I have no problem with any of your constructive comments, Doug. Hopefully I was able to answer your points. Right now, Westsider is being submitted to fests -- but due to last-minute editing I missed a lot of deadlines for fests that were local. I'll post if it's going to screen in L.A. Ironically I missed the San Fernando Valley film fest for this year but will submit for next year -- now that would be hilarious if "Westsider" was accepted there.

I borrowed John L's (Super-8 Guy) Canon 1014-xls once but not the tap -- but you should give him a call if you need info -- he's a great guy to talk to and will get back to you right away.

Wow - a lot to respond to. Go away for a few days and then see such a lovely title in a thread for a film you worked your ass off to make. Ok, here goes: 1.) the color saturation which some people have a problem with -- if you go to the Westsiderfilm.com website you will see that it clearly states that the film is about an ambitious guy who has an insatiable love for the "Westside of Los Angeles" -- hence the super-saturated stock of the Velvia and K40. When I was telecining it at Spectra, Doug asked me if I wanted to tone down the Velvia. I said, "no" because the super-saturated color represented how the character thinks the "Westside" looks. When he moves to the Valley the colors get significantly muted (and the stock changes -- outdoors we used 7240 and 64T designed to look like 7240 -- indoors we stuck with the 200T but I had Doug give it an ugly tinted look. So yes, the stocks of the film were deliberate -- they can almost be seen as "characters" in the film. 2.) Registration. It does look more jumpy in the non-mpeg 4 version. For the shots with the guy on the diving board doing his b.s. yoga poses we had camera issues (I had to take my Elmo 1012-XLS to Spectra because it wasn't running their 1st generation Velvia as well). I don't think it looks that bad -- certainly not compared to some of the people here and on filmshooting.com who post links to their crappy youtube home movies -- it's not like you see a long thread where we criticize them. ;) 3.) Tripod was used in all indoor shots -- the way some of the comments are made one would think my DP was running as she shot -- not true. In the exteriors (ironically the one exterior where we did use a tripod was the diving board/yoga poses scene) she had her arms locked down. I have shown this film to about 100 people so far and not one person mentioned the registration looking bad. Here is a quote from one online reviewer (badlit.com): "Doran has shot an absolutely beautiful film. Although 8mm film is a dying art, Doran and his cinematographer Laura Daroca use a saturated, vibrant color palette for a very rich, lush look. You can understand the main character?s obsession with the Westside when it?s as vivid looking as Daroca shoots it. But, at the same time, 8mm is a very grainy film, plus colors smartly change with each neighborhood profiled ? the Valley is done up in ugly sepia tones ? and there is no sync sound in the film. The story is told entirely through the main character?s narration, so like in reading a zine you?re aware of it?s photocopied nature, when watching Westsider, you?re still very aware of the celluloid medium even after it?s transferred to DVD." http://www.badlit.com/?cat=5 From the most recent Super-8 Today: "Visually the film is very appealing. The Super-8 look works to a tee. The entire film, with the exception of a few still pictures, was shot on Super-8, and much of it is beautiful and well photographed. The interiors are lighted well, giving the film the polished look of a professional production. All in all, this is a perfect example and a good study of what a short narrative film should be, and an excellent film to watch by any filmmaker desiring to see how a Super-8 film can be structured to look as if it was made from one of its larger format cousins." and from microfilmmaker.com: "Doran seems to have mastered the use of Super8 photography, something which is increasingly becoming a lost art. Not only does the motion signature and grain inherent in Super8 film immediately seem to boost the production values by thousands of dollars, but Doran?s choice of film stock, combined with his use of filters and color correction creates a tonal variety that I still haven?t seen replicated with digital video cameras. There is something about the over-saturated ?pop? of the blue sky and green grass captured by the Super8 film that seems impossible to replicate in any other medium. Doran uses this highly-saturated color palette during the ?happy times? of the character arc. However, once Mr. Westsider starts his downfall, the colors become more desaturated. Towards the end of the film, we are presented with shots in muted blues and sickly yellows, reflecting the mental state of the main character." http://www.microfilmmaker.com/critiques/Is...3/Westsid2.html <<Second, its perfectly legit to be critical of a director's color choices if they are not right for the show. Some people will like the super saturated look of West Sider others won't. But I doubt that anyone posting here can't recognize that the colors are highly saturated. The question is how does that saturation impact the story telling. The OP has every right to be critical of that, and any other aspect of the production.>> Sure, anyone has a right to criticize. But re the obnoxious OP, a.) he's doing it in a deliberately annoying way (would you like it if you opened up a message board to see the title of your film with the childish "yuck!" next to it, Doug?) and b.) how does the OP know if the color choices are right for "the show" on the basis of a one-minute trailer? No one is claiming that the colors are not highly saturated. I'm wondering if Adolfi is from the Valley... ;)

There are amateurs in every format, not just S8. For my film we borrowed a friend's expensive tripod and used an Elmo 1012-SXL for all interiors, but for most exteriors we handheld a lightweight Canon 814 AZ and had (IMHO) amazingly good results. For people who don't know what the hell they are doing then yes, it can be annoying/distracting to watch their amateur footage but you see that in DV-shot footage all the time at film fests.

Probably the same thing that happened last year around this time -- hacker problems.

Yeah, the 200T worked great for indoors. I've never tried it outdoors but would be interested in seeing it in the full sun. Every single shot we had was "a 2-2.8 split" because we didn't have as much lighting as we wanted. You guys weren't interested in the outdoor stocks like Velvia 50 or E100D? Much less grain and real vibrant colors... Anyway, good luck! The Spectra people are great.

Narrative. Black comedy. Satire. ;)

Here is a trailer for an S8 short film I recently made. I used 9 stocks in the entire film but the trailer is a mix of mainly Velvia 50D, K40, E100D and 200T (interiors). All transferring and most of the processing was done at Spectra. http://www.westsiderfilm.com/westsider_trailer.php

Pro8mm does not care about the little guy. there are tons of stories about this on the filmshooting.com board. I used them twice and both times were bad experiences. In the first they processed some reversal as negative, totally ruining the roll! The guy I personally spoke with, Ritchie, at first blamed me, then took a look at the roll and realized what had happened. He didn't really offer any compensation, just vaguely said that they'd "give me a 50 ft cart" but nothing specific. The next roll I had them process didn't advance more than 10 feet. They didn't load it properly. A complete waste of time. I'm sorry about the horrible experience you went thru. To make a short film and to have it destroyed that way is awful. All that work. The least they could have done was to put in a proper box! How much time would that have taken. But, the bottom line is they don't care. Next time I'd suggest using Spectra. They may not offer all the stocks Pro8mm does but they will process any Pro8mm film for free if you telecine with them (at least they used to offer that on their website -- you might want to check to see if they still do that). Good luck with your telelcine...