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Firsties ... and an honest question :-D


Josh Hill

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I have a Super8 camera, I'd like to use it more but I don't have anything to edit on. I think it would be good to learn how to actually splice film and to start off with Super8 is a better idea than screwing up more expensive 16mm film. What should I get to be able to cut super8 film? I'm assuming I need more than just a splicer. What should I look out for? What are some good brands? Etc. etc.

 

Thanks.

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My favorite splicer is the Wurker splicer. My favorite line of movie viewers are the Elmo movie viewers. There are other brands of splicers however. A great way to learn is by viewing the various auctions on ebay. This will enable you to ask specific questions about the super-8 film products/auctions that you are interested.

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Cutting and splicing and showing your camera original is a great way to learn. But Super-8 has evolved from "home movies" to professional use primarily as a capture media, where the processed camera original is transferred to video for editing, post-production, and distribution. Kodak now has both 200T and 500T VISION2 Color Negative Film available in Super-8 format:

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/acrobat/en...PCN041604_Q.pdf

 

For "cut and paste" editing with clear tape, many start out with the Kodak Press-Tape splicer:

 

http://porterscamerastore.com/Merchant2/me...&Category_Code=

 

http://members.tripod.com/~Moviecraft/8mm.html

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My personal experience with super 8; the main goal is to telecine it to video and then to cut it digitally, you dont copy s8mm, you import it, and edit it. with luck using a mac... :rolleyes:

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You should actually look into learning cement splicing because most telecine places won't take any film that uses tape for the splices. I mean, cement is stronger than tape and is more archival too. Why not learn with what pro's (negative cutters) use in the first place and skip those tape splicers (Wurker splices used to be my favorite, but now I love cement...use in well ventilated areas though).

 

Also, it's good to get one of those Elmo viewers that makes a notch in your film to edit....you don't have to mark the film with a grease marker...I guess it's just a preferance of mine.

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There are now, broadly, two types of Super8 people: those who project camera original reversal; and those who shoot either reversal or negative and telecine to video and edit on computer.

 

These days the popular route with 16mm and 35mm professional production the film is shot and telecined to tape. It is then edited and the computer produces an Edit decision list, or EDL. This tells the person who is to cut the camera original where to make the cuts in line with the finished edit.

 

With super8 the camera original is fiddly and does not have edge markings to facilitate the use of an EDL. Thus Super8 is primarily used professionally these days purely as an originating medium for television, although it may also be blown up to 16 or 35 for cinema presentation and used in feature films to create a different feel (see Natural Born Killers where the format is continually changing, and a lot of super8 us used)

 

I think that a good starting point is to shoot, say, kodachrome 40 and use a cement splicer (easy to obtain on ebay and the cement (or glue) is also redily available). By shooting Kodachrome 40 (or "K40") you will learn a lot about exposure and how film works, which you can view immediatly with the use of a projector when it is processed. Projectors are also readily available.

 

You will then have a lot more questions!

 

Matt

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If you want to telecine it yourself, there is also Rodger's Workprinter, which achieves very good results and is within normal peoples price range. I'm saving up for one myself.

Tell me more about what this Rodger's Workprinter is and where I can find info. I tried googling "Rodger's Workprinter" and all of the other variavles like "Roger Workprinter" and "Rodger Workprinter" but found nothing.

Is is better looking than a Zeimark? The one at my school is horrible and the cheapest one after that is the 200 dollar an hour minimum one hour telecine down the street....I haven't got that much money right now.

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an easier search word to use is "moviestuff" (one word).

 

If one is merely splicing together 50 foot reels, it's probably a non issue.

 

Ranks, Shadows and Spirits should work find with WELL MADE tape splices. Wurker makes a 2 frame and a 4 frame splice. Perhaps older edited films will need to have their splices redone, but newly spliced film will probably hold up.

 

Avoide plastic reels for your transfer and go with bigger hubs on the metal reels that you do use.

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If you're going to edit the camera original (not advised!), just a viewer and a splicer.

I used a Vernon editor and a Hervic splicer and tapes, which has a 2-frame tape.

I brought my splicer & tapes with me to my telecine session, and I needed it!

So cement splices are definitely a plus.

Also, what nobody ever mentions, is that the taps cause a little "bump" in the telecine that is noticable, and there's nothing you can do about it!

 

 

Matt Pacini

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