8 Tips for Shooting Modern Super 8 Film

By Pro8mm

© Pro8mm 2013 2805 West Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA 91505 Ph: 818-848-5522 www.pro8mm.com

The Super 8 Film Experts for Production and Legacy Footage

A Few Tips Can Go A Long Way! By Phil Vigeant, Owner and Senior colorist at Pro8mm

“Part of my job as senior colorist at Pro8mm, is that I get to scan about a million feet of super 8 film each year. In doing so I get to see what is happening in the super 8 world with some vantage point based on volume. I look at my work as a two-part job. One, as a creative colorist, trying to get the most information off of the frames for our customers, and second, as an inspector looking for bugs in the over all super 8 process. When I see something that needs improving, I try to see what I can do with the technology at hand to facilitate a positive change. Internally, I talk to my employees who are the people most responsible for each area and together we try to attack the issue. Externally, it is much more difficult. You have competitive concerns to address, and some companies just do not see these problems as issues the way I might. In addition, there are things that are totally beyond my control that can play a major roll in great looking super 8 footage. These things are up to the filmmaker. Each year the technology for scanning film to digital seems to improve, resulting in more things that I can fix. Native 1080 HD film scanning now provides me with tremendous processing power to do many things that were impossible just a year ago. There are new things on the horizon as well, which will give us even greater ability to improve an imperfect image. However, there are a few things that if the filmmaker does not get right, there is very little that can be done to remedy the problem, no matter how much technology I have at hand.

As the years progress the problems seem to change and evolve with each new generation. For those who grew up with film as the main picture-taking medium some things were learned at every juncture of the photographic process. Things such as focus were common knowledge of that generation, so we often forget that this is something you have to learn. A colleague of mine who teaches filmmaking here in California said that he has to spend days of the semester going over some of this basic stuff. Therefore, here is my short list of the 8 most common areas of concern I see every day in transferring film.

I hope that a few quick tips and expatiation can help you create better images with your super 8 camera.” – Phil Vigeant

TIP #1 : HAIR IN THE GATE Ugh… there is a hair in the camera gate! Nothing is more aggravating for us and to you when we get absolutely gorgeous footage up on the scanner and there is a big yucky piece of dirt or hair in the frame. Just a small effort on your part will make your footage sparkle!

BB RU S H YO U R C AM ERA GATE!

Because of the nature of film and the way it travels through a camera and exposes each frame, the system will build up debris in the gate. If it accumulates, this will block some of the image. The metal gate frames the film with what should be a smooth black border. Because you are running film over metal, it tends to leaves tiny deposits on the gate as the film passes over it. This emulsion residue is a gummy substance that is barely visible to the naked eye. If this is not cleaned from your camera, from time to time you can have several problems. First, the gummy glue can trap foreign substances like hair, lint, and dust and hold it firmly, often where the image is taken in a camera. This results in these ugly black globs which start around the boarder that blocks some of your image usually on the edges, but sometimes big enough to block a lot of picture. Depending on the size of these foreign obstacles, a hair in the gate can ruin a shot. In addition, the build up of emulsion can get so bad that your camera can physically scratch the film. The fix for these problems is very simple. Go to the store and purchase a child’s toothbrush. Gently brush a few strokes between every cartridge. Every, single, cartridge! It is amazingly simple but incredibly effective. Do not use compressed air as all that will do is blow dirt around, and it might blow debris into somewhere you cannot get it out. In addition, compressed air does not often have the force to move the object because remember, it is stuck in place. Do not use a Q-tip, as the chance of leaving a fiber of cotton is greater then the good you will do by performing the cleaning. If your camera has never been cleaned, you might need to do some more extensive work. Once it is clean, the brush trick is all that should be need to keep you hair free. Pro8mm includes a free camera gate brush with every rental or purchase. They are also available for sale on our website for $5.00 at www.pro8mm.com. It is a nifty little tool that folds up small and has an attached cover, so you don’t have to worry about loosing it. Once you use it on your camera, we do not advise using it as a substitute for gum or mints when you have been on the set all day, or for that matter, the other way around! www.pro8mm.com (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #2 : THE 85 FILTER SITUATION

Now here is a topic of controversy and conversation…the good old 85 filter! There are many differences of opinion about the 85 filter. This is ours at Pro8mm. In the beginning, all super 8 film was Tungsten Balanced, which means that the film will produce true colors under tungsten light. If you wanted to get correct colors in daylight, you had to use an orange filter called an 85 (sometimes called 85A). For convenience, every Super 8 camera was built with an internal 85 filter. The filter was usually in place because most filming was done outside in daylight. There were some clever ways to take out the filter when you were filming in Tungsten (interior) light. The filter removal system could be activated by the super 8 cartridges notch system, or by a switch, or by sticking something into a place in the camera to take it out or some combination of these. Every super 8 camera manufacturer had their own idea as to how this should be done. Today, you have dozens of super 8 film stocks that can be either daylight or tungsten color balanced. When you film in daylight with daylight film, you do not want to use an 85 filter. At Pro8mm we have been taking the internal filters out of the super 8 cameras we manufacture for many years now because (when done correctly) it can greatly improve the optical performance of a camera. These internal filters are often made of plastic, which deteriorate over time and can greatly interfere with the quality of the image. They are also dirt magnets! Because you can buy daylight film today, it is actually inconvenient to have the internal 85 filter. Some film manufacturing companies prescribe to the cartridge notch for 85-filter removal and some do not. The standards for dealing with this 85 thing are a mess, so it is up to you, the filmmaker to understand what the 85 filter is and how your camera handles this. You need to make sure that you are using the correct film for your filming environment, daylight or tungsten. Although you can do some amazing color correction in post, if you do not get this right you will never achieve the brilliance in color your images can have. In addition, all this correcting takes time, which cost money. What make this even a little more challenging is in most super 8 cameras, the 85 was placed behind the viewfinder optic where it cannot be seen. If your camera has a switch (light bulb/ sun light) you can toggle between the two settings for filter in and out, but you will not be able to see the effect of having the filter in by looking in the viewfinder. To see it, you must open up the camera door where you insert the film and look through the camera body. Put your eye in line with what the film will see. You must run the camera in order to see through it. It also will help if you point the camera at something darker so the exposure system is open, or manually set the camera to keep the exposure wide open. Once you find a position where you can see light through the camera body, flip the switch that goes between the 85 filters in and out. You should see the light turn a darker orange when the filter is in. However, you are not done. Take the super 8 cartridge you are about to use and put it in the camera. While doing so look to see if it is flipping a lever in the camera. Now go back to check your camera and make sure that

the position of the cartridge has not effected the switching. The other approach is to make sure all your settings are correct and the cartridge has the correct notch for the 85 filters. A cartridge with a notch for the 85 filters will not remove the filter automatically. A cartridge without a notch will automatically remove the filter. In some cameras, an external switch can override this, but in others, if the notch removes the 85 filter it cannot be returned with the switch.

Cartridge on left is 7219 without 85 filter notch. On right, the notch added by Pro8mm. One thing you may find interesting is that we repackage the Kodak Vision 3 7219 which we call Pro8/19 ASA 500T with our prepaid processing and add the correct notch for the 85 filter. ($35 stock and processing, or starting at $118 with HD scanning that includes prep and clean & and HD color corrected scan to a file format) for one stop work flows

with progressive discounts. What a yummy deal! www.pro8mm.com

(c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #3 : CORRECT EXPOSURE Having the correct exposure is one of the most critical aspects of getting the best-looking super 8 pictures. There are books written on this subject where you can learn the nuances of lighting and exposure reading. The fundamental issue for super 8 filmmakers today is that too many filmmakers are relying on their aging super 8 cameras internal exposure system to make this critical setting. Some of these systems were not even that good when they where new, let alone 30 to 40 years down the road. Photography is after all, painting with light. To get your best results, you have to learn about light, how it relates to different film stocks, and how to choose the best exposure setting. My super 8 images improved dramatically when I bought an inexpensive light meter (About $75.00), started reading about light, and doing some experimentation. I found that even the factory settings prescribed by the manufacture of both the film and cameras were not always optimum to make the best-looking Super 8 pictures. So many factors affect your exposure. Did you know that your best exposure would be different based on if you are in wide or telephoto on your zoom? For your camera’s internal system to work, it has to be able to recognize the notch system in the super 8 cartridge and be calibrated for it to work well. The ASA notches were designed to cover a wide range of ASA original films from 40 to 640 ASA measure in 2/3 stop increments. Some Super 8 cameras can only recognize a single setting where others can read all six notches. None of this means much if the system has not been calibrated in 15 years. Once you own a light meter it is possible the do some comparisons if only to understand how your system is working. I use my camera’s internal system all the time but I always have my light meter to check and compare settings. You might be interested to know that at Pro8mm, one of the things we do when we rebuild cameras (such as the Max1014xls and Pro814) to become modern filming tools is that we calibrate the exposure system. We notch the cartridges of the film we load to correspond with the closest ASA’s the camera system can accommodate. Below is an excerpt from our Max1014xls manual, which is available on our website at www.pro8mm.com. a. Advanced Exposure Calibration for Modern Super 8 The Advanced Exposure Calibration System in the Max1014xls provides accurate film exposures for all modern film stocks that range from 50-500 ASA. Most super 8 cameras were designed and calibrated to make their best pictures using Kodachrome film. With the discontinuance of Kodachrome 40, it is time to establish new standards and calibrate cameras to the modern film stocks now widely used. In our test of eight Canon 1014’s we purchased used, the average internal exposure was off by an average

of 2 stops. The new Pro8mm notch system is designed to provide accurate film exposures over a range of five ASA designations. Calibrated in 2/3 F stop increments, this system can tell a properly calibrated camera the best way to expose all Super 8 film stocks. Super 8 cameras that can be calibrated to register this range of film will produce superior image to those that can not. The advanced super 8 cartridge notching is designed to provide accurate film exposures with modern super 8 film that ranges from 50 to 500 ASA. (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #4 : PROPER FOCUSFocusing a lens was such a standard fundamental procedure to taking photos or shooting movies that it is difficult for those of us that grew up with this tradition to understand that today, many filmmakers do not need or know how to focus.

Good super 8 filmmaking depends on good manual focus because super 8 predates good auto focus systems. Filmmakers need to spend some quality time understanding it, practicing it and learning when it is the most critical and when they could let their guard down. In the “good old days “a lot of photography was restricted to outdoors because of the slow ASA. Today you can have Super 8 with 500 ASA so you can film in some pretty low light. This makes seeing focus more difficult. The original design of super 8 cameras did not consider this. If you are going to get good super 8 footage, you need to understand focus and depth of field, and practice.

To focus a camera with your eye, the system starts with the correct setting of the camera’s internal diopter. Everyone’svision is slightly different so the diopter in a camera calibrates your eye to what the camera is seeing. There are many methods prescribed for setting the diopter. I learned using the infinity approach. You set the focus ring of the lens on infinity and then looking at something far away, you focus the diopter to your eye. I then zoom the lens to wide angle and if it holds focus I’m set. There are numbers on every super 8 lens that should correlate to the focus distance between the camera and the subject. These make great reference points to check if you are really getting the correct focus by “eyeing” it.

Most super 8 cameras (except for Beaulieu) use a range focus systems (Range Finder.) This is not the easiest system to use and without the diopter set correctly, there is little chance of getting correct focus. The difficulty for modern super 8 users is that when you look through the super 8 camera you do not see all the information for focus. In particular, the F-stop or aperture and 85 filters are after where the focus optic is, so you do not see the effect this has on focus. In practical terms, this makes the depth of focus constant no matter what F stop your shooting at in the viewfinder (what you see), while the depth of focus for the film will be radically different depending on what F Stop your at (what the film sees).

The other way to approach focus is to understand when it is critical and when its not. When you shoot at full telephoto, (the most zoomed in) and at full aperture (F the smallest number) on a big 10 to 1 super 8 zoom the focus depth is less then an inch. This mean if your focus setting is wrong by even the slightest, or you move the camera as little as a few inches, you are out of focus. On the other extreme if you are at full wide on the zoom and the smallest aperture (F the largest number) the focus depth is huge, maybe 50 feet or greater. In this situation it almost doesn’t’ matter where you set the focus… you will be in focus.

Since most super 8 film is shot in available light, you cannot change that. If you back off a little on that gorgeous lens to a wider setting and use slightly higher ASA film you will find focus to be much easier. At minimum, always make sure to vary your shots wide and telephoto so even if you are wrong some of the time you have a chance of having some focused material. Did you know there is an iphone app called PCam for the professional filmmaker? It calculates the imaging parameters of depth of field, hyper focal distance, and many others . The app supports Super 8 to 70mm Imax and numerous video configurations. (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #5 : AIRPORT X-RAY

Sample of 16mm Kodak Vision 320T Color Negative exposed to INVISION CTX-5500 baggage scanner Since 911, nothing has caused more grief to the use of film than airport X-ray. This is a great tragedy for film because with a little knowledge it is easily avoidable. For 8 years now, I have taken 500 ASA film on every trip I have taken. I always take my film through the walk through X-ray without any special consideration. I keep it in the original packaging, and I just put the film on the conveyor and let it go through. That’s right! If they want to rescan it, I tell them go for it. On one trip, I clocked 10 scans of my film. I have never had a single frame with X-ray damage. The X-rays do not build up on your film. Although you could end up like the example above you put your film in your luggage. The walk through x-ray system is not nearly as powerful as the X-ray system for checked luggage. What I never do is put my film in my ‘checked’

luggage. The CTX-5000 x-ray machines that are used to check baggage at most commercial airports are very powerful and can fog film. Not only is it much more powerful than the machines at airport security check in areas, it may scan a bag several times from several different angles. This WILL adversely affect your film whether it has been shot on not. I have asked every customer that I have seen with X-ray damage to his or her film the same question. Did they put their film through the luggage x-ray? Without exception every filmmaker with an x-ray problem at one time or another put their film in their luggage. So it is a simple. Carry your film on the plane and do not put it in your checked luggage. To this point, do not use X-ray bags or lead lined bags and think that your film is safe in your luggage. All the airport people do is turn up the intensity of the X-ray system to identify what is inside. X-Ray damaged film is easy to diagnose because it has a very distinct stroking of just the blacks in the film. It does not matter if the film was exposed when it was hit or not exposed. It does not even matter what the ASA is, as I have seen fogging even on Plus X black & white 100 ASA. Because of the danger of x-ray, it is not a good idea to buy super 8 film from questionable sources. In the film industry there is a lot of film that is resold because it was not used on a production. This film, commonly called re-can in 16mm and 35mm. When handled by reputable companies, it can be easily tested and then resold with full integrity. With Super 8 film there is no way to do this type of testing. Therefore, if you buy your super 8 from a short ends reseller you are taking a big risk because they cannot test it. Did you know that Pro8mm sends you a DO NOT X-RAY sticker when you buy film from us so you can stick it on the outside of the package when you send the film back in for processing? Private carriers such as Fed-ex and UPS use

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their own planes and do not X-ray their packages but it doesn’t hurt to use DO NOT X-RAY stickers. In remote locations sometimes these carrier will use commercial airplanes to fly their freight, in which case your package could be X-rayed. Check with the carrier and clearly mark the package (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #6 : THE MECHANICS OF FILMSuper 8 film is a technology based strongly on mechanical principles. Understanding a little about how film travels through the camera will go a long way in helping you achieve great super 8 images and avoid a lot of frustration.

One of the most important mechanics of shooting with film is understanding when the film is running through the camera. Even though super 8 film comes in a convenient cartridge and is easy to load, the camera and film have to work together.

One common problem for many new filmmakers is understanding that in a super 8 camera the footage counter works off the spinning of the take up, not actually the film moving through the camera. Therefore, as the take up is spinning it counts off the footage. This actually has nothing to do with whether film is moving through your camera. The take up spindle is designed with a slip clutch mechanism so that it always spins regardless if it is actually taking up film or not. What can happen is that you think you are shooting because the camera is running, but no film is actually being exposed.

The most common mistake I see is that the roll of film has been totally shot, and the filmmaker is unaware of this and keeps shooting. Often times in the excitement of shooting you fail to notice the end of the roll signal. Different cameras have different ways of indicating you are at the end of the roll, so check out how YOUR camera signals this. If you happen to take a cartridge out of your camera and then reinsert it, the footage counter will reset to zero. It does not know that you may have already shot some of the film.

The second problem is that sometimes a roll of film will jam, or perhaps it never got started in the first place. Sometimes this can be a problem with the cartridge, but usually it is with the camera. When you first put a roll of film in a camera, the film must engage the camera’s claw mechanism, aligning the sprockets of the film with the camera’s claw. Typically, this will happen automatically, but if the guides are out of alignment, this might not take place at all and the roll will never start. It’s an easy fix. Usually, just take the cartridge out and reinserting it in the camera. However if your not aware of the problem, you will shoot for the next 3 minutes and get no picture.

Although not as common, the cartridge can also jam. If the clutch of the take-up spindle is weak it will have trouble keeping pace with the advancing film pulled down by the claw. The film will build up in the take up chamber of the camera, and at some point will not be able to support the back up and simply quit. If you take a cartridge that has jammed like this out of the camera and turn the take up spindle to wind up the access you can typically reinsert the cartridge and start filming again. Many super 8 cameras use the clutches spinning to tell them the roll has ended. If the clutch is weak, the camera will keep shutting down, thinking it is at the end of the roll. As you gain experience with super 8 you will become aware of the sound film makes going through your camera.

There is a clear indicator if your film is having trouble transporting through the camera, and that is when you pull a finished roll of film from your camera, and it is not at the end. With some films, there is an actual stamp on the film that says exposed. On others it will

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simply pull out of the cartridge slightly, indicating your are at the end of the roll. When you take the film cartridge out of the camera, if the film looks like it did when you loaded the camera you have some investigating to do. You should always try to run your rolls out to the end. You do this for two reasons. First, it tells you that you have shot the entire roll and second, if it does not roll out you need to investigate the issue. It is very easy to re-shoot something or grab another take when you are in the moment. It is often impossible to return a week later to get a shot you are missing. In addition to the film physically moving through the camera, it has to register each frame at 18 or 24 times a second in perfect position to get good stability from the resulting photography. What this means is a balance must be present between the cartridges, the camera’s calibration and the type of film to make good super 8 images that have good stability or registration. The state of super 8 is always evolving. Most super 8 cameras are no longer in tip-top shape and freshly calibrated from the factories they were born in. In addition, most super 8 technology was originally centered on one stock (Kodachrome 40) made by one manufacture. All camera manufactures set up their new super 8 cameras to work best with that film. Today you have over 25 different super 8 films made by different companies that all have different characteristics when running through a super 8 camera. In addition, super 8 cameras are aging and change with the aging process. This is not all bad. Remember, it is a balance between the cameras, the film and the cartridge that makes it work. For example many older, less expensive super 8 cameras have too much take-up torque because the slip clutch system has dried out and no longer slips when it should slip. If you shot Kodachrome 40 with these cameras or black and white traditional reversal film, it will often produce very poor registration of the images. If you take that same old camera and give it color negative film, which is a little thicker and has a base coating which will provide some extra drag, this combination will tend to work much better. My experience is that different cameras just seem to like different film stocks based on the way they have aged. If a camera has a worn down gate with a clutch that no longer slips and the exposure system is off by 2 stops you have a choice of fixing it, throwing it away, or give it a different film stock that is thicker and provides more drag with greater exposure latitude. It will work just as well as it did when new with traditional film because the camera was calibrated to thinner stock with less drag and tighter exposure tolerance. My dad would say, “You either raise the bridge or lower the dam”. The best and cheapest way to see if a given type of film is going to work well in a given camera at a given speed is to shoot a test roll. If you are just starting in Super 8 this is the best place to check out many issues. Do not worry about charts. Just shoot a roll in the conditions you want to shoot in with your best effort to get it in focus with the right exposure. Once you establish a base, you can expand your testing each time you shoot by experimenting with different stocks, speeds and exposures. You can also use this test to check out your digital workflow. For about $100 you can purchase a roll or Super 8 film, including the processing, prep and scan to digital even in HD. (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #7: SHOOTING 18 VS. 24 FPS

All super 8 cameras were originally designed to film at 18 frames per second. While many better cameras have a variable filming speed feature, 18 fps was the norm, particularly in the day when Super 8 was used primarily for shooting home movies. When you shoot the film cartridge at a slower speed, it will last longer and thus, saves on the cost of film stock. When your camera is running at 18 fps, you get a little over 3 minutes of running time from a super 8 cartridge. The better super 8 cameras that have the option of filming at 24 frames per second will get a little over 2 minutes from a super 8 cartridge. There are some good reasons for using either speed but you have to be aware of the consequences of what you are doing and what issues it will present in certain types of production. Because Super 8 cameras were designed to work at 18 fps, they tend to work their best at 18 fps. 18 frames looks completely professional when properly transferred to interlaced video in standard or high definition i.e. (1080i.) Some filmmakers prefer the look of 18 frames per second super 8 film. 24 frames per second is the establish film speed of 16mm and 35 mm professional film, as well as many high definition formats. When you go to a movie theater, the film is being shown at 24 fps. Because it is the established production standard, there are many devices and procedures that revolve around images shot at 24. In fact, many fundamental devices used every day in the professional film industry will just not work with film shot at 18 frames per second. Simple things, such as double system sync sound are not possible with film shot at 18 fps. This means that if you originate something at 18 frames per second you will not be able to use certain tools of the professional film trade or easily insert your footage into a 24-frame project. For example, if you shot something in Super 8 for a theatrically released feature film at 18 fps you have created a huge mess. There is no easy or clever method that can create 24 frames of film from 18 frames of original for 24-frame projection. There are ways of doing this, but they create artifacts in the image or motion. I have been involved with major feature film productions that loved the look of super 8 so much they shot hundreds of rolls of it for their project and then dumped every frame because they did not want to deal with the artifacts and non-conforming problems of using an 18-frame original in a 24-frame project. When you send super 8 film into a post facility to be scanned to digital, you have to tell the facility what speed you want the scanning done at. In 16mm or 35 mm it is assumed you are working at 24fps. As we said, there are many good reasons to work at 18fps. It has a great look when done in interlaced video and transferred at the proper speed. All it takes is a little awareness on your part as a filmmaker to make this a smooth use of the great aesthetic of super 8 or create a nightmare that makes professional productions reluctant to use the super 8 format. It is all up to you. If you do have Super 8 shot at 18 fps or Regular 8 shot at 18fps or 16fps that you want in a 24p project, I suggest you scan it at 24 fps. This will create a frame for frame

relationship with digital and film. You will have no interlacing problems because the scan is frame for frame, but the motion will be sped up. You will then have to evaluate each shot and use digital techniques to achieve the slower speed when needed in the material. Ever notice how often times older small gauge film looks sped up when used in new production? It is because the production company did not want to work this out and just used the footage at the wrong speed. As more and more projects move to high definition, you as a filmmaker will have to decide if you want to shoot 18 fps or 24 fps. You can use either 18fps or 24fps in interlaced video projects but can only use 24fps when you are working towards 1080p 23.98 projects. This point bears repeating. It you shoot at 18fps and want real motion, you must scan in ”i”, not in “p”. Even though a roll shot at 18 fps will last longer in your camera, it will take longer to transfer. The longer scanning session will add to your overall production costs. It is no longer much of budget consideration to work at 18fps and more of an aesthetic choice. All Pro8mm all-inclusive packages are based on scanning at 24fps, since this is the industry standard for professional projects. (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013

TIP #8 : FRAMING, What You Shoot and What You Show

Framing has become one of the most debated technical challenges for modern filmmakers because we are in such a great state of change in this area. For years, film at the theater was done wide, and television was done square. We accommodate one for the other whenever a production was done for both.

Modern television is now widescreen. Super 8 was originally designed as a 4 x 3 image size (More or less a square like older TV’s). Because super 8 was designed to be a square there are only minor issues when transferring super 8 to standard definition video, which is also a square format. When you look through your camera, you see a certain square frame. What is on the film is actually a little bit more image. When you transfer that frame to video you have to leave a little extra so the transfer of films such as Super 8 or 16mm to SD video essentially leaves you with a little less than you had. Because you had a little more to start with than you thought, these tend to cancel each other out. This is for the most part a minor inconvenience.

When you transfer something in Super 8 to High Definition or theatrical formats and you want it to fill the screen 16x9, you have to zoom into the square enough to fill the rectangle. This is a radical difference in the framing. In this situation, you are cutting out a lot of picture. This affects both the resolution of the material and evenmore importantly the composition. When you think of the time you spend with your camera framing up the perfect combination of headroom, interesting subject matter, etc., it is sometimes devastating to see that cropped down to fit in a completely different space.

If you have already shot the footage, one option is to use the square framing inside the rectangle by matting the sides. This has to be a creative decision that you are comfortable with. This is called ‘pilar box.’

If you haven’t shot the film yet there is another option, which is to film in Super 8 wide-screen. At Pro8mm, we call our wide screen Super 8 format “Max 8”. There are other Super 8 widescreen formats such as Super-Duper 8 or Anamorphic, or even anamorphic Max8 andanamorphic Super Duper 8. All of these formats will fill the super 8 frame with image out to the edge of the negative. This will make the master super 8 a rectangle and make the

framing for HD much easier with better resolution. The difference between using the entire super 8 negative and the standard negative when framing for HD is a 20% increase in resolution in addition to having correct framing. If you are going to use standard super 8 framing for HD just keep this in mind while filming, and know that the results will be an image that is zoomed in quite a bit. If you frame for HD while in production, you will be much better off. Again, you must remember to tell the post facility what you are doing. There are so many options that only you as producer can decide what is best. When you scan at Pro8mm, we have a choice of framing sets ups. www.pro8mm.com (c) Pro8mm ™ 2013