16mm and 8mm Filmmaking

An Essential Guide to Shooting on Celluloid

Jacob Dodd

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000327229
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Thema: Tanz

This book is an essential guide to making traditional 16mm and 8mm films, from production to post, using both analog and digital tools. Focusing on low-budget equipment and innovative techniques, this text will provide you with the steps to begin your journey in making lasting work in the legacy medium of great filmmakers from Georges Méliès to Steven Spielberg. The discipline of 16mm or 8mm film can initially seem challenging, but through the chapters in this book, you'll learn strategies and insight to develop your craft. You'll discover the right camera for your needs, how to light for film, and the options in planning your digital post-production workflow. The book includes numerous hand-drawn diagrams and illustrations for ease of understanding, as well as recommended films and filmmaking activities to help you build your knowledge of film history, technical and creative skills within each chapter theme.By applying the suggested approaches to production planning, you will see how celluloid filmmaking can be both visually stunning and cost effective. This is an essential book for students and filmmakers who want to produce professional quality 16mm and 8mm films.

1 Why film

From smartphones to wearable cameras, it is a common question to ask, “Why shoot on film?” Sure, digital video technologies are convenient. No one questions that fact. Let’s look beyond convenience and examine purpose.

For what purpose do we mostly use computers? We use computers and phones for all kinds of everyday tasks: spreadsheets, documents, video games, photography, email, and social media. A smartphone may seem to be a jack-of-all-trades. However, being multifunctional is exactly what makes it a less than ideal tool for making motion pictures. It’s not so much a matter of quality of the image. Aesthetics are indeed a matter of taste. Think of it this way: What can you do with a 16mm camera? Make 16mm films, of course.

When you use a 16mm camera, your entire focus is on making a film. When you work on your phone or your computer, you are made vulnerable to all kinds of interruptions. Since the phone is multifunctional, the interruptions are eclectic. There are jolting text messages, chiming social media feeds, and pop-up windows. All of these interruptions break one’s concentration.

Like other art forms and athletics, making a film is all about being in the zone. One needs to visualize the shots and the movements and the edits inside the mind’s eye. The brain needs room to solve complex design problems. With only a single purpose, film cameras provide the filmmaker the luxury to think. While computers and video cameras bring quick-fix convenience, film pushes the maker not just to get it done, but to get it right. This is often called the film discipline. This 100 year plus discipline of filmmaking is what makes the art form exciting and full of new discoveries. Its limitations have proven to be its strengths, fostering innovation. Film continues to be a medium of choice because it is fun, archival, and more affordable than one may think. It may be said that film is cinema. The art form and the physical medium were born roughly at the same time.

Film is filmmaking

Film has an aesthetic beauty. This look has been refined over 100 years. It has infinite color, smooth tones, a beautiful grain structure, depth, and dynamic range. It can be touched, smelled, and tasted. A perfectly made print inspires awe. However, though film’s analog attractiveness is worthy of praise, film shines brightest in the creative process. The film medium encourages you to imagine more, prepare more, research more, consider more, and do more.

Many of you reading this book may remember the VHS or MiniDV tape days when parents would turn on the VHS camcorder and run it for two hours over the course of a special event. My childhood was filled with well-documented Christmas and Easter mornings on two hour VHS tape. My mom or dad would hold the camera and keep it running most of the day. I have heard about home movies where the camcorder sat on a tripod in the corner of the room. The camera would run all morning in one long static take. This is not cinema. This is surveillance!

Surveillance with its monotonous capturing is best suited for video. Think of shooting film and video like knitting and crocheting, both demand different mental and physical processes. Some folks switch easily back and forth, others stick to their preferred medium and craft. With film, it’s about getting the shot in the camera. Decision-making and decisiveness are well suited for film. Let’s take a trip back to the 16mm and 8mm home movies of the 1930s–1970s. When you look at home movies of this period, you see the home movie enthusiast making shot choices that tell a story and capture the mood of the moment. With these decisions, the home moviemaker can produce a complete film.

Close-up of the plastic Santa Claus (four seconds), medium shot of the Christmas tree (five seconds), full shot of Johnny and Susie running into the living room (seven seconds), close-up of the dog reacting (three seconds), and so goes this way of thinking for the entire four-minute roll of film. The limitation of a four-minute roll of 8mm film shot at 16 fps stimulates the imagination. An 8mm home moviemaker is a filmmaker in all senses of the word. Celluloid filmmaking is all about movement both in front of and behind the camera.

With film, the act becomes less about taking an image for documentation than about making images. The limitations of runtime and shot length encourage the use of cinematic space, time, and montage. The uniqueness of celluloid’s physical limitations is what makes the process so wonderful. The creator is an active participant in the making of a film. Filmmaking is not about being a consumer of the medium but about being a creator and partner.

Film is preparation and practice

Grab the camera, load the film, wind it up, set the exposure, set the focus, and press run. F/stops frame rate, filters, and focal lengths all become second nature. Film action is both physical and mental. Filmmaking with celluloid is challenging. You must know how to operate a camera, use a light meter, and expose the film stock. The film must be sent to a lab, and you wait for it to return. A mistake on film teaches the moviemaker more because it costs more in time and money. This is how one develops the film discipline. There’s more of you in traditional filmmaking because you need to physically and mentally give of yourself to make the images.

There are several advantages to the film discipline. When you work with a film camera, you don’t need monitors and cables, just a camera, some film, a light meter, and you. Time is not wasted watching and reviewing a small playback screen. The true filmic image is seen in your head. The optical finder has clarity. The finder is not a television. It is a window into the world. There is nothing the film process can do without you. Film must be purchased. Film must be developed. It needs to be printed or scanned.

In order to make this cost-per-minute and time investment worth it, you raise your craft. When your craft is raised: you prepare, you learn the equipment, research subjects, write a script, make the shot list, draw storyboards, create lighting diagrams, and plan schedules. One shot is right and the other three are wrong. You’ll know which shot to use.

Too much overage of the same action is wasteful. There’s not a need for three cameras, only one camera in the right place at that right time. It’s not about ten takes of the same shot but ten shots made from different perspectives covering different actions. The shot joins are visualized prior to editing.

Film loves production. When it comes to a film set, it is about trust. The director, cinematographer, camera operator, production designer, and sound mixer give it a thumbs up. “Excellent, print it!” “Next setup.” When the rushes return, it is an exuberant team experience. “Wow, we really made something together,” an elation worth repeating.

Film is archival

When future humans or aliens or robots research our 21st-century world, will they be able to open 500-year-old computer files? Not likely. Film can be seen by the naked eye. It can move through your hands. Mechanical movie equipment requires basic tools to repair.

Have you accidentally deleted something on your personal home computer? Have you encountered a video file that did not playback or open in editing software? How many of you have 1980s or 1990s files that will open and are not locked away on a floppy disk? Digital video files need to be migrated every five years for stability and file compatibility. Digital files can become corrupted or made incompatible through software updates. Video needs multiple file backups. What is the best way to store your videos for the future? How do Hollywood studios back up the large amount of movie files? The answer is celluloid film.

Film is future proof. Its shelf life when properly stored can reach several 100 years. Film can be accessed as a print or scanned into a future electronic format. When you shoot film, you shoot with the past, in the present, and for the future. The original negative can be placed underground in a cool dry environment under 55 degrees Fahrenheit and be used again in another 100 years. Many silent film classics survived from Lumière brothers’ shorts to Buster Keaton features. Film can be reprinted or scanned. Super 8mm and 16mm home movies can be transferred to HD and 4K video. Many analog videotape formats and digital video files have been lost due to equipment obsolescence, degradation, and deletion.

Many television shows have smartly survived because of film. I Love Lucy will make it to future video formats for generations to experience because it was shot on celluloid. Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone series will be seen by viewers yet to come. What about your child’s first birthday made with a smartphone? Will it be around? Home movies used to be saved on reliable and nearly fade resistant Kodachrome film stock. Now home videos are stored only in the virtual cloud. Will the cloud still be here in a 100 years? Will the cloud company you subscribe to still exist in several 100 years? We used to hand write more letters, which teach us history. What will happen to our visual history? All of this is up in the air.

With a 120 years of displayed reliability, film has a proven shelf life when stored properly. When classic films are restored to 4K cinema or Blu-ray disc, all of the necessary information exists in the original camera negative. Digital restoration can be successfully used to manipulate the wealth of information found on the film negative.

Film restoration is like putting on a new pair of eyeglasses. Wearing eyeglasses does not physically change the spectacle, such as viewing the Grand Canyon, but changes how you see it. This is the super partnership between film and digital video. One can shoot on film, scan it to video, and use the video file for post-production. The neat thing about film is that you can have both physical copies and virtual copies giving you a lot of flexibility for using the film now and saving the film for the future. Film can be distributed on print, file, tape, optical disc or streamed.

Film is affordable

There are many misconceptions as to the true cost of shooting and finishing a movie on celluloid film. People mistakenly believe that if it was not for the “digital revolution” and the “democratization” of the video image that they would never have had the means or capability of producing a film due to the “high” price tag of film stock and lab costs. What about the many young filmmakers who made films on film for over a 100 years? They shot many films on celluloid and made masterpieces…many on very low budgets, some in 16mm and some 8mm. Indeed, film does cost money. This is nothing new. However, the expense of film can be managed.

First, motion picture film cameras are currently low cost. One can find used Super 8mm and 8mm cameras under 50 dollars and 16mm cameras under a 100 dollars. It’s quite possible to find a flea market bargain 8mm camera for only five dollars. Many people may mistakenly throw away items thinking it is outdated or that it is junk without realizing that film stock is still available in 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm.

I like to think of film cameras like a traditional wood double-hung window found in a historic home. If well maintained, wood windows and wood storms will last several 100 years. The windows may need a little paint and glazing from time to time. Film cameras may need a little bit of oil now and then. It’s a sad thought to think of all the wood windows and film cameras sitting in a landfill. Both are high-quality and sustainable products that can outperform newer alternatives. Vinyl and aluminum windows, like video equipment, are made to be convenient and disposable. Both the video medium and aluminum windows have about a 30–50 year lifespan. Compare that with traditional materials like wood and celluloid, which have been proven to last several lifetimes.

Video equipment has been made to be mostly disposable and last only a few years until videomakers desire upgrades. Video encourages people to buy more cameras and more software. How is this different from film? Digital video is an investment up front for the present, and film is an investment for the future. Used 16mm and 8mm film cameras cost very little compared to a new video camera. A Bell and Howell 240 16mm camera can cost under $100 used on an online auction site. The equivalent video camera with excellent color, 2K or higher resolution, and low to no compression may cost ten or twenty times this amount.

If you want to splice and edit the film, a splicer, viewer, and rewinds, can all be purchased under the price of an entry level DSLR and video editing software. The film camera and editing materials have nearly a lifetime guarantee as they can be cleaned and lubricated. The big expense for film is in the raw stock and processing and printing/video scanning. You could call the whole film and video cost comparison a toss-up because of the numerous factors at play: number of takes, camera models, replacement of gear, software subscriptions, service of gear, etc.

There are many ways to save on any of these processes, whether film or video. Both mediums can be inexpensive or very expensive depending on one’s choices. Film is not just for the big budget Hollywood projects. It’s for all of us. There are ways to work on celluloid, even on a modest budget. Expense should not be an issue, especially with so many passionate and friendly resources out there in film labs and repair shops.

We also have the mighty 8mm formats, which cost less than 16mm. Shooting Super 8 with the exceptionally sharp and modern color negative film is a superb low-cost option for students and independents. If you make short films and spend $200 a year, it will take you ten years to get to the $2,000 price tag of some video camcorders. Truly, if you want to shoot on film, it’s more about your passion, ambition, and desire than cost. There’s nothing stopping you from finding a good used Super 8 camera and buying some film to make a movie.

Depending on the project and your shooting style, it may make more sense to shoot on video. Video is an entirely different medium and has merits of its own. However, you’ll find that most projects can be shot on film. It just takes planning. Let your imagination soar and do not get caught up in video technology marketing. There is a tight-knit world of passionate filmmakers who want to help you get the resources you need to shoot on celluloid. Research, be selective, and if you want to shoot on film, you can do it.

Ultimately, film places the responsibility of preparation and budget savings on the filmmaker. It all depends on one’s own discipline in the medium. Film can be very expensive in one filmmaker’s hands or cost less than working with digital video in another filmmaker’s hands. Working with film depends on one’s practice and ingenuity.

If one shoots at a shooting ratio under 3:1 (three takes or less per shot), film will come in below the cost of purchasing or renting equivalent quality video cameras. It can be done, if one so chooses. To some, modest student budgets of $200 are too often misinterpreted as a lot of expenditure for a short film because digital costs nothing, right? Every movie comes with a price. First, there’s the video camera, then the workstation laptop, followed by a suitable hard-drive, add in the video editing software, and the audio editing software, etc. You get the idea.

It may sound silly, especially if you have never worked with film before, but shooting film can actually be cheaper than video in a variety of situations. The low cost and longevity of film equipment, the value of archiving, and low shooting ratios are the biggest ways film has the potential to save over digital video in the long run.

Film is fun

There’s just something so incredibly rewarding about holding film, taping it, and threading it on a projector. You hear it move, and see it flicker to life on screen. Hands touch the film during all stages of the process: pre-exposure, post exposure, and in projection. Human energy, both mental and physical, brings the film into existence. It’s not just fun. It is special!

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Why film
• 2 Motion picture cameras
• 3 16mm and 8mm formats
• 4 Cinema lenses
• 5 Motion picture film stocks
• 6 Light meters
• 7 Planning a film production
• 8 Cinema lighting
• 9 Special camera effects
• 10 Magnetic sound recording
• 11 Film processing
• 12 Film bench editing
• 13 Film editing machines
• 14 Magnetic sound editing
• 15 Film finishing and projection
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Index