music video's shot on super8?

[dasonras]

Hey. I am planning to shoot a music video on super 8 in color. Has anyone else had any experiences with shooting a music video on super 8?

If you have any links to footage of super 8 video share with us!

[vegasdigitalfilms]

There has been hundreds, if not thousands of music videos shot on Super8 over the last 20 or so years that have played on MTV/VH1.

One that i remember that was shot entirely on Super8 was "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode from 1989.

Most music videos incorporate super8 throughout, but don't shoot entirely in super8.

Seems like the golden years for super8 on MTV was the late 80's, early 90's.

[Tom_Berna]

If I recall correctly - "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns & Roses was partly Super-8...

[dasonras]

Oh i know the history of music videos and super8 professionally....

but i was talking more on the amateur level. I'd like to see some examples of people's successes/failures/.

[John Michaels]

The film you use will make your shooting job easier. I would suggest negative super 8 films in case you have trouble getting good exposures. If you are going to shoot neg you must also have a rank transfer done to get it to video as a positive (easier than it sounds).

The best people to walk you through it would be Spectra Film and Video in N. Hollywood, CA. These guys have not only been working in motion pictire equipment/film business for years, but, they have also done a fair amount of shooting themselves.

I just used these guys myself for a music video and they did a great job for me.

They also carry an assortment of inexpensive serviced cameras, deal in rentals, and discouted packages with film, processing and telecine. They have some demo material in super 8 that they show to walk-in customers.

Have a look: www.spectrafilmandvideo.com

Finally, if you do not buy a serviced camera, make sure you run extensive tests with it before you shoot the bulk of your film.

[Andy Nigg]

I second John's comment on Spectra. I had some great experiences there on some recent projects. I use them for both 16mm and super 8 jobs. Great customer service.

[judo]

http://arbetsnarkoman.mine.nu/kemofilm/movs/captain.mov
I did this for a year ago.

[Luis Caffesse]

I did some work on a music video shot on super 8.
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, because it was purposely done to have a unproduced sort of look. Super 8 shots of the band working on their album in the studio...

www.spoontheband.com

Go to the videos section and check out "Small Stakes"

(sorry I don't know how to link to it directly, it's a flash based site)

[David G. Smith]

I have done several music videos on Super8. I love the format. Some issues you have to worry about is sync. Unless you use a crystal sync camera, time-code slaved slates and playback (which is not cheap) you had better learn to read lips or avoid close ups of singers. I have done DIY transfers, but it is a pain in the ass. Get a good transfer. You are in Mass., look up Brodsky and Treadway. They are the east coast Super 8 gurus.

http://www.littlefilm.com/

Good luck.

[profnoxin]

You can also look into using Pro8mm in Burbank. Go to www.pro8mm.com and check them out. They cut down 35mm emulsions to 8mm size, so you can use Vision2 stocks, and Fuji's Reala and Eterna in Super8. I recently shot a pitch trailer in the format, and the stuff looked gorgeous. I would say stay away from doing anything with under-exposure. About a half to a full stop under your prime exposure I think is the max. The information just gets completely lost in the grain. I played around with an under-exposure technique, and luckily I had a properly exposed version of the take, because the footage looked like bad 800 speed film (and that was on a tiny telecine monitor). U2 has a couple of videos that were shot in 8mm, and I believe that some of Soul Asylum's videos were 8mm. These videos were done essentially by semi-pro filmmakers in Minneapolis, and have the look of a "un-professional" filmmaker. If you do some over-exposure work to tighten up the grain and increase the contrast, you can get some really nice looking stuff out of 8 these days.

Also, pro8 has recently released Max8 - the Super 16mm equivalent in 8mm. That's right, you're actually shooting a wide screen image. Really amazing stuff.

[John Michaels]

You kidding me??? Pro8mm is the worst super 8 place you can go! They are notorious for their bad customer service and poor quality.

Better watch it Justin. They pack untested re-can film into super 8 carts and sell it as new.