Celluloid Centurion
New member
Initially intending to simply test out some Kodak Vision3 200T in the Super 8 format, inspired by my longtime creative collaborator flying over to Greece for a visit, I eventually ended up editing the spontaneously captured footage into a narrative - albeit experimental - short, with some fashion film elements:
With my Beaulieu 4008 ZM, fitted with the Schneider Optivaron 6-66mm and two 50ft cartridges in the backpack, the plan was to film over the course of about a week at aesthetically pleasing spots around Athens, during the time of day each would look best, like high noon for the National Garden and afternoon or sunset for the alleyways at the slopes below the Acropolis. We also ended up going on a day trip to Hydra island, which is where I shot the remainder of the last cartridge.
From a cinematography standpoint, building upon the Super 8 format’s flattering softness and grainy nature (though unsure just how grainy, since I had only shot 50D in this tiny format previously), I set out to infuse the piece with certain fashion film elements, since I could see myself wanting to shoot this kind of work down the line, hence the Narrator’s vibrant, silky outfits, on which I leaned, in conjunction with the locations and light, to convey the sense of glamour & elegance I was after. By no means would I call this a spec-ad, but there were several instances that called for shots one would find in such a project and admittedly, I was partially influenced by the heightened handheld visuals from the "Most Interesting Man in the World" Dos Equis ads while exploring and filming. Still, what I was mainly aiming for, was imagery conveying an inviting otherworldliness, a visualisation of an urban setting with Mediterranean elements that felt charming but just out of reach, perhaps being nothing more than a memory: A place with a story of its own, like the Narrator navigating it. I had already shot the first 200T cartridge by the time we came up with one. The tale of a cop on vacation, ruminating on the hardships in the line of duty and man's inherent desire to escape them, felt fitting enough: complementing the visuals in an often abstract manner and affording us some cheeky lines in the voice over too.
Regarding workflow, the material was processed and scanned by Mutascan (now Helscan) and delivered as flat 4K ProRes 4444 files, which I then white balanced manually (because I shot without an 85B filter) and graded in Davinci Resolve in an ACES timeline. I discovered that 200T has tremendous highlight latitude when working on a shot of palm trees against the sun, which I accidentally shot 3 stops overexposed after metering, as in a rush, I forgot to close down the iris. All the seemingly clipped information in the sky was easily pulled back, requiring minimal correction with the HDR highlight wheel to remove a slight yellow cast. Certain shots were also stabilised using Motion Tracking controls within After Effects and the final edit was done in Premiere. My most crucial lesson on the technical side of things during post, was that on a format this small, it’s a terrible idea to shoot Tungsten-balanced stock in daylight without the 85B filter, because the resulting blue-coloured grain cannot be timed out...
Overall I'm elated by how the finished film turned out and I'm looking forward to continuing to shoot on Super 8! With proper optics and a good workflow, it produces stunning results!
With my Beaulieu 4008 ZM, fitted with the Schneider Optivaron 6-66mm and two 50ft cartridges in the backpack, the plan was to film over the course of about a week at aesthetically pleasing spots around Athens, during the time of day each would look best, like high noon for the National Garden and afternoon or sunset for the alleyways at the slopes below the Acropolis. We also ended up going on a day trip to Hydra island, which is where I shot the remainder of the last cartridge.
From a cinematography standpoint, building upon the Super 8 format’s flattering softness and grainy nature (though unsure just how grainy, since I had only shot 50D in this tiny format previously), I set out to infuse the piece with certain fashion film elements, since I could see myself wanting to shoot this kind of work down the line, hence the Narrator’s vibrant, silky outfits, on which I leaned, in conjunction with the locations and light, to convey the sense of glamour & elegance I was after. By no means would I call this a spec-ad, but there were several instances that called for shots one would find in such a project and admittedly, I was partially influenced by the heightened handheld visuals from the "Most Interesting Man in the World" Dos Equis ads while exploring and filming. Still, what I was mainly aiming for, was imagery conveying an inviting otherworldliness, a visualisation of an urban setting with Mediterranean elements that felt charming but just out of reach, perhaps being nothing more than a memory: A place with a story of its own, like the Narrator navigating it. I had already shot the first 200T cartridge by the time we came up with one. The tale of a cop on vacation, ruminating on the hardships in the line of duty and man's inherent desire to escape them, felt fitting enough: complementing the visuals in an often abstract manner and affording us some cheeky lines in the voice over too.
Regarding workflow, the material was processed and scanned by Mutascan (now Helscan) and delivered as flat 4K ProRes 4444 files, which I then white balanced manually (because I shot without an 85B filter) and graded in Davinci Resolve in an ACES timeline. I discovered that 200T has tremendous highlight latitude when working on a shot of palm trees against the sun, which I accidentally shot 3 stops overexposed after metering, as in a rush, I forgot to close down the iris. All the seemingly clipped information in the sky was easily pulled back, requiring minimal correction with the HDR highlight wheel to remove a slight yellow cast. Certain shots were also stabilised using Motion Tracking controls within After Effects and the final edit was done in Premiere. My most crucial lesson on the technical side of things during post, was that on a format this small, it’s a terrible idea to shoot Tungsten-balanced stock in daylight without the 85B filter, because the resulting blue-coloured grain cannot be timed out...
Overall I'm elated by how the finished film turned out and I'm looking forward to continuing to shoot on Super 8! With proper optics and a good workflow, it produces stunning results!
