Author Topic: That old "silent film" look on 8mm King Dork
posted 10-21-1999 05:50 PM
I'm just about to order some 8mm film from Kodak, and I need to figure out which type of film to buy. My project will be in the style of a buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin silent comedy. Which film will get me that grainy old time feel and where is the best place to buy it from. I found a web site with a long list of companies, but which do you guys recommend (ie. which is cheapest and most reliable?).

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Nobody ever accused me of being cool.

Benny
posted 10-21-1999 06:30 PM
i'm not sure on this one, i don't use 8mm at all. but you could buy some b/w film and then do some after effects in some program like Adobe Premier or likewise to get that OLD-STYLE-LOOK (?) if you have such a program, other than that.. i don't know.
I hope this helps of gives you some ides.

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Benny

[This message has been edited by Benny (edited 10-21-1999).]

thx1138
posted 10-21-1999 06:39 PM
Well king dork I think you may get a better response from here:


http://server3.ezboard.com/fgaragefilmgaragefilm


Im pretty sure with the exception of super 8 sound that their are only two types of black and white super 8 film left. Unless your speaking of regular 8, which can also be answered on the garagefilmaking board. You might want to check out the deja super 8 board. (unless you get the Newsgroup)

http://x37.deja.com/[ST_rn=if]/topics_if.xp?search=topic&group=alt.movies.cinematography.super8&GRPP=934012116.211615969&title=Related&query=super%208

thx1138
posted 10-21-1999 06:46 PM
I forgot to add if thats the exact look your going for than you should film at a lower speed to get that slightly faster paced look that's in all those old films. (But im sure you already knew that)

Oh and benny I didnt mean to suggest he could get a better response than yours. I hadnt seen your message intil I had finished mine.

LilScorcese
posted 10-21-1999 09:25 PM
King Dork,

Thx-1138 is right. I shot a class film years back on Super 8 (Kodak Tri-X B&W) and the camera man had it set at 8 fps. When we watched the rushes, we laughed hysterically. Here was, what was supposed to be a "semi-serious" film, turning out like something from the silent era. So we just went with it. We added piano accompaniment on the sound track, and we had a old style classic film. It also looked really good on this film stock.

Aren't anecdotes great?!!

-Lil' Scorcese

King Dork
posted 10-22-1999 12:27 AM
Boy, I feel like a cheating lover when I go over to another board, but that garage film board has been quite insightful.

I'm afraid that my camera (a Bell & Howell Soundstar 4) only has a switch that can be set to either 18 or 24 FPS. Maybe I need a better camera...

comments?

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Nobody ever accused me of being cool.

LilScorcese
posted 10-22-1999 01:08 AM
Isn't that garagefilm board great?! Thx-1138 introduced me to it in all it's infinate glory.

Anyway, my suggestion about the camera, would be to check eBay. I picked up a Hanimex Loadamatic S8 camera for a steal there! It has 24, 18, and 8 fps settings. It also has this neat little button you can press while running the camera which changes the speed to 32fps, so you can achieve that realtime-slo-realtime effect. Quite neat.

In case you're new to eBay, follow this link:
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/category628/index.html

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