Super 8 still alive and kicking

As we reported in an earlier issue, Kodak terminated production of its legendary K40 Super 8 film in 2005. Ektachrome 64T was introduced as successor. Kodak itself still sells black-and-white reversal films as well: Plus-X 7265 and the more light-sensitive Plus-X 7266. And the colour negative films Vision2 200T and 500T familiar from the 35mm format will continue to be available in Super 8 cassettes. These emulsions are favoured in particular for direct electronic scanning, used for example in the production of music videos. Further information and links to other Super 8 sites on the Internet can be found on the Kodak website shown below.

In addition, two new Super 8 films have come onto the market in 2006 – quite a surprising development. Such “new releases” are usually a case of repackaging (35mm) film varieties in Super 8 cassettes. Wittner Kinotechnik in Germany, for example, is now selling an Ektachrome emulsion in Super 8 format in Europe under the name Chrome 100D, a film that is more light sensitive than Kodak’s Super 8 emulsion. The second new product comes from GK Film, also a German company, which has been offering a 50ASA Fuji film in Super 8 cassettes for a year now under the name Cinevia.

The French have also been busy on the Super 8 front. Super8France has announced that it will be launching a new film on the market in 2007. But the Lille-based company is keeping mum as to the provenance of its “HR1” emulsion – it has revealed only that it is not Kodak material!

Also new and available in Germany and Europe as of November 2006 are Super 8 films from the American firm Pro8mm. Pro8mm was founded in Cambridge, MA as Super8 Sound – a name that’s sure to ring a bell with die-hard Super 8 fans. The URL super8sound.com harbours a curiosity today, though: a Super 8 hotel chain. Pro8mm by contrast, now based in Burbank, California, the centre of the American film industry, offers not only film and special cameras, but also a photo lab, film transfers and digital services.

Of interest at Pro8mm are the nearly 20 different 35mm film emulsions offered in Super 8 cassettes under its own label, Pro8. These are negative and reversal films from manufacturers Kodak and Fuji. Colour as well as black-and-white films are hence available now for every conceivable purpose, in varying light sensitivities ranging from 10 ASA to 500 ASA for daylight or artificial light. These include Kodak EXR, an emulsion specially designed for digital mastering as Super8 film. Pro8mm even still has 8mm films in its product range – in the old format from the days before the introduction of Super 8. Pro8mm is the only company in the USA to offer digital scanning for these 8mm films.

Although there are still festivals and many film clubs – especially in Italy and Germany – that still screen Super 8 films, the days of Super 8 film as widespread projection format are over. Instead, Super 8 is today more of an exotic tool used to achieve special effects. Rather than being used as projection material, the negatives and the possibility of scanning make Super 8 suitable for distribution on all digital platforms.

An interesting project in this connection in both artistic and historical terms is the website “Filmers Almanac” run by filmmaker Owen O’Toole. But of course there are also video blogs showing digitized Super 8 films. On the starting block for a launch in 2007 is the up-to-the-minute “Lost in Light”, a non-commercial Vblog that offers filmmakers free digitization of their films in exchange for rights to screen them on the Internet.

There are of course in addition countless websites on every conceivable aspect of Super 8 film. There is even a Super 8 Wiki! Those who would like to access some solid information on the subject would be well advised to visit the website “Little Film” by Toni Treadway and Bob Brodsky, who have been active as “superserious 8” since 1975. Forty years after the format was introduced, the slogan chosen by one of the many Super 8 sites says it all: “Super 8 is Thriving in the Digital Age”!

Nonetheless, we must be careful not to take too much knowledge on the part of the digital agers for granted, as demonstrated by some of the hair-raising answers offered in response to a recent question in a technology forum »Is there a way to digitize my old Super 8 films?«: »Of course. All you need is a graphic card with a TV input port (...) You then edit out what you don’t want and burn it onto a DVD.« An especially clever respondent advised: »Hook up the device that plays back the Super 8 films to a computer using a cinch cable. Any device in-between will only result in a loss of quality!«

Kodak’s Super 8 site: www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/s8mm/index.jhtml

Super 8 Wiki: super8wiki.com

Lost in Light: lostinlight.org

A Filmers Almanac: www.filmersalmanac.net

Little Film: www.littlefilm.org

p.s. At the end of 2006, the Centre Pompidou in Paris is devoting an extensive film series to the artistic use of Super 8 film, designed to demonstrate the significance of the format for cinematic history. Titled “S. 8”, the show will screen a different Super 8 programme every day from 1 to 22 December. Included are both theme-based compilations and filmmaker profiles. The screenings at the ‘Beaubourg’ theatres were conceived in co-operation with the Collectif Jeune Cinéma and Light Cone.

www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Manifs.nsf/0/819C1B482BA3999AC12572140035C5F1