Making a music video...

[Alysian88]

i just found this board today and am thanking god i did!

now... i have been approached by a new rap group to shoot a low budget video... and i mean LOW BUDGET! of course my first instinct lead me to think super8. so i come to you all knowing super8 auteurs for a little help.

1) 90% of the video will be performance... is it completely imparitive to have a camera with crystal sync?

2) any proven suggestions on how to get the least grainy, richest color posible?

3) i went to 'super8sound' today and they seem to be able to deliver a very nice looking product but it's still pretty expensive... anyone work with them before (telecine or used their pro8 stock)?

4) and lastly (for now), i've read a couple of posts steering people away from transfering their super8 to digital for editing purposes. should this definitely be avoided because this is what i planned on doing?

thanks in advance for whatever help you may be able to bestow on me!

[rollemfilm]

Yes you need a sync camera.
Use a slow speed film for fine grain.
Their are other transfer houses. Shop around.
You need to transfer to what you'll be editing
with. For broadcast & promotional copies you can
get made what you need. How will you edit?

[Nigel]

I would not go through Super8Sound--you can buy Kodak Vision 200T Super8 from Yale if you really want to use Negative Stock. You can also use Kodachrome(ASA40Tungsten) if there will be enough light. If you are shooting a live performance and you want to use the performance audio then yes you need a Crystal camera. If you want to use "clean" audio, as in off of their CD then you don't. I am biased to having my work transfered to BetaSP or DigiBeta. I use a lab in Atlanta called CinePost(www.posthouse.com). Good Luck and if you have any questions email me.

[Alysian88]

okay... so which is it guys? i do or don't need a crystal camera? please HELP!

[mattias]

unless you cut every two seconds or so, you do need crystal even if you're "just lip syncing". if you don't have a time code slate, i'd even recommend recording the sound from the cd on location and slating it as usual to get a reference for the syncing up. it's much easier to sync to drum beats than it is to lip movements.

/matt

[rollemfilm]

Yes, you need a sync camera.

[tashunka]

As Nigel said. If you are recording "live" sound you will need crystal sync. But if you are just using playback on set and "lip syncing" then you don't need crystal. There is nothing wrong with transferrin to digital for editing. I've had super8 transferred to VHS then copied that onto my digital8 camera then edited on my mac with pretty good results. If it truly is low budget and you aren't trying to get this played on MTV or VH1 or MuchMusic or something like that then what I've done would probably be fine. If you are going for broadcast you will probably want to transfer to beta or digibeta and see if you can get into the local cable station edit suite.

Good Luck.
Tash.

------------------
"Grab a handful of St. John's Wort and a Giant Coke Slurpee and go make a movie."

[eddie]

why not shoot it on video instead of super8?

[Nigel]

You shoot on Super8 because it will look like film.