So about those film cartridges....

[mcflytrap]

It's been said you only get about 2.5 minutes of film shooting at 24fps. So I ask, do you find yourself wasting a lot of film?

So I shoot a 2 minutes scene, but the next scene to shoot is 1 minute long...do you just use another roll and discard the remaining 50 seconds you might get on the other roll? Does this problem come up much?

Also, is there a way to splice together super 8 film? Any super 8 cameras that can handle more than just one cartridge?

Thanks.

-mcfly-

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[MovieStuff]

McFly-

I mean this in the MOST sincerest way possible: Your questions are making me feel really old!

THAT's what this country needs! A good ten cent cigar and a double barreled super 8 camera with a repeating chamber. Hmmm. There are 9mm's. I guess this would be an 8mm!

I'll let someone else answer his questions on this one. I've got to take my Geritol and have a lay down.... So tired. So, very,very..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Roger

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Roger Evans
MovieStuff
http://www.afterimagephoto.tv/moviestuff.html

[mcflytrap]

Ha...sorry Roger. I'm just trying to get all the information about everything before I commit to buying. If it makes you feel any better, I'm only 21....very young.

-mcfly-

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[dogstarman]

Don't feel bad... Grandpa Roger is just getting cynical and sarcastic in his golden years.

Well, if you think you can afford to waste 50 seconds of stock, I'll make you a deal. You mail me all your cartridges of K40 with more than 30 seconds of film left on them, I'll kick in $2.00 towards the delveloping cost at Walmart, and I'll just cut my footage off the end of the reel.

No. Don't waste even ten seconds of stock. When the film runs out, thats when you cut to another angle... my offer still stands, though...

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[Matt Pacini]

The other thing you can do, is mark on the cartridge how much film is left on it, then use your "short ends" to shoot short takes of close ups, cutaways, etc.
Just keep really accurate logs of what footage is on what roll.
I suggest labeling each roll with a unique number, AND writing on your script as you shoot, how much of what scene, etc., is on what roll.

Matt Pacini

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[#Pedro]

The S8 system was designed at a time, where films with rather short takes were popular, 3...20 sec per take, arranged in a rhythmical order in post production. Longer shots where the exception.

As a rough rule can be stated, that a close-up with not so many details to show needs a short time (ca. 5 sec) and a total view with a lot of details has to stay longer on the screen so that people have time to recognize everything. The resulting film was always the mixture of short and longer takes, a certain dynamic.

That art of rhythmic cutted films just had been developed in the silent movies area.
The video age with it?s 4 hour tapes introduced some changes, the takes and szenes became longer, f.e. a complete wedding captured in only one take!

I think, there must be a good motivation for a very long take, the contens must be interesting or it must be a long dialouge or following a movement or process.
And there still must be place for shorter takes, showing details, close ups, that don?t need a long time, only a few seconds. That?s what gives that surpising moments and atracks the attention of the audience. This way it is easyer to make an interesting film and you will have many possiblities to use the resting 30 seconds of a cardrige that was used for a 2 minutes shot.

Pedro

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[mcflytrap]

Thanks for the help, people. Your suggestions do seem the logical thing to do. Quick last question (for this topic)...does anyone know how much film your standard 16mm camera can take? I'm not planning on getting into this quite yet (too expensive), but maybe in the future.

-mcfly-

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[dogstarman]

Not planning on getting into 16mm, or not getting into S8?

At any rate, almost every 16mm camera that the average Joe can afford takes an internal 100' load. Some have magazines (200/400' is common), and the Aaton Minima takes an internal 200' load... just to be different...
Oh, and I have to take issue with Pedro's statement about the length of shots. If you go back to Orsen Wells, Citizen Kane had a TON of really long shots in it. And the studio had a fit.
Chaplin's early films had really long shots, but once he started directing and editing his own films, the takes got shorter and shorter.
The comparison I'm making is if you look at early Chaplin films and Citizen Kane, they seem a lot more theatrical than most of the films you see today, which are edited (in my opinion) with an epileptic pace (i.e. 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND, which made THE WILD BUNCH look like a sleeping kitten).

There's a practical reason that Chaplin started doing shorter takes: Chaplin was producing his own films, thus paying for his own stock and salaries, thus shorter takes ment less costly errors. And the studios weren't dumb. Shorter takes became the rule because they cost less money over the long haul. That's why Wells pissed people off, and why most of his films got hacked to bits when he didn't edit them. Longer takes change the dynamics and flow of a film (for the better, in my opinion) but people useually react badly to them (i.e. audience & critical recption to UNBREAKABLE)

It wasn't that S8 was developed BEFORE directors were using long takes, it's just that people had been conditioned to not accept long takes. That and the fact that S8 cameras were designed and marketed for consumer use, not those of us who are trying to emulate Wells... I need a goddman Arriflex...
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[This message has been edited by dogstarman (edited January 10, 2002).]

[mcflytrap]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogstarman:
Not planning on getting into 16mm, or not getting into S8?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I wasn't planning on getting into 16mm just yet, but may in the future. Thanks for the helpful information.

-mcfly-


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[#Pedro]

About long shots:
I think all is a matter of taste. For my opinion, it?s very typical for film (vc. theater) to chop the szene in different views from differnt sides and in different sizes. These different views are combined again in the head of the audience, like differnt aspects of a story. This is, what film makes fascinating for ME. The consequence is, that the average shot is not so long lasting. I want not to say, that there won?t be long shots at all - but there must be a good reason for each them.
Pedro

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