what's wrong with this strategy?

[pbreilly]

Newbie. Both to this forum, and to Super8 Film.

I've spent a lot of time here, reading old posts, etc. It looks like you all have a firm grasp on lots of issues, so I'm going to throw a few out there, and steal your knowledge and opinions, if that's ok.

A few comments first:
There really isn't a definitive source of info, despite a halfway decent newsgroup, some reasonably comprehensive websites, and guys like Martin B. who have been gracious enough to take my calls and emails to explain things. It's easy to walk down the wrong path, buy the wrong stuff, or make bad assumptions, even IF you spend lots of time doing reasearch, etc. I consider this forum to be perhaps the only place to get LOTS of quality feedback. In that regard, I thank everyone in advance. I hope to learn a lot.


OK. I have two Beaulieu 5008s. I got them because they had sound capabilities, but of course, I can't get film for it....maybe someday it will be cheap again. Regardless, I want to shoot things on FILM, not video. Kids. Birds. My wife cooking. I also want to make stories on film, once I become proficient (or if...). At some point, I also hope to exploit the equipment, and results, by shooting commercials on super 8 (I'm in advertising.)

Anyhow...I have the cameras.
I'm past the research stage, and am moving on to EXPERIMENTING and testing my two cameras, with stock I got from Kodak. (I ordered a lot of Kodakrome 40, plus x, tri x, and 7240.) I'm shooting each kind of stock, on each camera, so I can see how they all look, when projected. A friend is helping me expose some film with the other camera. We're taking notes on what we shot, conditions (light, etc.) camera settings, and what stock we used. It will cost a little to do, but at least I'll end up KNOWING what the qualities of these stocks are, and whether or not we were able to figure out the cameras.

At some point, I want to move ahead with shooting sound synch.

I planned on shooting with Pro8, simply because they had different stocks, and seemed to package the processing along with a transfer to video. Now this whole negative vs. revarsal issue has me second guessing.
Should I shoot negative, OR reversal? Either way, I expect to transfer to video/dv. Record wild on a Sony minidisc. Dump it into a mac, and edit on adobe premiere.

Questions: What are the implications of transfering reversal, versus negative? Where do I get that done? Can one vendor process, and transfer BOTH? How much am I going to spend to do (process and transfer) 10 or 12 rolls at a time, to see if my mac/adobe premiere/sony minidisc experiment is fruitful?

Knowing that these cameras DO have a pulse synch connector, can I even use that cable connection/technology using a minidic?

In your collective opinions, will a 50' cartridge and it's corresponding audio be that hard to synch up on the computer? Assuming the batteries are fresh,, won't a good camera stay reasonably constant for two minutes (like if I want to shoot a really long take?)

Assuming I use regular kodak stock (not negative stock), will they give me a broadcast quality video transfer AND the actual film on a reel to project in my basement? How do I avoid (i.e. what questions do I ask what vendors) getting a low grade home video of my projected stock that they call a "transfer"?

I'll stop typing now...


(was that too much information and too many questions?)



------------------
patrick reilly

[stanley k]

Although some of these questions are beyond my level of expertise, let me chime in anyway and give you my two cents. The wild sync method, from what I've heard from this and other sites, will work for a given amount of time. I too placed in new batteries into the camera, started my tape recorder, and once I got the film back from the lab, it held sync for about 35 seconds then it started to deviate. But, if you have a computer, I'm sure this can be synced. In fact, I saw an article on the following website that described such a method and gave some software names to use.
http://www.reelends.com/articles/cin...aphy/sync.html

As far as the negative vs. reversal goes, I think if you can afford the $275/HR. Rank Cintel transfer then go ahead and do that as you will definitely get more latitude with your work. Yet, I love the Tri-X reversal b&w. Its gorgeous, when done right. The speed and color of kodachrome can definitely give surreal tones unlike any other Super 8 film I've seen. But, like I said, if you can afford it and have the appropriate computer equipment, then I would go with quality Rank Cintel transfers. I hope this helps in some way, Stanley.

[Alex]

Good succinct answer, Stanley.

One simple method for keeping a film in sync is to either drop or add (dropping is usually easier, but every sync job is different.) sound frames during quiet or quieter spots during the scene.

Nobody will notice unless you have accelerating or deaccelerating noises in the background...such as traffic or airplanes that are close enough that you can tell they are moving closer or farther away, clipping two frames in that instant, or having to repeat two frames may be noticed.

But if there is silence and it's strictly a room tone issue...by all means, delete or add as necessary....(from the same audio take of course)

and one final rule....NEVER use pre-recorded playback such as music in your background when you are shooting a dialogue or any sound recoreded scene....it is the KISS OF DEATH.

Alex

[#Pedro]

To achieve sync sound without any equipment or cables in projected film (in video application its rather easy to sync it), it?s neccessary, that the projector and the camera run as exactly as possible at the same framerate. To achieve this, you?ll need a projector with pitch control, internal or as a external knob. There are many around (Bauer T502/525/610, Braun Visacustic, Elmo GS1200ST...) they MUST have a regulated DC motor.
Then shoot a film, lets say, for 30 seconds, with sound recorded together with a seperate tape recorder. Use for this test a clapboard at the beginning and the end of the take.
Run the film thru the projector and measure the time it needs from the first to the second clapboard. Run the tape thru the same recorder you used for recording the sound and measure the time, too (from the first to the second clap). The two times should be the same. If not, control the speed of the projector a little bit up or down, according to the result and try it again. With try-and-error, you?ll find after a few times running the film the correct speed setting, and you?ll can transfer the external recorded sound to the film with best accurancy possible.
Pedro