Question about producing a final print

[rcroster]

I'm fairly new at using Super-8 film, but it seems to me that if you're going to shoot in Super-8 film versus video it's because you want a final product that you can project onto a big screen. If I am never going to view the end product on anything more than a television screen then I think video is more than adequate and getting even better with the advent of DV and HDV. Here's my question tho', if I do shoot in Super-8, then telecine it to cut on an NLE, what is the final process or steps to take to have a finished product back on film again and ready for projection. I know that before NLE's and with 16mm film or larger, editors would cut on a work print until final form and then the negative or original reversal was (very carefully) cut in order to make a final print. Making and using work prints, I'm sure, has never been a common procedure for Super-8 filmmakers and yet due to the fragility of Super-8 I'd be loathe to touch the original footage (assuming its important footage) except as a master resource to telecine again if needed. I have played around with manually editing Super-8 and have experienced the degradation it can cause to the emulsion, even when treating it very carefully. Heck, even after a few times through the projector can make a notable difference. Anyway, I'm very naive about this stage of the process and would very much like to hear what others have done or have to say about it. Thank you.

[Matt Pacini]

This is a huge question.

First of all, you're not correct, that the only reason someone would shoot on S8 would be for projection.
It's the film look, plain and simple.
ALL video looks like video, and not film, even if it ends up mastered to video, simply because it's an electronic acquisition format.
And bringing HD into the discussion is irrelevant, because it's so freakin' expensive to shoot. Basically the same cost as shooting in 35mm.
If you want to project, after editing on the computer, you either have to:

1. Render your footage out to film somehow, usually by using a film recorder.
2. Generate an EDL (edit decision list) and after editing your telecine'd footage, go back to the camera original, them make a print from that to project. (There are more steps, but I'm too tired to go into all that right now...)

I'd say most of us on this board are shooting Super 8 to end up on video.

Matt Pacini

[rcroster]

Matt, thanks for your reply and you make an intriguing point that most S-8 filmmakers will work towards a final product on video. I am still wondering, however, how to make a projectable product, either in Super 8 again or perhaps even blowing it up to 16mm or 35mm after a finished edit is completed on an NLE. As virtually all major motion pictures today are edited on NLE's, how is the process of making a final(projectable)print accomplished by the pro's? I suspect it goes back to the old process of negative cutting and perhaps this is why we can now purchase Super-8 negative stock (among other things like lab color corrections, etc.). But I do not know for sure, never having taken a film to this stage. It'd sure be interesting to hear from someone who performed acquisition in Super-8, edited on an NLE, then created a finished projectable product (in any size format).

[Rob Skates]

Hello,
The pros use an the EDL plus keycode or some other reference to the the negs edge numbers to conform the the negative. It is becoming more common for an entire film to skip the negative conforming an be out put from the NLE to film (neg) via the arrilazer film recorder. This comes with a huge price tag. The whole process is alot more involved than the simple video transfer most of us work with. A 2K file is created for each frame of film via the spirit data cine. You get the idea.

I do not believe s8 neg has edge numbers or keycode. I am almost positive that s8 reversal (k40)does not. Without these, conforming the neg would be difficult. Plus, Prints are made on Print Stock. I am most certain that kodak does not make a s8 version of their print stock that is used with neg.

I am sure there are some people out there that can still make a print from a cut s8 original (reversal).

Here is my suggestion. Shoot S8. Transfer to video via a real telecine (moviestuff). Do your edit on your NLE system. Use a high quality video projector and screen. Find someone with a 16mm camera that has a crystal sync unit that can do 29.97 fps. Use the 16mm camera to shoot the video off the screen. The sound should not be too much of an issue. This is the poor mans way. But, as a poor man, I think it would work.