digital transfers

[lyonlag]

hi
I am currently working on my first film, and I, of course, want to shoot it all on super 8. The trouble is I want to be able to add a creative sound element (not nec. dialogue), and be able to edit the film with ease.
I am thinking of transfering the film to DV format to edit and add sound. I was just wondering if this was common, if there are any specifics I should know about ahead of time, etc. Also, I was wondering if I should get prints developed in addition to the DV transfer.
Thanks

[bigmasi]

Hi

A poor mans transfer is just to project the material in a dark room and shoot it with a videocamera. It sounds like the quality wouldn't be good, but if you have a good projector, the rooms is completely dark and you adjust the camera and the projector perfectly... the result is really good. If you would like to have a best result it will cost you a lot ...and I mean a lot!! I don't know the name of the procedure in english but I think it's called something like "cinetransfer" and there is a lot of companies who will do it, but if you don't have a real budjet for the movie ...forget about it and do the transfer at home.

- Jari -

[Kev Owens]

Pro 8mm have a service whereby they telecine your film onto either mini DV or Digi-beta format. They do package deals too if you have an idea of how long your film will be.

For example, 4 cartridges of Super8mm film (=10 mins), including processing, prep and clean and telecine to miniDV costs $304. Just make sure you work out your shooting ratio...

http://www.pro8mm.com/

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 16, 2004 07:32 AM: Message edited by: Kev O. ]</font>

[Nigel]

I would stay away from Pro8mm!! It is my opinion that they are crooks and frauds.

Here are a few places that you can try....

www.posthouse.com
www.fsft.com

Where are you located??

Good Luck

[becomedeath]

Yes, I would stay away from Pro8mm. I would, however, encourage you to use CinePost (i.e. Posthouse) in Georgia. I used them to transfer 70 minutes of K-40 (28 rolls) to miniDV this past fall, and including shipping back to me (NYC) and the cost of the miniDV tapes, it only came to about $350 and I was extremely pleased with the transfer. But then again, I don't know what you intend to do with the film you are shooting, and so, perhaps the dark room with a video camera idea would work just fine. But if you're going for the best quality, go with posthouse.

Tayman Strahorn

[Kev Owens]

Ah, well perhaps you guys could help me also. I'm located in the U.K as you can see, and I will also want my super 8 stock processed and telecined onto a digital format for editing...

would these places cater for european filmmakers?

[becomedeath]

I don't see why they wouldn't work with you because you are in the U.K., but I can't be sure. Go to their website and give them a call. When I used them to transfer my footage I called them repeatedly and asked a great deal of questions, which they were more than happy to answer. So I'm sure the two of you can work something out.