Filters for black & white

[Jeremy Lunt]

Hey all,

I was just wondering how many of you use special filters for your Super 8 cinematograhy (especially for black and white). I just stumbled upon a cacheload of them for my Nikon Super Zoom 8 and have tried out some of them with mixed results...

Blue - One bright sunny day I put this on and tried lowering the exposure by one stop (I was using the old 50 ASA Plus-X), filming for about ten seconds, then lowring it by another stop and trying to film it again, then lowered another stop and did it again. When I projected it I was pleaswed to see that it created a decent (though still not great) day-for-night effect.

Star filter - This one was sort of cool, I tried filming the huge floodlights outside my dorm at night with Tri-X. Everything except the points of light (as I expected) came out black, but the star effect was neat.

Fog filter - Again I tried filming on a bright sunny day and it produced a neat hazy effect. I also combined it with the blue to create another day-for night effect.

Three-image filter - Didn't like this one, it made it very difficult to get the focus correct and it just looked kinda stupid projected.

Other ones I have but haven't tried out include a UV filter, a red and a light yellow filter.

[Scott Spears]

Try yellow, orange and red with B&W. They darken blue skies and make fleshtones go brighter. Red will make a blue sky go black. I'm tempted to try it for some day for night.

Scott