b&w film

[repper]

hi,
We are planning to shoot our first short and want to use black and white film stock. As we are inexperienced we are asking around for advice. Has anyone here used it before? It would be great if you could offer any advice or share your experiences etc.

Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[eddie]

hello

Ive shot a fair bit of B/W film stock.
depends what you want to know.
In my experience its very forgiving, get as much contrast as you can by using lights well, make the most of the B/W aspect of the film, since its not colour. B/W looks great with deep dark blacks, so shoot it with that in mind.
Are you using 8, 16 or 35 mm?
Ive shot Kodak Tri X outdoors in arizona (very very sunny), and Close Up stuff indoors in Somerset, using standard lamps to light. Both actually came out very well. But Id suggest sticking to Plus X for outdoors, and TriX for indoors.

Make sure you have a decent camera, and remember you can be creative with the light meter....

Good Luck

[repper]

Thanks very much for your thoughts Eddie, it is greatly appreciated. We have worked out that 2 cameras would be ideal and 99% of the film will be shot indoors. Of those cameras you recommended, how much would we expect to pay and do you know any companies who rent them?

Thanks in advance for your help,
James

[eddie]

Hi there

I think you might have got me confused.
TriX and PlusX are black and white filmstocks available from Kodak.
Do you want to shoot on 8mm (super8?) or 16mm film? I assume you arent going 35mm.
If super8 Id recommend buying a 2nd hand one from a car boot sale, 2nd hand shop, AV shop - but you need to look around. They cost around 25 quid.
If 16mm then you can hire these, the only place I know is in Bristol -Picture This. I think they cost around 30 quid a day to hire a clockwork bolex. Maybe Lee's camera's in London hire the other more sophisticated types.
Where are you based? I live in somerset and have a 16mm bolex I might be convinced to lend you myself for a few quid if need be.

If you are shooting indoors then Id go for TriX film stock - see the Kodak website for more details.

You will also need to hire lights, and note this is not a sound stock, it wont record sound, you will need a DAT or minidisk recorder for that.

I hope this is useful.

[repper]

hi Eddie,

Thanks for the great info. I am based in London so i'm not sure if renting your camera from Somerset would be realistic. Perhaps I could give you a call?
My email is [email protected]

I could email you my number if you prefer.
Cheers, James

[eddie]

Hi James

If you are based in London then you should have no problems finding a place to hire equipment.
Try

http://www.mandy.com
or
http://www.shootingpeople.com

as starters.

It doesnt make any sense dealing with someone from somerset (Ive been there and the travel expenses and inconvenience add up)

Cheers

cheers

[wahiba]

Having just processed a test length of standard-8 plus 8 this morning here are some observations compared with formapan that I did the other day.

Formapan needs to be reversed. It still has a layer on that needs to be bleached away.

Plus-X, and Tri-X (super-8) can be processed to negative using standard developers and then reversed after being transferred to computer. Of course you could also make a print off it.

Ilfords black and white films are available in 16mm and I expect will process as a negative.

My efforts at black and white processing can be seen on my website. No great claims, but it is an interesting exercise, and unless you catch a flying saucer landing unlikely to make your fortune.

[eddie]

hello

so you develop your film yourself?
Brave.
Can you tell me, where did you buy the Fomapan filmstock?

Cheers

[wahiba]

In the UK
http://www.simplycine.co.uk
but - a word of warning.
Until the other day I had only processed to negative Kodak super-8. Well when I tried standard-8 formapan the film is developed, but still dark and brown. It obviously needs the full reversal process. So just check I tried out cine-X in regular 8, which is Kodak Pan-X, and it came out fine as a negative. These were 2 feet lengths through the camera and processed in a Minolta 16mm tank designed for short lengths of still film. For movies I have the Lomo Russian tank.

I have just got back into it,after a very long absence. I even had a go at colour once, and that was in the hot summer of 77! the last time I used the kit until recently.

The idea of negative processing is it is easier to process and can now be reversed electronically.

Most of my home processing efforts can be viewed on my site, address below.

[Actor]

Cine-X is Kodak Plus-X.