So far, the most interesting thing about my project has not been the movies (or lack thereof–I’ve prob logged only a minute of time and 3 minutes of fake time when I thought I was filming, but wasn’t.) I’ve taken, but the people I have come into contact along the way.
Today, I contacted a guy who had previously sold me super 8 film to see if there was any chance that he had multiple reels I could buy from him (coincidentally enough, this person lives in SF. What are the odds.). I told him briefly about my project., and we ended up talking on the phone for a while about super 8, kodachrome, filming, etc. He told me about some other people he has met who filmed in kodachrome, and that he thinks there are other kodachrome processing labs (can this be possible)? He also mentioned that some guy developed the film in his garage…something I had been wondering was even possible for some time. Interesting…I remain iffy on the subject, but if I could meet and learn from someone who actually did it…I’d totally try it.
It has also become clear to me, as I shell out more and more money for film (processing not included), that I need to really consider a way to digitally transfer my film on my own. Again, I know very little on how to do this, but have read several “do-it-yourself” guides illustrating a digital video camera strapped to a tripod filming the 8mm on a film projector in a dark room. This method requires the purchase of a digital video camera (good-bye another grand). Alternately, there is something called a telecine machine (again, my knowledge right now is very small on the subject) that can do the transfer. A machine like this can also run several grand. I have also seen home made telecines, which I’m not sure I’m smart enough to build on my own. Then again, desperation, and lack of funds might be enough of a motivation for me to attempt something so macgyver-like. And finally, I’ve read about what sounds like an excrutiating process of scanning the film frame by frame and speeding it up or animating it through the computer. If I ever get to that point, someone please remind me that the $12 (or whatever) cost to transfer the film is worth the sanity and time it would take to scan frame by frame.
For now, before I become too overwhelmed with logistics, I need to focus on acquiring the film needed to get my project moving along. I’ll worry about the rest later.Back to my initial point of this post — I keep meeting people along the way — through ‘the process’ that have either offered me useful information, or have been interesting and inspirational. So far, it’s kind of like I’m in some weird choose-your-own adventure where one thing leads to the next, one person leads to the next. The person I talked with today mentioned applying for a grant. Never thought about it, but I’m going to research it. Who knows, maybe in doing so, I will be lead somewhere else.
And all of this because I couldn’t bear to throw away my dad’s old super-8.
