B&T's Little Film Notebook #6
July 1991
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BAD NEWS: I
END OF 4-X The Eastman Kodak announced the discontinuation of black and wbite motion picture film in botb 16mm and Super 8mm, which seemed to in the face of their recent renewed commitment to Smm filmmakers. Kodak recommends using Tri-X in its place, no awareness of the aesthetic. differences between these stocks. Filmmakers we know like the look of 4-X for its wonderful graininess. minimal scale effect steps and absence of blacks. They use it to intercut with the other stocks. Kodak continues to list this emulsion as current love 4-X. while some stocks remain on the shelf. If we recommend you grab it wherever it, outdated or not, in whatever quantity you can to and moderate store it. B&W is quite stable and if stored temperatures, it will serve you wen for many As and long as B&W processing is available (e.g. for Plus-X which are still popular) we do not foresee a problem 4-X processed as they are all in the same
BAD NEWS: II
IN MEMORIAM:
REGULAR 8MM FILM
BORN 1936,
DIED 1991
We mourn the passing of 8mm film, (a.k.a. Double 8mm or Standard 8mm, Super 8) which apparently died of old age and this year when neither the corporation nor the filmmakers put any energy into reviving it. The British newsletter Amateur ~!lc:...J_I.UO.\i_ (ACE) reported the demise in its May confirming a press release from Kodak UK. We their comments to a taste of the shared in our disappointment felt in the UK household over the loss of this and venerable gauge. "We (ACE) regretfully announce that Kodak has issued a press release which we reprint below as we received it. 'KODAK DISCONTINUES PRODUCTION OF KODACHROME DOUBLE 8MM MOVIE FILM. Kodak has announced its plans to discontinue the production and sale of Kodachrome double 8mm movie film. Low volumes and associated manufacturing costs are the reasons for the ruSCOIltlO.uallon of this product, first announced in 1932.
Kodak will continue to manufacture and market Kodachrome. Kodak Ektachrome, Tri-X and Plus-X 8 movie films. The 8 format, when to larger frame size and is double 8mm, offers a packaged in an easy loading cartridge.' We (~CE) .do find it disappointing to say the least that Kodak m ~elf release do not even any comment as to thelr saollleSS or regret in this latest blow to the film movement." ACE continued ( ... ) "The manufacture of Standard 8 will be discontinued worldwide in the autumn of this year and will continue until the end of 1993. So far as we are aware there is no Standard 8 mm available unless a source can be found in Eastern Europe. We have been on to a number of in the UK to see whether they are willing to on Standard 8 production but so far there has been no positive response." Many thanks to Steve Osborne and Jesse Chambless for alerting us to the ACE article, for no press release can be found to have been issued in the US. Since this news in the last weeks of June, our resident sleuth has spent days trying to confirm it with She discovered that indeed Kodak US will WI)'''V''u''~."" Regular 8mm mm officially in September 1991 although they still it while supplies last The Kodalux processing lab in Palo CA discounted the Kodak, UK statement about an end to processing of RSmm since Kodalux actively prclCe~;ses Kodachrome daily. with R8mm right alongside other gauges.. Amidst the corporate confusion, various folks at Kodak, Rochester express concern, remorse and even frustration the corporate culture. agreeing privately that sometimes accountant-types make decisions that lack InnlY_fl~1"Il1 vision about the alternative cinema culture. planner manufacture of R8 sto'ppe:Q blaming K.O~:-Yllm(~S (France) need space up by their under-utilized double 8mm perforating machine. 8mm is still in the US to Kodak's Rochester depot found 280 rolls of on the shelf there. Happily, a test order was filled in less than a week through Hunt's. a large Boston area photodealer. It seems an official announcement will be held until stocks are almost gone. We prefer to alert now so that fans can get their hands on any stock an eye out for mm, especially the 25 which will be sorely missed. share any news of Meanwhile, let's convince a likely lab or supplier to take over production of Regular 8mm, a search the UK Think about what Smm's from indJlttelren,:;e means for the future of Super 8 and what you Super 8 filmmaking alive. 888888888888888888888888888888888888888
tel: 617-666-3372
B&T's Little FUm Notebook #6
.July 1921
afraid of networking with amateurs if you are an independent film 'artiste' and vice versa. Publish broadsides and post them up around your community. Start a line of clever tee shirts that announces that Super 8 film lives. Don't badmouth Kodak. Don't waste any energy being angry that Kodak doesn't do the promotion that we have to do. Don't repeat any rumors of death or inavailability of stock, just go forward and call Kodak's Helpline (1-800-242-2424) and ask them to help the dealer get the story and supplies straightened ouL Write a book. Write letters. Collect signatures on a manifesto like the Swiss (800 to date) and Gennan (1200) filmmakers. Start a TV show nationally or on local cable TV. Make lots of movies and get them out there. Finally" contrary to my advice ten years ago before Super 8 filmmaking was taken seriously: Do yell loudly that your film was shot in Super 8mm! Bon courage! 'IT July 5, '91
MUD ON MY FACE ????? Editorial by Toni Treadway In May, B&T's Little Film Notebook #6 carried the cheery news of Kodak's renewed commitment to Super 8 film. While Kodak continues to publicly state their support of Super 8, these two pieces of bad news make the Kodak situation as clear as mud.
I believe
FOR SUPER 8 FILM
TO LIVE
THE FILMMAKERS
AND NOT KODAK
MUST SEE TO
ITS FUTURE.
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Here are some actions you can take to increase the use of stocks to keep Kodak interested in continuing Super 8 film. Talk a lot about how Super 8 film lives. Tell everyone that film will last 50 years or more, but videotape's longevity is in question. Teach a Super 8 class and get new filmmakers excited. Show works in Super 8. Rent films by prominent filmmakers in the avant-garde, in cinema history or showcase local filmmakers. Promote .tbe_..s.creenings highly, projecL1he Super 8 at-its-besl,-- bring in local filmmakers to discuss the work. Get the local media to interview you about your filmmaking, your screening activity. Get local freelancers or the movie critic to do a story in the newspaper. Make an event that is so splashy that they will have to cover it. Write an article yourself about Super 8 filmmaking, about setting up a screening room, about starting a cine club, about the importance of diversity in the making and showing of the media that America sees. Talk about censorship, freedom of speech, artistic expression and access to high quality, low cost tools in film and video and how they are all related and what Super 8 has to do with these issues. Start a local festival for the media arts and feature Super 8 films prominently. Lobby schools, universities, libraries, youth programs, community colleges and other institutions near you to continue or begin to offer production classes in Super 8 filmmaking. Talk up Super 8 to the most receptive photo dealer in your area. Ask other filmmakers to pledge to concentrate their buying of stock in that store, if that store will pledge to stock the supplies you need at good prices and follow up on special orders. Lobby your local and state arts agencies to find ways to prominently encourage Super 8 filmmakers, explaining what we are about. Buy, rent and show other Super 8 filmmakers films. Ask for their titles at your local video rental stores. Create demand. Let the world know what you are doing, have done and hope to do in Super 8. Talk it up. Be enthusiastic, cheerful,zesty, sexy, infonned and hard to suppress. Buy Super 8 gear at fleamarkets and hand it out to friends. Teach them to shoot. Don't be 2
FILMSTOCK & LAB NEWS SUPER 8 FILM HARD TO FIND? Complain to the Kodak Helpline, tel:800-242-2424, giving them specifics about location and dealers with problems. Jesse Chambless discounts stock in quantity, tel: 404-767 5210. Good prices at Unique Photo, tel: 800-631-0300 or Film Lab! _tel:~15-435-!~'p3. Black and white Su~~_ _ film is available direct from Kodak, tel: 800-634-6101. KODALUX Processing Lab has the best Kodachrome processing and S8's premiere customer serviceperson: Dixie Matthews, tel: 415-494-7555, CA. Filmmaker Jennifer Montgomery reports excellent printing work from Manfred Jelinski in Berlin who is making optical prints S8 to S8 and S8 to 16mm. She says his prints are beautiful, impeccably clean, reasonably priced and his recent turnaround time very fast. Her short film was optically printed and its sound transferred from original to print by Jelinski in two weeks, including the transatlantic shipping time (which is faster than most· speciality lab work here!) Manfred J~linski's good work has long been known to European filmmakers. Contact Jelinski at: Film & Videoproduktionen, BametstraBe 17, D-l000 Berlin 49, Gennany. Tel: 49.30.745.46.71.
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Books, Help, Gigs & excitement!!! Flic~er Film Group has begun meeting monthly at a c.lub m Athens, Georgia. They show films by local filmmakers, most of which are made in Super 8. 200 people came to the first screening; 360 the next month. Crowds were turned away. Wow. Bravo Michael
tel: 617-666-3372
B&T's Little Film Notebook #6
.July 1991
wrote, produced, directed and animated a horrible visitor in an "Attack from Outer Space." In Massachusetts, Michael Legge has premiered two films in less than two years: "Loons" his chronicle of a family under a witch's spell and his deadpan comedy "Working Stiffs." For video completion, Paul Livingston of Toronto came in with more spys. Found lying in our state (MA), "The Can" is a garbage comedy shot in Regular 8mm by David Schendel to premiere in August, video projected at the Coolidge Comer Movie Theater.. Ask for these soon-to-be underground classics in your video rental stores and you will help these filmmakers increase their distribution. We hope someone will want to review these mms in this space for they each have a lot of work in them, but the bad news filled the newsletter this time. Notice how Super 8 filmmakers redefine the "auteur" concept: they're not only producer/director but often writer, editor, and sometimes even camera. sound and star.
Lachowski, Linda Mei Wang, Jim McKay, Kinko's and other enthusiasts as yet unknown to us. MAIN (Media Arts Information Network) is a service of NAMAC, the National Alliance of Media Arts Centers. Use the MAIN Travel Sheet to network news of your new film to programmers. Their NEW ADDRESS: 1212 Broadway suite 816, Oakland, CA 94612, tel: 415- (area 510 in October) 451-2717. THE 13th INTERNATIONAL SUPER 8 FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL will be held November 12-17, 1991 in Brussels. Deadline October 15. Contact Centre Multi-Media, 12 rue P-E. Janson, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium. We are looking for a filmmaker (preferably francophone) to go and carry work. EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL will be held in Osnabruck September 4-8, 1991. This festival welcomes experimental film, video and installation work . Postfach 1861, Hasestrase 71,D-4500 Osnabrock. Tel: 0541-21658, Fax: 0541-28327.
Huey completed his film about two lively old time musicians and is having a great time with audiences around Maine. He also served as artist-in-residence on a collaborative project with kids resulting in the video "Spirits and Ghosts" showcased in Boston and NYC.
Amateur filmmakers are invited to participate in two upcoming international festivals in ENGLAND where they speak a language similar to American English. THE TEN BEST deadline is late September. Details.c/o ACE, Porthallow End, Talland, Looe, Cornwall, PL13 2JB. Next March the lAC holds its awards in London. Deadline mid-January. Info: P.O. Box 618, Ealing, London W5 ISX.
Barbara Rosenthal pulled off a remarkable third year of her three night special event in April at Anthology in NYC. "Old and New Masters of Super 8" showed about 10 different works each night with four filmmakers 颅 present for discusSion with a keen fUm audience. Lucy Kostelanetz completed a labor of love, an hour long documentary of her elderly father's and an aunt's reminiscences which span nearly a century of family traces through countries, history and wonderful photographs.
AFI and FIVF announce publication of a book by Debra Franco: "Alternative Visions: Distributing Independent Media in a Home Video World" It's filled with useful information and case studies. $15.45 ppd, AIVF, 625 Broadway, 9th fl, NYC 10012.
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We network filmmakers who want to sell equipment to those who need stuff. Call us. People looking for Elmo GS-1200 projectors, always. They are in constant demand by exhibition centers finally waking up to the good work they want to be able to show. Call us with any leads to projectors in good condition.
The International Center for 8mm Film & Video is recognized as a National Service in the Media Arts with support from the Media Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts and general assistance from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, our state arts agency. This newsletter is grant assisted with matching help from yOll . Please consider making a donation by check to "IC8FY" to help continue our advocacy for Super 8 fUmmakers. Special thanks to these people who sent donations and kind words: Ben Boyajian, GM Holland, Charles Jevremovic, Carri Kawahara, Wiley Sauls, Lucy Kostelanetz, AI Nigrin, Jem Cohen, Russell Fernandez, Milly Iatrou, Jim Auer, Stephen Shafer, Wendy Smith, Carol Kalil, Pia Cseri, Peter Sims, Jim McKay, Norman Bloom, Chris Bell, Jac White, Rea Tajiri and CL Monrose. Your support helps us do what we do. Thanks!
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CONGRATULATIONS! Some talented, tenacious filmmakers have succeeded in finishing their S8 feature films. These narrative films (60 to 120 minutes each) were transferred as finished films or from selected footage in our studio. with the goal of 路video distribution. Several dedicated fIlmmakers prefer fUm projection and so finished on Super 8 to show the work as film to live audiences: Mick Alderman of Astoria, Oregon wrote produced and directed his twisting tale of love and espionage "The Mind of the Circle." Alan Simmons of Corinth, Mississippi
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tel: 617-666-3372
B&T's Little FUm Notebook #6
.July 1991
the good news We are moving. Please note our new address ......... (effective December 1991)
Brodsky & Treadway
and
The Int'l Center for 8mm Film
P.O. Box 335
69 Warehouse Lane
Rowley, MA 01969-0735
Many ftlmmakers send us original films and urgent correspondence, so we request your assistance in updating your mailing list and in publicizing the new address to as many film and video makers as possible. We are moving 30 miles north of Boston, (approximately one hour by commuter rail or car) for more space, lower overhead, more sanity, beauty, greater proximity to green things, the rivers and the great coastal marsh, and to be able to serve you better. Please spread the word. and now more than ever, don't ship a film to us without calling fIrst. We will publish a new phone number (in the 508 area) in the next issue. Thanks. Bob and Toni
Please spread the word, shoot lots of Kodachrome, and credit us if you reproduce anything in this newsletter. Thank you. Š1991 Brodsky & Treadway
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B&T's Little Film Notebook #6 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Int'l. Center for 8mm Film & Video, Inc. Bob Brodsky & Toni Treadway, publishers 10-R Oxford Street Somerville, MA 02143-1608 U.S.A. PLEASE send us a postcard ir you move. Note our new address as of December '91.
Address correction requested.
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Boston, MA Pennit # 51750