Today I met someone with an old school Super 8 film camera. I love anything old school, and while this particular piece of equipment had certainly been around for some time (probably since the seventies, she and I agreed), and despite the fact she was taking it in to be repaired, it was in great condition. It had a problem with the motor, or the gears, which refused (I also love anthropomorphizing gizmos) to turn with the film cartridge in place. I'm sure she'll have it back in working order next week, which brings me to my point, assuming I have one: she can make a movie with a thirty year old camera.
I'm a big fan of efficiency at large, in general, and all around, and therefore I do appreciate the abilities digital filmmaking affords any and all of us out here with a dream and a vision, but I also believe there's something to be said for the old school methods. These days you can conceive, plan, shoot, edit, and distribute any dumb old movie you feel like in less than a day. One day! You could do it in half an hour if you really felt like it. But in the seventies, personal filmmaking was a passion. You really had to have something in you, that needed to get out, to go through the trouble of creating it. Now it's no trouble; back then, you needed love.
I'm not saying no filmmakers today have no love for what they do; obviously that's not true. However, the percentage is considerably lower. If you look at every "film" or "movie" under 10 minutes that was made in the past week...how much is made with love, and how much is total crap? People will shoot anything and consider it cinematic genius. And I'm not talking about home movies; that's just garbage, or simply personal, and it's really not a film. I'm talking (attempted) narrative structure here. When it was film or nothing, even though it was a simple-to-use small handheld camera, you needed the love to make the film, to put it all together. And now you don't. And now we have loads of super-crap.
With my mutual interest in things both old school and digi-new, it simply fascinates me to meet a film student with a Super 8 camera. Not only that, she wants to have it fixed, so it will work. So she can use it. So she can create her vision for the world to see. Now that's passion. That's my kind of filmmaker. The modern throwback. It's good to see someone like that still hanging around this city; I hope there are more of her.
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2 comments:
what city are you in that this is your first encounter with a film student using a super 8?
ah, chicago. where, no doubt, at any thrift store you can pick up your own super 8. go out to the slavation army in the suburbs and you'll find one real cheap. easy to use, lots of fun, looks great, and, alas, expensive to process film. true about putting it together though. i used to use special glue and a splicer about the size of a finger nail clipper to edit my film. i'm just surprised that in your city, having such a diy aesthetic, you haven't had more exposure to the super 8. enjoy!
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