As long as families have been making home movies, there have been kids hijacking that equipment and teaching themselves to become filmmakers. With inexpensive cameras and desktop editing, digital video is now all the rage, but there are still a few of us who prefer the texture and anachronistic charm of the pre-video home-movie format, Super 8 film. Instead of an hour or two per tape, each 50-foot cartridge of Super 8 film lasts just three minutes, and recording synched sound is no longer feasible because Kodak no longer makes sound film. It's the limitations of the format that make it interesting, and the overcoming of these limitations makes it fun. If you keep your shot length down to the Hollywood average of under 10 seconds, you soon learn that three minutes is quite a bit of time, and you don't need dialogue to explain what's going on in the frame.
There's a couple of events this week that showcase the fun and freedom of Super 8. First up is the Polyester Prince Summer 2003 Film & Music Rambling Road Show. Paolo Davanzo runs the Echo Park Film Center in L.A., and he's the Polyester Prince who's been hitting the road for the last five years with a Super 8 movie show. Supposedly there's going to be an outdoor screening on Friday, August 8, but I don't know where that's taking place so I'll tell you about the one that I do know.
On Saturday, August 9, starting at 7:00 p.m., the Rendezvous is going to play host to the circus-like atmosphere of these ramblers. If it were just a screening of the movies, that would be reason enough to attend, especially since three of the films come from Japan and a couple more come from Europe, mixing in a little foreign scenery with a batch of homegrown films. But making matters more interesting is the fact that the Prince is bringing with him actual musicians who will play live accompaniment to many of these films. And if that wasn't good enough, there will also be sporadic games of bingo to liven up an already lively evening.
If the Polyester Prince only whets your appetite to see small-gauge filmmaking, you can check out how local filmmakers do it at the Little Theatre's Super 8 Open Screening: Iron Chef (Wed Aug 13, 8 pm). This will be a program of shorts devoted to food, with a panel of celebrity judges passing out edible prizes while the audience is plied with food and drink. Because we are lucky to have within our city limits one of the only labs in the country that processes Super 8 film overnight (Forde Labs), you actually have time to make your own damn movie and submit it for this program. If it won't be done until Tuesday, you may want to call Dave at the Northwest Film Forum (329-2629) for an extension. You'll find that making Super 8 movies is almost as fun as watching 'em.
