From: Bernard Roddy (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Aug 30 2008 - 11:22:08 PDT
Greetings all. Reading this thread hits home. Where to go if you want to carry on a particular kind of tradition but without the burden of virtually extinct equipment. I now have available piles of 16 mm filmmaking equipment - Bolex, Eclair, Arriflex - including a Moviola and a Steenbeck long out of service. I hadn't heard yet that optical sound tracks are on the way out, or equivalently, rising in cost. What a fate. But where to go now. One move, it seems, is craft-oriented (hand-processing and whatnot), oiling up old projectors. Another is to say film is for capture only. But even here, looking at the results of student work, I have to ask, what was the point of shooting that on film, again? It's not even projected on film, it's lost much of what made film so powerful. One student, vehemently defending his use of film cameras, shows his film projected in video and stored on his ipod. I'm losing it. Feels like a religion given lip service.
On the other hand, I don't want to throw in the towel and bone up on Aftereffects.
So now practically speaking, if 16 is just a shooting mode (even there I am beginning to wonder), what do you recommend as a method of transfer that retains as much as possible? Let's say you shoot color negative and never see a print. Last time I was on the phone with Technicolor in Toronto I was told my transfer went to some maximal quality video (BetaCam or some such) and then lost a lot going to my mini-dv tape. For better or for worse, I expect to be trying to mimic 16 mm projection rather than retain the practices of former film art production.
Bernie
University of Oklahoma
--- On Sat, 8/30/08, 40 Frames <email suppressed> wrote:
> From: 40 Frames <email suppressed>
> Subject: Re: Looking for 16mm sound mix studio
> To: email suppressed
> Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 1:36 PM
> On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:13 PM, Bill Seery
> <email suppressed> wrote:
>
> > Freya and Alain bring up good points about the status
> of 16mm. I don't
> > think audio editorial/mix is a problem (though finding
> people who understand
> > the process is. How many times do I have to explain
> what a 2-pop is and why
> > it is an important thing to have? ), but what about
> negative cutters,
> > optical transfer houses, labs, etc. Since I still do a
> lot of work for 16mm
> > it is something I am continually aware of. Another
> academic year is
> > beginning, so that is when I begin getting calls
> asking where university
> > programs can send their students for services and
> whether its worth
> > sustaining a film program. It's getting harder to
> answer those questions.
> >
> > Might be a good thing to network about. How's your
> site coming along,
> > Alain? I called a while back to discuss these issues
> but didn't hear back
> > from you.
> >
> >
>
>
> Hey Bill, sorry about not getting back to you. I never
> actually received
> your phone message, though my machine does that from time
> to time. It is after all digital. : )
>
> The content side of 16mmdirectory.org is complete, or least
> enough to post.
> It's the framework that is taken a lot of time to
> create. It's a custom
> framework as opposed to some modular or template solution.
> There's likely
> software that I could have used, like the types used by
> many web forums, but
> I've never liked the look of these, so I decided to go
> with something more
> unique.
>
> I get questions from folks all the time about sources for
> splice tape and
> leader and where to make optical tracks or by mag stock
> (for example, many
> people don't know that mag is still made in the US by
> American Film & Tape,
> and the stuff that Kodak sells is actually made in France
> by Pyral). The
> Directory will meet a demand, and given some actual funding
> for the project
> it would likely be up sooner, but there is no funding so
> it's worked on when
> time permits, which is less and less these days.
>
>
> Alain
>
> P.S. I'll give you a call Bill.
>
>
> --
> 40 FRAMES
> Alain LeTourneau
> Pamela Minty
> 425 SE 3rd #400
> Portland, OR 97214
> United States
>
> +1 503 231 6548
> info(at)40frames(dot)org
> http://www.40frames.org
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> <email suppressed>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.