8mm Forum: The Mysterious Beauty of Super 8

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 09, 2012, 08:43 PM:

Digital is sharper, sound is usually better too. But an excellent super 8 print has some indefinable beauty which I think is unique. I was projecting That's Entertainment 3 tonight and a lot of it was just breathtakingly beautiful. Yes, I have the DVD, but IMO it does'nt come close to the beauty of the S8 print, even though it is sharper. Can't put my finger on it, but whatever it is it's the thing that keeps me a 'reel' film collector.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on July 10, 2012, 07:07 AM:

Paul, there's no real mystery.

The digital image is artificial. It can NEVER look the same as a real image, no matter how sharp or "Highly Defined" it may be.

The image produced from projected film has (for want of a better phrase) an organic quality to it that the fake digital picture will never have.

Posted by Gerry Groeber (Member # 3132) on July 10, 2012, 08:33 AM:

I have been shooting black and white 35mm again with a 1960 Rollei 35s. No comparison to digital. It’s real, alive. Hard to explain….
http://vintage8mm.blogspot.com/p/35mm.html
Gerry

Posted by Desmond Godwin (Member # 2530) on July 10, 2012, 03:31 PM:

Its not hard to explain Gerry.. Film has a better latitude than Digital so its going to give you more details in the Shadows and Highlights. Film has more of a higher resolution than digital.I love the 'bite' and fluid motion of 35mm film on the 'Big' screen. Digital does nothing for me. Since most of my local Cineplexes have all now been converted to digital projection my Cinema going visits are over!

[Roll Eyes]

Desmond..

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 10, 2012, 04:16 PM:

That Desmond is the saddest thing I've heard in a long time,that
someone who truly loves the cinema experience has been
denied it through corporate greed.I admire that stance,that's
two of us amigo against them and I don't fancy their chances!!
Luckily we can still indulge in the "slippery stuff" that the powers
that be think should be junked.That is until they want something
they haven't got and who do they make for?

Posted by Roger Shunk (Member # 2836) on July 10, 2012, 07:10 PM:

I have to agree with Michael on this one that the digital is artificial. The same goes for vinyl records which capture the purest quality of recorded music in true form because vinyl just sounds better than digital and is like a fingerprinted reproduction of the music. I would think the same principal applies for film?

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on July 10, 2012, 07:28 PM:

I haven't gone to a cinema in about 20 years. I stopped because what was being produced didn't interest me. Then ticket prices started getting ridiculous. One of the last times I went, two young women sitting in the row in front of me would not stop talking. Finally I had had enough and told them loudly so that others would hear me that I came to watch and HEAR the film, not them. Of course its worse now with cell phones and the general lack of consideration for others in the theater. For me, Digital projection is the final nail in the coffin. With the outrageous ticket prices nowadays, no way am I going to pay to see a Digital projection instead of 35mm!

Posted by Desmond Godwin (Member # 2530) on July 12, 2012, 07:25 PM:

quote:
that's
two of us amigo against them and I don't fancy their chances!!
Luckily we can still indulge in the "slippery stuff"

Hugh..Theres always strength in Numbers.Tkns for the uplifting post.Yes its great to be able to indulge in my 8\16mm film collection. Nothing better to cure these digital cinema blues then to lace up my EiKi 4000p machine, run a few reels and just enjoy the fact for me anyway, that no one is going to change this or make it obsolete. Im into film for the long haul..

[Smile]

Desmond

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 12, 2012, 07:56 PM:

I don't think it is overly optimistic to say that digital cinema and digital TV will soon become passe, so that the actual viewing of movies via super 8 or 16mm film will become an unusual and perhaps unique experience for many people. All the more reason to hang onto your films and equipment as demand for these kind of special shows of authentic vintage film equipment is likely to increase as 35mm cinema bites the dust.

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on July 12, 2012, 11:40 PM:

Paul I have a transcript of a lecture entitled "the Film Look", where the beauty of film is actually broken down into the scientific facts of its differences...This studio move is a business decision not an aesthetic or quality one, just like with music. An entire generation is growing up completely happy listening to music with all of the aural dynamics compressed right out of it, simply because that is what is forced on them.

Posted by Akshay Nanjangud (Member # 2828) on July 13, 2012, 03:39 AM:

Dino, can you please e-mail me that transcript you mentioned?

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