8mm Forum: Stop Motion Super 8 Monsters

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Topic: Stop Motion Super 8 Monsters

Terry Lagler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 525
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008

posted September 28, 2009 09:14 PM

I'm sure many of us were introduced to the wonders of super 8 through our parents shooting home movies - I certainly was - and how many aspiring "Ray Harryausen's" took dads camera to shoot their monster epics - I certainly did!
Whenever I saved enough money to buy a roll of kodachrome 40 my pile of plastacine, cut up fake fur and model railroad would be utilized for my "monster movies"
The typical plot would be - Monster arrives - monster wreaks havoc - monster destroyed - the end.

So, from my archives (around 1982)
1. Forbidden World
Carboard spaceship lands on planet, destroys monster, goes home!
The color hasn't actually faded I just cheaped out and bought the K-mart brand film for some reason.

2. Beast From The Beginning Of Time / It Came From Outer Space Double Feature
Ok, not to original on the plots!

Man did I shoot alot of these - I can't beleive it's coming close to 30 years ago!!

Cheers
Terry

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John Clancy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1954
From: Cornwall
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 29, 2009 02:47 AM

Very good Mr. Laglerhausen!

Recommended viewing for all home movie buffs.

--------------------
British Film Collectors Convention home page www.bfcc.biz. The site is for the whole of the film collecting hobby and not just the BFCC.

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted September 29, 2009 03:12 AM

Excellent stuff, sir.
[Big Grin]

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David Kilderry
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 963
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Feb 2006

posted September 29, 2009 03:32 AM

Terry, I notice that your adress is wrong, too far north, it should say Hollywood!

Excellent films.

My first serious ones in the late 70's early 80's were a school project on the media and a skateboard film. There was of course plenty of stuff of us on our bikes, at the park, in the street etc.

How my dad let me out at 15 with a brand new Sankyo 320XL sound camera is beyond me!

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Maurizio Di Cintio
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 977
From: Ortona, Italy
Registered: Jan 2004

posted September 29, 2009 04:12 AM

Hi.
I loved animated cartoons: I recall I loved drawing on thick note paper blocks to make flip books. My favourite topics were re-doings short sequences of sci-fi cinema classics like Star Wars. Eventually I ended up with quite a bunch of these and implemented the "story" with elements and charcaters from an animated TV show entitled "Star Blazers" (it must have been quite popular in the USA at some point, since it came to Italy through the American distributor: the original Japanese title was "Space Cruise Yamato" and needless to say today I own all the episodes of the first and second seasons).
At some point I unbound the flip books, made a registration system using some Lego bricks and filmed the stuff in stop-motion. (that was not full animation as each drawing was shot for three or four consecutive frames... Typical Japanes effect when projected at 24 fps)

The result was a 120 m long 'featurette' with sound: imagine creating all the effects with a mike, a food blender and a variable speed compact cassette tape deck (that was needed for the space craft engines). Imagine begging friends to lend their voices to the characters. And fixing everything on sound stripe directly through a Eumig 804, using one track at a time and (sometimes) sound-on-sound! [Mad]

Man, I can't think of all the difficulties I met (and overcame [Big Grin]

). Having at my disposal just the following equipment in addition to the above mentioned: a stereo cassette deck, a graphic equilizer, some leads to connect everything... That was a 'heroic' age - just think despite all the gear I have now and the (almost) endless possibilities, I'd never again embark in such a task!

--------------------
Maurizio

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Jean-Marc Toussaint
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: France
Registered: Oct 2004

posted September 29, 2009 04:20 AM

Very cool, Terry. [Smile]

--------------------
The Grindcave Cinema Website

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted September 29, 2009 04:37 PM

Terry, those films are very good thanks for sharing them.

Graham. [Smile]

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted September 29, 2009 06:23 PM

Terry,
Very nice work and quite ambitious too (moves, night scenes....)
Takes me right back to age 15 when I was attempting to do the same thing. Now I have to dig out the old reels too.. [Big Grin]

Fun stuff.

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Joe Taffis
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1592
From: United States
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 01, 2009 04:47 PM

Terry, I really enjoyed your films. I know how much time and effort goes into producing one of these.

--------------------
Joe Taffis

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Terry Lagler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 525
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008

posted October 01, 2009 09:14 PM

Thanks for the kind words guys - those movies are fun memories from my youth.

Mr Laglerhausen - Ok that put a smile on my face.

Great story Maurizio. We did things the "hard" way, because there just was no other way!

Ok Claus now I'm eagerly waiting to see your films! It's great that you still have them. I have a couple of friends my age who also made their own films but sadley lost them along the way.

Cheers
Terry

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John Skujins
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 220
From: Greensboro, NC, USA
Registered: Mar 2009

posted October 01, 2009 10:34 PM

Those are great! I like the elaborate backgrounds & sets and the train crash. The monster models were impressive too, with a whole lotta movement! I can appreciate that. This gives me the idea to put my own early 80's animation on you tube. I did stuff with action figures, toy cars, clay, etc.

Great job!

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Alan L. Hitchcox
Film Handler

Posts: 47
From: Willoughby, OH, USA
Registered: Apr 2006

posted October 03, 2009 07:25 PM

Thanks for posting these, Terry. I really enjoyed them. I can't get over how similar some of the scenes are to a couple movies I had made. I had an almost identical monster-plane-crash sequence in mine.
Later, I spent an entire weekend making a bank robbery movie with clay guys. I was horrified to discover most of the film was black when it came black from the processor. Turns out you had to set the aperture manually for single-frame shooting. Must've bumped the setting, because almost none of the footage came out -- only the live sequences. Oh well, live and learn.
Anyway, you've given me added incentive to post a couple of my films. A good project for this winter.
Thanks again for sharing.
-Alan

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Alan Hitchcox
Willoughby, Ohio USA

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