It's here!  The amazing

new Pro8/47 500T

From night sky fireworks to sun reflecting on the open ocean, we absolutely LOVE the versatility of this amazing new Fuji filmstock.  Available in Super8 exclusively from Pro8mm, Fuji states "ETERNA Vivid 500 expands the expressive range of high-speed film, producing sharp, color-intensive images under various challenging shooting conditions, including night scenes. New ETERNA Vivid 500 inherits its saturated color, high contrast and superior sharpness from the acclaimed ETERNA Vivid 160. Offering excellent matching with Vivid 160, this E.I. 500 color negative film expands the parameters for shooting sharp, intense color into the realm of night scenes, producing distinctive images under a range of shooting conditions.Exceptional image quality is maintained even during telecine transfer for TV work or digital processing of motion picture footage.Exhibiting superior high-speed performance, ETERNA Vivid 500 ushers in a new era in cinematic expression."

 

8 stops of latitude, extremely versatile in daylight or night sky, use outdoors or indoors.

Add an 85 and neutraul density filter  to your camera for best outdoor results.  Seeing is believing....

 

 Pro8mm catches up with long time client Shannon Plumb who has just opened a new exhibit at New York City's  National Academy Museum.  Her super 8 film , Paper Collection, is about the runway show and fashion world,  It will play July 8- November 15..   Paper Collection is part of an installation called  "Next: The Figure Now", which explores how the figure has reemerged over the last ten years as an important subject for a new generation of American artists.  Shannon is featured with other emerging contemporary artists.

 

In her own words:    "Before I made movies I dressed up vegetables and took black and white pictures. I wrote poetry and took more pictures. One day my friend bought me a super 8 camera and I started filming.  There was only me and some olives and some paper.  I made a crown out of the paper. I made myself into a king and I ate the olives. I pressed a button and filmed the performance. I knew little about film but loved being in the movies. When I got that first film back it was magic. I was hooked.
   
The low film aesthetic in my films started out of necessity.   Out door light bulbs, blank white walls and a cartridge with two and a half minutes to perform whatever I had to say.  I could afford three takes.... and that's how it started. 

Ever since I haven't tried to polish up the films. I am only now learning to edit.  My husband Derek Cianfrance has edited most of the later films. The earlier films were not edited.  I would just pick the best take.  I think my best  films are my two and a half minute  silent comedies.   I  am the only performer. Sometimes I play a few different characters at once. Michael Benni Pierce and Ami Armstrong do the special effects in Paper Collection.   I play eight different characters all at once, all in the same space.

 

We have been testing the boundaries of super 8 and the digital world, wondering how much we can mess with the grain. Special effects can make super 8 look softer than it is.  It gets tricky. I'm always asking, "does it look blurry to you?" 
 
I've shot many projects using  Pro8mm. The Park (2009), The Corner (2008), Together (2008), Paper Collection (2007), and a large part of The Olympics (2005) I have tried a variety of film stocks, but lately  use a lot of 500T."
 
Shannon has an annual screening at Anthology Film Archives in New York City. It is her favorite night of the year. Her  films also show at Sara Meltzer Gallery in Chelsea and right now an old series of films, Commercials, is being exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum.