Pro8mm
Forward this issue
 
small book cover finalThe Power of Super 8 Film,
on sale NOW! $10.95 until March 15th.
(reg, retail $14.95)

ORDER HERE!

"Many emerging filmmakers spend a fortune on equipment, expensive university film programs, private filmmaking boot camps, or over priced postproduction, that often renders mediocre quality, and they still feel as if something is missing. They look at their progress as marginal compared to their financial investment, time commitment and ability to work the craft. That is the purpose of this book. You will get the inside skinny of my expertise from running a company that has worked with industry insiders for 30 years.   The Power of Super 8 Film will show you why I invented products that changed the way filmmakers and the entertainment industry have used Super 8 film, emerging from a format used to shoot home movies in the 1950's-1970's to a professional production medium. Pro8mm workflows have been used in hundreds of commercials for your favorite brands, dozens of 35mm theatrical releases, and your favorite music videos and television shows. The Power of Super 8 Film will guide you through the steps you should take to immediately give you the experience of shooting film on film, the way all the greats did.  I'm going to tell you how to get a huge bang for your filmmaking buck by using an inexpensive  Super 8 camera, a 50 foot cartridge of film, chemistry and the very best in digital scanning." - Phil Vigeant


"Phil Vigeant is one of the industry's foremost experts on Super 8, and his new book The Power of Super 8 Film is a must-read for anyone seeking to explore its creative possibilities"
-Stephen Pizzello, Executive Editor, American Cinematographer Magazine

Check out our new website
www.thepowerofsuper8film.com which has  a calendar of events,and the workshops and seminars (coming soon) designed to GIVE YOU THE POWER!

SXSW
COME TO OUR BOOK SIGNING
AND PANEL AT SXSW, AUSTIN, TEXAS

Saturday, March 13th , 3:30-5:00
Panel features Pro8mm President/Author
Phil Vigeant, Ashley Maynor, (For Memory Sake/Film Prof. @Virginia Tech) Bryan Lower (A Bryan Photo) and Adam Gardner (Trigger Studios)


george mazinillaCheck Out George's latest shoot for Billabong

I'm George Manzanilla, a freelance cinematographer and editor. I shoot 
and edit surf and skate films, fashion, documentaries, music videos and run my company, Rundfunk Media.

I would say super 8 has had a significant impact on the direction of 
my life. It's the first film format I was ever exposed to. I remember being 6 and coming home from a family vacation in Hawaii, my dad 
breaking out his Bolex projector and watching our vacation over and 
over at home. Although I admit thinking it was kind of boring at the time, I would still want to go into his closet and look for my dad's  cameras, the Canon 514xl  and Nikon super zoom 8.  I may have been drawn to  the way the cameras looked, almost like guns. Flash forward to my high  school years, surfing, watching surf films at every possible moment, I  came across Runman 69 surf videos for the first time. It was then that  I made a renewed connection with the format. The fusion of the music and the look of the picture was just so cool. It had an incredible attitude. It was raw, it was unedited, it didn't look like or was cut  like anything else I'd seen. I saw some other surf films like Volcom's  Magnaplasm and Stoney Baloney which just made me like that raw  unedited feel even more. I knew then, that I wanted to shoot pictures  with that attitude, with that look. After using my dads equipment, I decided I needed my own, so in 1999, I joined a new online community  that seemed to have a ton of old camera stuff for sale, eBay.

The first super8 camera I bought didn't even work. I knew it didn't  work, I just thought it looked cool. In college, I finally got a hold  of one that worked and started shooting my friends' surf sessions and  film school projects. Tri-X, Plus-X and an ektachrome 160 stock were  pretty much the only ones available, but it was good enough. I shot lots of super 8 in college. Being broke and using my credit card and  student "discretionary" card, to charge the processing fee probably wasn't the best idea. Anyway, after college I didn't touch the format again for a while, since I was working more in post and mostly dealing  with and shooting video.

Even though I wasn't using the format, I still obsessed over the  cameras, maybe I've always been in love with cameras or something.  Ever since I was young I just loved their mechanics. The viewfinders  always reminded me of periscopes. The re-creation of an image was almost magical.  It was a perfect machine, clockwork. Whether it was on video or film, watching something that happened from a different perspective just seemed so surreal, super 8 even more so. I never owned a Beaulieu 4008 growing up, even though that was the camera I always wanted to get. After plenty of years going by, I started searching for one a bit more. I got one in 2008, and within 2 months of showing people the possibilities, had a client approach me about shooting some.

I think super 8 is an incredible medium. It represents a very happy and youthful emotion, possibly because our home movies were usually about good times. It also still gives me that rebellious feel. The format itself carries emotion just as much as the subject matter. In the era of increasing megapixels and functions, options, etc., there's something incredibly liberating about working with a format that is the complete opposite, both aesthetically and in workflow. There are so many film options now and the footage that comes from a super 8 negative has never looked better.

I think what makes my work with super 8 different from other formats has a lot to do with the aesthetic of it. It's much more intimate, involved and voyeuristic. Rebellious, fun, independent and free, the instant you see it. Keeping good exposure and sharp focus in mind is of course key in most situations, however letting go and "shooting from the hip" is also just as important for interesting super 8 images. I really love that it's a fun format, and the images created with super8 reflect that.

george manzanilla
vimeo.com/rundfunk


 


Watch Two Is Better Than Oneboys like girls
Another Pro8mm and the Red Camera Project with killer results!  Check out this new music video from the band Boys Like Girls...Two Really is Better Than One!
  Shot with Pro8/07 and Pro8/43 on a MAX 8 1014..
We love how the performance footage is  shot on The Red and the story footage is shot in Super 8.  Directed by Meiert Avis (Jennifer Lopez, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen Music Videos and Anthologies) , it was ranked #14 on VH-1's Top 20 last week.  Lets help them get to #1! VOTE FOR THIS VIDEO ON VH-1.
 
sale signWe had an overwhelming response to our 3-day  On Line Only January blowout sale! The 6 roll packages at a 50% discount were flying out of here!  Make sure you check out our email blasts, since we may decide on a whim to have another one! Forward this  to your Super 8 friends and clients and make sure they sign up on our email list so they don't miss out next time around!

Pro8mm
2805 West Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA  91505
818-848-5522
www.pro8mm.com