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We're shooting on
Kodachrome K40 - I chose this stock rather than other Super 8 ones
because of it's low price and very fine grain. The drawback is the low
exposure lattitude, but if the lighting is good I believe the positive
points of the stock will more than make up for the difficulties with
the low exposure lattitude and low ASA. I think given the small frame
size it would be dangerous to shoot with any faster film because of the
increased grain size, and others have advised me of this too, and as a
positive or reversal stock, if I ever decide to blow it up to 16mm or
35mm I can go straight to a negative from here, and save extra
generational losses that I would have if I was shooting on negative
Super 8. I got quite a good deal on this stock too from Kodak in
Australia as I was buying it in bulk - 150 rolls at $15 each - and then
a further 50 rolls at virtually the same price, even though a new tax
had come in in Australia.
This is a Beaulieu 4008 ZM II Super 8 Camera. As it turned out we had alot of trouble obtaining this camera, and the story behind it
makes for quite a read. This camera is considered one of the best Super
8 cameras ever made, which is why I bought it, along with the fact that
there is a licensed Beaulieu service agent in Australia, who we have
used.
The camera features a f/1.8 6-66mm lens, auto/manual zoom, macro
focusing, TTL reflex viewing, fine grain focusing, interchangeable C
mount lenses, 2-70 fps and single frame ability, a variable mirror
shutter, manual fades, PC/flash contact, and 60 Hz sync input (the
camera does not record sound)
We got it fitted with an external crystal synch unit, governing the
motor at exactly 25 fps, and an extremely long life external battery
pack, as the original battery that comes with this model only lasts for
a few rolls before they need recharging. I did get the original battery
recelled, however I didn't realise that the external pack we had fitted
required a new socket mount which meant we couldn't use the recelled
battery - but I'll sell that or use it for another camera - and the
battery pack we now have can also be used on a Beaulieu R-16 16mm
camera, which hopefully might come in handy one day. After the camera
arrived in Australia from Germany, it went to Melbourne for a service
by Milan Smetak at Beaulieu Cinema Services, Australia - then to The
Film Group in Connecticut, USA for the fitting of the crystal synch
unit, then from there back to Melbourne for the external battery pack,
then back to us for filming. It's operated quite well since we've had
it, the handle has become loose, but we fixed that with advice from
Milan, and the footage meter has failed, which has been a problem - but
we've just been using a stop watch to keep an eye on the running length
of each roll.
Though having said
all of that - now that I've done a bit of editing I've realised a few
things - firstly the information on the board hasn't really been that
important - only a few times have I referred to it - I've found my
knowledge of the material, along with the camera and sound sheets have
guided me well enough, though once or twice I have had to check with
what's written on the board, and it's good to have it there just in
case. The most important thing I've found is just sighting the actual
physical clap of the two bits of wood at the top of the board - alot of
times the board was positioned to make the writing clear - which left
the clapper bits at the top of frame - and sometimes out of frame at
the crucial point - which can be overcome but it involves alot of
sliding tracks around on the timeline whilst editing, which can become
time consuming. Another problem too is that sometimes in dark scenes
the board wasn't lit well enough (it needs it's own light for this) and
the top wooden bits should be painted white.
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It might seem
unusual to put something as simple as this here - and I probably would
have thought that too - until I walked into a shop and saw them on sale
for $100 - I probably spent about $6 on this - and I think it's even
better than the $100 one. There was a $130 one which had the time code
read out on it - and that probably would have been worth it - but out
of our budget range. Our clapper is made out of a white board which I
bought from someone selling stuff door to door for a charity - it's
intended for fridges, but it's perfect for this and only cost $4. I
just screwed some scrap wood on it - including enough to make a handle
at the back (which the $100 one didn't have - and hence ours is alot
easier to hold) and then hinged the clapper on top. All the wood was
just scrap lieing around and the hinge was only $1 or so, and then it's
divided up into sections with marker tape - probably about 20 cents
worth! The sections we've divided it up into are MINIDISC NUMBER, TRACK
NUMBER, SCENE, SHOT, TAKE, CAMERA ROLL, F-STOP, and DATE (which is more
info sections than on the $100 one). Unfortunatley I didn't think of
putting the minidisc section in there until almost half the script was
shot (although we have it all on paper) being able to read the info off
the slate will be quicker in editing -- and unfortunately the f-stop
hasn't always been included accurately but that's alright. We probably
should have the title of the film there as well, but for now that's
alright. 
This is the
crystal synch unit we bought from The Film Group in the USA - it worked
fine, though only problem we had with it (and it's our fault - not
their's) is that if the lead isn't removed from the unit the battery
eventually gets drained when the unit isn't in use - and so what
happened? - you guessed it - now we've got two days worth of footage
that needs to be synched by hand, which can be done, but which is time
consuming -- so anyway be warned - double check! Although it's our
fault and we knew of the risk, I think the unit should be designed with
an on/off switch and a permanently connected lead just to safeguard
against that occurence.