upload music

where? how? been trying all night. lol

S8gr 11001t ____ ' It's strange but what isn't strange' production stills

Completed the shooting just on time...Hot sun, a cold cave, a hooded wizard, little Jedi kids, broken mirrors and lots of rubble...a dark fairytale...It's all a little strange...but what isn't strange...the soundtrack is a track by 2L8 's new album, one of the best independent bands from Greece. Available light + a portable LED Lite Panel with one hour of battery...a little worried about the low light readings in the cave...c'mon Tri-X! Show what you're made of! 

 

john karabelas//

Straight 8: Creeper!

Our damsel in distress.

MEMORIES OF COTTINGLEY from Berlin

Hey Straight8!

Some pics from the set of our straight 8 film MEMORIES OF COTTINGLEY. It was a long night but we got all the shots done (including some hopefully amazing in-camera-effect-shots!). Looking forward to seeing all the films on the big screen!

best wishes from Berlin,

Marc, Robert, Steffen & Annette

hitchhiker

2.Our shoot was insane!!! It was bad enough, the film 500T didn't arrive 'til the last minute, but then the light meter went out on my Canon 1014XL halfway through the grueling shoot, so I had to replace it--thank God Kodak is only a mile from my apt! Even with storyboards, trying to time each shot with no crew--just me to direct, shoot, dodge LAPD and gang members, etc., was nearly impossible. I even tried timing with my iPHone, but it was nearly impossible to do alone. I couldn't have the actors do it since they were often about 800 feet away (with wide lens attachment). 

We did have a blast though. My two actors, Irishman Gavin O Fearraigh and Demegio Mandel Kimbrough, were great sports! We had quite a few near misses. One night, a real pimp--yes, they still have them on Santa Monica Blvd-- tried to wrestle my Canon away from me. Thank God for pepper spray. Another night, we watched a foxy Russian hooker in a white mink coat--how the hell did she afford that?--Lots of blow jobs I guess-- get smacked around by her mobster pimp. We were trying to film outside LA's last porn arcade-- trying to capture a 70's look-- when some toothless trannies rushed past and told us the LAPD was rounding them up. Unfortunately, we didn't have an extra roll of film ( but I did capture a few seconds of the trannie and used the cop car as a background prop). Let's hope it comes out!

The piece de resistance was when one of the cops approached and warned us that we were in a known "narcotics" area. Duh! And who actually used the word "narcotics" anymore? Is that what they're calling meth/tweak nowadays? It was all I could do not to crack up. I was more shocked that he didn't cite me for filming without a permit, since Los Angeles is one of the most difficult cities to film in without a permit. They usually fine you and snatch your film or camera. I guess there were content to have busted a Russian whore and some unfortunate trannies.

Lessons learned; 1. next time have an asst. 

2

Rehearse--no matter how much you write on a storyboard, it's nearly impossible to match the time on a 30 year old camera with reality

3 Carry more pepper spray or buy a fake gun

4 Shoot in the suburbs. The streets of Hollywood are nearly impossible for guerilla filmmaking

5 Red food coloring does NOT come off white clothes or pale skin

6 Have a second asst shoot with your iPhone so you have something to match for sound. 

7 Don't shoot a week before the film needs to be shipped across the world

7 Bring more $ for "narcotics"

Robert Ellsworth

Now we're frantically trying to finish sound

0800 Styles & The BigPlus Crew

S8UK11096V2: The Straight 8 Commandments

Without further ado...and to...

AVOID ADDITIONAL ANECDOTAL ALLITERATION

HERE'S THE STRAIGHT 8 COMMANDMENTS for your consideration,

First Commandment, lets get in to Choosing your weapon

In the 60's Super 8 hit the Shooting profession,

A lot of these babies are Older than me, And you;ll find heaps on Ebay, 

And some sold on the cheap, Nikon, Polaroid, Fuji, Bauer And of course Beaulieu, 

Braun Nizo was the one that stole the soul of yours truly...

Next commandment you've got, arm yourself with some stock, 

gander At the blogspot to understand what's what, 

its all Readily available & Easy to use, and with All the film stocks you've got Freedom to choose.....

.................

0800 Styles: "Ha, look what i've just found in the toilet..."

Yeah Ben...but, now say it in Italian.

"Damn that Donner look's good!" but...F&*^@£....Is that a "Super 8 editor"?!      BLASPHEMY !!

Snow and Beer - A Straight 8 Shoot - Northern Sweden, March 2011

The snow has now gone and we have warm spring sunshine, but I was lucky enough to have both snow and sunshine during my first ever straight 8 shoot! It looked very pretty through the viewfinder - I only hope I managed to capture some if it on film!   I am not native to these parts, I am from Sussex by the sea and so late March to me is T-Shirts and Daffodils - however up here in 'The North' the spring comes much later and there are piles of the white stuff all over the place.   My 2 actors did a sterling job supping on cola out of beercans and making it seem like it was the real thing. The shoot went well and it was only afterwards that I got my foot stuck in one of those deep piles of snow behind the bus stop. I had to call someone to come and dig me out - I was THAT stuck!   Can't wait to see how it turns out!   Super 8 Jamie

straight 8 2011 deadline day

we've received an awesome number of films for straight 8 2011:

115 in total - that's enough to make 4 feature films...

...food for thought

kodak's awesome new ektachrome 100d stock provoked a huge swing towards reversal film this year, full stats on who shot on what coming soon, in the meantime here's a silly graphic (reversal on the left, neg on the right):

a very healthy stack of ektachrome, getting checked in and numbered before flying off to berlin:

and the prize for the most beautifully packaged yet massively frustrating to unwrap goes to (you know who you are):

Straight 8 Shoot 2011

The uncharacteristically wet Melbourne 'summer' pleasantly surprised
us in March for our straight 8 shooting weekend, and sun cream was a
necessity as Angus and I shot 'Picnic on the Moon' in and around the
city. We had a great time and lots of wonderful people helped us out.
Here are some pictures from the shoot.
- Helen

Carry on regardless

So...What do you do if your 1 shot solution falls flat? Give up?  Not submit? Where's the fun in that? Instead you PANIC like mad (but quickly because the stock is running out), and shout CUT!!

Shoot an alternative ending.....and then get a wizard sound engineer to compose a track for the new story.

So hours in an audio suite and there you have it....a totally new story cut and timed to a picture you've never seen before, explaining a film you've never seen or a narrative which didn't turn out how you expected....hmm. Be interesting to see the results.  Practice makes perfect. Roll on Straight 8 2012.

Lydia

A ZOMBIE CLAYMATION

This is some stills from my entry for s8 2011.
I think the title of the film sums up what I've shot.
I've braved to do what so many s8 shooters have attempted before... complete and utter sync sound. Could be a big fail but I've given it all my best this year.

Lee

straight 8 production pics from jack riccobono in NYC

>

Straight 8, PaprikaLand and Puppets

Hi 

Here are some photos from our crazy last minute straight 8 shoot the other Sunday.  Donshades and Danni Dannidodo worked with PraprikaLand Nanotheatre to bring to life some amazing puppets on film.  We're now itching to know if it worked or not...

Good luck everyone!  

Greetings from Germany

Tried to send a picture. Obviously didn’t work. See if this works.

All the best, Georg

From Russia with Monsters: Good Cheese, Great Art Department, a bit too much wine

straight 8 veteran director's Will Cummock, George Ancock and Nick Rutter, teamed up to direct From Russia With Monster's in time for the Slamdance deadline of s8 2011.

We met up in Hove and spent the weekend eating a lot of very good cheese, drinking a bit too much wine and making a film.

We more or less made it up as went along, with a lot of help from our amazing cast and crew.


It premiered at Slamdance in january, and we're really chuffed with how it turned out.

The film went on to win the straight 8/shooting people film of the month comp, which was judged by Edgar Wright. He said:

"Amazing in camera effects and editing, clearly a lot of work went into doing this all in sequence, complicated stuff - hats off."

Check out the film here:

http://shootingpeople.org/watch/film.php?film_id=94910

Fingers crossed it'll make the cut for Cannes!

guest tweet

hi straight8ers
we are offering people to guest tweet on our twitter account for 24hours ish at a time during any part of your production. let us know if you fancy it. and we can give you tips on twitter grammar if you're not a big # and @ user!

from iPhone. but that's not important right now